Please Help! GMAT test incident - software malfunction

[postelafaya]

Hi,

I took a GMAT test this morning and during the whole exam the software froze and it even crashed 4 times. I lost about 10% of the time allocated to the test waiting for the system to respond.

The proctor filed an incident and I sent a email too, but since i was able to complete the test, I was told that it would take a few days to analyze the incident.

Here is my issue: I had planned to take this test specifically this week as I am traveling until next year! Unless I take it again in the next two days, my MBA applications will be seriously affected... Is the only way to pay another $250 and hope for the company to refund my first test? can I trust them to do that?

thanks for the help!

alex

[[email protected]]

Hi Alex,

Based on what you've described, I don't think that you'll receive the outcome that you're hoping for.

While technical glitches don't happen very often at the various Testing facilities around the world, they do happen. There are policies in place to investigate, and properly deal with, those situations. Unfortunately, those investigations take time - sometimes as much as 4 weeks - before they're properly assessed. Even if the investigation were to be completed today though, you would still have to wait 16 days between GMAT appointments (that is an established rule of taking the GMAT). By extension, unfortunately there isn't a likely scenario in which you'd be able to retest in 2 days.

Assuming that the investigator deems that an unfair testing situation occurred, the likely outcome would be a free (or highly discounted) retest - but not a refund.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

[postelafaya]

Hi Rich,

Thanks for the response. I finally got a hold of a GMAT rep on the phone and she read the proctor's incident report. The rep said it was a clear technical issue and that the case was already being looked at.

I might be able to retake the test next week as it's an exceptional case but that means changing flights.

All I can say is that the whole situation really sucks. I got a 690 which isn't bad, but was clearly putting all my eggs in one basket for this test. Probably should have used Empower to boost my english score

Thanks again for the insight,

all the best,

Alex

[[email protected]]

Hi postelafaya,

First off, a 690 is a really strong score (it's just a bit below the 90th percentile overall), so it could be enough to get you into your first-choice School. As such, a retest might not be necessary. Depending on the Schools that you plan to apply to, you would likely find it beneficial to speak with an Admissions Expert about your overall profile. There's a Forum full of them here:

https://www.beatthegmat.com/ask-an-mba- ... t-f40.html

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich