On Sunday, I took the TOEIC in Osaka, near Shin Osaka Station. To be brutally honest, the testing facilities were not ideal. 
To begin with, the testing rooms were on the 5th floor of the building and we were not allowed to use the elevator.
Given how hot it was that day (probably about 36˚C), you can easily imagine how tough it was for everyone to climb so many stairs. 
Then, the air conditioning in the hallways seemed to have been either turned off or functioning very weakly. Everyone was sweating buckets of sweat. Literally. The room itself was not quite so bad, so the actual administration of the test was relatively smooth. 
However, with everyone leaving at the same time, the stairwell was incredibly crowded. It took quite a bit of time to exit the building, again seating profusely. 
One of my business partners took the test in Tokyo. In his room, the volume of the tape was very low, but he was the only one to point it out to the proctor. The other people in the room seemed prepared to just 我慢, despite the high-stakes nature of the test they were about to take.
What both of us realized from our experience on Sunday was how reluctant the test-takers are to complain when the facilities are inadequate. This isnot so surprising given the ability of Japanese to endure difficult situations without complaining, I guess, but still, the experience I had on Sunday was not pleasant.
This is very surprising to me, because usually I have been extremely impressed with how efficient the TOEIC is usually administered in Japan. Up until now, the conditions have always been appropriate, even ideal. I sincerely hope that TOEIC officials will continue to strive to provide the best testing conditions for the test-takers, who after all are お客さん, right?
Robert
To begin with, the testing rooms were on the 5th floor of the building and we were not allowed to use the elevator.
Given how hot it was that day (probably about 36˚C), you can easily imagine how tough it was for everyone to climb so many stairs. Then, the air conditioning in the hallways seemed to have been either turned off or functioning very weakly. Everyone was sweating buckets of sweat. Literally. The room itself was not quite so bad, so the actual administration of the test was relatively smooth. However, with everyone leaving at the same time, the stairwell was incredibly crowded. It took quite a bit of time to exit the building, again seating profusely. One of my business partners took the test in Tokyo. In his room, the volume of the tape was very low, but he was the only one to point it out to the proctor. The other people in the room seemed prepared to just 我慢, despite the high-stakes nature of the test they were about to take.
What both of us realized from our experience on Sunday was how reluctant the test-takers are to complain when the facilities are inadequate. This isnot so surprising given the ability of Japanese to endure difficult situations without complaining, I guess, but still, the experience I had on Sunday was not pleasant.
This is very surprising to me, because usually I have been extremely impressed with how efficient the TOEIC is usually administered in Japan. Up until now, the conditions have always been appropriate, even ideal. I sincerely hope that TOEIC officials will continue to strive to provide the best testing conditions for the test-takers, who after all are お客さん, right?
Robert