Ok, I know so many people are having a smooth session in the online exam but I have had multiple bad sessions. I considered myself to be the unlucky one. Read my experience so that you know what to do and not get into panic when the exam is not going as expected.
First of all, unless you have no choice, DO NOT USE MAC OS for the exam. Pearson VUE has the Mac version but the application has handful of crashing record in Mac OS, which happened to me. I carried out the software check days before the exam, however the software just crashed in the second half (the first half was completely ok). The customer service later told me that they have had reports about software crashing in Mac OS. It's already sounds like an exam question right? Just mitigate this risk by using Win 10 system is reducing a great chance of having accident like this.
In case the software crashed (it completely frozen EXCEPT THE TIME), stay calm and do not panic. If the chat box with the proctor is still functional, tell them and they can "relaunch" the exam for you at the time and question that you start to have the problem. One should stay calm and reduce the impact of the frozen computer in your mind. It is the best to keep yourself cool enough to be ready to jump back in the exam immediately. This frozen screen can happen a few times during one exam session.
If the application is completely frozen and the chat box is also not responding, stay calm and remember the question number and time, and wait for another 10 mins. The proctor may not even aware that you have problem and they may not come in to help you at all. If they have no response in 10 mins, HARD REBOOT your computer, check in your exam once again by directly open the apps in your download folder. It is possible that the program will start from where it frozen. If not, let the proctor know and you should ask for a rescheduling because the proctor has no authority to compensate any lost time to you.
The proctors are just a joke. Different proctor has different check in rule, and very unresponsive to your request of help. The waiting time for reply can be as long as 5 to 10 mins. Therefore, don't expect you can get timely help from them.
About the exam, it will get in the first review session after the completion of question 89. Everyone should estimate and control the quantity of time to review the questions.
After the exam, not before you completely shut down the application, you are still be considered as taking the exam. Do not get away from your seat before you get explicit permission from the proctor.
I will post a little more about how to reschedule the exam with Pearson VUE and PMI in this kind of technical issues. My hint is that you have to follow up the e-mail thread closely. Pearson VUE lost my first reschedule request and let me waited 4 days without any notice. At the same time, PMI's response is very slow too. It took me nearly 2 weeks to reschedule the test.
Good luck~!
