17 ms·

When I took the GRE in 2017, everything was digital as well. But I couldn't believe how locked down the experience was. The testing center in downtown SF had no

by icyfox 3y ago

When I took the GRE in 2017, everything was digital as well. But I couldn't believe how locked down the experience was. The testing center in downtown SF had no windows, a metal detector, and you had to check all food outside of the testing room. Just in case you were going to try to cheat off of your banana. I think each computer was also recording a video of you taking the test although I might be mistaken here. Certainly there were cameras set up all around the perimeter. I'm shocked at how laissez-faire we've gotten for college entrance exams, which I'd arguably say are much more important at getting you _into_ the graduate programs than the actual graduate program exams are themselves.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
grubbs 3y ago
When I took the Network+ exam in 2008 there was a camera at every desk looking down on you. I didn't think much of it - still a little weird though.
philsnow 3y ago
My experience was nearly identical taking the GRE in 2003.
- cornel_io 3y ago
  Yes, the GRE has been way ahead of the curve for a long time because it's an adaptive test: it actually adjusts the difficulty of the questions it presents you based on your performance up until that point in the test, as it tries to hone in in exactly what your correct score should be. I don't know if the algorithm has changed since the early aughts, and I don't know if that approach is better or worse than the one-size-fits-all non-adaptive SAT, but the difference was always striking to me. You'd think that if the GRE adaptive approach was better statistically (by whatever measure) they'd move towards it soon for the SAT as well since they're going full digital finally.
dylan604 3y ago
> I'm shocked at how laissez-faire we've gotten for college entrance exams, to the point that they stopped requiring SAT altogether, but are starting to bring it back. there's a lot of things they've done is head scratching. i loved when they changed the scores so that your result from 10 years prior suddenly become a lower result so people had to know when you took the test to properly weight the result. The laissez-faire attitude to drivers licensing when they stopped requiring road tests for new drivers was bonkers as well to me.
- ghaff 3y ago
  Who is looking at your SAT score from 10 years ago?
  - dylan604 3y ago
    If I compared my SAT score my child's, that would easily compare past the 10 years. If I compare my score to a Millennial or younger.... Lots of ways to compare a score. You're putting yourself in a box. You should really try not doing that.
  - jobmeplease 3y ago
    I applied to Canonical a few months back and they made me write an essay describing my high school grades, extracurriculars, and test results. I've never had that experience in any other job app so it's pretty Canonical specific but it does happen.
    - Kwpolska 3y ago
      If I was asked something like this, I'd refuse and withdraw my application. That explains why Ubuntu is so full of bad ideas (such as snap) and reinventing the wheel (Unity, Mir).
    - astrea 3y ago
      I thought that part of the application was a bit odd. High school me is so different from current me that I might as well be writing about a different human being entirely.
hooverd 3y ago
Man, I hate computers. Just let me user paper.
kohbo 3y ago
I agree with your main point but leaving food outside was probably to protect the computers, not the integrity of the test.
- pests 3y ago
  Its def for cheating. You can find examples of replaced ingredients lists, products labels, barcodes, and people writing on the inside peel of oranges and other fruit on reddit and other places.
  - gnicholas 3y ago
    What would you write on a cheat sheet for the SAT? Equations for volume of a sphere or something? I don't remember there being anything that required memorizing, and since you could bring a graphing calculator there would have been no need to write things down anywhere else.
bluish29 3y ago
I had this experience as well outside the US. And while the police stations in my country are famous for its bad experience and treatment, They still much better and you get to deal with more reasonable rules and people (although it is oppressing regime) than what I saw during my GRE test. Hint: To be fair all my few visits to stations were me reporting things (finishing paperwork) not being arrested.
ml_giant 3y ago
When I took the GRE in 2017, I got a really bad bloody nose right when the test started and I couldn't pause the test. The person monitoring wouldn't let me have a bunch of tissues at the computer (Perhaps due to cheating concerns), so each time I needed a new tissue I had to raise my hand and she gave me one. I didn't end up scoring very well.
- ipython 3y ago
  Sounds like you should have bled all over the computer and let them deal with it. The lack of empathy they showed is abhorrent. Ugh. I’m sorry to hear that.
  - listenallyall 3y ago
    That's like suggesting you trash a hotel room because of some grievance with corporate policy. What actually happens is some innocent housekeeper gets stuck cleaning up the mess you made. The local test proctors are tasked with following very strict procedures and not given any room for discretion, especially if the testee isn't voluntarily withdrawing. It has nothing to do with an individual lack of empathy.
    - bllguo 3y ago
      ironic. they demonstrate the exact lack of empathy they think they are deriding
    - Retric 3y ago
      > What actually happens is some innocent housekeeper gets stuck cleaning up the mess you made. Thus costing the company money which, was the ultimate goal. One person doing this can be thought of as an asshole, when a meaningful percent of people behave this way you get actual change and or lawsuits.
    - anigbrowl 3y ago
      No it isn't, nothing is being trashed. The proctors should be better trained instead of required to behave like unsympathetic robots.
twobitshifter 3y ago
The exams for engineering licenses have mostly switched to computer based testing. You have to go to one of those specialized Pearson testing centers and they check to see if you wrote anything on your arms and legs. The old test was famously open book, with people taking carts full of reference material. The new one gives you a searchable pdf.
octobus2021 3y ago
Been taking certifications exams (Microsoft, then AWS) since early 2000s. Certification centers (eg Prometric) have cameras everywhere, and personnel watches you while you're taking the test, they make you put all your belongings into a locker, including watches. Workstations are locked down to the point that they can only run proprietary testing software. I honestly prefer it to doing it remotely at home, where you have to show them your entire room (in the beginning and whenever they ask), install their software that wants full control to everything, and it still doesn't work half the time. One time I tried it told me bandwidth is insufficient - well, normally it's sufficient to have 2 or 3 Rokus stream in HD.

by icyfox 3y ago

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

grubbs 3y ago

When I took the Network+ exam in 2008 there was a camera at every desk looking down on you. I didn't think much of it - still a little weird though.

philsnow 3y ago

My experience was nearly identical taking the GRE in 2003.

cornel_io 3y ago
Yes, the GRE has been way ahead of the curve for a long time because it's an adaptive test: it actually adjusts the difficulty of the questions it presents you based on your performance up until that point in the test, as it tries to hone in in exactly what your correct score should be. I don't know if the algorithm has changed since the early aughts, and I don't know if that approach is better or worse than the one-size-fits-all non-adaptive SAT, but the difference was always striking to me. You'd think that if the GRE adaptive approach was better statistically (by whatever measure) they'd move towards it soon for the SAT as well since they're going full digital finally.

dylan604 3y ago

> I'm shocked at how laissez-faire we've gotten for college entrance exams, to the point that they stopped requiring SAT altogether, but are starting to bring it back. there's a lot of things they've done is head scratching. i loved when they changed the scores so that your result from 10 years prior suddenly become a lower result so people had to know when you took the test to properly weight the result. The laissez-faire attitude to drivers licensing when they stopped requiring road tests for new drivers was bonkers as well to me.

ghaff 3y ago
Who is looking at your SAT score from 10 years ago?
- dylan604 3y ago
  If I compared my SAT score my child's, that would easily compare past the 10 years. If I compare my score to a Millennial or younger.... Lots of ways to compare a score. You're putting yourself in a box. You should really try not doing that.
- jobmeplease 3y ago
  I applied to Canonical a few months back and they made me write an essay describing my high school grades, extracurriculars, and test results. I've never had that experience in any other job app so it's pretty Canonical specific but it does happen.
  - Kwpolska 3y ago
    If I was asked something like this, I'd refuse and withdraw my application. That explains why Ubuntu is so full of bad ideas (such as snap) and reinventing the wheel (Unity, Mir).
  - astrea 3y ago
    I thought that part of the application was a bit odd. High school me is so different from current me that I might as well be writing about a different human being entirely.

hooverd 3y ago

Man, I hate computers. Just let me user paper.

kohbo 3y ago

I agree with your main point but leaving food outside was probably to protect the computers, not the integrity of the test.

pests 3y ago
Its def for cheating. You can find examples of replaced ingredients lists, products labels, barcodes, and people writing on the inside peel of oranges and other fruit on reddit and other places.
- gnicholas 3y ago
  What would you write on a cheat sheet for the SAT? Equations for volume of a sphere or something? I don't remember there being anything that required memorizing, and since you could bring a graphing calculator there would have been no need to write things down anywhere else.

bluish29 3y ago

I had this experience as well outside the US. And while the police stations in my country are famous for its bad experience and treatment, They still much better and you get to deal with more reasonable rules and people (although it is oppressing regime) than what I saw during my GRE test. Hint: To be fair all my few visits to stations were me reporting things (finishing paperwork) not being arrested.

ml_giant 3y ago

When I took the GRE in 2017, I got a really bad bloody nose right when the test started and I couldn't pause the test. The person monitoring wouldn't let me have a bunch of tissues at the computer (Perhaps due to cheating concerns), so each time I needed a new tissue I had to raise my hand and she gave me one. I didn't end up scoring very well.

ipython 3y ago
Sounds like you should have bled all over the computer and let them deal with it. The lack of empathy they showed is abhorrent. Ugh. I’m sorry to hear that.
- listenallyall 3y ago
  That's like suggesting you trash a hotel room because of some grievance with corporate policy. What actually happens is some innocent housekeeper gets stuck cleaning up the mess you made. The local test proctors are tasked with following very strict procedures and not given any room for discretion, especially if the testee isn't voluntarily withdrawing. It has nothing to do with an individual lack of empathy.
  - bllguo 3y ago
    ironic. they demonstrate the exact lack of empathy they think they are deriding
  - Retric 3y ago
    > What actually happens is some innocent housekeeper gets stuck cleaning up the mess you made. Thus costing the company money which, was the ultimate goal. One person doing this can be thought of as an asshole, when a meaningful percent of people behave this way you get actual change and or lawsuits.
  - anigbrowl 3y ago
    No it isn't, nothing is being trashed. The proctors should be better trained instead of required to behave like unsympathetic robots.

twobitshifter 3y ago

The exams for engineering licenses have mostly switched to computer based testing. You have to go to one of those specialized Pearson testing centers and they check to see if you wrote anything on your arms and legs. The old test was famously open book, with people taking carts full of reference material. The new one gives you a searchable pdf.

octobus2021 3y ago

Been taking certifications exams (Microsoft, then AWS) since early 2000s. Certification centers (eg Prometric) have cameras everywhere, and personnel watches you while you're taking the test, they make you put all your belongings into a locker, including watches. Workstations are locked down to the point that they can only run proprietary testing software. I honestly prefer it to doing it remotely at home, where you have to show them your entire room (in the beginning and whenever they ask), install their software that wants full control to everything, and it still doesn't work half the time. One time I tried it told me bandwidth is insufficient - well, normally it's sufficient to have 2 or 3 Rokus stream in HD.