TOPIC: Those who used Home Testing Option- Please share your experiences

Hi,
Those who took the exam at home, please share your experience. What did you have to do before the exam to make sure your computer/set up was compatible and ready. Were you able to use scratch paper for brain dump? I assume you couldn't step out for bathroom or any breaks.

And what was it like to take the exam?
Thank you in advance,
A

hi, read my post here ( www.project-management-prepcast.com/kune...i-acp-exam-from-home )

i highly recommend, whenever is possible to DO NOT TAKE THE EXAM FROM HOME. is very confortable but the headache you likely face if your computer has a software that makes the exam stop working is high!

if possible take is on a physical exam center.
This exam program from PEARSON VUE is very tricky and can detect any "normal" process on you pc (i.e. VIRUS alert or other apps you have installed that can pop up a message).

I have to escalate the issue with PMI and after almost a week they replied positively but i have to delay my exam for 1 more week!! imagine waiting all of that time, i was stressed.

think pretty well about it, if something goes wrong prepare to fight!

regards,
Ricardo

I took the Exam from home yesterday. I found the process pretty straightforward but you definitely have to do the pre-test with your computer beforehand and make sure that your work station fits the guidelines properly. The camera is always recording you and if your face leaves the camera screen even for a second , a chat window opens and someone starts talking to you. At one point I had my hand on my chin and somebody asked me not to touch my face as it blocked their view of my face. When I completed the test I immediately got a screen that said congratulations you have passed and then I was asked if I wanted to take a survey afterwards. My score was not presented to me on screen but I was able to log into the proctor website and get the results. One thing I found stressful was during the check in when I was asked to provide a phone number and then I had to wait about eight minutes before someone contacted me.It would’ve been nice if there was some sort of confirmation on the screen to say that somebody will be joining you shortly or something like that. Overall I was happy with the experience but I would probably recommend going to the proctored centre if you can opposed to doing it from home as there were extra stressors related to doing it at home than at the centre.

Hi,

I took the exam at home and I do not recommend it. The provider PEARSON VUE has bugs on their software.

When I finished the exam I pressed the navigating option/bar and then it disappeared and could not get back. I was not able to go back to answer the questions I highlighted.

This was a terrible experience.

Mr B.

I would also like to hear about Home Testing. My early April exam cannot be rescheduled to mid-July. I got busy with COVID-related work and stress, and I stopped studying for 5 weeks, but I REALLY do not want this hanging over my head half the summer. Since I live in WA-state, it's highly possible the PearsonVUE centers won't be open or ready by mid-July. I want to just set a date in two weeks and be done with this.

But so far, these posts are scaring me. Rude, unresponsive proctors, a camera feed that stopped working, an app that has bugs? Which is worse? Facing that or having to pause my studying and possibly take it mid-summer (and possibly have it delayed again)?

I took a practice exam yesterday from home and learned that I cannot take my final exam from home. We don't have fiber, and our SkyFi (wireless) internet just couldn't hack it. The response times started to slow after about 2 hours, and by 3 hours into my practice exam, it was taking over 15 seconds for the system to respond to each click - first for the letter select (A, B, C, D) and then for the Next button. It was terrible. Then it just stopped responding completely, I restarted my router to no avail, and I had to end my test 20 minutes early with 30 questions not answered. At least it was a practice! I highly recommend taking this PM Prepcast 4-hour test where you are going to take your "at home" test to make sure your system is stable for four hours.

I am also concerned about using their whiteboard instead of scratch paper. I guess I'll have to start practicing doing my data dump on the whiteboard app. Can we use a laptop with a touch-screen and a stylus to write on the whiteboard?

Did anyone take their "at home" exam from work? My office has great internet and a good desk/chair, and it's quiet on the weekend if I scheduled on a Saturday. But I'm worried about the firewall, etc.

Thanks in advance for responses.

I used this option and it is nerve wracking at first, but a great option. Make sure you test everything prior and recommend a very clean desk with nothing on it. Test in good lighting and around the same time as your exam, as I had to do several retakes of my face on day if exam. The check in goes smoothly otherwise, and the proctors were very nice. I lost connection at one point and freaked out, but he immediately contacted me via chat and helped released it back.
The whiteboard is not great. I could not get the shapes to work so settled into using the alphabet for my diagrams as I was getting desperate. I used Microsoft whiteboard to practice and that was a better tool. However, it goes well and I had no issues with it. Plus, there is a level of comfort at home that does help. They monitor closely because he pinged me immediately when I lost connection and after I finished, I was busy screaming with joy when I saw the message that I passed, and he immediately connected to ask if I was ok . Overall, No complaints

Sorry forgot to mention, no scratch paper! You can visit the FAQ and they show you how to perform pre testing. And you can practice uploading pictures etc Make sure you take 90 questions, review, then initiate and end break as it winds the clock down if you don’t do it . Then you can do 110 questions after break. They don’t automatically do the break for you after 90 questions . So if you keep reviewing them, you are losing time .

Thanks for the reply. I was worried about the whiteboard - I like to write by hand so it's a change to do the data dump online. Did you try to do the process map in the OnVue whiteboard? I was testing with the Microsoft Whiteboard and they have a grid. However, the Pearson version doesn't seem to have a grid feature, so I"m not sure how I'll get my processes mapped. I guess I could do five lists? Suggestions?!

I was wondering about how to break up the test, as my PearsonVUE test center plan is now scrapped. I understand that you can't go back to previous questions after the break.
So you suggest 90 questions in two hours, then initiate a break. Is it clear how to initiate the break?
Also, can you flag questions, and highlight or strike out answers in the at home version?

I struggled with the whiteboard so used text . I could not get shapes to work, but could just be my experience . Hoping others had better luck and can share the experience. For the ninety questions, they will tell you when you are done, as it stops there, but they won’t automatically initiate the break for you. So that clock keeps going if you linger in that section. You have to start and end the break. I made the mistake of waiting and realized clock was going down so I recommend, do 90, then check within about 2 hrs, then initiate the break and take it and end it, then leave the last two hours for 110. Hope I make sense but it was a huge lesson for me. I was so nervous that I probably missed that in the tutorial so thought I would share it here for others. Now this works the same if you go to a site also, as they took away scratch paper there also and give that break

Yes, it will be clear how to initiate a break and you can strikeout. It is a bit odd, you have to kind of drag across it and click strike through and then you reverse the same way. They show that in the tutorial before and that part was clear so recommend doing the tutorial for those items