Left-Handed Testers
Hi all,
Just wondering if any left handed people have taken the new version of the test yet. I signed up for PA for mid February, all the way back in October, before realizing when the whiteboard would take affect. I now see that because I already signed up for the test I am unable to get accommodations, I have also only heard about a left handed mouse as an accommodation. Which is absurd as most left-handed people have never used a left-handed mouse, and would have the opposite affect, making taking this test even more challenging. I'm just wondering what other people's experiences are, I am very stressed about having to try to draw with a mouse using my non-dominate hand, or trying to operate in a mouse in a hand I've never used a mouse in.
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Hi Madeline,
I just took PA last Friday as a lefty and I can assure you that many of your concerns are valid. It was extremely difficult to draw or take quick notes in Whiteboard. During the test, I ended up mostly using the Text function because anything I tried to sketch was illegible and pretty useless, and anything using shapes, etc. was way too time consuming. That meant just visualizing buildable lot area, etc. instead of having a 2-second sketch I was able to refer to. I would recommend being strategic and answering as many "quick" questions first, then go back to the more tedious ones--you may find that you have enough time to use shapes and text for questions that require a drawing. I opted out of taking a break so I could have the freedom to revisit all my questions at the end and found that helpful. One other annoying thing: Whiteboard did not save anything from question to question. Hopefully this bug is resolved by the time you take your test though.
As for you trying to decide which operation will be less intuitive, left-handed mousing vs. right, I would open up the demo exam or Microsoft paint (the literal equivalent of Whiteboard lol) and see which one feels more comfortable to use. I found that learning to use my left hand was even more of a distraction.
Best of luck!
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Thank you, Lauren, for your feed back. I am not left-handed but I did not know that the whiteboard information disappeared from question to question. This is not fair for us compared to the people with the scratch paper. Thanks for letting us know. My test is Tuesday and am just finding all of this out! It is definitly hard to write with the mouse, even right handed. I used text boxes when practicing.
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Lauren - Thank you so much for that strategy and information, it should be helpful for my test in February.
Daniel - It's so absurd that they only offer a left handed mouse, this seems like it's borderline discrimination to left-handed people. It definitely puts us at a disadvantage compared to right-handed test takers. I don't know a single left-handed person that has every used a left-handed mouse.
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