Unscheduled breaks now available in most exams without requesting in advance

[Liberty Munson]

Starting on May 16, 2022, you will be able to take unscheduled breaks during exams without requesting them in advance through the accommodation request process.

Here’s how it will work:

• Five (5) minutes have been built into the exam time that can be used for break time. Note that exam time will not change, but we have reduced the number of questions on the exam to accommodate this. (So, you’ll see fewer questions on the exam.)
• While only 5 minutes have been added to the exam time, you can take as much time as you want during the break, and you can take multiple breaks; however, exam time will continue running while you are on break. If the exam time ends while you are on break, your exam will be scored based on what you were able to complete before the exam ended. If you are unable to finish the exam because you were on a break or took a break, no adjustments will be made. You are responsible for managing your own time.
• Once a break is launched, you will not be able to return to the questions that you viewed before the break.
• You can take a break at any point during the exam except in the middle of a lab or within our problem solution question sets (i.e., the questions where you indicate if the presented solution solves the problem); breaks can be taken before or after these question types but not during.
• You can take breaks during case studies, but you will not be able to return to any question seen before the break.
• Before going on a break, you will be prompted to review any question that you have seen, and you will be informed of how many questions and how much time remain.

Here’s what the experience will be like:

1. When you want to take a break, select the “Take a break” icon at the bottom of the screen.

Request a break screen

2. After selecting the “Take a break” icon, you will be informed of the number of questions you have seen, how many of them are unanswered, and how many are marked for review. Please answer and/or review those questions before starting your break. You will not be able to return to these questions after your break. Once you are ready to proceed to your break, select “Start Break.” If you decide not to take your break, select “Return to Exam.”

Review screen for breaks

3. Once you have started your break, you will be reminded that the exam timer continues running and informed how many questions are remaining on the exam. You will also see the exam clock.

Break screen

Let me know if you have any questions in the comments below.

[RicardoSH123]

Are you allowed to leave the testing Center whilst on a break?

Are the breaks for online proctored exams with pearson vue as well?

[iammohdrashid]

After exam finish can we have download or email option for which the exam i have attend. I just want to preview it after finishing the exam

[Julian Sharp]

You have always been able to take a break in a testing center for example to go to the toilet or to get a drink but you are normally very limited as to where you can go, so leaving the test centre would I expect not be allowed

@RicardoSH123 I am assuming this is for online proctored exams. 

@iammohdrashid you get the results i.e., score and where you performed comparatively at the end of the exam but there is no way you will be able to have a copy of the questions

[Akah Mandela Munab]

So i can read a case study then go on break, revise a little and return to answer the questions ?

[Néstor Reverón]

Excellent :right_facing_fist::left_facing_fist::fire:

[Luke Murray]

@akajj"You can take breaks during case studies, but you will not be able to return to any question seen before the break."

A way to read it is IF you have seen a question anywhere, as soon as you go on a break, you won't have access to the question again, even if you haven't answered a question, (ie if you skip ahead and look at questions (ie question 5) then go back (to question 1), go on break, all questions that you have seen (1-5) will be blocked and unable to go back.

[XabiNajera]

Muy bien.

[sojan]

my battery went down and i plugged the power cable but i had to restart the laptop to continue my exam as nothing was selectable on pearson's OnVue.

in the event i lost 10 minutes. nobody from pearson cared my issue and i had no one else to contact.

[Ultraseven]

That is pretty good, specially on those long exams where a bathroom break would be very useful 

[Lucas-Jesus]

Hello @Liberty Munson 

Just to confirm, we are allowed to leave the testing place to do something else and return during break time, right?

[Liberty Munson]

@Lucas-Jesus That is correct.

To clarify, yes, breaks have been possible in test centers before, but the process for requesting one was less streamlined and time was not included in the exam to accommodate breaks. Both have been "fixed" for test center breaks because we have updated the UI so you can request a break and updated the number of questions on the exam so you shouldn't have any problem finishing the exam in the time allotted (even if you take more than 5 minutes because this time is added on to the fact that I build the exams so that 95% of people can finish in the time allotted).

[Marc Michault]

Brilliant! Mut have been designed with me in mind . Bravo!

[RredCat]

Thank you. It is a valuable feature for people who pass certification in uncertain circumstances.

[jgelvis]

Realicé un examen en casa (AI-102) y tome el descanso.  Creo que en ese momento, el supervisor no estaba enterado de que ya se podía hacer eso y casi me anula el examen.  Le mostré en pantalla lo que pasaba y me dejo continuar.

[jgelvis]

I took an exam at home (AI-102) and took a break. I think at the time, the proctor was not aware that you could do that anymore and he almost threw me out of the exam. I showed him on the screen what was happening and he let me continue.

[Liberty Munson]

@jgelvis thanks for sharing this. I forwarded to PVUE to remind them to work with their proctors on this. If you can provide your registration ID, we can provide specific feedback to that proctor. Email mscdm@microsoft.com

[keithw471]

@Liberty Munson I tried emailing mscdm @ microsoft.com but that email address doesn't appear to be valid? I took a Microsoft exam recently and had the exam revoked for being out of view of the webcam while I was in break mode.

[Liberty Munson]

@keithw471: that is not the correct alias to contact with issues like this. Please contact our support team: Certification support | Microsoft Docs. They can point you in the right direction and will be able to collect the needed information to investigate. 

[keithw471]

@Liberty Munson See below for the latest response I got from Pearson Vue support. Is Microsoft doing something to rectify this?

Dear Pearson VUE Testing Candidate,

Thank you for testing with Pearson VUE. We are contacting you regarding your Microsoft Exam on 17 Jun 2022.

We have reviewed your situation. During the exam, you left the exam. Posted on the Pearson VUE website, leaving the webcam is not allowed during the exam for any reason. We have double checked and there is no scheduled or unscheduled breaks for Microsoft Online Proctored exams. Please make sure you avoid leaving the webcam view during your exam for any future OnVUE examinations.

[Liberty Munson]

@keithw471 as I mentioned in my response above, please escalate this through MICROSOFT support. There is information we need to investigate that neither I nor my point of contact at PVUE can discern from your comment. 

Training, Certification, and Program Support

[keithw471]

@Liberty Munson Yes, I have a Microsoft support case open to investigate my particular issue.

The reason I replied here again is because it appears Pearson Vue has incorrect information, they have told me multiple times now that breaks are not allowed for any reason when taking a Microsoft exam(According to this blog, that is not the case). Is Microsoft doing anything to make sure Pearson Vue knows that breaks are allowed?

Recent email from Pearson.

Dear Keith,

Thank you for testing with Pearson VUE. We are contacting you regarding your Microsoft Exam on 17 Jun 2022.

We have reviewed your situation. During the exam, you left the exam. Posted on the Pearson VUE website, leaving the webcam is not allowed during the exam for any reason. We have double checked and there is no scheduled or unscheduled breaks for Microsoft Online Proctored exams. Please make sure you avoid leaving the webcam view during your exam for any future OnVUE examinations.

[Liberty Munson]

@keithw471: Of course we are working closely with PVUE on this, which is why I wanted you to escalate this through MS support. The team at PVUE that I'm working with needs more information because we need to track down where the communication breakdown is happening. PVUE has a wide network of proctors and they should have been trained on this, but given the number of clients that PVUE supports, it's not surprising that some proctors are not paying close attention to the overlay saying this is a MS candidate and breaks are allowed. We need to figure out who it was and determine if there is a larger issue.

[sojan]

@keithw471 @Liberty Munson i don't expect anything less. they ask to even show each and every corner of the room on laptop with the power cable connected on it.

Once something fall down from the table when the agent was asking for this and that.

i think it was power cable that got accidently disconnected (don't rem what it was) and it fall down from the table, i bent down and took it from the floor.  

Then agent said, hey hey what are you doing, show me the floor. :)

Another day i came with more than half the power somehow got finished it between the exam, pearson got disabled by the windows prompt and pearson did not allow me to click the windows prompt after connecting the cable, i cried for help nobody responded.

Later  i have to press power button to restart the PC, and exam was still there but i lost 10 to 15 minutes by the time.

[Maria__P999]

Hello @Liberty Munson ,

Today I had my exam revoked for being out of view of the webcam while I was in break mode.

I did reported the issue on Pearson Vue , through chat and  I also registered a Microsoft support case.

Can you please tell me I there would be another thing to do on it?

[Liberty Munson]

@Maria__P999 @keithw471: Please send your registrations IDs to mslcd@microsoft.com. It will make it easier for me to track down your cases and escalate as my support contact is OOF. Thank you. 

[Maria__P999]

Hello @Liberty Munson ,

I just sent you my registration ID.

Thank you.

[Maria__P999]

Dear @Liberty Munson , thank you so much for your help.

I just received an email mentioning that my exam was revoked in error and got a voucher.

“Dear Learner,

We have reviewed your exam details and see that your exam was revoked in error. As a gesture of goodwill we are providing a voucher that you can use to retake the exam at no charge.”

@keithw471 , hope your case was solved, as well.

Kind regards,

Maria

[keithw471]

@Maria__P999 Yes, I just got the same email. I'm hoping in the future Pearson Vue will know that breaks are allowed.

[keithw471]

@Liberty Munson I retook my exam yesterday, and before I started the exam I asked the proctor if taking a break is allowed. They basically said "No that is not allowed for any reason". I decided it wasn't worth my time trying to explain to them that breaks are allowed. Just thought I'd make you aware of that.

[Liberty Munson]

@keithw471: please note that I am working closely with PVUE on this. They are taking this seriously and are retraining their proctors. Be assured that I will get this solved. Thanks.

[Julian Sharp]

@Liberty Munson Another case https://trainingsupport.microsoft.com/en-us/mcp/forum/all/exam-got-revoked/6e4f00d8-49c7-4644-af2c-2... 

[yogeshpalai]

I recently appeared an online MS certification exam and applied break just like mentioned here. But when I returned Pearson VUE proctor claimed I violated their terms by leaving the premises and canceled my ongoing exam. I'd attended 33 out of 50 questions and it was going well until the proctor became a dictator. Getting this certification is very crucial for my career and the support case I raised didn't do anything on my favor. It's like they did something wrong and hiding behind a wall.

Can you please tell me what my options are right now? Whom do I contact to get some justice here? If I really dont get any support I'll have no other option rather than going to consumer court. The exam fee is not any small amount for someone like me from a 3rd world country with low income and I can't afford to pay for another, plus I doubt I'll be allowed to appear for another exam.

Regards,

Yogesh P

[Liberty Munson]

@yogeshpalai Please send your registration ID to mslcd@microsoft.com. I need to know when this happened because we have been working with PVUE to retrain proctors based on the feedback in this thread; I need to know if this happened before that was complete or if there continues to be an ongoing issue. 

For anyone else experiencing this, please send the details to that alias so that I can prioritize resolution. Thanks.

[rajboggala16]

I would like to share my experience taking this break. Today, I got my AZ-204 exam. After waiting with a queue position of 169, I checked into the exam. As I read the instructions, I understood that I was allowed to take a break. The proctor abruptly stopped my exam and did not let me chat with him or speak with him. He just put a note in the chat window that I violated the exam policy by leaving the exam. Before that, he asked me if I clicked anything to take a break. I mentioned that I took it by clicking the "take a break" button at the bottom before leaving and "resume" after I returned. A few minutes later, he just put a note in the chat and closed my exam. It was just rude; after all, I waited for this exam for so long, and then this happened. I just wonder if the proctors are trained with the updated policies!

[Liberty Munson]

Please escalate to our support team so we can gather the information needed to investigate. Https://aka.ms/mcpforum

[Rimvydas-LT]

Hi,

Liberty, when is Microsoft going to fix all of these ongoing issues with PVUE? All of these proctors need to be punished at least. They do not provide any help, they do not provide any clarifications - all they can at best is to revoke exams. They even violate their own policies. Looking at all of this I'm starting to think - does Microsoft care about it at all?

[rajboggala16]

@Rimvydas-LT , Yes, you are absolutely right! I have the same opinion. There were two proctors in the chat on my exam day. To me, they seem unprofessional and rude. I doubt if they had received any formal training! They did not even try to check if the exam instructions mentioned anything about unscheduled breaks. I wonder if they may have the view that the candidate has taken a break like I have the option to hit "Take a break" and "Resume" after returning. To make this worse, their chat advisor and an investigator who supposedly investigated my complaint did not consider the facts at all. I shared my details for escalation (my complaint); hopefully, it will be resolved and there will be no more pain for future test takers.

[Liberty Munson]

I am sorry that you feel this way. Microsoft cares very much about the candidate experience, and we have trained Pearson VUE proctors multiple times to ensure a good experience in relation to our policies. However, although we have a unique overlay letting proctors more easily identify Microsoft candidates, our policies are different from all other Pearson VUE clients, so mistakes can be made. Because we do care and Pearson VUE trains their proctors, this is more likely an issue with particular proctors and is not systematic. This is why you should escalate these experiences so we can identify the proctor in question and take remedial actions. This will allow us to collect the information to take the appropriate action. In addition, these escalations allow me to determine if this systematic so different actions can be taken if necessary. Thank you for your feedback. If you don't tell us if something is "broken," I have no way of knowing. 

[Rimvydas-LT]

Liberty,

I think problem is not with particular proctors but more systematic. This thread is full of complaints, my colleagues had problems in the past, I had problems. My particular case - I had exam revoked because I left my computer for a minute because I needed to go to the toilet and thought that I'm still in checkin process. But I left my computer before all surveys and exam had started. Proctor clearly saw this and simply revoked my exam without any clarifications. I was so mad at that time. I've contacted their support and had to spent almost a month looking at their the same "copy/paste" answers about me, violating their policies. And when I asked to clarify what exactly I've violated - got nothing in return. I even sent them an excerpts from their own policy and asked to explain why are THEY violating it. Again - got no clarifications, but good thing is that at least, after few next emails, I've got vaucher to retake my revoked for nothing exam. So in general - experience with PVUE is awful:/ I'll report my bad experience and problems to provided email next time because such customers treatment is simply unacceptable.

[Liberty Munson]

Thank you for providing the additional detail. In this case, this is not issue with how breaks are being implemented as this happened before the exam began. The actions I would take to solve the break issue are very different from the actions I need to take in this case. This is why it's so important to escalate these issues to our support forum so that we can get the necessary information to take the right actions. It sounds like this was escalated to Pearson, but did you escalate to Microsoft? If not, would you?

In the future, if you don't get a response from Pearson, please escalate to our support forum with the details of the actions you took with Pearson. If you still don't get a response, you can contact me directly through this forum (send me a private message as I need details like your name and registration ID).

Thank you.

[rajboggala16]

Hi,

I want to update you on my complaint. Today, they issued me a voucher to rewrite the exam. I appreciate Microsoft's support team, which looked into my case, worked with Pearson Vue and was able to resolve the issue. I hope Pearson Vue takes reasonable steps to avoid this kind of situation again for future test takers.

Kind regards,

Rajkiran

[Jalamos]

Hello, it´s very good. what can i do in this time?

i can go outside of room, to the bathroom for example? or this time is to rest in the same place?

[Liberty Munson]

@Jalamos You can do all of those. Essentially, you can do anything except engage in behaviors that the proctor or any reasonable person would find offensive (sadly, this happens). 

[tomrose]

@Liberty Munson

Today I had my exam revoked for being out of view of the webcam while I was in a quick break. The proctors just threw me out and told me that NO breaks are allowed.

[Liberty Munson]

@tomrose did you use the break feature on the exam before taking your break? If you didn't, the proctor acted appropriately by ending your exam although they shouldn't have said that breaks weren't allowed (unless they meant without launching one using the "break" feature). Assuming you did, though, please submit a case to either the Pearson VUE customer service team and/or open a case on Certification Support as they will be able to gather the information we need to investigate. Thanks.

[jikuja]

Documentation does not provide a good information that you can go out of webcam view: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-gb/certifications/exam-duration-exam-experience#unscheduled-breaks-on....

Also https://home.pearsonvue.com/microsoft/onvue#during-exam mentions

"

Q.Can I take a break during the exam?

A.Each exam program establishes its own break policies. If your program allows breaks, you’ll find that information in the program-specific policies section of this page.

"

but there is no program-specific policies in that page.

[Liberty Munson]

Because you will find it on the Microsoft (it's our program specific policy) pages: Exam duration and exam experience | Microsoft Learn

[jikuja]

> Documentation does not provide a good information that you can go out of webcam view: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-gb/certifications/exam-duration-exam-experience#unscheduled-breaks-on....

This is still true. I might be nitpicking and it is common sense that on break you can leave the camera to use toilet but it is not mentioned at all on the MS policy.

[Liberty Munson]

Thanks for the feedback. I'll work with the team to clarify this on the web pages.

[msatyan7]

@Liberty Munson While I was giving AZ 900 exam, I opted for a break and immediately I was thrown out of the exam from the Proctor. I know taking a break is available for my exam and it is given in the instructions even, Can someone help me here how can I resume that exam?