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Higher education

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Original poster

30 minute delay at test centre for Oxford HAT today

9 replies

coffeerevelsrule · 21/10/2024 13:49

I think this is really poor and it seems to happen a lot. Apparently staff said they would give it another 10 minutes and then it would be abandoned and they'd all have to rebook. Luckily it then got resolved, but ds said people were getting a bit panicky and one girl in particular was getting more and more distressed during the wait and another had travelled nearly two hours so not that simple to arrange another visit. DS says he wasn't bothered by it but for those who are it seems so unfair and surely it should be avoidable. It seems to happen every year to one extent or another.

OP posts:
AnellaA · 21/10/2024 13:54

Someone was getting panicky about a 30min delay during which they were notified that the problem was likely to be resolved shortly?

I find it difficult to find this terribly unjust.

Dearover · 21/10/2024 13:56

It was a national issue which affected all Pearson Vue & AAT exams, such as ICAEW & CIMA , not just Oxford Admissions tests. The candidates will all have been obstructed what to do about submitting an exam disruption report or the centre will have processed it automatically.

Every single candidate for the Oxford tests had exactly the same issue, so nobody was put at an unfair advantage or disadvantage.

Misfitkickedoutonthestreet · 21/10/2024 17:50

Someone on another post said their son’s was fine though, so maybe it didn’t affect everyone? Which means it IS a little unfair

Dearover · 21/10/2024 18:04

The outage was this morning, so obviously anyone sitting tests this afternoon wouldn't have been affected. Given that impact reports will have been sent in, it really isn't a big issue.

simonthedog · 21/10/2024 18:05

It didn't affect everyone. The test before my DD's ran normally. As I believe the ones after did. Hers ran 90 mins after her booked time.

Dearover · 21/10/2024 18:19

If HAT is only a dinky test, it would have affected specific sessions. Mine were sitting 2.5 to 3 hour exams when Pearson Vue went down. Regardless, all interested parties will have received the necessary reports from the exam centres for those affected.

You've reminded me of when my poor niece unsuccessfully performed CPR on her grandad before sitting a human biology A level paper. She got an extra 5%.

Elzzup · 24/10/2024 08:21

Dearover · 21/10/2024 18:19

If HAT is only a dinky test, it would have affected specific sessions. Mine were sitting 2.5 to 3 hour exams when Pearson Vue went down. Regardless, all interested parties will have received the necessary reports from the exam centres for those affected.

You've reminded me of when my poor niece unsuccessfully performed CPR on her grandad before sitting a human biology A level paper. She got an extra 5%.

Your poor niece, that is awful. My grandfather died before my A level maths exam and I was given no appeal to take my mock into account as I underperformed in the exam as would be expected in these situations!

plumsalad · 27/10/2024 16:45

My son was one of those impacted. After an hour of the HAT not loading, Pearson sent him away with a code to use to log an issue with their customer service. He's devastated. He's worked so hard to prepare for this and I don't understand why another session is not booked with a reserve paper, surely Oxford must have been prepared for any issues considering the previous year ELAT failure. How is it fair for anyone on either side that some have sat the paper and some haven't. Oxford have told him he won't be disadvantaged, but I'm not sure it's now a level playing field.

Dearover · 27/10/2024 17:16

They will be fair. They were last year.

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