I am writing this letter in support of Nam Be Yeol’s Nov. 17 letter, SIUC testing center conditions very poor. I agree with Yeol’s remarks, but what Yeol describes as poor testing conditions are far from the worst room conditions the testing center has to offer. The temperature in the auditorium where the January institutional Test Of English as a Foreign Language test was given was so low that students had to stay with their coats on. I was one of those students, and I even had to put my gloves on to finish the test.

This is not the worst experience the testing center has provided me with. On Nov. 15, I was adamantly denied admission to the TOEFL test by the test supervisor on the grounds that the surname on my passport did not coincide with the name on my admission ticket. Since my country requires that all information on my international passport be written in French, the spelling of my surname on my passport differs by two letters from its English version Raytcheva (French), Raicheva (English).

I realize the Educational Testing Service has strict regulations requiring exact matching of the names on both documents, but flexibility and desire for cooperation on the part of the supervisor could have helped me take the test. It was obvious I was one and the same person. Moreover, I had taken SIUC’s institutional TOEFL last January and the Graduate Record Examination test Nov. 1 with the same passport.

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Judging from my previous experience, I had no idea this difference in spelling might become a problem. I tried to explain the unusual situation to the supervisor, but met no understanding.

This test supervisor neglected an important part of her duties and failed to do the best she could to help me. Test supervisors are there not only to observe the proper administration of the test, but to provide students with maximum accommodation needed for taking it. Only then students will be able to show their full potentials and achieve high test scores. Poor testing conditions and uncooperative test supervisors clearly contradict those aims.