- Joined
- Feb 1, 2004
- Messages
- 33
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Dear all,
I took my exam yesterday at at Homewood, IL Prometric Test Center. The building there is under construction - there is a ceiling, but there is no roof i.e. the roof is being repaired. Exactly at the 30min of the second block of questions, someone started CUTTING METAL! I put the headphones on, but they were not enough. I raised my hand and asked the Prometric supervisor, when she came, to please, ask them to stop. She answered: "No, I can not do this. Use your headphones." I was already using the headphones, but the noise was excessive and since it was on and off all the time, you couldn't ignore it as a background noise. After the end of the 2nd block three USMLE step takers including myself, went on a break and asked the Prometric test supervisor what can be done. She was very unresponsive. She did not take any action. She informed us that there are no earplugs at the test center - only the headphones. I went outside of the building and started talking to the construction guys begging them not to cut the metal pipes which they were cutting. As the construction workers informed me - there is no roof on the building, that's why the noise is going inside. They told me to talk with their supervisor - I went and talked with the construction workers' manager and he gave me earplugs and promised that they will not cut any more metal pipes, until 5pm at least. I went inside and continued with the test - wearing both the earplugs and the headphones. There was no more noise coming from the roof (before that it really felt like someone is cutting something on the roof). I was happy that I managed to resolve the situation, but I wasted half an hour of break time running around the building talking with construction people. Of course I was quite tired towards the last one block, since I hardly had any break time left from the only half and hour.
At the end of the test day I talked with the next person i.e. the afternoon shift in Prometric about what happened. He told me "But it was only for 5 minutes" - which is a lie - it was for a whole half-an-hour during the second block of questions. He told me that the only time they have had stopped working during the construction was for two days of JACK-HAMMERING! So is any other noise besides a jack hammering OK to take your exam? Why should it be my responsibility to go around talking with construction people while my test time is running? Why did nobody else at Prometric do something about the situation.
Today I called the Thompson Prometric Test Center and filed a report about what happened. Thompson Prometric told me that it was NOT their fault - it's the fault of the landlord of the building, because Prometric is just renting space from the landlord. They also told me that if the test delivery conditions were not right and the noise is excessive - I should have stopped taking the test. 😕 The person on the phone , who was extremely unfriendly and aggressively defended the Prometric test center, told me to call now USMLE because they are my certifying agent and Prometric is only delivering the software and the landlord is responsible for the testing conditions and it's my fault that I have continued taking the exam and not stop.
What kind of test administration is this? We study for months ( if not counting the years in Medical School) for these exams, we pay $600 to take it and at the end you can not even be sure, that there will not be METAL PIPE CUTTING going on. If you see construction around your test center - please, make sure you go and talk with the Construction's manager before your test, otherwise you'll be loosing time from your exam. I don't have any other advice to give you.
I personally think this is ridiculous!
😱
I took my exam yesterday at at Homewood, IL Prometric Test Center. The building there is under construction - there is a ceiling, but there is no roof i.e. the roof is being repaired. Exactly at the 30min of the second block of questions, someone started CUTTING METAL! I put the headphones on, but they were not enough. I raised my hand and asked the Prometric supervisor, when she came, to please, ask them to stop. She answered: "No, I can not do this. Use your headphones." I was already using the headphones, but the noise was excessive and since it was on and off all the time, you couldn't ignore it as a background noise. After the end of the 2nd block three USMLE step takers including myself, went on a break and asked the Prometric test supervisor what can be done. She was very unresponsive. She did not take any action. She informed us that there are no earplugs at the test center - only the headphones. I went outside of the building and started talking to the construction guys begging them not to cut the metal pipes which they were cutting. As the construction workers informed me - there is no roof on the building, that's why the noise is going inside. They told me to talk with their supervisor - I went and talked with the construction workers' manager and he gave me earplugs and promised that they will not cut any more metal pipes, until 5pm at least. I went inside and continued with the test - wearing both the earplugs and the headphones. There was no more noise coming from the roof (before that it really felt like someone is cutting something on the roof). I was happy that I managed to resolve the situation, but I wasted half an hour of break time running around the building talking with construction people. Of course I was quite tired towards the last one block, since I hardly had any break time left from the only half and hour.
At the end of the test day I talked with the next person i.e. the afternoon shift in Prometric about what happened. He told me "But it was only for 5 minutes" - which is a lie - it was for a whole half-an-hour during the second block of questions. He told me that the only time they have had stopped working during the construction was for two days of JACK-HAMMERING! So is any other noise besides a jack hammering OK to take your exam? Why should it be my responsibility to go around talking with construction people while my test time is running? Why did nobody else at Prometric do something about the situation.
Today I called the Thompson Prometric Test Center and filed a report about what happened. Thompson Prometric told me that it was NOT their fault - it's the fault of the landlord of the building, because Prometric is just renting space from the landlord. They also told me that if the test delivery conditions were not right and the noise is excessive - I should have stopped taking the test. 😕 The person on the phone , who was extremely unfriendly and aggressively defended the Prometric test center, told me to call now USMLE because they are my certifying agent and Prometric is only delivering the software and the landlord is responsible for the testing conditions and it's my fault that I have continued taking the exam and not stop.
What kind of test administration is this? We study for months ( if not counting the years in Medical School) for these exams, we pay $600 to take it and at the end you can not even be sure, that there will not be METAL PIPE CUTTING going on. If you see construction around your test center - please, make sure you go and talk with the Construction's manager before your test, otherwise you'll be loosing time from your exam. I don't have any other advice to give you.
I personally think this is ridiculous!
😱
