TOPIC: Awful experience with PEARSON VUE when taking PMI ACP exam from home!!!!

Hi,
i will like to share with you my experience today while taking (for the first time) an exam from my home with the hope that this can help others when scheduling their exam from home and keep into account some variables.

Today was the DAY. I studied well (i hope!) with Griffiths book and the Exam SImulation from Prepcast, so far so good, i felt confident and schedule my exam for today after 1 month of full studying.
I paid the fee and chose to take the exam from my home because otherwise i will have to drive almost 2 hours to get to the nearest exam center (i live in the southern part of Switzerland).

Before taking the exam, i follow the guidelines from Pearson (company in charge of the exam) and make a full test connection with the computer at home, and everything went well. The check was done last week.
I used an Imac.

This week I updated my IMAC with the new MacOS operative system (Catalina) and today, as far i logged into the system (30 minutes before the exam time) there was a message that said that the exam program was not compatible with MacOS Catalina operative system.
So as good PMP Certified, i used my contingency plan and tried to log on using my Macbook PRO which has not been updated to the new operative system.
i follow the instructions and test connections and everything worked. At the end i was watiing for someone that will monitor me and make some checks of my physical environment.

the exam was scheduled for 1.45 pm, and it was 1.50pm, so i thought i made something bad and had to log again and redo the checking procedure from scratch, and still witing. at 1.58pm this person called from PEARSON, in India with a delay of 13 minutes, i was becoming nervous because time was passing. He made all the checks/audio and video tests and then finallly he allowed me to start the exam.
Before starting he said "we are watching you and you cannot move away from your webcam. Whenever a problems arises click this emergency button and we will call you immediatly.."
the exam started, first question, i was reading it and a popup message alert me that "Adobe Air was having some issues (or something like that) " and the window closed!!!! the exam window closed! before it got closed i had time to click the emergency button.
So after that, i got in panic and try to log again but the system told me that i cannot longer take the exam.
I said, ok someone from PEARSON will realize i am not longer there so they will call me.
NO ONE CALLED ME!!!
tried to google PEARSON phone number and noone answered.
i had to call PMI and raise the issue, and ask for a real phone number from this people.
At the end, to make it short, a case was opened and PEARSON will take from 3-5 working days to analyze the issue and will let me know what to . do.
in the meantime i lost time i ask permission at work and the stress will be extended till who knows when!!!
very bad experience and very bad service from PEARSON. at least if something is not working they should call you back. I almost got a heart attack!! i studied hard for this and perhaps who knows, they will say i need to pay again because there were technical issues on my side!!!? who knows....
one thing i know, Switzerland has one of the best internet bandwith in the world so they cannot blame me for bad connection, i stream 4k on 4 TVs and several devices so the problem is not on my side....
sorry for this long story but i had to vent!
thanks for your understanding, i will keep you posted!

regards,
Ricardo

DEAR all,
I want to share my happiness.

happy ending.
Last Tuesday PMI recongnized there was a problem with my first exam and gave me the chance to retake It again, but this time they warned me if the system goes down again they will not be responsible.

So I decided TO DO NOT TAKE THE ONLINE EXAM and take it on a physical center which is in Italy (I live in Switzerland). I prefer to reduce the risk of application failing again and drive 1.5 hours to the closest test center.

I took the exam today and I passed with all DOMAINS "ABOVE TARGET"

EXAM was easier, not difficult as the exam simulator I took from Cornelius..!! I barely got 70% on PREPCAST's exam on all the 4 exams (as an average) so I got many doubts whether I can pass or not the real exam...

hopefully I did, finish 30 minutes before expected and got a good mark.

I also read Griffith PMI ACP Exam preparation (read 2 times) and read also "Head First Agile" and took exams from this book.

to be honest, PRepcast exam was MORE MORE difficult Than the real exam, I cannot recall any similar question on the real exam, but this helped me to prepare for the worst.

I saw instead similar questions and approach of the exam questions found on the HEAD FIRST AGILE.

moreover, I can confirm that many of the questions on the real exam were chosen following the approach "choose the less worse answer from all 4", many of the answers were not correct at all and that was the type of questions I found on HEAD FIRST AGILE.

that is all folks, happy end and a new certification....

hope it help others to clear their doubts about the exam .

regards,
Ricardo

Dear all,

It's a real mess regarding the online exam, Pearson uses resources from India for some reason.....and PMI cooperates and establishes this union with Person.
My recent experience was on the 23 of May and resulted in the below subjects:

Major Issue No. 1 :
Proctor requested to remove the Monitor which was used to see through a larger Screen. A monitor, not a second Laptop or Computer.
I kindly requested during the evaluation to send me the link confirming the policies verifying this, which he just confirmed with a chat message.

The proctor also asked to remove the power plug cable of the TV which was situated 4 meters away from the office.

By removing the main power cable, I accidentally power off the router and we lost time completing the evaluation.

Problems identified with the ID through the m.proctorcam.com , resulting in not being able to upload two photos simultaneously. The Proctor then after much deliberation send a second link where I managed to upload the two photos, one in the back and one in the front.

Major Issue No2 :

Upon completing the first 100 questions there is a 10 minutes break, where I decided to use the restroom.

I returned when the time was 2 minutes and 30 seconds and then a message appeared stating that proctor left the discussion chat resulting in not proceeding the rest of the exam.
I also send a second email stating the below :

Following the previous email please state what measures or risk contingencies have you taken into account when something similar happens?

In ECDL for instance when something similar happens there is an alternative option for an applicant to continue from the point the exam stopped.

One is giving the exam, halfways and uppon any error of the system, each applicant has to be Involved through several PMI, Pearson customer services departments in order to get an answer after 3-5 working days?

Have you taken into account the human factor, the frustration for someone to be evaluated through Pearson after 25 minutes waiting to give his exam?

Have you taken into account that someone very committed to the PMP cause has to repeat the exam from the start due to this incident?

Please also state an official response explaining thoroughly what was the originated problem that cancelled my exam.
(Without any notice).

By all means please state the reason why Pearson did not sent a cancellation email after this incident.

Is this a communication monitoring method from Pearson which PMI empraces?


I'm quite dissatisfied and disappointed about the whole procedure and really I'm thinking of not becoming a PMP member due to all these incidents and the non professional attitude towards a learner.

Thumbs up for PMI and Pearson.

Same thing happened with me , during the exam pmi acp proctor said i am not able to view your screen , how come if testing is already been done and 25 % exam is almost completed .How come they remember now they r not
able to see my screen and revoke exam

Its's a damn fishy thing and people must look into the stuff before they book exam.

I had the same problem with Pearson Vue last week. All system checks worked correctly on my laptop however when I logged in to do the exam they (someone sitting in India) that they could not see me. They spent an hour trying to resolve it on their side while leaving me hanging on and getting more and more nervous! They then asked me to reboot my laptop which I did and logged on again. This time the exam opened up so I assumed everything was fine. I was on question 6 when the chat window popped up and I was told that I could not continue as they still could not see me. They then provided a case number and told me to contact Customer Support. They also told me to crash out of the exam which I did. I held on for Customer Support for over 45 minutes to be told that the case would take 3-5 days to be looked at. I then received an email from PMI yesterday advising that I had failed the exam! I called them immediately and they advised that they will allow me one free exam and that I need to wait for an email from them. I am still none the wiser about whether the video will work next time. I may need to wait for the physical testing centre to re-open - but I was so ready! I have also lost my job and need to get this on my CV ASAP.

Hi Ana, that sounds like a frustrating experience and I feel badly for you and everyone else who has struggled with Pearson Vue. I've been seeing a lot of complaints about the Pearson Vue online process.

My best advice is to take it in person at an exam center if at all possible. I had a good experience when I did the PMP exam that way (years ago), which I barely passed. I had a poor experience taking the ACP exam in person in January (which I passed easily). The proctor was late, thought I was there for a different exam (I still don't understand that), didn't notice my repeated requests to go to the restroom during the exam, etc. BUT - I had no problem getting the proof that I passed. So at the end of the day I was happy. It's less convenient to be sure but much less frustrating and stressful than doing it online.

The date of this post shown " 7 months 3 weeks ago" Online proctor exam announced 14th April 2020. Please check.

Ricardo Vivanco wrote: DEAR all,
I want to share my happiness.

happy ending.
Last Tuesday PMI recongnized there was a problem with my first exam and gave me the chance to retake It again, but this time they warned me if the system goes down again they will not be responsible.

So I decided TO DO NOT TAKE THE ONLINE EXAM and take it on a physical center which is in Italy (I live in Switzerland). I prefer to reduce the risk of application failing again and drive 1.5 hours to the closest test center.

I took the exam today and I passed with all DOMAINS "ABOVE TARGET"

EXAM was easier, not difficult as the exam simulator I took from Cornelius..!! I barely got 70% on PREPCAST's exam on all the 4 exams (as an average) so I got many doubts whether I can pass or not the real exam...

hopefully I did, finish 30 minutes before expected and got a good mark.

I also read Griffith PMI ACP Exam preparation (read 2 times) and read also "Head First Agile" and took exams from this book.

to be honest, PRepcast exam was MORE MORE difficult Than the real exam, I cannot recall any similar question on the real exam, but this helped me to prepare for the worst.

I saw instead similar questions and approach of the exam questions found on the HEAD FIRST AGILE.

moreover, I can confirm that many of the questions on the real exam were chosen following the approach "choose the less worse answer from all 4", many of the answers were not correct at all and that was the type of questions I found on HEAD FIRST AGILE.

that is all folks, happy end and a new certification....

hope it help others to clear their doubts about the exam .

regards,
Ricardo

My experience today was so highly frustrating that I was almost in tears. I started checking in 30 mins prior for ONLINE exam. I got through all the photos to the portion that said please wait while we prepare your exam and then nothing happened. I got that screen message at 3. My test was supposed to start at 3:15. At 3:30 I called them for the first time. They told me because of Covid they had higher numbers and to just wait. If an hour passed I was to contact them again. An hour passed. I contacted them again. After restating my situation the agent forwarded me to a different tear of support. This transfer took 20 mins. I have already been at my desk for 2 hours at this point. The new agent tells me that because it's been two hours since my scheduled time they could not let me take my exam. They would put in a ticket and I have to standby for 3-5 days to wait for further instructions. I already have test anxiety and this whole experience is stressing me out. Turns out that when they were telling me to just keep waiting, I never even made it into the Greeter Que. So I wasn't waiting for a proctor I was waiting for a greeter who never came. I don't know why this failed I followed all instructions. Their instructions say that if using a corporate laptop you should make sure you firewall is down. I made sure to close out all VPN and all other applications. There advice for next time is to use my Personal Computer. If that's the case they should have said that in their original instructions. Also not having any way to communicate with them from the program is very bad design. There should be some sort of status display to let us know that we are IN THE QUE. Super frustrating. I was already nervous because the program instructions telll you touch nothing, eat nothing, drink nothing, smoke nothing etc before the Wait starts or else the exam will be cancelled. My whole Not testing process took over 2 hours, close to 3. They really need to up their customer care game. Or PMI needs to find a new vendor for online test support. I am praying this gets resolved in a timely manner so I can go back to my life and not be as focused on test prep.

Sorry to here. I had a very similar experience. Like you, I waited and never got into the inner queue where there is a chat feature, etc. I was stuck at the screen of "Verifying details and intend to launch exam w/in 15 minutes of scheduled time." After 70 minutes past scheduled time I terminated the session and couldn't relaunch, and it was less than two-hours from scheduled time.

I too received the standard line of 3-5 days. I said, no. I called PMI on the first business day afterward and the PMI agent said 3-5 days. I asked what takes so long when PearsonVue took the blame? And PMI agent fed me the same line. I called back a few days later and I said I have to take this exam. This new PMI agent said ok. Ten minutes later I was teeing up my exam.

Unfortunately, when I went to take the exam via OnVue the application crashed repeatedly, though it didn't do so in any of the self tests, all the way to the single sample test question. The OnVue proctor restarted and I was able to finish.

All scenarios were on a a clean macOS install, that is, no extra software / processes running in background etc. It's definitely not top-notch offering.

If you want to move ahead,I would call PMI again. They tend to resolve the squeaky wheel, so to speak.

I scheduled a PMI-ACP proctored exam for today. I was waiting for ONE AND A HALF HOUR for the exam to be launched or someone contacting me. NOTHING HAPPENED. I called Person VUE and they said they had a "technical issue" and they will contact me via email in the next 3-5 days. THIS IS A TOTAL LACK OF RESPECT, if they had technical issues WHY they didn't call me? I gave my phone number for that. I was preparing the exam for TODAY and I want to take the exam TODAY. After this experience I have absolutely NO GUARANTEE that next time it will not happen again.

To complete, PMI Customer Service EMEA is not reachable via phone, "try again later" is the message and I am waiting for half an hour in the chat without any answer.

Which credibility has then the PMI to teach how to manage projects if they are handling theirs in this way??

An update about the situation, may be it can help. Finally I could contact PMI customer service and they gave me the same answer, I have to wait 3-5 days. I insisted and I sent them a screenshot where they can see the ONVUE screen “Please wait as we check your details..”, the time (one hour after the exam should start) and my face being recording. One day later I received an email from pearsonVUE telling me I can schedule the exam again.. Let’ see if this time there is a happy end.

in ACP exam, there is no 10min break. PMP has though...

I had a similar experience with PearsonVue today with my PMP. It was so frustrating, and I’m absolutely crushed that I didn’t get the chance to take the exam today. I was so prepared! So ready! And then I had the similarity frustrating experience of being given very little support from Pearson. I was told to wait up to 7 days for someone from Pearson to email me about what to do next.

So frustrating. I know there’s a lesson in here about risk mitigation, but I’m too angry to learn it right now.

I took my online PMP exam via PearsonVUE. I did as supposed , logged in 30 min prior to the scheduled exam time, did my system check, passed the system check, took my picture, 4 pictures of the room, proctor let me in .I started the online exam fine. When I finished my first part, I got kicked out and the only button I still had was the live chat. I pushed that button and someone came on. They logged me back in. So I made the second attempt to finish part 1 and got kicked out again. I pushed the Chat button multiple times for 2 hours but it was unsuccessful. The exam time lapsed and I was notified that I failed my exam. I contacted PearsonVUE proctor finallly and explained what happened. They opened the case for me. I am not sure how it'll go from here.
I decided that I am going to take exam at the real Center and not online.
I'll schedule the new exam at my own expense because I am confident that I will have better chances of properly working software in a Center than online.

What does the end say exactly if you fail or pass?
I finished the Exam about two hours ago. It was quite the experience. I do not recommend using a MAC to take it as the process froze up at point where you wait for exam to start (after all the photos and initiating stuff) and eventually told me I was going to need to reschedule and kicked me out. I checked the computer setup over and over beforehand. I then begin to panic trying to figure out how to reschedule because it sent me to a page with no info on how. I fumbled around a bit trying to figure out when a voice came from my computer with an extremely heavy accent. Luckily, they were trying to help me but I could not understand them. I had to re-word what I thought they said into yes or no questions so they could confirm what I needed to do with simple yes or no. After some fumbling around, I made it to the test (very very late, but time for test starts when you start). Let's say my anxiety levels were pretty much off the charts by then and I might have O'D on caffeine to get up at 5am as testing times were very limited this month. I was having difficulty with the first set of questions but pushed on and about 20 questions in I had a panic attack. I was not going to give up. I was layered so was able to cool down by losing a sweater but I did end up having trouble breathing and had to meditate and deep breathe for a long time before I could continue with the test (all while still on camera). Let’s just say my performance was well below what it should have been but I finished it.

After I hit submit, a very brief tiny tiny dialogue popped up and said congratulations on your PMI …… think it said something about a certificate to come later. I did not get a very good look at it and was pretty done by then. I think I passed based on what little I saw but again the system messed up and I did not get to read the pop up dialogue all the way.

What happened?

This is exactly what happened to me today . I had a exam today on 12/30/2020 at 1 PM central time.
I logged in at 12:35 PM and done all the checkin with inage uploads. I went on the cam screen and waited for almost 30 mins when the line came the exam failed to start.
I pinged online support and called customer and was ping ponging in all these customer call for almost 1 hour 30 mins and then they said they have raised a use case and trch tram and proctor will come back in 3 to 5 days.
Now all the effort , mind set fr the exam has to be redone with this whole frustration.

I too had a similar worst experience from Pearson Vue. The proctor came online after one hour of scheduled time and said it is due to heavy load/too many pending cases. The proctor asked to me restart my laptop...a foolish request ever made. That lost my connection and then it told me I can not take the exam as the schedule has already passed. Too bad.

I was taking my exam today and I was taking my first 10 min break and then I resumed the exam when 32 secs was still left and while giving 4th question, an PMI person chatted and said I was late from break even though I wasn't and closed my session without checking the records and gave me a case number which I cannot see anywhere and there is no email about the case number.

It was frustrating and completely unacceptable.

Today, It was my firtst try to pass the PMP exam. Everything went well until à small bug happen at the 102 question. So I started the chat and the technical person told me that she Will reboot my test and told me that it won't have effect, that I would be able To continu where I was .. I saw my screen change fort the one of the survey To evaluate the expérience after the test. I know, that something was wrong at this moment but I wait To let the time To the person doing what she was supposed To do. Nothing change, and I finally click on the no button and that was the end or my first experience. No body called me and I reached personvue To ask for help and they wasnt able To help me. So I have To wait for them To analyse my problème on a ticket. Very desapointing like process and support. Very, that van do vetter and avoir mâle loosing people time and money.

Same 7/21/21 horrible experience

I made my first PMP exam attempt today. I checked in, ran the systems check, and did everything I was supposed to do & everything worked well.
I came back from my first break, and around question 85 I received a message from the Proctor that my camera wasn't working. They worked to resolve the issue (while the clock was still running and I was unable to work on the exam). It took them roughly 5 minutes to resolve the issue. I was at question 92 when I was booted out of the test & received a message that the Proctor had ended my online exam.
2 hours later I finally found out that my efforts for the day were lost. I now have to wait 48 hours for my "case" to be resolved. Then I can start all over and take the exam again. Terrible experience, and even worse customer service from Pearson.
Next time I will be taking my exam in-person.

TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE with Pearson Vue! The online proctor was VERY unreasonable and terminated my exam saying I moved my eyes too much. I prepared so hard for this exam only to be terminated unfairly!! TERRIBLY SAD

I had the same experience. I contacted Pearson, but they have been saying they are reviewing for the last 3 weeks. Did you contact them and got any review result?

I had a same experience and got kicked out after answering 100 questions. What is the contact number for Pearson OnVue exam ? I have contacted PMI directly because i couldn't find a Pearson contact.

Same thing happened with me yesterday during the online exam. Pearson vue cancle the exam without any notice as per their error there was internet issue. I was using 5gbps link for this exam and backup plaan was also ready. There was no internet issue at my end.
I had done 124/180 till the time when they stopped the exam. Really disappointed.

This is really frustrating experience, I waited for 40 minutes & 3 proctored joined one after another asking me restart my VUE app though I checked 3 times on same day & 3 times 3 days before.
Anyhow then after waiting & checking my space they got ready to load exam, after an hour I contacted proctor on chat to allow me for quick bio break AND I checked from Pearson helpdesk 1 week before that - can we take quick bio break in between & I was told - YES, you can take but your clock timer won't stop so I was okay with that option.
...BUT proctor didn't replied me on chat after waiting for few minutes & I was in really need to go to washroom, I went ahead & took my laptop also with me so I was always in webcam view, after coming back to my seat then
proctor pinged me on chat window - I am closing your exam, he didn't called me OR gave me time to talk to him & closed my exam & they marked it as test completed.
This is really amazing & helpdesk & different thoughts & opinions and proctor have different rules & norms.
Proctor online exams should be stop by Pearson, they are causing suffering & pain to candidates. PLEASE STOP exploiting hard earned money of common masses.

I have also tried to do my exam today and after waiting 30 mins while they were saying they were doing the check-in, I contacted the VUE support to ask if this long waiting time was normal. Got the feedback to wait for the proctor,
no one contacted me and after an hour I was simply kicked out of the system.
How it is possible? Why no one contacted me if there was an issue?
Anyone a similar experience?
Now I have to wait....but I do not want to lose the exam and my money!