Ello Ello.. I was curious if anyone else had the chance to use the new format for writing exams at TC and what they thought of it.
They've gone the route of computerized exams, which I might add has it's ups and downs.. I for the most part found it easy to use the exam software and it had a nice bookmark feature to quickly come back to questions. Also had nice green and red bars down below to tell ya how many questions you've done and how much time is left. They still had the normal booklet of wx and charts on paper...
The one down thing is if ya feel any sign of a headache coming on I suggest holding off. By the time I was done staring at the computer screen for 3 hours, the exam was the last thing on my mind
Overall I liked the new setup... really quick to get the results back too, within 2 or 3 minutes.
Yah It's nice that you get the results right away but it was kindof weird writing an exam on a computer... I like having the exam on paper in front of me so I can make notes beside the questions. Also staring at a screen for so long was really tiring.I was relieved to see there was a bookmark feature though, that sure helped.
There were 2 exam issues that people around me have had:
1. A Fellow doing his Instructor rating - Class IV - was marked as getting 13% or some EXTREMELY low mark. The percentage was worse than if he had guessed on the answers. Who goes into their Class IV written exam that unprepared!?!
We knew that to be incorrect, so TC got a call and a few days later, after the Ottawa staff reviewed the answers, the mark was changed to 70%. In the mean time the TC staff were very adamant that the computer could NEVER be wrong. They said this was the first time it had happened in Canada. My concern is, what about the folks, who got the mark the opposite way - deserved 22% but got 89% - Interesting thought....
2. The second person was doing their commercial written. His overhead pen started leaking and got all over his hands. He went and showed it to the invigilator, got cleaned up but the examination software had NO capability to pause the time or to give him back the 10 minutes it took to clean up. As a result he couldn't answer a few questions.
Now I understand the possibility that if the exam time limit was adjustable, that individuals may feel the need to take advantage of an extended time. But the fellow I was mentioning, was not able to get back that time that was lost, because of some freak situation, that was TC's fault, that's not fair.
Has anyone else come across situations like my two?
I do enjoy the exam software, recently did my INRAT written. Having it on that flat screen - EXPENSIVE - monitor certainly does free up the desk to have more room to spread out the materials.
I am actually surprised that it has taken this long for the tests to go computerized in Canada. The FAA got rid of all paper-based knowledge tests about 10 years ago and there was the option to do the computerized version well before that. I remember it being an agonizing wait to see what the test results were. In comparison, in the US the scoring was instantaneous, and after being used to have to wait I would be thinking-- I don't want to know how I did so soon!!!
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So a person goes to an exam(with somewhat foulty pens) knowingly that is time limited, then something happen and he decided to spend the time cleaning (instead of doing the test) and because the test is time limited MR. Mculshaw said that is TC fault.
PLEASE! they might do thing wrong but this is not one. if you can not manage your time, is your problem, you have a set of time and even if you have a heart attack and you can not finish it it is NOT TC's fault.
I agree with Always Moving. TC has specific rules about not altering exam times, and those existed back in the paper days too. The guy with the pen problem would have been screwed back then too.
But i have heard of the occasional wayward computer program. A friend of mine had their computer freeze during an instructor exam. Unable to resolve the issue that day, they kindly asked him to come back another day to finish her test. Luckily for him, at the time of the malfunction, he was in the process of going back over some of the harder questions. So with an extra couple study days in hand, 98% wasn't a challenge.
Overall, i like the new system. It's easier to manage your time. Much easier to go back and find questions that you missed, and as a result i use my time much more effectively.
While writing my IATRA, when another guy finished his exam, the invigilator pressed the wrong button and my exam stopped. I was just going over questions by that point, but I could see that causing a problem for someone who wasn't doing great. They sorted things out and I passed no problem.
First test I did - didn't notice any problems. Then a friend of mine pointed out the following, and it caused a few problems. Wonder if I just didn't notice the first time and got some questions wrong because of it?
The place on the left, where you select your answer, is offset from the answers given on the right. Caught myself a couple of times choosing the one that physically lined up as opposed to the corresponding numeral.
It may seem like a little thing, but I think that it would be better if the selection box were along the top, to avoid such errors.
Hey Tango... The charts and wx still come on paper.. The only thing you have to do is answer and read the questions off the computer.
I haven't forgot about our PM conversation either, just been busy getting an exam done. I'll drop ya a line in the next day or so with some info...
If ya have any other questions feel free to ask.
Cheers
Just wrote the ATPLs on the computer. I liked it better than the paper methid myself. You have an option to click a progress button which pops upa box showing all the questions you've answered. You can then click the ones you haven't completed (white in color vs green for completed) and it will take you right to the question. Also gives you a progress bar at the bottom telling you how many questions you have answered, and how much time you have left. This can be turned off if it gets distracting.
Overall I thought the exams were more than fair, and TC seemed to be getting away from the "can you read OUR English langauge game" There were only a few questions where I had to Read the F***ING question twice
Always Moving wrote:So a person goes to an exam(with somewhat foulty pens) knowingly that is time limited, then something happen and he decided to spend the time cleaning (instead of doing the test) and because the test is time limited MR. Mculshaw said that is TC fault.
PLEASE! they might do thing wrong but this is not one. if you can not manage your time, is your problem, you have a set of time and even if you have a heart attack and you can not finish it it is NOT TC's fault.
