snickerd3
Taking suggestions
yeah but they just send things like your pulse or step counts...not an audio or visual recording
Maryland Exam Information
- Thread starter Andrew2288
- Start date
Help Support Professional Engineer & PE Exam Forum:
thekzieg
Cats
What's crazy to me is that they would just kick people out in the middle of the exam rather than making announcements beforehand. It seems like the proctors are more to blame than the test takers. And really, all a fitbit can record and transmit is motion data...it doesn't take pictures or record sound and you can't make it remember pieces of information!
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Dexman PE PMP
Internationally PMP'n his PE-ness
Doesn't matter. They still have communication capabilities.
snickerd3
Taking suggestions
Audi Driver P.E.
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I suppose one could use morse code or some such to get the thing to record. But since it does communicate it's a no-no. Heck, you can't even use your own pencil!
csb
Well-known member
Seven hours in seems like an awful time for them to realize they need to kick you out.
I get that they don't want anyone stealing exam questions, but NCEES is a couple steps away from TSA.
I get that they don't want anyone stealing exam questions, but NCEES is a couple steps away from TSA.
Andrew2288
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My thoughts are that they realized that they should have communicated to examinees prior to the exam regarding Fitbits.
When they neglected to - I'm guessing that they were debating internally whether or not to start kicking people out. My guess is that they realized that this could potentially affect 20+ people. And NCEES might see this as poor administration of their test. But they eventually decided that they had to do something... and started kicking people out 6.5-7 hrs into the exam.
Sucks.
matt267 PE
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NCEES should do a better job of training their proctors.
Audi Driver P.E.
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The good news is you got some good practice in. Expensive practice but good practice nonetheless.
snickerd3
Taking suggestions
not all states use ncees to proctor. IL doesn't. The states that use pcs probably don't have ncees proctors either.
given todays technology whos to say how a determined individual might try to compromise the exam. Bottom line is that they specifically prohibit the latest technological devices except for the exam approved calculator and trust that the examinees are capable of complying with the rules. It sux that @Andrew2288 got bounced but it's a violation and they caught him. Unfortunate but rules is rules.
John QPE
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Well this all stems from "the pencil" incident .... where some brilliant peeps made some pencil that sent the questions to the home base in Sioux City, Iowa then home base beamed back the correct answer.
I get it ..... but they can **** off with kicking people out 7 hours into the exam.
Audi Driver P.E.
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The only unfortunate thing that I see thus far in what's been related about this incident is that it happened 7 hours in, to someone who apparently was on the up and up otherwise. Knowing the rules is important. I remember reading of through the regulations MANY times, and several times on test day, prior to taking my exam to ensure I was in compliance with all of them. I was pretty surprised to see folks even bring in cell phones to the testing center. Granted the proctors took them away prior to beginning the test, but that's a pretty clear rule that's talked about in several places on the NCEES site.
I was at the Maryland exam, and I didn't even notice people getting removed. If it happened during the afternoon, i can't image why they wouldn't just tell those examinees that they were being "flagged" and NCEES would make a final determination on if their scores would count.
Audi Driver P.E.
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Probably because there would be no way to determine if test material was communicated outside the examination room... by the device that is able to communicate. That's the entire point of the rule.
csb
Well-known member
"Shoot, Martha. We forgot to check them for those doohickeys."
Didn't they say this happened with an hour left? At that point, I think they should just let you finish, and let NCEES decide what they want to do. The problem is, they should have done this during the morning exam, people wear these things on the wrist right? Sounds like the proctors were either A) Not told to check, or B) Didn't bother checking.
If you dont have your phone with you (you are not allow to have it with you), the thing isn't going to be able to "communicate" with anything anyways. I don't think they were out of line in removing the people, I just think that the more appropriate response, 7 hours into the exam, would be to have them finish, and let NCEES decide.
