Any terrible exam day experiences?

[matt267 PE]

Not me but a coworker of mine: arrived at the test center with plenty of time to check-in, etc. Got out of her car and went to open the rear door to get exam materials. It was then that she realized she had locked herself out of her car. Frantically trying to figure out what to do a passerby recommended calling the police on the non-emergency number. Fortunately police responded and were able to unlock the car for her. She was the last to arrive in her testing room minutes before they were about to begin.

I would be in the market for a new window.

 

[Ramnares P.E.]

Not me but a coworker of mine: arrived at the test center with plenty of time to check-in, etc. Got out of her car and went to open the rear door to get exam materials. It was then that she realized she had locked herself out of her car. Frantically trying to figure out what to do a passerby recommended calling the police on the non-emergency number. Fortunately police responded and were able to unlock the car for her. She was the last to arrive in her testing room minutes before they were about to begin.

I would be in the market for a new window.

Keep it in mind for when you take the Oct test Matt.

 

[matt267 PE]

Yup, brake the window then call the wife to call a glass repair company and have fixed it before the morning session is done.

 

[Ramnares P.E.]

While she's bringing them to your car she can bring you a sandwich for lunch...

 

[btcs31]

Not me but a coworker of mine: arrived at the test center with plenty of time to check-in, etc. Got out of her car and went to open the rear door to get exam materials. It was then that she realized she had locked herself out of her car. Frantically trying to figure out what to do a passerby recommended calling the police on the non-emergency number. Fortunately police responded and were able to unlock the car for her. She was the last to arrive in her testing room minutes before they were about to begin.

I would be in the market for a new window.

We talked about this later that day - even ignoring the time costs associated with having to prepare for the exam again in October, the dollar cost of a new window would've still been less than registering for another exam. Granted smashing your window to get your materials probably doesn't leave you in the best mindset for the next 8hrs - unsecured car, what if it rains, etc. etc..

 

[matt267 PE]

I'm just talking tough. I would likely start crying and have my wife come get me.

 

[Ramnares P.E.]

I'm just talking tough. I would likely start crying and have my wife come get me.

When did you adopt Mike's default problem-solving mechanism?

 

[matt267 PE]

You're just fixn' to get Mike going aren't you? Keep it up!

 

[Ramnares P.E.]

Figured he's been too silent so trying to get him riled up. It's weird not seeing a butt-load of posts from him.

 

[matt267 PE]

Be careful of what you ask for.

 

[Ramnares P.E.]

Good point, I better pipe down.

 

[salsill]

my friend was supposed to take a late flight at 7.40 pm to come to Houston Thursday night. His plan was to arrive and go to his hotel room and rest for the rest of the night. There was a thunderstorm Thursday night and his flight was delayed. The plane left at 1.20 am Friday morning. checked in to his hotel at around 4 am Friday morning.

The worst part is he had taken days off work. Don't know why he did not take the first flight Thursday morning.

My other friend did not take a spare calculator. He said that in the morning session of the exam he pressed some buttons and messed up with the settings and was giving him weird answers. He panicked and said that he lost about 20-30min trying to figure out how to fix his calculator.

 

[Ramnares P.E.]

my friend was supposed to take a late flight at 7.40 pm to come to Houston Thursday night. His plan was to arrive and go to his hotel room and rest for the rest of the night. There was a thunderstorm Thursday night and his flight was delayed. The plane left at 1.20 am Friday morning. checked in to his hotel at around 4 am Friday morning.

The worst part is he had taken days off work. Don't know why he did not take the first flight Thursday morning.

My other friend did not take a spare calculator. He said that in the morning session of the exam he pressed some buttons and messed up with the settings and was giving him weird answers. He panicked and said that he lost about 20-30min trying to figure out how to fix his calculator.

This is a good example of a bad example. A cursory search of this board would have provided threads advising you to scope out the exam area well in advance and to definitely take a second calculator.

Most folks spend months prepping for the exam, it certainly wouldn't hurt to spend a couple hours reading through "What to do the week of / the day before the exam" threads.

 

[Amanda74]

In Alabama, the room (and apparently 4 city blocks) lost power for over an hour... it happened an hour or so into the PM session. It was a mess and the proctor's had a hard time knowing what to do... we sat and were told not to continue working (so little light it was almost impossible to see anything anyway) and were given back that time when the power finally came back on... Very disconcerting in the middle of the session

 

[MechE_in_PA_PE]

Wow these are some true horror stories...other than the room being like 75 degrees for half of the morning session (the proctor eventually got the AC turned on) and getting to see a number if people dressed up in some very, very strange costumes for a Japanese pop culture / anime convention that was occurring on the same floor, my experience was great.

I was a little concerned when we went out on the third floor terrace for lunch, and had to make sure a little block of wood kept the door open so that we did not get locked out, luckily to my knowledge no one did.

 

[Mike in Gastonia]

I guess the worst that happened to me that day was when I was trying to use dolly for the first time. I thought we weren't allowed suitcases, everything had to be in a clear container. I was walking to my car, my container toppled , the lid fell off and all my books were in the middle of the road. I had to quickly out half back in container carry them to the car , come back for the other half ...

Just curious. What made you think this?

 

[Engineer222]

I remember reading it on some forum that every thing has to be in a clear container..

 

[Blue 8]

For Maryland you could bring in the suitcase but had to take all of your resources out and put the suitcases along the wall. They only allowed clear or see thru containers to stay at your desk area.

 

[Porter_]

I decided to hit the sack early. Well, that didn't work out too well.

when i took the APR 2014 exam my wife was ~4 months pregnant and she was waking up a lot during the night. so naturally i was awake a lot the night before the exam. when i took the OCT 2014 exam my son was 3 wks old so again i was up a lot. i don't think my lack of sleep really had an affect, once you're seated and ready to take the exam adrenaline takes over.

and getting to see a number if people dressed up in some very, very strange costumes for a Japanese pop culture / anime convention that was occurring on the same floor,

when i took the OCT 2014 exam ComicCon was going on in the next room over. it was a strange collection of nerds (engineers) and nerds (comic geeks) in the hallway

 

[knight1fox3]

and getting to see a number if people dressed up in some very, very strange costumes for a Japanese pop culture / anime convention that was occurring on the same floor,

when i took the OCT 2014 exam ComicCon was going on in the next room over. it was a strange collection of nerds (engineers) and nerds (comic geeks) in the hallway

LOL! That's pretty epic. Though I suppose not if you were taking the exam.