Pearson - Reviews and experiences

I’m asking for a refund and I won’t be paying the $50 review fee — this was their fault, plain and simple. I took the PTE Core at the Jinan centre on Jan 30 because I needed a clean score for job and immigration paperwork — I study and practise every day for this. Halfway through the test the person two seats over was shouting and reading out loud, I could even hear their headset, and even after I raised it with the proctors they basically shrugged and said they “can’t interfere” because of their rules. That ruined my focus. I retook the exam in a quiet, professional setting on Feb 4 and my Listening jumped 13 points and Reading 10 points — so yeah, it mattered. I get policies exist, but calling that “normal noise” doesn’t fly. I felt ignored and a bit stunned. I want Pearson to accept responsibility and cancel the charge; asking me to pay for their inaction doesn’t make sense.

I was in the middle of a question, hands on the keyboard, when the exam window just shut itself. I’d only answered three questions — literally three — and then nothing. At first I thought my laptop hiccuped, so I pinged support right away. They came back with “we don’t know” which, well, wasn’t very helpful. The next day I get an email saying I moved out of the webcam view. I didn’t. My laptop was on the desk, webcam steady, room the same as always (I do my studying in the evening while the rest of the house winds down). I asked for a screenshot or any timestamped proof — anything — and after a day they replied again that I’d moved out, but no image, no log, no explanation. I kept pushing for a reattempt; now they expect me to pay again. That feels wrong, especially after two years of using this service for practice and a couple months of real prep for this particular cert. The platform itself does what it should most of the time — test delivery is fine, the interface is straightforward — but when something goes wrong you’re at the mercy of a black box and apathetic support. It’s discouraging. I don’t want to trash the whole product, it’s useful, but their handling of issues needs real transparency and some human accountability. Otherwise folks lose time, money and sleep for no good reason.

a mug, a couple of Salesforce swag items, papers. Fine. I cleared them. Then I was asked to redo the whole desk-photo routine. Okay, I did that too. Ten minutes went by with nothing. No update, no “we’re ready”, nothing. My heart was racing a bit because I’d blocked the whole morning to focus. Waiting in silence didn’t help.
When I tried to get attention by speaking into the camera (I was nervous and talking helps me), another proctor joined. Now he wanted me to clear the shelf under my desk — folders, a stack of work files. That’s literally my work drawer. I explained I couldn’t access them during the exam and they weren’t a risk. He insisted, pretty forcefully, and told me he could cancel my session if I didn’t comply. That felt like pressure. I moved everything into another room because I didn’t want to lose the exam. This scramble took time and totally knocked me out of my headspace.
It got weirder. After all that, he told me “there are people walking behind you.” That wasn’t a crowd — it was my wife, who sometimes walks by and, yes, the bathroom is near my desk. I asked if she could step out if needed. He told me to make sure she wasn’t around during the session. I said okay, and then the test started on his side, but I hadn’t even begun clicking answers. I went to tell my wife not to come near the desk — took maybe 20 or 30 seconds — and when I came back I got a message saying I’d left the testing area and they were revoking my exam. Case created. Session terminated. No chance to explain.
I worked hard for this. I studied for weeks, cleared my Sunday, paid for the exam, all that. And then a combination of unclear rules, aggressive proctoring and poor coordination kicked me out. It’s not just annoying. It’s humiliating and expensive. I’ve had good experiences with remote proctoring elsewhere, where the proctors were reasonable and communication was clear. This time felt arbitrary. I get the need for rules. I really do. But the way it was handled — threats, silence during long pauses, then an instant revocation for a brief walk to talk to my spouse — that felt unfair. I’m frustrated, and a bit sad. I didn’t get a fair shot. If you’re considering this route, be prepared for rigid rules and inconsistent enforcement. Maybe it’ll be fine for you. For me, it left a bad taste.

mid-question, my cursor frozen, then the monitor went completely dark. Not dramatic like in the movies — just a plain old black screen and a tiny “unidentified error” message that might as well have said “good luck.” To be honest, I had been on the fence about where to sit my Insurance Agent Licence exam. I’d read a handful of sketchy posts about testing centres and glitches and thought, “ah, it’ll be fine.” Famous last words.