Horrendous experience at Prometric testing center

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GhostBusster

GhostBusster

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The air conditioning wasn’t working at the Thomson Prometric testing center, and temperature in the facility registered 80 degrees on the thermostat. I generally prefer cooler temperatures indoor -- I keep my thermostat set at the standard room temp of 72 -- but an ambient temperature of 74 or 75 degrees would have been tolerable. But 80 degrees was just too much, especially for an exam of this difficulty and this length. Aside from being upset about the situation throughout the exam (because I was constantly being reminded of it by the sweat dripping down my head), I could feel that I was getting tired and having difficulty concentrating. I’m sure that the conditions affected my performance. My school required that I complete the exam by this weekend, so I had no choice but to take it under those conditions and deal with it afterward.

I filed a complaint with NBME immediately after the exam and I am awaiting a response.

I can only imagine that they will allow me to retake it. My concern though is the fact that my rotations begin this coming week and I will have to continue studying to maintain my preparation. And, I will have to do this after my school days.

This is just a lousy situation all-around. If you were in my shoes, what would you do?
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A friend of mine had to take the LSAT in a concrete parking structure with a Harley convention(yes, it was Harley specific) going on across the street.

If it was me, I would have sucked it up and gotten in the zone. 80F is not so hot to me. If it was a big deal to you then you should not have taken the exam and made up some excuse for your school. What's the worst that they could do if you tell them that you got a flat tire or were so anxious the night before that you overslept?

At this point though I think it is unlikely that you're going to get a retake over an 80F temperature. Suck it up and move on I suppose.
 
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Second the above comment - 80 degrees is hot and unpleasant, but I wouldn't guess anyone is going to give you the option to retake. My parents and my boyfriend both keep their respective houses at >80 during the summer. (And I have my own apartment because I am a sane person!)

I'm sorry, though, 80 degrees can be really unpleasant 🙁 Hope it didn't affect your performance too much. :luck:
 
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At best they'll probably amend your score to say something like you took the test under "unusual conditions" or however it is they phrase it. Did your center have fans? Mine had desktop fans at each cubicle and I had mine on most of the time.
 
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DivCurlZero said:
At best they'll probably amend your score to say something like you took the test under "unusual conditions" or however it is they phrase it. Did your center have fans? Mine had desktop fans at each cubicle and I had mine on most of the time.
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No, my testing center didn't have any fans for the test-takers. They had one small fan, which was kept outside of the computer room.

As for your "unusual conditions" prediction, I have to disagree. Eighty degrees certainly isn't 100 degrees, but it's nearly ten degrees higher than room temperature. It's very uncomfortable (and certainly far outside of the norm of thermostat settings). The survey at the end of the USMLE even asks specifically whether the testing center had proper climate control, so clearly the NBME thinks that the testing environment should be a comfortable one.
 
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sorry to break it to you....but I don't see them allowing you to retake anything. I've heard of arguments more compelling than yours, and they were kindly denied.
 
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physics junkie said:
A friend of mine had to take the LSAT in a concrete parking structure with a Harley convention(yes, it was Harley specific) going on across the street.

If it was me, I would have sucked it up and gotten in the zone. 80F is not so hot to me. If it was a big deal to you then you should not have taken the exam and made up some excuse for your school. What's the worst that they could do if you tell them that you got a flat tire or were so anxious the night before that you overslept?

At this point though I think it is unlikely that you're going to get a retake over an 80F temperature. Suck it up and move on I suppose.
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What could my school have done? They could have stopped me from advancing into the third year. That’s what they could have done.
 
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plauto said:
sorry to break it to you....but I don't see them allowing you to retake anything. I've heard of arguments more compelling than yours, and they were kindly denied.
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What kinds of arguments got denied? Delays? Having to reschedule? Noise even? Sorry, but in my humble opinion, nothing messes with a test-taker more than the ambient temperature.
 
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GhostBusster said:
No, my testing center didn’t have any fans for the test-takers. They had one small fan, which was kept outside of the computer room.

As for your “unusual conditions” prediction, I have to disagree. Eighty degrees certainly isn’t 100 degrees, but it’s nearly ten degrees higher than room temperature. It’s very uncomfortable (and certainly far outside of the norm of thermostat settings). The survey at the end of the USMLE even asks specifically whether the testing center had proper climate control, so clearly the NBME thinks that the testing environment should be a comfortable one.
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Well, we'll see. Obviously, I hope I'm wrong because I'd like to see everyone get their "best shot" in on their actual test day, but I'd honestly be surprised if they allowed you to retake it. Please keep us updated.
 
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GhostBusster said:
The air conditioning wasn’t working at the Thomson Prometric testing center, and temperature in the facility registered 80 degrees on the thermostat. I generally prefer cooler temperatures indoor -- I keep my thermostat set at the standard room temp of 72 -- but an ambient temperature of 74 or 75 degrees would have been tolerable. But 80 degrees was just too much, especially for an exam of this difficulty and this length. Aside from being upset about the situation throughout the exam (because I was constantly being reminded of it by the sweat dripping down my head), I could feel that I was getting tired and having difficulty concentrating. I’m sure that the conditions affected my performance. My school required that I complete the exam by this weekend, so I had no choice but to take it under those conditions and deal with it afterward.

I filed a complaint with NBME immediately after the exam and I am awaiting a response.

I can only imagine that they will allow me to retake it. My concern though is the fact that my rotations begin this coming week and I will have to continue studying to maintain my preparation. And, I will have to do this after my school days.

This is just a lousy situation all-around. If you were in my shoes, what would you do?
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Yeah I had to take step 2 when the room was 80. Apparently some prometric centers A/C can't handle it when its 100 outside and there are 20 computers running in a room. It sucks but I don't think it's grounds for a retake.

GhostBusster said:
What kinds of arguments got denied? Delays? Having to reschedule? Noise even? Sorry, but in my humble opinion, nothing messes with a test-taker more than the ambient temperature.
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Again, I realize it sucks but seriously stop whining.
 
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I was half way thru my 2nd block when the old man next to me stood up and said "finally, done with this ****!" let out a loud fart and walked out. Took me a few minutes to recover 😱
 
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Septo Shock said:
I was half way thru my 2nd block when the old man next to me stood up and said "finally, done with this ****!" let out a loud fart and walked out. Took me a few minutes to recover 😱
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Sorry broseph, but I had been sitting there for over 7 hours. Felt good to get the f*** out of there!
 
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Sorry to hear about your miserable experience GhostBuster, but I don't think people are being unrealistic when they say a retake is doubtful.. not trying to be harsh, just trying to give some heads up of what may be coming. I'd be equally upset, but I have a feeling that the NBME will be extremely resistant to anything that people might otherwise be able to abuse for retakes (not saying you are, but they have pretty minimal opportunity to verify/support your particular situation I'm sorry to say).
 
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Ookluh said:
Sorry to hear about your miserable experience GhostBuster, but I don't think people are being unrealistic when they say a retake is doubtful.. not trying to be harsh, just trying to give some heads up of what may be coming. I'd be equally upset, but I have a feeling that the NBME will be extremely resistant to anything that people might otherwise be able to abuse for retakes (not saying you are, but they have pretty minimal opportunity to verify/support your particular situation I'm sorry to say).
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It’s verifiable. The employees at the testing center wrote up the proper “paperwork”. So, there is record of the incident.

Besides, one of my classmates was taking the test with me.

I’m really amazed how there are so many experts here on how the NBME is deals with these matters, despite the fact that few if any of you have encountered these situations personally. Moreover, my original question was “what would you do?”, not “what will the NBME do?”. And instead, I get a handful of responses showing off expertise on the NBME and its policies towards retakes....along with a couple of accusations that I’m whining. There’s certainly is a lot of feather-fluffing going on here!
 
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I wouldn't do anything -- since you're asking what people would do. I'm sorry you were uncomfortable, but honestly, being 8 degrees away from my ideal temperature does not seem like an issue worth filing a formal complaint over. Maybe the people talking about whining could phrase their comments with a little more delicacy, but I think people are trying to suggest to you that you pick your battles carefully.
 
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I don't think anyone was trying to attack you. I think people were just trying to give you a realistic view of what may potentially happen, as you appear 100% convinced that you will be granted a retake. I guess what I'm trying to say is that by posting a thread on here, you are inviting people's honest opinions.

At the end of the day, when you get your score back, you may be pleasantly surprised.
 
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GhostBusster said:
I’m really amazed how there are so many experts here on how the NBME is deals with these matters, despite the fact that few if any of you have encountered these situations personally. Moreover, my original question was “what would you do?”, not “what will the NBME do?”. And instead, I get a handful of responses showing off expertise on the NBME and its policies towards retakes....along with a couple of accusations that I’m whining. There’s certainly is a lot of feather-fluffing going on here!
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Well, you did bring it up on an internet message board...Just sayin.

I had the opposite problem. It was FREEZING in my testing room and the AC was LOUD as all hell. Even with the headphones on. My fingers actually turned blue, as did the tip of my noes. This however was less of a problem then the power going off....*twitch* I will NOT be using that center ever again, I can tell you that. I don't know how the NBME handles things, but the NBOME (as it was a Comlex I had the problem with) was VERY nice and responded to me right away. They straight up asked me if I thought that the issues I faced effected my performance. Problem is, you don't KNOW that till you see your score, and you can't see your score before you answer that question.

I get the impression that they would have given me a retake if I pushed for it, if I honestly thought it mattered (I wasn't THAT uncomfortable, yes, uncomfortable - but NOT uncomfortable enough to study for that thing...again, plus, I needed to start rotations and get on with my life).

I say this because in the last email they sent me after I said "I really have no way of knowing how I would have done without those conditions, I don't think it would have made THAT much of a difference, please just be aware that that testing center should be examined for future test takers" I got an email telling me my exam would be scored.

That said, in my personal opinion, I don't think that's right. I would have had a HUGE advantage over every other person taking that exam, as I'd have seen and sat for a real test already when I took it over. I think a small disadvantage (that everyone has the chance of running into - bad testing center, bad AC, loud person in the next cubicle) is far better then one or a few people getting a big advantage. Life isn't perfect, and no matter how hard they try, standardized testing won't be either.
 
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I love all of the "80 degrees isnt that bad" and "sack it up and deal with it" comments. It's easy to write something like that when you had nothing to fight except for the exam itself. If I walked into the test center and it was that hot I would have told the people there to **** themselves and walked out.

It would have probably been better if you didn't take the exam (you can reschedule as long as you're within your allotted 3 month time-frame, right?) But what's done is done, fight it until the end, OP. Call call and call again. Let us know how it goes. Good luck!
 
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knuckles said:
How badly do you think your performanced suffer? A few points or greater than 10?
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I don’t know if I could put a number on it, but I’d say it affected my performance a lot. I found myself having to read and re-read and re-read the questionss frequently, and just felt generally fatigued during the exam. I could tell that my mind wasn’t “sharp” throughout the exam. You know how there are some questions where you just know you don’t know the answer, and some questions where you know that you can reach the correct answer but just can’t seem to muster the mental fortitude to do it? I had a lot of the latter during the exam. Maybe I’m unique. But heat just wears me down very quickly.
 
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Well, I don't know what to say. I think everyone should have the best testing conditions possible, and you clearly didn't, and I feel for you man, but I'm honestly skeptical that there's anything NBME is going to do to remedy the problem. I wish you well. Let us know what happens.
 
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