Request about GRE exam in Iran

GRE exam holds only 2 times a year in Iran only in Paper-based test. Moreover, Paper-based test lets us have our grades with in 1.5 month at least. We find this interval insufficient due to deadlines of universities that this exam grade as an essential requirement for applying there. Missing the exam hold in the autumn for example means not being able to apply for that year and this leads to one year interruption in our studying. Taking CAT test format is not possible for most of test takers as we have to travel to other countries, as we find it more costly, not to mention it is more stressful and insupportable.

Besides that Paper-based test is very long and tiring. It is inevitable that gathering more than 500 exam takers in one room makes a lot of noise and do not let us concentrate on the questions. In fact, this type of examination needs special attentions and skills from the holding institutes. We are really thankful about the behavior of NOET employees as most of the time they are really helpful and supportive.

But in GRE exam held on Feb 21, 2009, the condition of exam held by NOET was really unsupportable. Especially the rooms in Sport school of Tehran University. The woman who was the room`s announcer was not able to perform her responsibility well. Her explanations were not clear and misleading some times. For example she told us to write our own address on the answer sheet. That was wrong as the ones who have registered by NOET and not online should write the NOET address. We guess that even the time was not announced correctly and was shorter than the normal exam. The method she announced the remaining time was so stressful. In addition, chairs` condition was really awful. The exam environment was not suitable because of coldness. In fact, there was only one heater for a salon as big as a handball field and there were lots of exam takers in one salon. Metallic chairs made the condition even worse. We could not concentrate on the exam due to coldness and noise of the street.