Finished my first NYU final yesterday, or so I thought.
I was at my computer, ready to roll at 9:55 yesterday, set for a 10 a.m. start. At ten I clicked on the "begin exam" button on the exam app, and it asked to take a photo of me and my driver's license. But the computer was having nothing of it--as near as I could tell, the update on our antimalware software on Saturday kicked in, and the little shield appeared over the icon for the exam software, which I reckon means it was blocked. That means no camera.
Frantically, I clicked on the IT Support page (already loaded just in case), and found there is no phone number, only an "open ticket" button. So I opened a ticket. Minutes went by. The exam period was only three hours, and at 25 minutes in I was still begging someone to get online and help me into the test.
Finally I retrieved my old computer, running old antimalware software, and tried to access the exam from there. I made it onto the page, but the identifier I had for the test was wrong. More time went by.
Finally I called the generic front office number for the law school, found someone in the IT department, and had him walk me through getting the exam downloaded. It was now 10:38.
The exam was challenging, and I was thoroughly flustered, but I managed to make it through with three minutes to spare, and hit the "submit exam" button at 12:57. A surge of relief followed; I just wanted to drink a beer and take a nap. I worked instead, of course.
Then a few minutes ago my friends at IT, now engaged in the discussion via email long after the exam ended, have informed me that the exam didn't go through, and could I please send a receipt showing that I sent it yesterday? I opened the software, and found a receipt that showed, unfortunately, the time I retrieved the receipt, which was a few minutes ago and not yesterday when I hit the "submit" button. I sent them the screen cap and an explanation. We'll see if the school takes the exam, given that our robot overlords say it was submitted almost exactly 24 hours late.
I hate technology. Where are my bluebook and stack of pens when I really need them?
Maybe I'll just drop out of the program. God telling me I'm too old for this.