Attention to detail and filing for appeal when you disagree with ATS.

This weeks blog is one that I haven’t planned ahead for, maybe this is even a lesson to myself. A good friend of mine has been anxiously awaiting his Stage 1 (PATI, WCT, PREP) results in the mail and was shocked to find he passed the PATI and dismayed to find he did not pass the WCT. He went in ready for the test day but dreading the PATI, not knowing if he would pass and he did it!! Unfortunately, he was not successful with the WCT. During our debriefing he articulated to me what happened during the WCT and that he didn’t understand how he couldn’t have passed. The test results profile that was attached outlined exactly which area he had difficulty with, the conclusion but it was so vague and non-specific in regards to what he specifically wrote or the scenario that was presented on the test. I conferred with him that he indeed came to the right conclusion of who was at fault and we both then assumed the failing grade must be a mistake on ATS‘ part. Now it was a matter of approaching ATS and appealing the mark. Your reason for appeal could be because you feel that your test is not as cut and dry like PATI, where the WCT is more open to interpretation so having someone else review, they might rule in your favour, that you passed. After all if you fail the PATI or WCT you have to wait three months to test again which would put a serious snag in his timeline. Upon calling ATS I discovered something interesting, when you receive a failing mark your test is automatically marked by a second person to confirm that the mark is a fail, with tests like the WCT a third person is brought in to confirm the mark if the data is objectionable. So, before you even begin the appeal process three separate people have possibly had their eyes and thoughts on your test! What is the outcome of the appeal? We’re not sure yet but from speaking with someone at ATS we found that the form letters sent out with failing marks, profiling what happened are indeed that, forms. The ministry guiding the testing process is very specific about not releasing too much feedback on test results to applicants as to prevent them from getting an advantage over the other applicants. I think this philosophy is false as, you’ve already been to the test day and written the test, you know what you’re up against. So, calling and simply having a friendly tone of voice will help you and here’s what we discovered. Most people that fail the conclusion get it wrong because they simply don’t have it right, however, if you're using TestReadyPro your conclusion isn't the problem so looks look at the rest of the people that fail including my friend. Other seem to fail because they accidentally mixed up a fact. Thats right, human error. This really proves the importance of proof-reading your WCT when you finish writing it and truly paying attention to these tiny details. Without this final process of double-checking you could find yourself looking at a “Does no meet standard.” grade. Keep in mind, this is your attention to detail, don't mix up colours, makes, license plates of cars, names of people etc. Take the time to analyze everything you wrote, double check your facts, just as you've been taught here and you will not fail.

Do I have any other thoughts on the WCT? Well, I’ll tell you that the person I spoke with at ATS also felt that some people who fail just don’t simply restate the facts at the end of the scenario in their conclusion to prove who is wrong. If you’ve put all the facts together on your fact sheet, itemized neatly then described them in the body of your report but fail to restate them at the end of your scenario with your conclusion, you will definitely be looking at a grade that does not pass. Again, the best way to prevent yourself from being caught in this scenario is to follow TestReadyPro's formula and practice with material here on the website. Put it into your muscular memory that whenever you finish a paragraph you're not going to let your ideas get carried away, you're going to proof-read. Your own margin of human error can be reduced but only by taking the tools offered and applying them and practicing.

For those of you interested in starting the appeal process, it will cost you $25 per test you appeal in addition to a seven to ten business day waiting period. You can find the ATS appeal process here http://www.applicanttesting.com/appeal.htm