Payne’s Pain: The testing center is not my favorite place

Alex-more-white-webStudents who need to make up a test, extended time on tests or have certain accommodations for testing go to the testing center in Building 6 everyday. It is a space that is supposed to help students take tests in a quiet area.

Unfortunately, I have found it to be the most distracting place to take a test and I dread having to go to the testing center.

Walking into the testing center you are greeted by a friendly staff, one of the only highlights of the testing center.

When you walk in you have to lock everything you have in a locker. You also see the multiple video monitors with security camera footage playing from the cameras covering every square inch of the small room.

When you walk in to the room you are facing towards large glass windows with the staff looking back at you. When it is a busy time students are constantly walking in and out of the doors creating a distraction. The door opens and closes, you look up and see a friend or favorite professor stopping in.

It is hard to concentrate when you feel like you are being watched as if you are a prisoner. I have spent a night in prison (I was not in trouble, I did it for journalism’s sake); I felt as watched or even more when I was “locked up” in the testing center than I did while I was in prison. The stress of feeling like all of these people are watching me, and the prison-like atmosphere scared me. It made me think throughout the entire time spent in the testing center how I would have just rather taken the test in class, where I feel comfortable.

On top of feeling like I am locked up in prison while taking a test, it is not quiet. I mentioned before the distractions of the door swinging open and shut. But the reception area is not sound proofed from the testing area. You can hear some of the conversations between the staff and when they are talking with students. It is not loud but you can hear and if you go to the testing center for quiet, it is like hearing people whispering across the room and you want to concentrate on your test but there is outside noise.

I have found the air vents in the testing center to be a little loud. You can hear the sounds of the ventilation system, as if Darth Vader is sitting next to you while taking a test. I have never been in a classroom that has had a distracting rumbling sound that you have to listen to while taking a test. I will just try to stay in the classroom as much as possible to take my tests.

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