Exam Problems

jow774

Hi,

Just wanted to get a few opinions. I took my ECR as an external student on Monday and I got there at 1.15pm for the 2pm exam. Was told by reception to go to room 8 and 9 and then waited there for about 10 minutes. When the names were posted outside they only showed A-R so myself and another lady asked which room we were in and were told to go downstairs but not which room. When we got there we were directed to room 1. The inivigilator put the name list up with different numbers to those given by AAT and seemed annoyed and said we were to use those. We went in sat down, got our stuff out (it was now 1.50pm) then someone came and had a heated discussion with the invigilator and told us to go back upstairs to a different room. Which we did, rather reluctantly. We were told to find our desks (even though there were no numbers at this stage. We tried to find our seats at the same time as the numbers were put on the desks, we sat down, were given the rules abruptly (now 1.57pm) given the papers and told to start.

So basically... Is it me or is this bad exam practice, coz my stress level went through the roof!

PAMDILL

Not good practice I would say, what a nightmare!!

Put a letter into AAT explaining the situation.

meibaker

it's stress enough withe exam, you defo don't need this, i would defo writing a letter for complaint. hope u did your exam well. x

jewels.p

jow774 wrote: »

Hi,

Just wanted to get a few opinions. I took my ECR as an external student on Monday and I got there at 1.15pm for the 2pm exam. Was told by reception to go to room 8 and 9 and then waited there for about 10 minutes. When the names were posted outside they only showed A-R so myself and another lady asked which room we were in and were told to go downstairs but not which room. When we got there we were directed to room 1. The inivigilator put the name list up with different numbers to those given by AAT and seemed annoyed and said we were to use those. We went in sat down, got our stuff out (it was now 1.50pm) then someone came and had a heated discussion with the invigilator and told us to go back upstairs to a different room. Which we did, rather reluctantly. We were told to find our desks (even though there were no numbers at this stage. We tried to find our seats at the same time as the numbers were put on the desks, we sat down, were given the rules abruptly (now 1.57pm) given the papers and told to start.

So basically... Is it me or is this bad exam practice, coz my stress level went through the roof!

A similar thing happened to me in the IAC December Exam. It was a nightmare before it all got sorted. :thumbdown:

jow774

Thanks for the opinions, Its been on my mind since Monday. I cant say whether it made the difference between pass or fail (fail more likely for me, it was ecr after all, and surely alot of people who took that exam on Monday will know what I mean) But it certainly didnt help one bit.

Thanx

blobbyh

It's not a good start granted, but realistically - and as you have acknowledged - can you honestly say whether it's made much of a difference to your overall performance? If you seriously believe it has then by all means complain. If you say you had a nightmare on the paper, then probably not and you may have had the nightmare anyway.

Real life accountancy is a profession rather than just a 'normal' job, where stress, pressure and deadlines are often par for the course and have to be overcome by resiliance. It pays more because you have to give and take more.

I wish you all the best and sincerely hope you pass but in the event you don't, then acknowledge the true causes of why and build on them for next time. Good luck.

somers87

jow774 wrote: »

Hi,

Just wanted to get a few opinions. I took my ECR as an external student on Monday and I got there at 1.15pm for the 2pm exam. Was told by reception to go to room 8 and 9 and then waited there for about 10 minutes. When the names were posted outside they only showed A-R so myself and another lady asked which room we were in and were told to go downstairs but not which room. When we got there we were directed to room 1. The inivigilator put the name list up with different numbers to those given by AAT and seemed annoyed and said we were to use those. We went in sat down, got our stuff out (it was now 1.50pm) then someone came and had a heated discussion with the invigilator and told us to go back upstairs to a different room. Which we did, rather reluctantly. We were told to find our desks (even though there were no numbers at this stage. We tried to find our seats at the same time as the numbers were put on the desks, we sat down, were given the rules abruptly (now 1.57pm) given the papers and told to start.

So basically... Is it me or is this bad exam practice, coz my stress level went through the roof!

We had a similar event at our college - told we were in room 7 but we were shepherded into room 2 (on the floor below). We were all seated for 1.50 when the head of AAT came in ranting that we were in the wrong room. Considering that we had all had our IDs checked and stationary out, it was a ballache to pack it all away and get upstairs, find our new seats and get re-identified. It was 2.05 when the invigilator told us that we were OK to start.

I agree - it doesn't help with stress levels!

jow774

Yes I did have a mare of a paper, but I never expected it to be easy and I was well prepared.

There were 10 other people in the exam so I suppose it will be shown on their marks too and who knows maybe they will complain instead so I can spend my time contemplating my resit, lol.

If only I worked in accountancy I might understand it better.

Thanks guys.

wolfe

i totally sympathise jow. thank god we had a really good organisation at the exam venue

MEL772

wolfe wrote: »

i totally sympathise jow. thank god we had a really good organisation at the exam venue

The Manchester BPP seemed fairly well organised... so I guess I should feel lucky.
Do you not find though the worst bit is sometimes before the evam when everyone is standing around in corridors looking at you??!!