2. Types of complaints

EPSO acknowledges and addresses two distinct categories of candidate feedback: Technical Complaints and Item Specific Complaints (ISC).

2.1.1. Technical complaints

Technical complaints refer to any issues or hindrances experienced by candidates during the online testing session. These issues may include, but are not limited to:

• Platform malfunction or system errors, such as inability to access or navigate through the exam interface;
• Software glitches, like freezing of the test interface or malfunctioning of tools within the test environment;
• Connectivity problems, such as sudden disconnection during the testing session or failure to synchronise and/or upload test files to the server;
• Other technical issues that significantly hinder the candidate's ability to complete their tests.

Hardware issues experienced by candidates are not considered grounds for a technical complaint. The hardware requirements are listed in the instructions provided to candidates and compliance with those requirements remains their sole responsibility.

2.1.2. Item Specific Complaints (ISC)

Candidates who consider that they have justifiable reasons to believe that an error in one or more of the questions in the multiple-choice-question (MCQ) test affected their ability to answer, may ask for the question(s) concerned to be reviewed. Item Specific Complaints (ISC)1 address concerns raised by candidates about specific test content, such as questions and related images, rather than technical issues.
Reasons for ISCs may include:

• Linguistic errors, such as grammatical mistakes or unclear language in the question;
• Inaccurate or ambiguous content in the question, leading to confusion or misinterpretation by candidates;
• Issues with images, including incorrect images or images that do not match the question.

Please note that EPSO cannot analyse unsubstantiated or non-specific requests, such as those asking to review all items or alleging poor translation.