A student wrote to me recently to tell me about his negative experience of the test centre on the day of his IELTS exam. He said that the test centre staff were unfriendly and unhelpful, and he wondered whether it was a good idea to complain.
Let's consider some problems that you might experience on your test day:
- unfriendly staff
- an unfriendly examiner
- other candidates coughing or sneezing
- unclear instructions from staff
- noises outside the building
- a wobbly table
- any other problem with the exam environment that you can think of
What should you do about these problems? Tell us what you would do in the 'comments' area below, and I'll give you my advice in tomorrow's lesson.
In my opinion, if these problems are just before the start of the test, we should definitely talk to staff about it that we are not feeling comfortable with something. If it is during the test, we can raise our hand and complain about the issue by saying a few sentences. Of course, we can not discuss for a long time during the test. They may be able to find a quick solution for our problems.
Although I think for some problems there are not really a possible solution, for example, if we have an unfriendly examiner, what can we really do??
Posted by: L | May 27, 2017 at 16:33
In my opinion, we should learn to control any situation, better to control our nerves. Not let anything affect our test performance. Just ignore it for the moment. At the end no one is loser but ourselves ( not because we complain but because we get disturbed).
Posted by: Shilpa | May 27, 2017 at 17:06
If complain is regarding our sitting arrangement or chair/table and we find ourselves uncomfortable or any problem with regards to poor instruction better try to ask and solve politely
Posted by: Shilpa | May 27, 2017 at 17:08
If other candidates are coughing or sneezing, put ourselves in his/her position and so will not have negative feelings
Posted by: Shilpa | May 27, 2017 at 17:14
If I'm well prepared, any of this won't be a problem for me.
Posted by: Max | May 28, 2017 at 01:23
i believe once we prepare for the test carefully, we will have less worries or frustration about anything or anybody else. for me, the biggest pressure is from our over-worrying psychology beroe test. Besides reviewing academic knowledge, we definitely should have a stable, calm mood. We should focus only on the test. if the staffs give the unclear instruction, ask them for a clearer one. in case of any facility problems, we should check and inform the staff of them. when facing unfriendly, strict exeminer, we could low the anxiety by breathing deeply, smiling friendly and give our answer in a clear, brief and sufficient way.
Posted by: Emma | May 28, 2017 at 06:41
Good advice any good stuff
Posted by: patrick | June 27, 2017 at 10:17