Handling no-shows and late arrivals

In general, you are required to seat a candidate for an exam as long as he or she arrives within 15 minutes after the scheduled appointment time. It is important to check your test center's schedule often. If a candidate does not arrive for an exam, it could be because he or she just recently canceled.

Some exam sponsors may have different late arrival policies, and some exam sponsors may require you to create a case, regardless of whether the candidate tested or was turned away. See the exam sponsor's client reference for specific requirements. If the exam sponsor requires you to create a case, select these options:

Admissions/Check-in

Candidate was late

If an exam sponsor's client reference does not contain specific policies for handling no-shows and late arrivals, follow these guidelines:

Situation	Action to take
Candidate arrives within 15 minutes of scheduled appointment time. You are able to seat the candidate.	Follow the normal procedures for checking in the candidate.
Candidate arrives within 15 minutes of scheduled appointment time. You are not able to seat the candidate.	Offer the candidate the opportunity to reschedule the exam without penalty. Because the appointment time has already passed, you cannot reschedule the candidate yourself. Create a case that includes the reason you were not able to seat the candidate and the date and time at which the candidate would like to take the exam. Pearson VUE will reschedule the candidate's appointment for you.
Candidate arrives more than 15 minutes after the scheduled appointment time.	It is up to the discretion of the test administrator as to whether the candidate may still take the exam (either immediately or later on the same day). If you choose to seat the candidate, make sure that your test center can accommodate him or her without interfering with other exams that are scheduled that day. Create a case if you accommodate a candidate who was late.
You are not able to accommodate a late candidate.	Inform the candidate that it is too late to test today. Create a case, and tell the candidate that he or she needs to register for the exam and pay the exam fee again. The candidate's results are automatically entered in the testing system as "no-show."
The candidate never arrives for the exam.	The Pearson VUE Testing System handles the situation automatically and lists the candidate as a no-show. You do not need to take any action if there are no further instructions about no-shows in the exam sponsor's client reference.

PVTC Government Centers must run RMA at the end of the testing day, even if all scheduled appointments were no-shows. For more information about running RMA manually at PVTC Government Centers, see Running RMA Manually at PVTC Government Centers in appendix C.