Ask the Test Maker

I took the GMAT in Dakar yesterday (20/11). My first visit to the center was on November 19th, in the afternoon, where I met the test administrator and asked some questions so I could be at ease the next day. A little bit about my background -- I live in Cape Verde in West Africa. The closest center to Cape Verde and one of the only ones in West Africa is this one in Senegal. So after booking the test, I also booked a 400EUR ticket to travel from my country to Senegal, arriving 2 days before and leaving on the evening after my test (1810). My appointment was scheduled for 10:00. The four hour exam would have ended well before my scheduled departure.

I arrived at the test center on the day of well ahead of the suggested half an hour beforehand at 9:05, after a good night's sleep and feeling relaxed and prepared for the test. Here, we begin with the list of irregularities.

1. It took the center 55 minutes to register me for the test, though the process is only supposed to take half an hour. I should have seen this as a warning sign, but we continued.

2. At around 10:00, one of the test center administrators began logging me into the GMAT system for the test only to receive a series of error messages. At around 10:05, believing that it might be problematic to begin the test late, I asked him if this would not be an issue. He assured me it wouldn't. But I didn't expect that the wait would be so long.

3. Though I had arrived at the test center around 9:00, I did not begin the test until a little after 13:00hrs (FOUR HOURS LATER) due to "technical connection problems". At various points during that time, they were on the phone with Pearson and trying to solve the problem, but with no results. As you might be able to imagine, I became more stressed during this time, as I had a limited time to take the test and make it to my flight back to Cape Verde. The test center told me I should re-schedule the test, not taking into account the fact that I DO NOT LIVE IN SENEGAL and that there is an attached cost to purchasing or changing a flight ticket, missing more days from work and paying for the hotel to stay in a foreign country. By the time I started the test at 13:00, it had been 5 hours since I had last eaten and I had been waiting in the room for 4 of those hours. By this time, I was also certainly going to miss my flight unless I could save time by not taking any of the breaks (An additional cause of stress. No applicant should be placed in the position to feel as though they are not entitled to the breaks because of the test center's incompetencies and inability to start the test when scheduled). Once I started the exam, I tried to convince myself to forget the delay and focus on the task at hand, believing that it could not possibly get any worse. However, the delay should NEVER have occurred, as it is the test center's reponsibility to ensure the proper conditions necessary for connection, be aware of any pending updates, and ensure that this NEVER interferes with a candidate's experience. If they cannot prove this capacity, then it is irresponsible of Pearson to allow them to continue to be accredited for that purpose.

4. Had the connection issues been the only complaint, it would be unlikely that I would be writing this note right now. But it was not.

5. A power outage left me outlining my AWA in the dark, using only the light from the screen to make out my letters for about 5 minutes until the generator kicked in... (5 minutes of the brief half hour we have to write the essay). Senegal is a country with many power outages, the test center should have foreseen the possibility and made adjustments to ensure that lights in the test center would not go out during an exam...this is relatively simple technology.

6. Once I started the writing, the mouse I was using stopped working and had to be changed for another one (meanwhile, time is passing). This is also something that could have been tested for before, to ensure that the candidate would not have any such issues during the exam.

7. At this point, I think surely nothing else can go wrong and I finish writing the essay and the Integrated Reasoning, visibly upset while taking the test.

8. Once I begin the quantitative section of the test, lo and behold, it seems to be the perfect time for construction to start in the room directly below ours, with drilling and what must have been an electric saw. At this point, I look helplessly at the test administrator and tell him that he must make them stop; he sheepishly walks over to me with a bag of cheap orange earplugs, as if these would help with anything. I yell to him that he has to tell them to stop (I would have to yell for him to be able to hear me over the noise). At this point, I think this is unacceptable as I can barely hear myself think. The test center offers these exams once a week and I had paid to take it. The least they can do is ensure that on test days, there are no major distractions to testtakers (for example, an electric saw and drill in the adjacent room)! If they cannot guarantee that condition, then they should NOT ACCEPT appointments.

9. But there is more: on two separate occasions during the test, the administrator allowed someone to walk into the room (picture a 3x3meter space separated by a glass screen up to about half a meter from the ceiling) to chat. Each time, I looked at the administator with absolute incredulity, not wanting to believe that they would continue to act in such a completely irresponsible manner when they had someone taking the test in the room.

At the end of the test, the administrator asked me if everything had gone well, as if he were completely oblivious of the following fact:

The test center failed completely, in its responsibility to provide appropriate and fair conditions for someone to take the GMAT. While I can even understand that the connection issues (possibly) could not have been avoided and that the hours waiting were unavoidable, I am sure that other conditions certainly could have been avoided, but that they are instead commonplace during other exams, as neither of the administrators appeared to be at all apologetic regarding them.

In doing so, the Test Center violated the following 2 rights attributed to ALL test takers who pay for the test, regardless of location and continent, (I am sure this would be unacceptable in Europe or North America...it is thus NOT ACCEPTABLE in Africa).

Right No. 4 Be tested in a manner that is consistent with the applicable professional testing standards developed by the American Psychological Association (APA), American Educational Research Association (AERA), and National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME).

Right No. 7 Have your test administered according to standard technical specifications and under standard environmental conditions by test administrators (TAs) who have been trained in the specific rules and procedures required for the GMAT exam.

The GMAC further assures all test takers that, "We follow a carefully designed set of procedures to ensure that everybody who takes the GMAT experiences the same comfortable, secure and distraction-free testing environment." This is not the case at the testing center in the International School of Management in Dakar, as each of these were violated.

I am making this complaint because I solemnly believe that this test center lacks the professionalism and basic respect for GMAT procedures to maintain its accredidation as a GMAT-testing institution and I do not want other West African students to waste their time, energy and money to receive unfair and unjust test-taking conditions. I believe it would be irresponsible of Pearson to maintain this test center among its registered test centres.

Thank you and I would appreciate your feedback as soon as possible.