This semester’s new Testing Center scheduling policy aims to open more spots for students on days that best fit their schedule but has many last minute studiers outside Himes Hall stressed and confused.
“The reason behind it, for several semesters we’ve had a lot of students complaining to us and to instructors that they were having trouble getting seats for tests,” said manager of the Testing Center Derek Wilson.
The new policy restricts students to day-of schedule changes once they enter their testing window, and attempts to cut down on the number of students who schedule and reschedule everyday before finally taking their exam at the end of the testing period.
Wilson said students with a smaller testing window, just Thursday and Friday for example, fought for seats with students with larger testing windows, who pushed their exams back each day.
“With the old policy, someone with five days could schedule on Tuesday, and then once it got time for their exam say, ‘My test is in half an hour, and I’m not ready. Let me reschedule for tomorrow,’” Wilson said. “Then a Wednesday spot is taken, and the Tuesday spot is useless.”
This practice took away open seats from students who may only be able to take their tests on a specific day, he said.
Students then called their professor, who asked the Testing Center to open more seats. But as the Testing Center opened more spots, testers would still reschedule to fill them, Wilson said.
“Our numbers kept growing toward the end of the week, but the people that didn’t have a seat at all still didn’t have a seat,” Wilson said.
Though testers can change their exam date an unlimited number of times before their testing window opens, many students were caught off guard by the change.
Student Government Senator Gabby Triche, chair of the academic affairs committee, said many students contacted her with questions about the change.
“They didn’t advertise it really well, and I think because it is new it is surprising to students,” Triche said. “I think that it is something students will get used to and it will become the norm.”
Triche said she asked the Testing Center during a meeting to post its new policies to Twitter and explicitly state the policy on the website to make it easily accessible to students.
But some students are still adjusting.
“Teachers ask you to schedule three weeks in advance so it doesn’t fill up, and so you schedule three weeks ahead of time,” mass communication senior Kelly Glueck said. “But when the week actually comes down to it and you have two other tests, you don’t know what would be the best time to do it until the day of.”
Students also worry that same day rescheduling will keep them from booking an opportune time because spots will already be filled.
Kinesiology freshman Ashlyn Treese said people usually reschedule because of unexpected circumstances, and not knowing whether there are available seats adds complications to an already stressful time.
“If you have to wait until the day of the test, a lot of the slots fill up,” Treese said. “One of my friends had to take a test during a class because there weren’t any available.”
Some took to Twitter to voice their questions and criticism, many of which the @LSU_TestingLab account responded to. A lack of awareness of the new policy was the most common complaint.
Wilson said his office sent each instructor who uses the testing center an email explaining the new policy at the beginning of the semester, but that word did not spread like they hoped.
“It’s definitely a double-edged sword,” Triche said. “One of the best things about the testing center was being able to push it back, but at the same time you have to make spots available for those with a smaller testing window.”
Students wait in line to enter the Center for Assessment and Evaluation on Wednesday, October 14, 2015, in Himes Hall.
