I passed!! 

Dear itookthetest,

The interpretation of the person taking the test is as much of a guess as the probability of the polygraph predicting the truth.  There are far too many uncontrolled variables to make a logical or calculated decision.

As Yogi Berra  once said, "It ain't over until it's over." There is absolutely no predicting a procedure that is totally unscientific.  You have "artists" and you have finger-painters.  How you tell the difference in polygraph operators is the million dollar question.

Good Luck.

Awesome!  I hope so!   

Does everyone usually get a feel for how they did before leaving and end up being right?

Thanks for sharing your polygraph experience. Based on your account, I agree; it seems that you may well have passed.

I was in the poly room for almost 4 hours.  During the test I was feeling that I did bad and was going to fail and have to come back.  By the end of the test, I feel good and really think that I passed based on the examiner's actions and what he said.  Hopefully, he wasn't just leading me on making me believe I passed lol
 
We went in and the first thing he asked me was if I've ever taken one before.  I said yes and mentioned the FBI.  He asked about it and when I took it etc.  Then we went over the SF86 entirely and in detail.  He asked more questions and asked for details on some of the things I had on there.  Then he went over the first portion of the test, the CI part.  The first part he had me say no to every question of "Is today Wed?  Thurs?  Tues?" etc.  AFter that he asked if I've ever been told that I'm a bad liar because apparently I had a significant reaction when I purposely lied.  Ok then we went on to the CI questions and the test.  I think I did 2 series and he stopped and said that I was having a problem with the espionage question.  He went on and on and asked why. At one point he said there's no way this is going to past QC.  He broke down the question in great detail and we talked about it for a while.  Then he asked if I was alert and what was going through my mind etc.  I told him I remember thinking about other things during the test at some point.  Just random tings and he asked what it was and I told him.  What he then did was tell me we're going to do the test differently.  First he broke down the espionage question itself into 3 questions.  He said this would certainly be able to tell him if I was being dishonest based on those 3 questions.  He also asked me 3 scenario based questions and had me lie on purpose to those questions as a way to keep me alert and paying attention to the questions and to the test.  He also had me repeat the last word of every question then answer yes or no.  Anyway we did the test I believe 2 times (maybe 3) doing it that way and he didn't say anything between the first one or immediately after the second one (or third one).  He then told me to hang tight as he goes through the charts.  He printed them all out and studied them for probably 5 minutes then moved on.  He didn't say that I had a problem or anything.  Oh by the way after the first set he did say "this is much better".
 
Ok so then we went on to the Lifestyle, or suitability questions as he put it.  He went over the questions and had me answer the questions the same way as the past 2 or 3 times with the CI part.  He stopped after the 2nd set and said the charts are bad and I'm not doing good on the questions.  At one point, he said that 100% this would not pass QC.  Of course he asked why I was having reactions and what was going through my mind and on and on and I was very calm and told him IDK and answered all his questions honestly etc.  He broke down all the questions again but in further detail and asked me all of them again and what not.  Then he asked about the FBI and asked if there's something he doesn't know that they do.  Is there something I disclosed to them that he doesn't know?  And would they tell him something different if he were to call them I said no.  He said no?  I said no.  He said are you sure?  I said yes.  You sure?  I said yes, I'm pretty sure...(with confidence).  Then he said ok well I'm going to give them a call and see what they say.  I was like holy crap!  He left me there in the room.  He said he would be 10 minutes but I swear it was like 20.  I went over in my head if there was anything he could possibly come back to me and say they said this or that that I didn't know but couldn't think of anything at all whatsoever.  It had crossed my mind as to if he was actually calling the FBI or if he was just saying this to see my reaction or what.  Anyway so he came back I believe about 20 minutes later and he asked how it went with them and what happened.  I told him the story.  I said that the poly was only about an hour or hour and a half.  That the examiner didn't say anything was wrong on the CI part but did after the LS part.  The examiner gave me the test 3 times for the CI in a row then did the LS part 3 times in a row without a break in between.  The FBI examiner then told me that I had a significant reaction to two of the questions, the drug question and the forms question.  He asked me why I was having a reaction and I said IDK and that the examiner was short with me and seemed very frustrated.  A few minutes after that he basically said you'd get your results in about 2 weeks and sent me on my way.  AFter I told him the story he said ok well I'm getting the same thing from you here.  And he said it's weird that 2 different examiners are getting the same information or whatever.  He said that's kind of good but I need to know why you are reacting to these questions.  He said it's not just to the 2 from the FBI but all of them.  So again he asked me why why why etc. and we talked again for a while.  Then he said ok this is what we're going to do.  I don't want to give up on you.  I'm going to give you 3 more scenario based questions and I want you to think of that specific scenario and when I ask you a question on it I want you to lie....just like we did on the CI part.  I said OK and we went over the LS questions and the scenario based questions that would be mixed in and also the questions like is the door closed etc.
 
Ok so we did the test and did THAT 4 TIMES in a row!  I was like ok.  I was sitting there thinking that maybe this is a good thing that we're doing it 4 times in a row without him stopping or saying anything about me having a reaction.  After we did those same questions 4 times in a row he said give me a few minutes as I go over these charts.  He went over them for like 5 minutes.  I could hear him like scribbling and writing a little bit of notes I think.  He never mentioned that there was a problem at all.  He at some point asked me if I was aware that I was in the "double-take program"?  I said no, I'm not even aware of what that is.  He said it's where you can take it again if there's a problem.  I said oh lol.  He then said (and I've never read about this or heard about this ever before) that he wanted to have someone in QC review these charts real quick and then go over the notes with me.  This time we both left and he had me go to the waiting room because the poly room was so damn cold!!  Ok so about 10 minutes later he comes back and we go back to the poly room.  He said that he couldn't find someone in QC that was available but "he doesn't think there is a problem".  He said that probably 3 times in the last 10 minutes before I left.  He wanted to confirm some of the notes he had.  There were 2 things he confirmed with me. Then he said ok and that he "doesn't think there will be a problem".  I didn't want to specifically ask if that means he thinks I passed or anything but I assume that's what he meant.  I mean I can't think of what else he would be referring to.  Anyway he shook my hand and told me to have a good afternoon etc.  I thanked him and went on my way.  I went to the bathroom then came out and saw him again in the hallway and again he said have a good afternoon bye. (The reason I say all that is because the FBI guy acted very cold to me after the test and didn't even shake my hand when I left.)  Also, I've read about the same thing happening to other people who didn't pass the poly (about the examiner acting "cold" to them and not shaking their hand when they left etc.)
 
Anyway, so yeah, after some rough spots during the poly I actually feel kind of good about it.  I really think I may have passed it! 
 
Has there been people in the past thinking they did well but ended up having to take it again?  I hope not.
 
Let me know what you think!
 
Thanks!