<p>I've been a long time reader of CC but never created an account until today. I am so livid. </p>
<p>First off, there were no signs telling us our room assignments so they told us one by one where to go. You would think that this careful procedure would mean each student was put in correct rooms, right? Not so much. I was sitting in a room for 30 minutes with about 25 other kids and there was no proctor. I finally decided to go outside and look for help, at which point another proctor was beginning to close his door to start the pre-test forms. He was shocked we didn't have a proctor and so they brought someone for help. Turns out, they had no idea we were even in the room! They started reassigning us to new rooms when they found ANOTHER group of students that were sitting in a room without a proctor. Meanwhile, the other classrooms are just anxiously waiting to take the test and have no idea why it's taking so long. It's finally 10:00 when we begin the test. Taking the ACT is stressful enough, but this made it even more nerve wrecking. For the kids applying ED, this was their last test date and it's unfair for them to jeopardize our testing performance and potential college acceptances like this. I get really bad test anxiety and by the time I started the English section I had to take out my inhaler, which I rarely use and if so it's only during tough work outs. I don't wake up at 6:30 to take a test at 10:00. I wrote a letter of complaint and honestly, I'm not taking "We're sorry, nothing we can do" as an answer. I said that students need to be either refunded for the test or allowed the opportunity to retake the test. </p>
<p>What's your opinion? Do you think that ACT will do anything or am I just overreacting? It's not like I scored poorly on the previous test, I got a 29, but I have been studying and it's so frustrating that all my hard work is just flushed down the drain.</p>
<p>There was an irregularity in test administration at our school once, and the school’s faculty member who holds the position of testing administrator handled the matter with ACT or College Board on behalf of all test takers. That is probably the most expedient way for something like this to be handled (and hopefully, it is already in process as we speak–the person in charge of your test site is surely aware of the problems and has initiated the first step with ACT).</p>
<p>There is so much red tape surrounding ACT and College Board it’s hard to tell. Both sides can be argued but most likely they won’t do anything. Although there were adverse conditions, the proctors tried to fix it and no actual time was taken away from the test. That being said, waiting and waiting and waiting to begin a test that was suppose to begin an hour before can raise apprehension and make students more nervous. Even someone who scores high on the ACT is not impervious to nerves. You might get some results individually (refund) but I wouldn’t count on them allowing an entire retake for every student there. Just bite the bullet and take the test in December. Hopefully you weren’t one of those students applying ED, which would REALLY suck.</p>
<p>TXArtemis: Thanks, I hope you’re right. Fortunately, I wasn’t applying ED but several other were. The test center doesn’t really have a positive stigma and I feel as though in fear of preserving it as an ACT center, the person in charge will not report the issue. I’m going to call the center on Monday and make sure they do. </p>
<p>ZooeyKing: I see what you’re saying but I hope they don’t disregard it. On the ACT website is says that any disruption during any part of the test is considered in determining if recourse is warranted. In this case, the disruption was an hour long and took time away from starting the test.</p>
<p>Sorry to hear about your experience. It really is not fair to the students for this to happen. Anyways good luck, maybe you even ended up doing really well!</p>
<p>From what I read…I wouldn’t be happy if I was in your position. What you described is a massive irregularity in test-taking conditions, and it’s completely unacceptable. It could have an impact on people’s scores (making it unfair for them due to what they had to go through) if no complaint was lodged.</p>
<p>When they say retake, do they mean that the student would retake it for free on the next test date? My problem is that for one of my schools, the Deadline is before January 1’st and I don’t want to worry about telling the school about the situation and them possibly still not accepting late test scores. If I go to a school that is an ACT test center, is there any way that they can administer it to me earlier than December with the main ACT coordinator (which is my college counselor) there?</p>
<p>I had a similar experience yesterday. I went to the school at 8:10. The shcool was 1 hour drive from my home and I arrived ten minutes late. It was a huge private school with many buildings. There were NO signs or arrows ANYWHERE. I went into one of the big buildings and got lost. When I finally found someone who knew about the ACT, it was already 8:30 and, hear this, he said he could not let me in because I was late!!! My mother got really mad and complained. He still would not let me in saying I could take December test. My mom got furious and said I was applying early. Fianlly at 8:36 he took me to one of the test rooms and seated me. I missed some 8 minutes of writing section. I am still so— mad. </p>
<p>Why was that school so dumb? I mean, no signs, plus no admittance policy for late comers? I have seen many students coming late and still admitted to the ACT/SAT tests many times before. I almost wanna sue this school!</p>
<p>Sorry to hear about your experience with the ACT! I also had problems with the ACT when I took it in June. My situation involved multiple interuptions during the exam. I filled out the ACT complaint form online and ACT sent me a letter that they would pay for another exam. I must warn you that I put in a complaint in June and didn’t get a response back untill about August.</p>
<p>Hey, I hate to restart this but I though I would respond with some good news. ACT send me a letter today, one that was obviously computerized and another that was personally written. They are going to pay for my next retake exam, which I already signed up for. The letter said that they are very sorry for the apology and that there is nothing they can do on a mass scale for ALL the students because it would mean allowing all of them to retake, which means all the students who already signed up for the next test would not be able to take it because of a lack of space. However, they also said that they will send a survey to all the students to fill out and if enough of them do say that it was a hardship, they will refund the money but not allow a retake.</p>