Online Exam Did Not Work

[ZC]

Following up to Stacey's post from earlier this morning - I was not able to start my exam this morning. I asked the chat on the webpage for assistance and they gave me a number for PSI support. I was then on the phone with PSI support for 45 minutes and they could not figure out the error and my timeline of starting the exam 30 minutes after exam time expired. They even connected to my PC remotely to troubleshoot the issue...They then told me that they would look into this error and get back to me within 3-5 business days which does not work because I have another exam on the 9th.

In the end I called them back a few hours later to reschedule for tomorrow afternoon. Does anyone have tips to get this to function properly? I do not know if it was a firewall issue, or something related to my connection? Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

Zack

[JACKSON BRANDT]

I had an error writing my first exam, where I couldn't start the exam for almost an hour after check in. In the end I found out that having "Keyboard dictation" enabled on my Mac computer somehow threw off the whole exam system as it thought I had another program open, it was stressful but I somehow still got in to writing the exam an hour late. 

Good luck, 

Jackson 

[EA]

I had a similar experience, what I learned from the proctor was he instructed me to go into my task manager and end tasks on programs such as the Autodesk Desktop app and any third party storage apps (ie Dropbox, Drive). You will have to double check in both Processes & Start Up tabs for background running apps. Hope this helps!

Good Luck!

[ZC]

Thanks, all. The exam did work today and I did have to manually close multiple programs occurring on my computer.

For anyone who will be taking the exam remotely during this administration period - My exam program did close about halfway through so I had to relaunch it and then do all the photo/room scan with my webcam again. Then I was back in a couple of minutes later. I also had some prompts come up while I was taking the exam that would say "Outlook not allowed during exam" and I would hit "Ok" to get rid of the prompt. I guess Outlook, Dropbox, and maybe a couple of others were trying to boot up while I was taking the exam or the program was interpreting it as such? These did not effect the exam but wanted to give people a heads up of what to expect.

Thanks and good luck,

Zack

[JACKSON BRANDT]

Thanks for the heads up with this, good to know. Glad it worked out for you in the end. 

Best, 

Jackson 

[Christopher Cuesta]

Camera + Upload issue

I was unable to upload my Id correctly and kept on getting rejected. I spoke to a customer service agent and they told me to "use a better camera" Days prior to my exam I checked and double-checked all of the systems requirements, via the system checker. After scrambling and finding a 4k camera I was able to upload my ID properly. As soon I was about to enter the exam I was kicked out and unable to get back in. Customer service said they will get back to me in 3-5 days.

I heard someone had a similar issue as well. 

[Christopher Cuesta]

Here are the requirements they list:

[FD]

Adding my experience. I was unable to launch the  Section 2 exam today. LAUNCH button greyed out. Spent 2 hours with PSI tech support, and they ran compatibility checks twice on my computer (everything passed). They tried Chrome and Firefox. They could not figure it out. I got disconnected twice and now have 3 ticket numbers. I was not given clear instructions on what to do next--call them back, or wait for them to call me. The last agent said she would escalate the issue. A different agent said he spoke to 3 other candidates having the same issue.  After looking at other tech support forums for user experiences with PSI, my guess is that the online proctor did not show up to "activate" my test.

I emailed CLARB, also, for good measure--if this is a widespread issue, it's good for CLARB to know, and maybe use a more reliable test proctor in the future.

I'll try calling PSI again in a few hours. 

[ZC]

When this happened to me on Tuesday I was on a support call with PSI for maybe 2-3 hours total and also called CLARB who then said they would contact PSI to figure it out.. I never heard back from either for a few hours so I simply called PSI to reschedule the exam for the next day and hoped it would work, and it did.

My questions are:

• What happens when this occurs to someone taking an exam on the last day, as I will be for section 4?
• Who is accountable for this? I am starting to suspect CLARB should not be administering this exam through PSI with all of these difficulties.
• Did this happen for anyone who tested in-person? I saw the post earlier this week about someone not being able to submit their exam after they had finished it in the actual testing center. That would be unacceptable. That post has now been deleted?

[FD]

Thanks for the tips ZC.

Update--I just called PSI back and the agent said only a manager can reschedule me, call back 8 AM Pacific time to reach one. No other information or advice given on the status of the problem. I had to proactively *ask*  for rescheduling. Otherwise, the tech agents did not offer any guidance. It seemed like they don't know what to do--can't blame them, I think CLARB just opted for the lowest-level budget testing service.

If that deleted post was true, it's pretty crazy that testing at the center itself is not a guarantee of smooth service.

To anyone else having these problems, don't give up, make contact with PSI and CLARB. Good luck everyone...

[forgot to post this earlier, this is a screenshot of the error, inaccessible LAUNCH button. It was the same screen even at 10:40 AM]

[Christine Haylock]

I couldn't write (section 2) today either. Has anyone from Canada managed to successfully write and online-proctored exam? I spoke with someone at PSI tech support, then their candidate support person... they were baffled. They were taked aback that I am trying to do this from BC. I couldn't download the secure browser. So I'm meant to reschedule at some undetermined time...? I was also unable to write section 2 last round because of PearsonVue technical problems. At least with PSI I was dealing with actual humans, not overseas bots (I have finally calmed down after THAT experience). What's with this? Why is administering online testing such a difficult endeavour? Aren't we past this????

[FD]

I just spoke with a CLARB representative this morning (1-571-432-0332), who told me she had been hearing about this problem from other candidiates, too. She advised us to email CLARB at in...@clarb.org, explaining the issues you are having, orginally scheduled test date, and your ticket support numbers if you have them. Don't wait the 3-5 days that PSI tells you--let CLARB know immediately about the issue. CLARB may extend the testing period if they know many people are having problems. They are also trying to resolve this together with PSI.

Hope that helps.

[Rutusha Nagaraj]

Adding on to this, I was unable to launch my exam today. I received an error when I hit the launch exam from CLARB's website as " The ID provided is already associated with another email. Please log into your existing account or provide a new ID".    

I reached out to PSI through the following:

1. Live chat - https://helpdesk.psionline.com/hc/en-gb/articles/360056570892-Live-Chat-Support

2. tech support -  1-844-267-1017

I am still following with them to have my exam rescheduled, so frustrating.

[KD]

Is anyone having success? 

[britni.j...@gmail.com]

I was able to have my exam work on my home computer.  There was only one point where it was disconnected, however, it didn't seem to effect the exam as it reconnected pretty quickly.  

i will say the proctors are very watchful and will message you if you accidently do something that is against their rules.  I rested my chin on my hand reading a problem and they were very quick to tell me I couldn't cover my mouth.  So definitely be mindful of your actions as well!

[Brian Kelly]

Glad to see it worked for at least one person! Also good advice on the proctoring.

Appreciate the info.

[FD]

I think CLARB helped expedite things with PSI. PSI unlocked my account so I could reschedule myself online. Was able to re-test yesterday without glitches, although there is no obvious confirmation that the test was submitted successfully--no email confirmation or anything like that.

[Kindra Ericksen]

I struggled with psi for the online test last time it stopped working on me in the middle of the exam they did let me get back in and finish.  I felt it was extremely slow to load and it was very cumbersome.  The previous platform they used was better this one was not so great.  Check in and scan process is really annoying and if it does lock you out you have to redo it all again

[Brian Kelly]

Just wanted to report that PSI did work for me (on my second laptop-personal). I wasn't able to end some tasks on my work laptop so I wasn't able to continue through the portal.

Didn't have issues with camera and ID either, I did try to get my face out of the picture like people were saying for it to focus a bit better.

Question though, did people get any sort of confirmation when finished the test via email or anything?