Did/ does your test center suck?

[studiddy]

I took it today at the TSU Avon campus here in Nashville. I got there early and apparently the air conditioning wasn't working right so they had two fans circulating hot air, which was awesome. The computer screen also had a slight flicker to it and an apparent problem with dithering. While neither of those things affected what is likely to be a pathetic score, it was kind of annoying. I'm certainly going elsewhere for round 2 in the spring.
Has anyone taken the mcat under conditions that might be considered appalling or even hazardous? Just curious to see what's out there.

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[kool aid kid]

Yeah I noticed my screen was flickering a little too.. The big problem at my site though was the power outage in the middle of the Bio section. I was in the middle of some passage based questions and all the stuff I had highlighted wasn't in yellow anymore once they got the tests started again. (10 minutes later). Kinda sucked.

 

[ChubbyChaser]

I took mine in Raleigh NC, while thelockers were really small, i found the chairs to be comfy, the computer screen to be very nice, the keyboards nice, and the Mouse had a scroller thingy on it that i liked. I cant really complain about mine with the exception of the locker.

Ps is it bad that I was typing really loud on purpose because i was trying to disturb the people taking the VR lol. I guess i figured it couldn't hurt since it is based on a curve. but if the person didnt want to wear the headphones than they deserved it IMO

 

[RockDoc86]

Ps is it bad that I was typing really loud on purpose because i was trying to disturb the people taking the VR lol. I guess i figured it couldn't hurt since it is based on a curve. but if the person didnt want to wear the headphones than they deserved it IMO

Yeah, actually that's kind of an dingus thing to do.

I read somewhere (here, I think, based on an AAMC email someone posted) that the curve isn't even based on the people taking the test with you, but it's from a test that's already been administered.

 

[ChubbyChaser]

O well, thats what the Soundblocking headphones are for. I odnt think anyone knows how exactly the test is curved, honestly

 

[devang1987]

i took mine 8/9 at toronto prometric center on bloor street...i gotta say.....it was amazing....

luckily they had two rooms...one with a lot of people (>50?) and one with like 20 people...

i was in the one with 20 people....a nice little quiet cute room....

and the people were not that noisy.....typing and stuff was present but still not that disturbing....

but I can tell you this for sure ..it does not matter...it is still possible to screw up...

 

[greg1184]

I took mine in Raleigh NC, while thelockers were really small, i found the chairs to be comfy, the computer screen to be very nice, the keyboards nice, and the Mouse had a scroller thingy on it that i liked. I cant really complain about mine with the exception of the locker.

Ps is it bad that I was typing really loud on purpose because i was trying to disturb the people taking the VR lol. I guess i figured it couldn't hurt since it is based on a curve. but if the person didnt want to wear the headphones than they deserved it IMO

A gunner are we?

 

[mmcnam]

i took my mcat in a room that was probably 110 degrees. exactly the same situation as the op. i fainted, canceled and retook two weeks later. awesome. am currently trying to get my money back from the aamc.

 

[Tan008]

the room i was writing in (Boston) was freezing cold because they had the air conditioning on full blast. I think someone was actually wearing a jacket. I am pretty sure my brain froze half-way through PS because I don't remember what happened after . The monitors were kinda crappy, but not as bad as I thought. We also had a chance to go outside during the breaks, which was nice (at least it was warm out).

 

[Fireballfx]

My test room was air conditioned, thank goodness. But old chairs, old monitors, old keyboard contributed to the mounting frustration of July 24th.

Thank goodness I don't need to rewrite, however.

 

[studiddy]

luckily they had two rooms...one with a lot of people (>50?) and one with like 20 people...

i was in the one with 20 people....a nice little quiet cute room....

The room I was in had probably 14 computers, seven in one half seven in the other, yet the stuck us all together on one side. Also, some creepy guy would come in a walk behind us all every 3 minutes or so. Definitely a little unsettling. He seemed nice enough, but creepily so.

 

[Tourterm]

Not related to the CBT MCAT, but still kinda funny.

This was back when the MCAT was only in paper and pencil format. I was in a gym or pavilion of some sort with what looked like 150 some odd students. We're taking the PS section, and the proctor announces (loudly, so everyone in the room can hear), "You have 40 minutes remaining in this section." Or something to that effect. This clearly caught everyone by surprise as quite a few audible gasps, mumbling, and curse words are heard. You can almost sense people rushing ahead, trying to read faster, or bubble in their answers quicker in an effort to make sure they can answer everything on time. I'm wondering to myself how I could have possibly fallen so far behind and if I'm even going to be able to finish this section.

A good 15-20 minutes pass and the proctor announces again, "Sorry about my last announcement. What I had meant to say was that 40 minutes had passed. ...Now you really have 40 minutes left."

And as if our temporally challenged proctor wasn't a big enough problem, the maintenance staff of the university felt now was a great time to conduct some light construction.

 

[chad5871]

Not related to the CBT MCAT, but still kinda funny.

This was back when the MCAT was only in paper and pencil format. I was in a gym or pavilion of some sort with what looked like 150 some odd students. We're taking the PS section, and the proctor announces (loudly, so everyone in the room can hear), "You have 40 minutes remaining in this section." Or something to that effect. This clearly caught everyone by surprise as quite a few audible gasps, mumbling, and curse words are heard. You can almost sense people rushing ahead, trying to read faster, or bubble in their answers quicker in an effort to make sure they can answer everything on time. I'm wondering to myself how I could have possibly fallen so far behind and if I'm even going to be able to finish this section.

A good 15-20 minutes pass and the proctor announces again, "Sorry about my last announcement. What I had meant to say was that 40 minutes had passed. ...Now you really have 40 minutes left."

And as if our temporally challenged proctor wasn't a big enough problem, the maintenance staff of the university felt now was a great time to conduct some light construction.

LOL! That sucks!

 

[desijigga]

Lady at my test center told me I remind her of Doogie Houser MD.... LOL
I think I went to the bathroom on every break for some reason, I don't know what was wrong with my bladder that day.
Only thing annoying of my test center was the old crappy screens, I had a terrible glare the whole time. I think I had a massive headache for like 3 hours after the exam.

 

[jon stewart]

jeeeeez do any of these test sites of lcd monitors and decent keyboards, and mice?

my crappy state school gets new computers every once in a while...it cant be that hard to upgrade!

 

[ChubbyChaser]

Raleigh had, imo, very nice facilities. Nice monitors, the head phones worked well, and the mouse had a scroller which came in handy. But i am kind of skeptical at how much conditions can effect your score. WIth the exception of something like construction work going on outside the window or something ridiculous like that