Prometric Exam kept Fteezing and crashing during exam

[Calicivil]

So today my survey exam kept freezing 4 times on one problem with the clock timer still counting down and since the prometric staff aren't exactly the fastest to get to you during the exam I lost about 10 minutes . I gave up on answering the question that kept freezing on me. I noted it in the survey I took after the exam and the staff but would the board consider this in my exam at all

 

[Assistant to the RM]

I had a similar problem during the seismic exam on Friday, the images that went with the questions wouldn't load. Prometric staff were quick to help me, they restarted the computer and tried me at three computers total and had the same result each time. I was not able to complete the exam, and I left with a helpdesk ticket, and an unknown status as to when I can reschedule.

This site wouldn't let me start a new thread, so I posted about it in the Everything you wanted to know thread. If you haven't done so already, please contact the CA BPELSG at the Exam info address listed in that thread, they replied to me quickly and definitely want to know about this problem. They are working with Prometric on a resolution.

This site keeps flagging my attempted replies to you as potential spam, I am really struggling to get this reply even posted.

 

[purple-521]

This happened to me exactly this past Saturday. I changed three machines and none of them worked.
I left with a help desk ticket. It was really frustrating.
The image of the second problem couldn't load. I'm happy it was not in the middle of the exam otherwise my effort would be totally wasted.

 

[Assistant to the RM]

Thanks for the reply purple-521. If you haven't done so already, I hope you also contact the CA board at [email protected]. They were very responsive, sympathetic, and concerned about the issue and definitely want to know about it.

 

[purple-521]

The advisor at the test center was very helpful and calling tech supports like three times. They figured that a lot of the test centers were having the same issue with this CA PE exam system at that moment: problems were not loaded correctly.

The advisor told me it was not the test center's problem (since all the other exams were smooth) but was the issue with the test system with CA. So they gave up and suggest me rescheduling it. The same day in the evening I got an email from Prometric saying my scheduled exam will be cancelled and asking me not to reach out to them until they contract with me again within 7 days.

Imagine if you woke up at 6am on Saturday, drove 40 mins to the test site, waited 30 mins to checkin, solved 40 questions that were then tossed to a trashcan because the exam was frozen and cancelled....This tech issue is happening in 2021...

 

[Assistant to the RM]

Yes, the Prometric staff was as helpful as they could be for me too, I even joined them on speakerphone with the helpdesk trying to resolve the issue, but no luck. I left with a helpdesk ticket as well, but no one from Prometric contacted me, and the local staff told me not to expect the helpdesk to be very responsive, so I'm glad that the CA board is being responsive.

I have the surveying exam scheduled in 1 month and was planning to start preparing this week. Now I am stuck wondering if I should shift my focus to surveying and hope to reschedule seismic in Q2, or if the CBT issue might be resolved quickly and I can re-attempt seismic soon...

I definitely had the thought beforehand "what if there is a computer glitch during the test?" and already wished it was still a paper booklet and a bubble sheet. Also with the paper booklet you don't have to re-write problem data on the scratch paper, if I remember right from NCEES (10 years ago for me) you can write directly in the booklet to solve the problems, then just mark your answer in the bubble sheet. Isn't technology wonderful?

 

[Calicivil]

The advisor at the test center was very helpful and calling tech supports like three times. They figured that a lot of the test centers were having the same issue with this CA PE exam system at that moment: problems were not loaded correctly.

The advisor told me it was not the test center's problem (since all the other exams were smooth) but was the issue with the test system with CA. So they gave up and suggest me rescheduling it. The same day in the evening I got an email from Prometric saying my scheduled exam will be cancelled and asking me not to reach out to them until they contract with me again within 7 days.

Imagine if you woke up at 6am on Saturday, drove 40 mins to the test site, waited 30 mins to checkin, solved 40 questions that were then tossed to a trashcan because the exam was frozen and cancelled....This tech issue is happening in 2021...

Yeah I drove 3 hours to my test site so I hear you.

I don't see why they don't just use pearson vue , ncees has no problem using them with their tests plus they have a better availability and are in more locations. Prometric has been so so to work with.

 

[Schmitty]

Ooof

 

[davesgarage]

Wow!! I just got that email too!! Does this mean we don't have to reapply to retest for Q2????

Ooof

View attachment 21359

 

[PlanCheckEng]

did the March Seismic exams get canceled as well?

 

[Assistant to the RM]

Schmitty and davesgarage - what dates were your surveying exams scheduled for? My surveying exam is scheduled for March 26th and I didn't get a cancellation yet. I'm just curious how far out they are cancelling.

I haven't heard back from the CA board yet regarding rescheduling my seismic exam. I'm sure they are scrambling right now trying to deal with the issues, so I'll give them another day or two before I follow up. I did get an automated email from Prometric last night that I had "completed the seismic exam" and my notice of completion was available... Guessing I didn't pass since I was only able to answer one question! Well, I did click an answer on #2 even though the image didn't show up. If I guessed right, maybe I got 2/55... I wonder what the cut score is?

 

[Calicivil]

Ooof

View attachment 21359

Had you scheduled your exam yet, I had my exam scheduled early Feb and obviously just took the exam. But was wondering how they went about sending this email

 

[Calicivil]

Thanks for the reply purple-521. If you haven't done so already, I hope you also contact the CA board at [email protected]. They were very responsive, sympathetic, and concerned about the issue and definitely want to know about it.

I messaged them this morning and haven't got a message yet but I guess they usually take a week anyways

 

[watereng21]

I attempted to take the test on Friday and the glitch happened to three of us in the same center. Prometrix rescheduled me for Sunday but the same glitch happened.

I wrote the Board and left voice mails on Friday, Sunday and today but haven't heard anything from them. Has anyone who got stuck in the exam heard from them, or has it only been those who were scheduled to take the exam who received cancellation emails?

After waiting for over an hour on-hold with Prometrix this evening, I was informed that the Board had instructed them to refund everyone and cancel all Seismic Exams until the issue has been resolved. They have no idea when they will have a resolution.

 

[davesgarage]

Schmitty and davesgarage - what dates were your surveying exams scheduled for? My surveying exam is scheduled for March 26th and I didn't get a cancellation yet. I'm just curious how far out they are cancelling.

I haven't heard back from the CA board yet regarding rescheduling my seismic exam. I'm sure they are scrambling right now trying to deal with the issues, so I'll give them another day or two before I follow up. I did get an automated email from Prometric last night that I had "completed the seismic exam" and my notice of completion was available... Guessing I didn't pass since I was only able to answer one question! Well, I did click an answer on #2 even though the image didn't show up. If I guessed right, maybe I got 2/55... I wonder what the cut score is?

I scheduled mine for March 24th, last week. So I am pretty sure you'll get an email soon. It would make sense that they would allow us to take Surveying (and hopefully Seismic) for Q2 without us having to apply to retest and free of charge right!?

 

[Assistant to the RM]

I messaged them this morning and haven't got a message yet but I guess they usually take a week anyways

I received a personal response within a few hours on Friday, but I'm guessing they are now being flooded with reports and are maybe unable to respond as quickly, and are probably more focused on fixing the problem before they start responding to people.

So it sounds like you were actually able to complete the exam but it was just one problem that glitched on you? Hopefully even if you missed that problem you still got enough right to pass!

 

[Assistant to the RM]

I scheduled mine for March 24th, last week. So I am pretty sure you'll get an email soon. It would make sense that they would allow us to take Surveying (and hopefully Seismic) for Q2 without us having to apply to retest and free of charge right!?

Yeah I'm not far behind you, so I'm guessing my cancellation is coming... I would sure think we'd be able to reschedule for Q2 without re-applying, but they weren't able to tell me anything for sure yet on Friday. And I wouldn't think we could be charged again either, although the exam fees are paid to Prometric, so who knows...

 

[XrayCP1]

Hello, I'm coming here to commiserate as I received an email from the Board saying they are cancelling all the Seismic testing for the rest of quarter 1. It's all very frustrating because I drove 6 hours to my testing site, stayed with a family member the night before the test, showed up on Sunday 2/28, started my test and was another victim of an exhibit not loading.

I failed the seismic exam in October after taking Hiner's course. This time around, I found 8-10 different practice exams, did fairly well on them, and I was studying for all of January and February put together. I was actually feeling really great coming into the test this time. I flew though the first three questions in just two minutes, and my confidence was through the roof - I knew I was going to pass this time, and I could finally picture myself passing the test and earning my PE. This is the last test I need to pass, and unfortunately it's not meant to be at this time.

I had also asked if there was a way for paper exams to be pushed out for the short term, but the board member said this: "I apologize for the inconvenience and understand your frustration. Unfortunately, the technical issue will not be resolved in time to continue testing in Quarter 1 and a paper/pencil format is unavailable. Your eligibility will be moved to Quarter 2 and you will be notified when the issue has been resolved and you are able to schedule."

Of course it is frustrating as an engineer and problem-solver because I want to solve this problem and come up with ideas to help us all be able to take the test, but it is not our problem to solve. Somehow I have to keep motivated over the coming weeks and hope I can take the test with the same confidence and knowledge I brought to the test on Sunday.

I feel for everyone else going through this right now, and we will overcome this obstacle.

PS, I apologize for the rant, especially being that this is my first post on this website/forum. It's strange to me because I have been coming to these forums for almost 1.5 years and reading everyone's posts, but I have never posted or even registered until now. I took my national exam October 2019, and luckily I passed at that time. If I hadn't passed at that time, I would've been slated to take the national exam at the beginning of COVID when they cancelled those exams. I suppose this is a similar feeling to what those test-takers went through.

 

[Calicivil]

I received a personal response within a few hours on Friday, but I'm guessing they are now being flooded with reports and are maybe unable to respond as quickly, and are probably more focused on fixing the problem before they start responding to people.

So it sounds like you were actually able to complete the exam but it was just one problem that glitched on you? Hopefully even if you missed that problem you still got enough right to pass!

Yeah this was my second time taking it and I felt better and just one problem kept glitching and messing with the exam flow. I had no steel tape correction problems this time which was an easy 5 questions last time and got some plus or minus standard deviation ones instead

 

[Calicivil]

Hello, I'm coming here to commiserate as I received an email from the Board saying they are cancelling all the Seismic testing for the rest of quarter 1. It's all very frustrating because I drove 6 hours to my testing site, stayed with a family member the night before the test, showed up on Sunday 2/28, started my test and was another victim of an exhibit not loading.

I failed the seismic exam in October after taking Hiner's course. This time around, I found 8-10 different practice exams, did fairly well on them, and I was studying for all of January and February put together. I was actually feeling really great coming into the test this time. I flew though the first three questions in just two minutes, and my confidence was through the roof - I knew I was going to pass this time, and I could finally picture myself passing the test and earning my PE. This is the last test I need to pass, and unfortunately it's not meant to be at this time.

I had also asked if there was a way for paper exams to be pushed out for the short term, but the board member said this: "I apologize for the inconvenience and understand your frustration. Unfortunately, the technical issue will not be resolved in time to continue testing in Quarter 1 and a paper/pencil format is unavailable. Your eligibility will be moved to Quarter 2 and you will be notified when the issue has been resolved and you are able to schedule."

Of course it is frustrating as an engineer and problem-solver because I want to solve this problem and come up with ideas to help us all be able to take the test, but it is not our problem to solve. Somehow I have to keep motivated over the coming weeks and hope I can take the test with the same confidence and knowledge I brought to the test on Sunday.

I feel for everyone else going through this right now, and we will overcome this obstacle.

PS, I apologize for the rant, especially being that this is my first post on this website/forum. It's strange to me because I have been coming to these forums for almost 1.5 years and reading everyone's posts, but I have never posted or even registered until now. I took my national exam October 2019, and luckily I passed at that time. If I hadn't passed at that time, I would've been slated to take the national exam at the beginning of COVID when they cancelled those exams. I suppose this is a similar feeling to what those test-takers went through.

I haven't taken my seismic exam yet this quarter did the board or prometric email you?