A few specific words of warning after my first exam (and some advice seeking!)

Hi all! I took (and passed!) my first exam yesterday (PcM) and I wanted to share some words of warning (and take the opportunity to air my grievances ha).

Long post ahead, so TDLR:

1. The CATA questions will show as complete even if they aren't. Be very careful. (I also had highlighting disappear on them when returning back to them later, so don't rely on that too hard)
2. Whiteboard text boxes are so aggrivating. There should be a plain text "notebook" space. Crossing my fingers naively that someone can tell me that NCARB is adding this imminently.
3. Lighting/glare in the testing center was seriously inhibiting. Seeking your experiences/suggestions on how to deal with it for future exams.
4. A laugh :-)

ONE:

About 2/3 of the way through the questions, I fortunately noticed something that I hadn't been aware of before -- and it honestly might have made the difference between my passing or failing. Perhaps this was mentioned in the online videos about how to use the system/interface and I just didn't register it for some reason, but I'm SO glad I caught it when I did, and I wanted to pass that info forward.

For CATA questions, the system will register them as "complete" on the exam summary page as soon as you've checked one box. Since all the CATA questions specify how many answers you are supposed to select, and there is no partial credit, this seems completely ridiculous (almost deceptive) to me. If a question requires 4 answers but you've only selected 2 so far, then it absolutely isn't complete.

I messed around in the demonstration exam prior to the test, so I felt like I understood how it worked, and then that realization really threw me. I was working through by using the flag "mark for review" on items that I had answered but wanted to prioritize when doing a final double check (or I thought I might be able to answer better once I'd opened up the case study materials). Anything I hadn't answered didn't get flagged because I knew (or under the apparently false impression) it would show up on the summary as "incomplete" so those skipped questions would obviously get prioritized ahead of the flagged ones. On a few CATA questions, I had answered partially because I felt good about a couple of the answers but quite torn about the others. DON'T DO THAT! You'll forget about them and they will be automatically wrong because they aren't complete!

I realized this as I was trying to quickly review my seen questions before I took a break, which I was SUPER rushing to do because my testing room was FREEZING and it felt like it had finally reached my bones and I couldn't focus any more until I could get my coat from my locker. (Mind you -- I was wearing a warm long sleeve flannel and thick jeans, but the AC was blasting on a chilly fall NYC day for whatever reason. I learned my lesson and will dress warmer / in more layers next time.)

When I came back I attempted to remedy this issue by just highlighting the answers I felt good about on the CATAs so they'd still show up as incomplete. For some reason my highlighting disappeared on at least a couple of them when I went back later. (I'm not sure but maybe returned directly to the exam summary from those and somehow that didn't save my highlighting?) I ended up having to completely re-read and figure out all my answers again. I also lost at least one whiteboard page at some point, which I think may have been in an instance where I returned to the exam summary with the whiteboard still open, although I truly wasn't paying close attention that, so I am not sure.

So! My advice -- when you come across a CATA, either skip it completely (don't even bother reading it to see if it's one you can answer easily) and come back to them all at the end (or before a break) or make sure you select all of your answers before moving on. Maybe mark down which item numbers are CATAs on a whiteboard page. Don't rely on the highlighting if you are going to go back to something. Be aware!

TWO:

Seperately, the text boxes on the whiteboard are an utter nightmare. I'm sure the additional drawing functions will be more useful on the other exams, but all I wanted was a barebones text note space (like plain text .txt files / applications). I just wanted to jot miscellaneous things down as I would have on scratch paper, but instead I spent all this time wrestling with these aggrivating text boxes that I kept inadvertently creating and layering multiples more of while just trying to write a number down. Does anyone know if NCARB is considering adding a separate "notebook" that is just plain text space? Or maybe allow for sheets on the whiteboard to be EITHER plain text space OR canvas create/draw space (which would still include text boxes but just for minimal labeling or whatever). I would have not been nearly as upset about not having physical scratch paper if there had been a plain text note space provided. It was honestly so disruptive to try to do math between that calculator and the whiteboard. I guess I'll need to practice with that A LOT more before my next exam.

THREE:

I'm sure all the testing centers aren't going to be a precisely identical environment, but the lighting in the space I was in yesterday felt like a literal hurdle. The glare from the flickering ceiling panel lights directly behind the screen that was so blue and bright made it so difficult. I felt like I was spending so much energy just trying to get my eyeballs to focus the text clearly and I had a headache pretty quickly. I am also used to working on dark backgrounds/interfaces because I discovered long ago that my ability to process information improved dramatically by doing this, so I'm sure that sudden switch contributed to my discomfort.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to deal with this on future tests? At one point I was legitimately using my left hand as a visor because the glare was so disorienting. I don’t wear glasses (my eyes aren't quite 20/20 but every time I have them checked, I am told that they are close enough that it should not be noticeable aside from the astigmatism glare when driving at night) but I am wondering if getting non-prescription blue-light glasses might help? I feel a little frustrated because anything else that I can think of that may have mediated it a bit are not allowed (a hat, moving the screen closer, a cup of water to help with the headache, requesting to sit directly facing a wall instead of in one of the center booths that gave me that direct backlit glare). I have documented disabilities but I did not go through the hassle of requesting accommodations with NY state upfront because I didn't foresee there being any issues like this that were so hindering. Fortunately I made it through the test (truly down to the last second) and passed, but I had a ridiculous headache for the remainder of the day and I am anxious about how much it will interfere on the subsequent tests.

I'm sure the answer is that I just need to suck it up and deal with it, but I am posting this on the off chance anyone has had a similar experience or has any good ideas on how to mitigate it for my next exams.

FOUR:

I definitely spotted a silly Easter Egg on the exam. Keep an eye out for any names that aren't "Employee A" or "Firm B" for a potential little momentary chuckle.