CBE Nightmare

dieselhead
dieselhead Registered Posts: 28 Regular contributor ⭐
in AAT Level 3 (Level 6 in Scotland)
Sat my unit 6 (ECR) CBE today at my local centre.

It started OK then when I tried to advance to task 1.3 it skipped over it to task 1.4. It also lost all my answers to task 1.2. I re-entered them about 3 times and every time I returned to the page they were blank again!

The invig. phoned the AAT who apparently said reboot the PC (sounds like they have had this before). She suggested I copy my answers from task 1.1 onto a sheet of paper first (a stock record card i had filled in) just in case, which I did. She rebooted the PC and it took ages to come back up again. Task 1.1 was still there thankfully; I re-did task 1.2 again and was able to continue with the paper.

This wasted about an hour! By the time it was back up I was so stressed out and mentally exhausted (had to take 2 nurofen) I wondered whether I would have the mental energy left to complete the exam.

I guess the AAT would say it was a problem with xxx's computers and xxx would say it was a problem with the AAT's systems.

So a warning to you about CBE - can a piece of paper crash?

Comments

  • Dipak Thanki
    Dipak Thanki Registered Posts: 135 Dedicated contributor 🦉
    Mentally exhausted? Not sure what you mean really.

    Also, taking tablets won't exactly help. I would stay calm and answer the questions, not like crashing is going to change much, apart from a few hours delay maybe?

    I had the ECR CBE and it was a breeze. It's straight forward if you know the stuff, If you have revised properly then you should be fine!

    Machines will always crash:P

    Good luck!

    Dipak
  • seancoleby
    seancoleby Registered Posts: 13 New contributor 🐸
    dipak i have seen a few of your posts saying how easy all these exams are and how you 'breezed through them'

    Are you the best thing since sliced bread???

    Anyway a similar thing happened to me on my unit 30. Absolute pain in the arse and had to re-do 2 questions it lost. Made me stress out more as the clock was still running even though it had lost my 2 answers. Perhaps i need to have a more similar mindset to Dipak
  • Shell B
    Shell B Registered Posts: 95 Regular contributor ⭐
    Did you pass???
  • Dipak Thanki
    Dipak Thanki Registered Posts: 135 Dedicated contributor 🦉
    Think about it logically. If you have prepared for an exam, done everything you can, surely a computer crashing isn't going to have much of an affect apart from a few hours delay?

    The CBE is predictable and more a less you know what will come up, as they can't ask you anything random since it wouldn't be fair on everybody else.

    I haven't said I have "breezed" through exams apart from this ECR CBE that I sat, because I revised a lot, therefore I passed. Simple!
  • GreenMousey
    GreenMousey Registered Posts: 154 Dedicated contributor 🦉
    To be fair, you asked me A LOT of what questions I was asked on the ECR CBE, and I helped you out as much as I could remember, not so much as a bye or thank you from you and yet you're saying it was a breeze now!

    Everyone has different levels and different areas of which comes more 'natural' to them. I must admit, I studied very hard for that exam, and if I'd had the computer crash on me I wouldn't have been happy and I think you're being rather rude about others misfortunes. I wasn't going to say anything, but you've done a few posts with this on now. I'll think twice about helping any one out in future if they're just going to brag about "how easy it was".

    ~Mouse
  • Dipak Thanki
    Dipak Thanki Registered Posts: 135 Dedicated contributor 🦉
    GreenMousey wrote: »
    To be fair, you asked me A LOT of what questions I was asked on the ECR CBE, and I helped you out as much as I could remember, not so much as a bye or thank you from you and yet you're saying it was a breeze now!

    Everyone has different levels and different areas of which comes more 'natural' to them. I must admit, I studied very hard for that exam, and if I'd had the computer crash on me I wouldn't have been happy and I think you're being rather rude about others misfortunes. I wasn't going to say anything, but you've done a few posts with this on now. I'll think twice about helping any one out in future if they're just going to brag about "how easy it was".

    ~Mouse

    I was actually very thankful for you're help! And I did say thank you. I was basically saying that if you know your stuff then surely a few hours cannot really make some difference, I mean if you have studied hard, made sure you know everything 100 times, then a time delay should not affect that. Computers are machines, I think with any exam that is based on the computer there is a chance of it crashing, it really isn't anyone's fault. The mentally exhausted part was a bit silly.
    That's basically my point, sorry if it upset you :)
  • GreenMousey
    GreenMousey Registered Posts: 154 Dedicated contributor 🦉
    Dipak Thanki wrote: »
    I was actually very thankful for you're help! And I did say thank you.

    http://forums.aat.org.uk/showthread.php?t=26425 There is no thank you on there from you.

    I'm not upset, I just find it mightily rude how some people just use others on here for information and yet don't have the basic manors to say "thank you".

    In terms of your "logical" solution to the crashing computer, you appear to have forgotten about the high pressure/stressful situation that an exam creates. If it was a class, then yes, fair enough, but this was an exam and stress affects everyone in different ways.
  • Beautiful_bobo
    Beautiful_bobo Registered Posts: 106 Dedicated contributor 🦉
    Hi Dipak

    Well done on passing ECR CBE. I failed mine because I let nerves get the better of me and also its been very stressful at work and at home. I'm not making excuses and I have only me to blame. I study hard but when I get into an exam situation I go blank.


    Jennie
  • Dipak Thanki
    Dipak Thanki Registered Posts: 135 Dedicated contributor 🦉
    Hi Beautiful_bobo, I had the same problem, was really scared, so I revised for about 3 weeks properly and made sure I knew everything, process costing too ages.. and.. it didn't even come up!
  • flower
    flower Registered Posts: 160 Dedicated contributor 🦉
    I can honestly say that the ECR CBE is a nightmare.
    I have failed it twice and need to resit. Much prefer paper exam but as it is same day as PEV have no choice but to do CBE again. Computers do tend to freeze on these exams.
    Did live practise at my college with my tutor and even she struggled to understand some of the questions. One of them was a Technician level question
    FRA CBE was a breeze and completed much quicker than paper exam. Guess I am not a costing person which is a shame but much prefer Financial Records. Good Luck to anyone taking a CBE.
  • Beautiful_bobo
    Beautiful_bobo Registered Posts: 106 Dedicated contributor 🦉
    Hi

    I failed mine twice, do you know where you went wrong.

    I thought I did alright the second time and I still failed. I emailed the AAT and they gave me a report on where I went wrong. I know its of little consequence to me but I know where I went wrong and it was a very close thing.

    Jennie
  • flower
    flower Registered Posts: 160 Dedicated contributor 🦉
    Didnt realise you could get a report. I have always been told that I cannot find out. Even tutor said that.

    I have no idea where I am going wrong that is the problem. Think though where we have been taught to put a minus in brackets, you have to put a minus sign. Also the Stocktaking question. When I did a live practice with tutor it gave which method to use but you couldnt and it appears that the answers where AVCO. I wouldnt have know that it was not clear at all. Prefer paper version, at least you can show workings. With CBE it is a right or wrong answer.

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