Test center experiences?

Surfrider

Hi guys, I passed my ICND1 this last week. I definitely overstudied, but I killed it with a 960! That said, I was a bit baffled by my test center experience. It was me and another guy (didn't know him) that were scheduled for the same test time. He was also taking the same exam and was sat at the same bench.

The thing that frustrated me was that the guy was sat there slurping coffee and distracting the hell out of me the entire 90 minutes! Not only that, about halfway through the guy had some kind of cell phone notification and took it out of his pocket (presumably to silence it) to fiddle with it in the middle of the exam.

I felt confident in the material, but I also had my entire dry erase board filled out with my chickenscratch subnetting and other notes. This guy did not write a single thing down the entire test. On top of that, during my Sims, you obviously need to type various show commands and dig around in configurations. I swear this guy did not type a single keystroke on his keyboard.

As I said, the whole situation just baffled me. I was kinda annoyed the test proctor didn't get on him about his cell phone incident, as well as the loud coffee slurping.

Anyone else with similar stories?

ssnyderu2

Im surprised he was allowed to have his phone. When I take a test they have me lock everything up in a locker only allowing me to take the key in when I take the exam.

Surfrider

They said the same thing to us, to hand in cell phones as well as sign paperwork acknowleding we were not allowed to have them.

There is absolutelly no way the test admin did not hear it. He was sat less than 10 feet away from the both of us.

xeruan

That's rough. The several times I've been to a testing center, they make me turn out my pockets to show that I have nothing left in them.

I've had 2 tests where I was the only person testing at the center (2-4 systems set up), and 2 where there were ~15 people in the same room - yet they both sound like a better/quieter experience than what you had.

Hopefully it was just bad luck(?) or there is another testing center near to you that you can try next time instead.

crazboy84

Thats crazy he pulled out his phone! He coulda been looking up answers!

My only negative experience testing was of my own creation... Someone gave me this spark energy drink that is suppose to make you think fast all it did was make me pee every 5 minutes and i think the testing lady thought i was going into the bathroom to look up answers.....

dave0212

You could always highlight the fact with Pearson Vue they might review the test center

Was he definitely doing the same test?

They usually have multiple types of exams at the same time, I always used to look at the sign in sheet to see what other people were doing and how long they had been in

Surfrider

Yea, we definitely had the same test. We had to sign into the center on the same sign-in sheet.

The test center was on a military base here. First time I have used this one. I usually use the center out in town, but they only test twice a week in the middle of my work day. Probably just a fluke.

Onto bigger and better things.. I cracked open the ICND2 book today and within the first few pages I feel as lost in STP as I did when I first looked at Subnetting! haha! Fun times.

crazboy84

Yea spanning tree can get confusing, just keep at it!

theodoxa

Not sure about Qatar (I can't imagine the rules are different), but the TOS when you take a Cisco exam here say that you can't bring phones, etc...into the testing center. The testing center I used for my CCNP doesn't even allow watches or some types of jewelry. I had to leave my watch in the locker.

Jon_Cisco

The center I use has 4 seats that each face their own wall. You are only a few feet away from the person behind you so it's cramped but manageable. I prefer when nobody is there because I prefer to read questions out load and obviously can't if someone else is testing.

The one funny thing to me was the industrial size ear muffs they supplied in case you wanted quiet. The secretary was very load and chatty on the other side of the wall but I tried to just block it out.

ssnyderu2

Jon_Cisco wrote: »

I prefer when nobody is there because I prefer to read questions out load and obviously can't if someone else is testing.

When I lived in Tennessee, there was a small testing center near me that would only test one person at a time. It was a small room not much bigger than an office cubical with a door that shut. Best test environment ever.