I have been forced to post my grievance here as the GMAC customer support has not been replying to my emails despite multiple reminders.
When I took the first GMAT on November 23, 2013, I scored 570 due to GMAT’s faulty software, which crashed multiple times in the middle of the exam. This score was 140 points less than on a GMATPrep test that I taken a day ago, as a matter of fact I have scored, on the first attempt, 660, 690, 710 and 710 on the GMATPrep tests. After many emails and calls, Pearson conducted an investigation and found nothing wrong with the software or the scoring and closed the case. On my persistence, it did reopen the case though. It started an investigation but it was an eyewash – when I called the phone support, they could point out neither the number of times the computer shut down nor the exact point in the test when the computer shut down. When I talked to the Proctor at the exam centre, he told me that the “investigation” found that the computer shut down only once (just before generating the score report); however, as mentioned many times in my emails, the computer had shut down twice in the break after the AWA and IR section. This raises questions on the “investigation”.
I was offered a retest for $50. On December 11, 2013, I posted on the GMATClub forum “In normal circumstances I wouldn’t have accepted the offer, the only reason I accepted the offer was because I was under time pressure (I had to take the test this month and there were no dates after Dec 24. I could not have taken a date before Dec 23 – this left me with only 1 date Dec 24, which I did not want to miss)”, so the only reason I accepted a retest was that I was running out of time.
In that post, I also mentioned “I also hope that I will be marked fairly (the algorithm will not take my past score in consideration and that it will not try to prove that I am a low scorer)”. This was not to happen, I was “given” the same score as the last time – 570. Only a couple of days before the GMAT exam on Dec 24, I had scored 50 in Quant and 39 in Verbal.
If I was scored fairly, I wouldn’t have scored 570 again (it is highly improbable to get exactly the same score again). And this too when I have consistently scored above 650 on GMAT Prep exams.
Unfair scoring is the last thing that I expected from GMAC. As suspected, it “punished” me for pointing out a genuine fault in the GMAT software.
Scoring 570 once because of the “experimental” questions can be attributed to bad luck; scoring 570 twice smells rat.
I want to see my GMATs taken on November 23 and December 24.
Sincerely,
GSP