[Update] - Passed test, no printout. Not a good outcome.

First post. Forgive me in advance if I ask a noob question. (I did a search beforehand...)

I'm currently attending an MCSA Bootcamp and had a peculiar thing happen. On Saturday I took the 70-290 and passed. Needless to say, I didn't get a printout. Fast forward to this afternoon (Monday), I take the 70-227, pass it, and receive a printout. A few hours later I decide to look up my progress on the prometric site and notice something alarming. Prometric shows that I passed my 227 but the 290 till shows "pending."

How long should I wait before I throw a fit and start placing my foot in the orifices of employees back at the testing center?

That 290 test was a nightmare and I would hate to have to retake it (especially considering that I am taking the 291 tomorrow.)

Any suggestions?

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shednik

I would have never left the test center with out a copy of your score report

DaPhatty

shednik wrote:

I would have never left the test center with out a copy of your score report

Believe me, I certainly tried. Unfortunately, the "testing center" only had one employee working on Saturday and she was new. I don't want to get into details but she wasn't the most competent person in the world. A receptionist, nothing more. The best I could come up with was my testing ID and the prometric 800 number.

dynamik

Ouch. I would have gotten her to sign a note or taken a picture with my camera phone or something. I don't know what kind of recourse you'd have in a situation like that. You should always receive documentation regarding your exam performance. I've even made scans and copies of all of mine (I'm a bit paranoid with that stuff).

Wow. You're doing all three of those within the same week? That's impressive. Do you have a lot of experience with Microsoft products?

DaPhatty

dynamik wrote:

Ouch. I would have gotten her to sign a note or taken a picture with my camera phone or something. I don't know what kind of recourse you'd have in a situation like that. You should always receive documentation regarding your exam performance. I've even made scans and copies of all of mine (I'm a bit paranoid with that stuff).

Unfortunately, electronic devices aren't allowed inside the testing center. They do have surveillance cameras though. I'm might have to get them to pull the surveillance tapes to show what I was doing.

Wow. You're doing all three of those within the same week? That's impressive. Do you have a lot of experience with Microsoft products?

I've been working with MS products since '99 and I have my 2000 Pro MCP. I'm not the only one cramming all these tests in. I'm in a class with 14 other people, 5 of which are all going for their MCSE and two of them are also going for +Security!

So far, our class has a 100% pass rate on the exams, although some people have opted not to take certain tests to make sure their attentions are properly focused on the most difficult tests. Also, quite a few of us already came in with a number of tests completed before hand. The class is actually quite impressive when you think about it. We don't have that "one guy" who always asks the stupid questions.

DaPhatty

[Update]

I wish I had good news to report but alas, I've been screwed. Not only was Prometric unable to retrieve my test score what I learned about the test score process was even more disappointing. You will all be astounded to learn that the Prometric testing process has a single point of failure, a single file that contains your test results. Based on the information I was given, this file is the only way Prometric's automated system tracks tests as a whole. Without this file, you are screwed.

What an irony. The only Microsoft approved testing center in the US has a single point of failure. How many times have any of us been tested on redundancy?

Needless to say, I have reluctantly agreed to retake the test. It took over two weeks just to get some sort of results from the Prometric folks and that was only because I kept calling them for status updates. I've demanded that the "no show" on my record be completely removed and that I be allowed to retake the test as many times as I need free of charge. I also intend to write an official letter of complaint to both Prometric and Microsoft.

You know, if it weren't for this screw up I'd officially be a Windows Server 2003 Microsoft Certified System Administrator since I just passed the retake of "The Beast" (70-291) earlier this morning. Cursed technology...

- Robert
"Unofficial" Windows Server 2003 MCSA

iowatech

That's crazy, when you look at microsoft who preaches always follow the best practices in networking then has a SPOF of their own!

Good luck on the re-take sir,

snadam

Was Prometrics response something similar to..."well, you since you already passed it, you should be fine on the retake"...

Id be pissed off too...write the letters.

good luck...again!

Megadeth4168

Man! Don't tell me this kind of Stuff! I have a test tomorrow!

DaPhatty

Well, I just got back from the test center. I made them take a picture of the score screen. I passed with a 914, better than the 843 I scored last time, and I walked away with a score printout this time. Ironically enough, the Prometric rep I spoke with yesterday called me about 3 minutes after I passed the test. I really had to hold back the disdain in my voice. Especially since this whole experience wasn't his fault.

Oh well. On to writing my letter of complaint to Microsoft and Prometric.

snadam

DaPhatty wrote:

Well, I just got back from the test center. I made them take a picture of the score screen. I passed with a 914, better than the 843 I scored last time, and I walked away with a score printout this time. Ironically enough, the Prometric rep I spoke with yesterday called me about 3 minutes after I passed the test. I really had to hold back the disdain in my voice. Especially since this whole experience wasn't his fault.

Oh well. On to writing my letter of complaint to Microsoft and Prometric.

congrats....AGAIN! Id be pissed too, but it sounds like you handled it professionally.