Horrible test experience(long!)

She seems to remember now and says:

"Yes, thats right"

Given her dumbness and the fact that the room is not transparent(there is a tiny glass pane) I ask:

"How will you know?"

She says

"We have cameras above each computer"

I am a little relieved-but she still hasn't understood that during the quant section-I'm going to go through many many little A4 sized plastic sheets.She hasn't understood the seriousness of the situation-I mean she was vague through all her responses....almost seemed to brush off my queries as unimportant!

I stress how important it is that she watch the computer because I'm going to go through many A4 sheets. I then ask her how long I have-since I am not allowed a time piece and there is no clock in sight. She says-
"About 5 minutes more"

I drink my Red Bull and take a bite of my sandwich. It couldn't have been more than 3 minutes. Anyway, I tell her I'm ready to go in for Quant.

I go in and to my horror the screen says that I'm 1 minute over time. I really believe that the clocks(screen and reception) were not synced. Anyway, I quickly click on the button to resume.

"Admin User name/ Password" flashes on the screen.This wasn't supposed to happen! I put up my hand and ditzy chick 2 waltzes in....after what seems like an hour .I point excitedly at the screen.

To my horror she looks as surprised as me. Enters a user name and password. Pass doesn"t work. She trys again...still doesn't work. Then again. Finally gets it right 3rd time. By this time, when the GMAT quant starts...I have lost 2.5 minutes.

"Oh, it's only 2 minutes gone" and she walks off. I can't believe she had the nerve to say that.

Worse the 1st question throws me off a bit. The others go well....and by Q 7, I have finished using up the A4 sheet. I put my hand.....and ditzy chick 2 comes in after what seems like eternity. She asks me....and I'm not kidding whether I'd like a new sheet. Then she goes back and gets one.

I'm behind time and have to solve some equations....by question 13, I have run out again. I put up my hand....3 minutes or more later, there is no response. I am not kidding.

I have completely run out of space to write...and yet I have to. My left arm has been raised for 3 $%^&%^& minutes. I lose it....I pop up from my desk(I'm sitting next to the door) and knock loudly on the door.

Ditz 2 walks and and says "We've run out of sheets.Ditz 1 is wiping one at the moment with a wet cloth". I look through the pane and indeed Ditz 1 is doing something of that sort-she seems quite relaxed and smirks every now and the reflection of her ugly mug in the partially shined surface.

I'm at the point of walking out of the centre now. I know from experience that it takes a while to clean a plastic laminate from marker......I tell Ditz 2, "you'll have to restart the test .this is completely unacceptable".

"Why she asks? Does it make such a difference?". I swear she said this.

At that point of time-the chick sitting next to me(and doing some IT exam) offers her unused sheet to Ditz 2-"He can have mine"

Thank god! I didn't get a chance to thank her later(she had left) but she really saved the day.

Future requests for additional sheets were met with promptly.....and I finished with 3 seconds to spare(obviously had to guess a few due to time constraints...in addition to the stuff I didn't know)

After, the quant break I had time to be angry. Unfortunately(for me) I completely lost it and let the receptionists have a piece of my mind.Note: At no time was I rude....but my tone was accusatory and with good $%@!&*( reason.

Ditz 1 got really defensive. She still failed to see how it could possibly make a difference and tried to say-

"Well, we have to attend to calls as well. There are other people doing tests too"

I said" But how could you possibly be so disorganised? How can you run out of sheets? Are you telling me that you have only 2 sheets here....none spare?"

I took no real break(after my previous experience can you blame me?), had a one minute water break and headed back in.


I'm defn calling Pearson vue and letting them know what happened. I know my score remains the same...but I want my money back or 30 more points!

With a $250 fee-I think Pearson Vue could fingerprint less and utilise that money better...how about more than 2 sheets for a test centre?


49-50 was a par score for me in Quant and 42-44 in verbal. Funnily, this affected performance more in verbal.....I think because I was angry and foolishly picked a quarrel during the break(and didn;t take a break between quant and verbal)