Ask the Test Maker

My reply to GMAC today (Feb 19, 2014)
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Dear GMAC team,

Looks like you have been ignoring my messages (I had hoped against hope that you won't, I even made it a point to mention my hope in my last message)

Now, it has been more than a month and a half since I posted the message in question seeking your response for the first time (to be specific it was Jan 10, 2014)

For you convenience, I am reproducing the message below:
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Dear GMAC team,

Thank you for your email on Jan 7 (email above)

You mentioned that "It is extremely rare that the Unofficial and Official Scores received by test takers ever vary". The phone support executive mentioned it has never varied. Why is there a disconnect here?
Your reply mentions "extremely rare", which means that there is a possibility of a variation; which points out that the scoring system is not full-proof. Please quantify "extremely rare" in terms of percentage.

You confirmed that the exam restarted twice - "The first restart was at the end of the first scheduled break after the Integrated Reasoning section of the exam. The second restart occurred after you had ended your exam and the Test Administrator was signing you out of the exam." You did not mention that the computer restarted twice after the AWA and the IR section - without a mention of this, the investigation is incomplete. Was the investigation even able to find this? Why did it take the investigation a month and a half to reach a conclusion that should have taken at the max a day? What triggered the restart? Was it a software or a hardware breakdown?

No one takes the GMAT for compensation - the bare minimum one expects is a working system.

The words "one-time courtesy and allowed you to retest " sound as if the computer shutting down was my fault. It was a software/hardware failure. GMAC's software/hardware can't handle a test at a time when the adaptive algorithm is not at work, then what is the guarantee that it can handle the test when the adaptive algorithm is at work. It might not shut down or restart but one of the outcomes of such a faulty software could be erroneous score calculation.

There are some more answered questions from my previous messages (refer to my message on 02 Jan 2014, 08:14)
1. What is the need of experimental questions? Does GMAC doubt the competence of the test makers?
2. No one exactly knows the number of the experimental questions - is it one, two, three, thirty?

Had luck or experimental questions played no role - there would not have been a drop of 8 points in Quant and an improvement of 8 in Verbal (my aptitude did not change in a month).

Why is it that even after consistently scoring around 690 on prep tests and the GMATPrep tests, I scored 570 on the real GMAT both times? - it has either to do with the faulty software or the "experimental" questions.

I would at least like to be able to review the questions and understand how my score dropped so much. This is what transparency calls for.

Finally, almost every email of yours to me had the standard sentence at the end "This is our final decision and no further requests will be considered.". More than anything, the right intent is what every test taker expects from the GMAC- accept your mistakes/shortcomings and don't just dismiss everybody's genuine requests without proper investigation.

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I am again hoping (against hope) that you won't ignore this message...looking forward to your response.

Sincerely,
Govind Singh Patwal

My reply to GMAC today (Feb 19, 2014)
------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear GMAC team,

Looks like you have been ignoring my messages (I had hoped against hope that you won't, I even made it a point to mention my hope in my last message)

Now, it has been more than a month and a half since I posted the message in question seeking your response for the first time (to be specific it was Jan 10, 2014)

For you convenience, I am reproducing the message below:
=================================================================
Dear GMAC team,

Thank you for your email on Jan 7 (email above)

You mentioned that "It is extremely rare that the Unofficial and Official Scores received by test takers ever vary". The phone support executive mentioned it has never varied. Why is there a disconnect here?
Your reply mentions "extremely rare", which means that there is a possibility of a variation; which points out that the scoring system is not full-proof. Please quantify "extremely rare" in terms of percentage.

You confirmed that the exam restarted twice - "The first restart was at the end of the first scheduled break after the Integrated Reasoning section of the exam. The second restart occurred after you had ended your exam and the Test Administrator was signing you out of the exam." You did not mention that the computer restarted twice after the AWA and the IR section - without a mention of this, the investigation is incomplete. Was the investigation even able to find this? Why did it take the investigation a month and a half to reach a conclusion that should have taken at the max a day? What triggered the restart? Was it a software or a hardware breakdown?

No one takes the GMAT for compensation - the bare minimum one expects is a working system.

The words "one-time courtesy and allowed you to retest " sound as if the computer shutting down was my fault. It was a software/hardware failure. GMAC's software/hardware can't handle a test at a time when the adaptive algorithm is not at work, then what is the guarantee that it can handle the test when the adaptive algorithm is at work. It might not shut down or restart but one of the outcomes of such a faulty software could be erroneous score calculation.

There are some more answered questions from my previous messages (refer to my message on 02 Jan 2014, 08:14)
1. What is the need of experimental questions? Does GMAC doubt the competence of the test makers?
2. No one exactly knows the number of the experimental questions - is it one, two, three, thirty?

Had luck or experimental questions played no role - there would not have been a drop of 8 points in Quant and an improvement of 8 in Verbal (my aptitude did not change in a month).

Why is it that even after consistently scoring around 690 on prep tests and the GMATPrep tests, I scored 570 on the real GMAT both times? - it has either to do with the faulty software or the "experimental" questions.

I would at least like to be able to review the questions and understand how my score dropped so much. This is what transparency calls for.

Finally, almost every email of yours to me had the standard sentence at the end "This is our final decision and no further requests will be considered.". More than anything, the right intent is what every test taker expects from the GMAC- accept your mistakes/shortcomings and don't just dismiss everybody's genuine requests without proper investigation.

=================================================================

I am again hoping (against hope) that you won't ignore this message...looking forward to your response.

Sincerely,
Govind Singh Patwal

Hello, Govind. We have already investigated your claims, and have found that there were no issues affecting your GMAT scores. We have communicated this to you. Your GMAT scores are final and no further investigation is warranted. We wish you the best of luck in your studies.

Dear GMAC team,

So you replied after one month and a half!!

Why did you edit the message after posting it for the first time on Facebook? Your initially messaged "I am sorry that you did not perform as well on the GMAT exam as you had hoped. We have already investigated your claims...", you later changed it to "We have already investigated your claims...". I do not need your sympathy, I am doing well in my life.

I need answers to some questions, and you have not been providing me the answers.

Please re-read my message and respond.

Sincerely,
Govind Singh Patwal

Govind ,

You have wasted too much energy on this...get reved up for a successful retake !

Dear Kevin,

Thank you for the response...I trust it was in good spirit.

What you call wasting energy, I call it persistence.

I want to elicit a response from the GMAC team.

Thanks again for your response.

Sincerely,
Govind Singh Patwal

Govind I think you should just move on , not waste your time and energy and take it in stride prepare for successful re-attempt . Even I faced the same problem for TOEFL in 2006 but did not complain, scored 80 , well my computer was shut done for almost 5 mins , then again I got 99 next time . Okay I have the same complaint that my score did not improve from 520 39 quant , 23 verbal to 530 32 quant , 28 verbal yesterday . See these things happen all the time , luck or no luck we dont have to be at its mercy has been like 3.5 months move on already

Dear Sukhman,

I appreciate your friendly advise.

At the same time, all that I am asking from GMAC are satisfactory answers to my questions...am I asking for too much? or for anything unfair? I don't think so. I would, therefore, keep pressing until I hear back.

Sincerely,
Govind Singh Patwal

you can keep pressing, but you are the one burning energy trying to get some form of satisfaction that will probably never occur.

Best case scenario - GMAC apologizes, says there was an error on their part, publishes it in national news and sends you a case of cupcakes for the trouble. But you have to retake the GMAT

worse case scenario - GMAC remains silent and totally ignores you, you continue to pour energy into this for months on end, and finally in a bout of frustration you curse the test, the company and the world.... and you STILL HAVE TO RETAKE THE GMAT


seriously, it seems as if what happened to you is unfair. Life isn't fair. Retake the test, nail your score, get your MBA, kick ass, then buy GMAC and fire everyone if you so please - but move on. Remember, every non-critical issue you consciously maintain in the forefront of your mind is taxing, distracts you, and keeps you off your goals.

do what you want, you're free - but it seems to me that you are really wasting time and energy

good luck to you

Dear whataB,

Thank you for your reply.

It's not about the amount of energy that I am spending; it is about fighting for the right thing.

I just want answers from the GMAC team, if they are ethical they will reply back. What ethical organization in the world ignores such straightforward questions (and for so long)? What does it have to fear? And if it doesn't have anything to fear then why doesn't it reply?

Here is the bitter truth - Many big organizations do not want to accept their mistakes. GMAC is one of them. During my first GMAT my computer shut down and I wrote them an email to GMAC, they closed the case in no time (of course without doing anything). It was only after I put my situation on a public GMAT forum did they act and agree to allow me a retest for a discounted cost - so the questions is why did GMAC act on the post on the public forum and not to my email? Even its investigations have been shoddy with the phone representative and the emails mentioning two different things.

I am sure that I am not the only one who has faced this issues till now, I believe an answer to my questions will help hundreds (if not thousands) of test takers. We have the right to know how the paper is marked... there has to be some transparency.

As for my life, I have moved on from the low-GMAT score - I am enjoying my life as a Program Manager. Having said that, I still need the answers from the GMAC, and even after all that I have faced, I feel GMAC will reply. If it doesn't, I am not a quitter; I might as well explore other channels.

Just a thought...most of the times, a person who helps people to get better score on the GMAT has a soft corner towards GMAC, and I believe it is natural...think of the situation from a test taker's point of view once.

Once again, thank you for your reply.

Sincerely,
Govind Singh Patwal

Dear GMAC team,

It's been more than 3 months and I am yet to get the answers to my questions...so much for your customer service.

I do NOT want to give up on my thought that GMAC is a reasonable and ethical organization. GMAC, though, has not been acting like one.

I look forward to your answers.

Sincerely,
Govind Singh Patwal

Hello, Govind. We have responded to your inquiries. We investigated your claims and found there were no issues that affected your GMAT scores. Your case is considered closed. Good luck in your future studies.

Rebecca

Dear Rebecca,

While I thank you for responding, you haven't still replied to the questions that I posted on Jan 10, 2014 5:24 pm - URL: https://www.beatthegmat.com/gmac-a-punis ... tml#716949

I look forward to your answers here.

Sincerely,
Govind Patwal