Exclusive: It was like being in a club
Second year BPP University Law School students sitting their equity and trusts exam were in for a surprise last week when the final part of their three-hour assessment was interrupted by “pumping music” so loud one student claimed he could feel “the desks vibrating from the bass.”
@BPPLawSchool doing our equity exam at the @ExCeLLondon and there is what appears to be a night club underneath us. Not distracting at all.
— Tave (@octaviaholman) April 27, 2017
The private university holds 200 exams a year at the ExCeL Centre near Royal Victoria Dock, East London. Readers who have visited the centre (pictured below) will know it is huge and hosts multiple, simultaneous events.
About two hours and 30 minutes into the exam, BPP students trying to concentrate were greeted by what one described as “clearly audible” electronic music and the sound of “people cheering and screaming”. It was “absolutely ridiculous”, and felt like being in a club.
While it’s not clear where the noise was coming from, it’s worth noting an interactive show by American life coach Tony Robbins (video embedded below) took place on the day of the exam. Thousands attended the three-and-a-half-day event, with participants aiming to “unlock and unleash the forces inside” and “turn fear into power” by walking over hot coals. Robbins’ firewalk event was scheduled to kick off at 12pm (just as the BPP exam finished), but registration took place from 9am that morning. It is therefore possible the noise was coming from preparations for this event.
Having got in touch with BPP University Law School about this, a spokesperson told us:
During the 50 exam sittings last week, there was one instance of some noise disturbance during the last 20 minutes of one exam sitting and we have had a small number of complaints regarding this. We are very disappointed that our students had this experience and are progressing this complaint with ExCeL. For those students impacted, their complaints will go through the Conduct of Assessment Procedure. We always give the benefit of any circumstances to the students and the exam board will do so on this occasion, in line with usual protocol.
The ExCeL Centre has declined to comment.
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