Bitching out University Testing Services...

[Falco Girgis]

Because now I'm pissed. I REFUSE to take the entry level Chemistry course which doesn't even count towards my degree. I know my chemistry well enough to place out of that bullshit. I signed up for my second try at the placement test and recieved this:

Falco,

I see that you have registered for a Chemistry Placement exam. However, our records indicate that you already took the Chemistry Placement exam in January of 2007. You are only allowed to take the Chemistry Placement exam once. Therefore, you will not be allowed to take it again. If you have any questions, you may call Testing Services at the phone number listed below. Thank you.

Callie Loyd

Coordinator of Testing Services

University of Alabama in Huntsville

I responded reasonably:

I was told that I could take that exam (by the examiner) as many times as I would like. That isn't fair at all, because if I had known that I would only be given one attempt at it, I would've studied at least 10 times harder than I did.

Since when did this rule come into play? I took the math placement exam multiple times without an issue also. I was literally told "if you don't do well, just keep coming back until you get the grade that you like."

Now I am REALLY pissed off. I took it in JANUARY OF 2007! Had I known that they would magically decide to change the rules on us, I probably wouldn't have gone into that test hung over with no sleep (hey, it worked on the calculus placement test...)

So now I get to make a slew of phonecalls bitching various faculty out. I will take that placement test, oh yes...

[Kleithap]

Damn, you gotta love the bureaucracy at schools and colleges. I've had shit like this happen to me in the past as well.

Just getting angry and yelling at the person responsible usually helps :D

[trufun202]

Have you tried to escalate this to the dean? I was getting screwed around on things my senior year, and the Dean of CS helped me straighten things out.

[Trask]

I'd at least wait until I heard a response from the woman before escalating it. I've run into some issues with a professor at my school and things kinda escalated rather quickly on their own, so it's best you don't dig deeper than needed.

That does sound like BS, I'm assuming that the placement exam rules aren't subject specific? Like, Math you can take unlimited, but another subject you can't only take twice, others only once?

I know at my school, placement exams could only be taken once for all courses that they had available, but they made it clear when you had the option for selecting them. If the information isn't posted about these "rules" I'd demand that they do so, that way others like yourself can avoid the he said, she said bs. Good luck at straightening this out.