upsetting distractions while testing - very irritated

[doctor-to-be]

Today - I walked into the center feeling good, confident, and prepared. As I was working on my General test, I noticed that the person behind me was making the following noise out of her mouth every several minutes: mmm. This was not done softly, as the tone of this was easily audible to many. THEN, to make matters worse, another person was SPEAKING in a normal tone of voice for what seemed like 1-2 minutes!!! Anxious as it was, I was feeling so distracted!!! I used the set of ear coverings a bit, but these were too uncomfortably heavy and painful to me ears. In the 10 minutes break, I complained about these 2 disruptive noise makers. This staff member minimized the seriousness of this by saying (paraphrasing here) "some people need to read out loud to help them focus." WHAT???!!!! His best response was saying that he'll report them. He didn't kick them out! Later on, I had the bottom of one of my feet on the chair (without shoes) for comfort - staff came over to me and told me to put my foot down NOT on break. REALLY? Is that how people cheat these days? 

 

 

[Eigen]

Yes. I've seen people write things on feet. And inside hat brims. 

[doctor-to-be]

18 minutes ago, Eigen said:

Yes. I've seen people write things on feet. And inside hat brims. 

Since the test, I've been too upset to think of that. Not being allowed to put one foot on the chair should be documented in their listing of rules, along with no ripping of scratch paper. 

[fuzzylogician]

I assume this must be the GRE. The TOEFL has a speaking section, which starts at different times for different people, which means that there will easily be 5-10 people talking loudly right next to you while you try to do such things as read a passage for reading comprehension or write an essay. It's exactly as upsetting as it sounds, but you just have to deal with it. 

[Psych_Law]

That sucks. I felt super anxious the second time I took it due to a lot of noise distractions and one of the testing staff must have noticed and asked me (thankfully) during my break if I wanted these ear buds (similar to the ones you use if you're in a shooting range) since the other headphones did not fit on my very small head. I ended up having the ear buds and the headphones on and that helped a lot. I also, miraculously, scored better during that round than the first time I took it. I was dumbfounded considering I felt so distracted the whole time. Everyone I talked to about it said that all of those distractions probably eased my testing anxiety and allowed me to take the test without that making me overthink everything. So crazy enough, all of those distractions helped.

But I definitely understand your frustration. Once you hear the noises, they seem to be all you can concentrate on. 

[CarefreeWritingsontheWall]

19 hours ago, doctor-to-be said:

Since the test, I've been too upset to think of that. Not being allowed to put one foot on the chair should be documented in their listing of rules, along with no ripping of scratch paper. 

In all fairness, these are rules that they explain to you during the security check when you enter the test room. I know I was explicitly told that I could not rip or tear scratch paper, and it was also on the front of the booklet. You also have the right to ear plugs, which you could bring in yourself, or have provided to you if you don't want to use the sound cancelling headphones. If they didn't outline this to you before you started, or didn't offer you such ear plugs, you should write to ETS about the test center you wrote at specifically as those people weren't doing their jobs.

[doctor-to-be]

Thank you. The staff didn't explain any of these rules during the security check. And, they didn't offer to provide me with any ear plugs. I will create an addendum to my complaint. This helps.