ProctorU

[rachel83az]

ProctorU sometimes asks for two forms of picture ID? Yikes! I have that now but not everyone does.

[P226mem]

ProctorU sometimes asks for two forms of picture ID? Yikes! I have that now but not everyone does.

according to Proctor U website there are some institutions/organizations that ask for that optional measure. So it's at the request and option of the institution. and it could be the case some proctor might apply the rules incorrectly or couldn't read the first one.  it's rare.
Another optional measure of ID is one of those questionnaires based on public info, and there was a 3rd option rarely used. as far as my experience, coopersmith did not require proctor U to do any of the optional ways.  just 1 ID and scan the room.

[dfrecore]

I've taken many exams through ProctorU, through several different course providers/schools; some I've had problems with, some I haven't. Some were ProctorU issues, some were due to the exam/course provider/school.

I'd say patience is your friend here, give yourself a good 30-45 minutes to get everything set up and going pre-test. If you just plan on it, you'll be much better off. So if the test is supposed to be 2 hours long, budget 3 hours for it instead.

[ctcarl]

Many good points have already been made in this thread.

I'll just add that I had a few technical glitches, and I too would suggest that you give yourself plenty of time to get up and running for the exam in case you have to do any troubleshooting.

The other big problem I had with ProctorFU relates to their premium fees; "Take it Soon", which you are supposed to be charged when you schedule an exam appointment that is more than two hours but less than 72 hours away, and "Take it Now", for appointments scheduled for less than two hours away.

I can't speak for anyone else, but when I complete a course, I want to take the exam as soon as possible.  It doesn't have to be within an hour or two, but I would usually schedule for three or four hours, or sometimes the next day.  Each and every time, ProctorFU would charge me the higher "Take it Now" fee, even though in every case it should have been "Take it Soon".  Each and every time, when I would put in a support request, the reps would say exactly the same thing, "You may avoid premium fees by scheduling your exam more than 72 hours in advance".  Every rep would completely ignore the fact that they were improperly charging the higher fees.

What I found most upsetting was that they were clearly capitalizing on the surge in online testing due to COVID, and I'm sure that most students just shrugged and paid it (or their parents did, and were none the wiser).  I suspect they made a fortune on that scam, and it seemed to me that they simply instructed their staff to not acknowledge what was happening, and instead just parrot the same line, "You may avoid premium fees by scheduling your exam more than 72 hours in advance".

[udi]

I tried to get on ProctorU for three hours today. Then, I finally had to give up.

[TwinMom]

I tried to get on ProctorU for three hours today. Then, I finally had to give up.

Oh No!  Hopefully you were able to get it rescheduled without paying for it again.

Just to update everyone:

I did end up buying a bare basic laptop with nothing on it. I downloaded Chrome to it and that was it.  It was slow but did the trick for the first 2 exams for both of my boys.

On one of my son's third exam, it completely disconnected when he was halfway through the exam. Everything was lagging really badly-even the chat box. I came into the room and we tried to figure things out.  Long story short: with lots of transferring and technical support (and prayers) it took 35 minutes but he was able to reconnect and finish the exam-he didn't even have to start over.  It was nerve wracking though!

While  he was finishing I set up a new user account on my laptop like someone here suggested and we used that for the second exam with no issues. So I really don't know if the first time was a laptop problem (we'd already used it 4x), a connection problem (the other 2 of us at home were connected just fine) or a problem on ProctorU's end.

Also, PU has really upped their game this time around with additional requirements. One proctor asked for an additional id which we didn't have. Both proctors made the boys reposition themselves so the front door was directly behind them vs behind but off to the side, close the curtains on a sliding door about 20 feet away to the side, show their ears and forearms and use their phone's camera to show the keyboard of the laptop. No big deal but it was a change/surprise from the first 2 exams.