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27 Sep 2022, 08:29
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Hey everyone,
I'm writing this post so that Indian GMAT test takers (and those who're planning to give their GMAT exam in Mumbai) are well aware of the poor management by one of the official test centres - Maharashtra College of Arts & Commerce, Mumbai, and so that everyone thinks twice before booking this centre for their future appointments.
Little context, I've been preparing for GMAT for almost 2.5months. Towards the last week before the exam, I attempted 3 official GMAT mocks and scored 690 on the last(Q50, V34). My target score was around 720+ but I would've been happy with a 710 as well.
The problem I faced initially when trying to book an appointment for a date in Sept (end of month) was that there are only 2 test centres in Mumbai - Pearson Vue centre and Maharashtra College (which basically lends one of its labs to Pearson Vue). If you google or search on GMATclub for test centre reviews, you will find very good reviews for the Pearson Vue centre (as expected) but very few reviews regarding Maharashtra College - it's a very new test centre which started scheduling GMAT appointments from July 2022 afterwards only.
So, while trying to book a slot for Sept end during Aug mid, I wasn't able to find much slots at the Pearson Vue centre (high in demand i guess) but I did see many slots available at the Maharashtra College centre and decided to take a plunge and booked my slot for 26th Sep 12pm.
Yesterday, 26th Sep, I left early from my place and reached the test centre 1.5hrs before hand (cannot take risk with Mumbai traffic haha!). From the outset, this "college" looked like an apartment building crammed up between office buildings located on a very busy road near to Mumbai's railway station. I saw LOTS of students wandering outside & inside the college (the noise level was similar to that of a sabzi bazaar).
The GMAT appointment letter/email only tells you the directions to the appointment centre and mentions no details on which dept., floor, building, etc. to enter for taking the exam. No contact information is provided as well. These things would have been very helpful because I tried asking students, security personnel and even the peon on where to go for giving the GMAT exam, they all looked at me and said the same thing "I don't know". I decided to step inside the college and go talk to their administrative staff, which was very very easy as there was no security whatsoever. Upon finding the administrative staff, they answered my question and told me to go visit the Computer lab which was the last building in the complex.
Loaded with this new information, I ventured towards the Computer lab building. As i walked across the narrow complex, the noise level kept on increasing, maybe because the end of the complex had no oversight from the officials and students liked to wander around there (I could be wrong but i think I saw some students making instagram reels while walking towards the venue). Anyway, I did not get distracted by all this and found the computer lab. Right at it's entrance, you see a small staircase leading to a very small room in the basement which had "Pearson Vue Testing Center" printed on it. When i went closer to the door I noticed that its locked. It was 10:45am and while I accept that I was 75mins early to my appointment, seeing the test center locked did cast some doubts in my head. But i shrugged it off and decided to wait since we are only asked to be at the venue 30mins before our appointment.
While I waited, 3-4 other candidates who were also appearing for GMAT arrived by 11:15am (45mins before the 12pm appointment). Around this time, I saw a gentleman walk towards us asking if we all are here for GMAT appointments. We all nodded and said yes. He then replies, straightaway,"Please share your contact details with me, today there will be no exams at this test centre as there is no power supply. I will create a case ticket for each of you by tomorrow, then GMAT officials will get in touch with you and afterwards you can reschedule your exam as per your convenience".
I felt like "wtf! why is this happening". The other candidates, some of whom were accompanied by their parents as well, started lashing out at the person asking why is there no power supply for the test centre. The invigilator had only one answer "The school has scheduled maintenance activity and hence the power supply has been shut for today". This to-and-fro conversation between candidates, their parents and the invigilator went on for another 15-20mins with everyone sharing how they cannot reschedule their appointment since a couple of candidates had come from outside the city (One candidate's father claimed he came all the way from Amritsar!). One of the candidates was a returning candidate to this same venue, since the last time she gave her exam at this venue, the computers shut down midway during the test & she had to reschedule due to technical difficulty. But the invigilator kept saying the same thing "I understand your concern but I cannot do anything".
At this point, I considered to take it on his face value and give him my details so he can lodge a case for my appointment, but then I recalled that when I had arrived so early to the venue, I had stepped into some of the existing labs in the building and they ALL had power supply to them. Infact, there were 20+ computers switched on inside the college lab and nobody was even using them. I shared this information with the invigilator as well as with the other candidates. The invigilator didn't change his stance but now the other candidates started to push him to call the college authorities for getting the power supply back on for the test centre.
The invigilator then said "if the principal says ok for power supply then only the exams will happen here". So everybody then rushed towards the principal's office. By this time, only 15mins were left for our 12pm appointment (so approx. 11:45am). We went to the principal's office, his assistant told us that the principal was in a meeting. We all shared on situation to the assistant. He called the HOD of the Computer Lab and said "Sir, they have come to principal's office" after which he handed me the phone to speak to the HOD of Computer lab. I spoke to the person and shared our situation with him. He asked us all to come back to the Computer Lab and that they will help us out.
We all again walk back to the Computer Lab building and met with the HOD. We all spoke our minds and told him how it is crucial that we give our exams today. He was reluctant at first but eventually (after 10mins) he agreed that okay we can provide the power supply to the Pearson Vue Test centre but it will take some time as some cabling work will have to be done to ensure continuous power supply. It was 11:55am at this point and it didn't look like we would be sitting at a computer by 12pm giving our GMAT exam. But the invigilator told us not to worry as the exam timer starts only after we open the test and not as per the appointment.
We all then waited outside the building while couple of contractors were doing cabling work to the main circuit board of the building. We waited patiently for about 10-15mins and finally the cabling work was done and we all entered the small basement room accompanied by the invigilator. It was around 12:10pm at this point. And more candidates had also come up by this time at the venue.
After entering that small basement space, it felt very claustrophobic and not suitable for handling large number of people coming together to give tests. The invigilator took another 5-10mins to switch on all the computers (during this time everyone started putting their stuff in lockers. Yes, there were around 8 lockers provided). Then one by one he started doing the ID checks, palm vein scan, etc. for all of us and then took us to our seats one by one.
So finally, I got to sit in front of the computer by 12:30pm. Erasable laminated white notebook was available and ear plugs were also provided. The computers looked decent and separators were in place between each computer system.
Final Verdict: Despite feeling that I did well on the exam (i faced really tough questions from the very beginning in Quants but I felt i was able to solve them accurately), I ended up with 610 score (Q48, V25). Did not believe I would get such a low score. What a crappy end to an exhausting and horrible day.
I would strongly advise people to not give any future exams at this center. I don't know why but something seemed off from the very first moment I saw the venue after i stepped out of my cab. And the way authorities showed a "dont-care-not-my-problem" attitude, I'm not surprised that the venue wasn't properly taken care of. I don't know if all of the pre-exam efforts of convincing the college people made me lose my edge or whether it just wasn't my day.
In conclusion, after paying 200+ dollars for an exam, I expected a better experience. Totally not worth it. I'm waiting on the ESR for my effort hoping I'm able to discern where did I go wrong but honestly, if I had a better experience, I think I could have done much better, but I'll let bygones be bygones now and look towards the future. Hope my experience over here serves well for those looking to schedule GMAT at Maharashtra College of Arts & Commerce, if anyone is considering it please don't (unless you are very desperate).
I hope some of the candidates who were there with me see this post here and corroborate my statements so others can believe me as well haha. Cheers!
I'm writing this post so that Indian GMAT test takers (and those who're planning to give their GMAT exam in Mumbai) are well aware of the poor management by one of the official test centres - Maharashtra College of Arts & Commerce, Mumbai, and so that everyone thinks twice before booking this centre for their future appointments.
Little context, I've been preparing for GMAT for almost 2.5months. Towards the last week before the exam, I attempted 3 official GMAT mocks and scored 690 on the last(Q50, V34). My target score was around 720+ but I would've been happy with a 710 as well.
The problem I faced initially when trying to book an appointment for a date in Sept (end of month) was that there are only 2 test centres in Mumbai - Pearson Vue centre and Maharashtra College (which basically lends one of its labs to Pearson Vue). If you google or search on GMATclub for test centre reviews, you will find very good reviews for the Pearson Vue centre (as expected) but very few reviews regarding Maharashtra College - it's a very new test centre which started scheduling GMAT appointments from July 2022 afterwards only.
So, while trying to book a slot for Sept end during Aug mid, I wasn't able to find much slots at the Pearson Vue centre (high in demand i guess) but I did see many slots available at the Maharashtra College centre and decided to take a plunge and booked my slot for 26th Sep 12pm.
Yesterday, 26th Sep, I left early from my place and reached the test centre 1.5hrs before hand (cannot take risk with Mumbai traffic haha!). From the outset, this "college" looked like an apartment building crammed up between office buildings located on a very busy road near to Mumbai's railway station. I saw LOTS of students wandering outside & inside the college (the noise level was similar to that of a sabzi bazaar).
The GMAT appointment letter/email only tells you the directions to the appointment centre and mentions no details on which dept., floor, building, etc. to enter for taking the exam. No contact information is provided as well. These things would have been very helpful because I tried asking students, security personnel and even the peon on where to go for giving the GMAT exam, they all looked at me and said the same thing "I don't know". I decided to step inside the college and go talk to their administrative staff, which was very very easy as there was no security whatsoever. Upon finding the administrative staff, they answered my question and told me to go visit the Computer lab which was the last building in the complex.
Loaded with this new information, I ventured towards the Computer lab building. As i walked across the narrow complex, the noise level kept on increasing, maybe because the end of the complex had no oversight from the officials and students liked to wander around there (I could be wrong but i think I saw some students making instagram reels while walking towards the venue). Anyway, I did not get distracted by all this and found the computer lab. Right at it's entrance, you see a small staircase leading to a very small room in the basement which had "Pearson Vue Testing Center" printed on it. When i went closer to the door I noticed that its locked. It was 10:45am and while I accept that I was 75mins early to my appointment, seeing the test center locked did cast some doubts in my head. But i shrugged it off and decided to wait since we are only asked to be at the venue 30mins before our appointment.
While I waited, 3-4 other candidates who were also appearing for GMAT arrived by 11:15am (45mins before the 12pm appointment). Around this time, I saw a gentleman walk towards us asking if we all are here for GMAT appointments. We all nodded and said yes. He then replies, straightaway,"Please share your contact details with me, today there will be no exams at this test centre as there is no power supply. I will create a case ticket for each of you by tomorrow, then GMAT officials will get in touch with you and afterwards you can reschedule your exam as per your convenience".
I felt like "wtf! why is this happening". The other candidates, some of whom were accompanied by their parents as well, started lashing out at the person asking why is there no power supply for the test centre. The invigilator had only one answer "The school has scheduled maintenance activity and hence the power supply has been shut for today". This to-and-fro conversation between candidates, their parents and the invigilator went on for another 15-20mins with everyone sharing how they cannot reschedule their appointment since a couple of candidates had come from outside the city (One candidate's father claimed he came all the way from Amritsar!). One of the candidates was a returning candidate to this same venue, since the last time she gave her exam at this venue, the computers shut down midway during the test & she had to reschedule due to technical difficulty. But the invigilator kept saying the same thing "I understand your concern but I cannot do anything".
At this point, I considered to take it on his face value and give him my details so he can lodge a case for my appointment, but then I recalled that when I had arrived so early to the venue, I had stepped into some of the existing labs in the building and they ALL had power supply to them. Infact, there were 20+ computers switched on inside the college lab and nobody was even using them. I shared this information with the invigilator as well as with the other candidates. The invigilator didn't change his stance but now the other candidates started to push him to call the college authorities for getting the power supply back on for the test centre.
The invigilator then said "if the principal says ok for power supply then only the exams will happen here". So everybody then rushed towards the principal's office. By this time, only 15mins were left for our 12pm appointment (so approx. 11:45am). We went to the principal's office, his assistant told us that the principal was in a meeting. We all shared on situation to the assistant. He called the HOD of the Computer Lab and said "Sir, they have come to principal's office" after which he handed me the phone to speak to the HOD of Computer lab. I spoke to the person and shared our situation with him. He asked us all to come back to the Computer Lab and that they will help us out.
We all again walk back to the Computer Lab building and met with the HOD. We all spoke our minds and told him how it is crucial that we give our exams today. He was reluctant at first but eventually (after 10mins) he agreed that okay we can provide the power supply to the Pearson Vue Test centre but it will take some time as some cabling work will have to be done to ensure continuous power supply. It was 11:55am at this point and it didn't look like we would be sitting at a computer by 12pm giving our GMAT exam. But the invigilator told us not to worry as the exam timer starts only after we open the test and not as per the appointment.
We all then waited outside the building while couple of contractors were doing cabling work to the main circuit board of the building. We waited patiently for about 10-15mins and finally the cabling work was done and we all entered the small basement room accompanied by the invigilator. It was around 12:10pm at this point. And more candidates had also come up by this time at the venue.
After entering that small basement space, it felt very claustrophobic and not suitable for handling large number of people coming together to give tests. The invigilator took another 5-10mins to switch on all the computers (during this time everyone started putting their stuff in lockers. Yes, there were around 8 lockers provided). Then one by one he started doing the ID checks, palm vein scan, etc. for all of us and then took us to our seats one by one.
So finally, I got to sit in front of the computer by 12:30pm. Erasable laminated white notebook was available and ear plugs were also provided. The computers looked decent and separators were in place between each computer system.
Final Verdict: Despite feeling that I did well on the exam (i faced really tough questions from the very beginning in Quants but I felt i was able to solve them accurately), I ended up with 610 score (Q48, V25). Did not believe I would get such a low score. What a crappy end to an exhausting and horrible day.
I would strongly advise people to not give any future exams at this center. I don't know why but something seemed off from the very first moment I saw the venue after i stepped out of my cab. And the way authorities showed a "dont-care-not-my-problem" attitude, I'm not surprised that the venue wasn't properly taken care of. I don't know if all of the pre-exam efforts of convincing the college people made me lose my edge or whether it just wasn't my day.
In conclusion, after paying 200+ dollars for an exam, I expected a better experience. Totally not worth it. I'm waiting on the ESR for my effort hoping I'm able to discern where did I go wrong but honestly, if I had a better experience, I think I could have done much better, but I'll let bygones be bygones now and look towards the future. Hope my experience over here serves well for those looking to schedule GMAT at Maharashtra College of Arts & Commerce, if anyone is considering it please don't (unless you are very desperate).
I hope some of the candidates who were there with me see this post here and corroborate my statements so others can believe me as well haha. Cheers!
27 Sep 2022, 08:36
Kudos
Bookmarks
Wow. That’s a terrible story and experience. I don’t think I’ve heard of test takers having to supply electricity for the test center. I guess the best approach would be to avoid this test center altogether. I would also recommend it to you inform GMAC so they’re aware about the condition of this testing center. They contract with Pearson to provide testing facilities and I don’t think they have a good understanding of how good or bad some of these facilities are.
At the same time, I don’t think they really have a feedback mechanism either. 🥴
Thank you so much for describing your experience and outlining it.
Posted from my mobile device
At the same time, I don’t think they really have a feedback mechanism either. 🥴
Thank you so much for describing your experience and outlining it.
Posted from my mobile device
27 Sep 2022, 08:43
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Bookmarks
Thanks bb for the reply and suggestions.
I fully agree with you that if possible one should avoid this test centre altogether. I'm considering writing to GMAC as well sharing my experience but as you rightly said, even I don't think they have a good feedback mechanism. Will let you and others know if I receive any feedback from them. For now, back to the grind. Will try for a re-attempt after 3-4 weeks maybe. Hoping for the best!
I fully agree with you that if possible one should avoid this test centre altogether. I'm considering writing to GMAC as well sharing my experience but as you rightly said, even I don't think they have a good feedback mechanism. Will let you and others know if I receive any feedback from them. For now, back to the grind. Will try for a re-attempt after 3-4 weeks maybe. Hoping for the best!
Another point that might help candidates who come across this post: unless I'm mistaken, there's no air-conditioning inside the centre. The room felt a bit stuffy, and this might have affected my score (which is eerily similar to yours!). Hope your next attempt erases the awful memories of this one. Best of luck!
