Recommended Prometric Testing Centres

jibbajabba

Taken from the thread about testing center I thought it is a good idea to collect some details about each center and share our experience with them so people can have a quick look before signing up.

So here is my recommendation

Country : UK

Center
ITEC Learning Technologies
Burnt Mills Rd
Basildon
SS13 1DQ
+44 (0) 800 026 8874

Experience
Staff : Friendly, helpful and working "by the books" (locking up personal belongins etc.)
PC : Not too slow - never had really problems with any exams (and simulations for that matter)
Upload results : Very quick - normally as soon as the last exam of the day has been taken
Parking : enough


Bad one :
Seetec Group
Main Road
Hockley
Essex
SS5 4RG

Comment : Horrible, they seem to upload the results only once a week and staff is unfriendly

BeaverC32

Not sure how helpful this is going to be...given the diversity in where TE members live, plus the fact that there is often only a single testing center to choose from in a given area.

billyr

Every exam centre uploads the results daily. At the same time the next days tests are downloaded automatically using the same application. Very unlikely the results are uploaded once per week or the people due in next day would not have a test to sit.

Once the results reach Prometric themselves that is a different matter. Just because a testing centre provides Prometric examinations does not make them part of Prometric.

Unfortunately a lot of test centres get a bad rep because they are forced to use Prometrics shoddy software to deliver exams due to sole deals between cert providers and Prometric.

dynamik

What's with the negative attitude, Beaver? If we band together we can provide a comprehensive overview of Prometric centers worldwide!

I usually use Academy College or the new facility in Edina. The Edina location is quite nice. It's a full-fledged testing center. The Academy College location is just three workstation in a small room. It's not as nice, but there's nothing wrong with it either. Plus, one of the Academy College receptionists is pretty hot. I actually prefer the Academy College location because it's... um.. closer to work...

However, both seem to be plagued by the usual Prometric problems that are beyond their control.

jibbajabba

billyr wrote:

Every exam centre uploads the results daily. At the same time the next days tests are downloaded automatically using the same application. Very unlikely the results are uploaded once per week or the people due in next day would not have a test to sit.

Once the results reach Prometric themselves that is a different matter. Just because a testing centre provides Prometric examinations does not make them part of Prometric.

Unfortunately a lot of test centres get a bad rep because they are forced to use Prometrics shoddy software to deliver exams due to sole deals between cert providers and Prometric.

Funny enough though three people, including me, went to this particular testing center and we ALL had to wait for almost a week to get the results updated (and we went on different dates).

So whatever the reason is - this is the only center where "we" had this problem.

tiersten

dynamik wrote:

Plus, one of the Academy College receptionists is pretty hot. I actually prefer the Academy College location because it's... um.. closer to work...

Wouldn't that count as a distraction during the test? Too busy staring/dreaming about the receptionist!

BeaverC32

dynamik wrote:

What's with the negative attitude, Beaver? If we band together we can provide a comprehensive overview of Prometric centers worldwide!

There's a difference between being negative and being realistic

Cingular

Here is my recommendation;

Country : AUS

Center:
Advanced Training!
Level 3, 85 Queen Street. Melbourne (Victoria).
3000
+9600 3600

Experience
Staff : Not overly helpful, they just assume you know what your doing. They still lock up belongings and play it by the book. So that's ok I guess.
PC : Not too bad, one simulation hung for what may have been 2 minutes...I was freaking out, lol!
Upload results : Quick, uploaded by the end of the day.
Parking : City parking isn't the best...depening on the hour of the day it can be a nightmare or pretty good. That's Melbourne...



Bad one : Haven't really had a bad experience.

Comment : Melbourne has good testing centers!

whistler

Gomjaba wrote:

billyr wrote:

Every exam centre uploads the results daily. At the same time the next days tests are downloaded automatically using the same application. Very unlikely the results are uploaded once per week or the people due in next day would not have a test to sit.

Once the results reach Prometric themselves that is a different matter. Just because a testing centre provides Prometric examinations does not make them part of Prometric.

Unfortunately a lot of test centres get a bad rep because they are forced to use Prometrics shoddy software to deliver exams due to sole deals between cert providers and Prometric.

Funny enough though three people, including me, went to this particular testing center and we ALL had to wait for almost a week to get the results updated (and we went on different dates).

So whatever the reason is - this is the only center where "we" had this problem.

Sounds like the real question might be. How long did it take to get from Prometric central(s) to who ever you certified for and then processed by that group.

slymesta

hi guys,

i was there just yesterday, man that place was busy!!!

but the admins were just cool, calm and collected.

the ladies were checking in everyone on time and made us comfortable.

inside the exam room, it was pretty quiet, very happy, even more cause i passed.

btw, they have free coffee, tea and WIFI - saw a couple of guys studying. lol!

alan2308

The Good: New Horizons, Livionia

The staff is top notch and the facilities are well maintained. Cisco, Microsoft, CompTIA, Citirix, Novel, they do it all.

The Bad: A-Tips, Wayne

They cancelled my exam without any notice. I can't comment on the staff, nobody was there when I arrived. Run down building in a run down town.

steve13ad

NC Elite Career Service Center of Charlotte, NC

It's a puppy mill of testing stations. They were jammed in every where, even in the hallway leading to the bathroom. The male proctor had distractedly manicured finger nails!

Results were uploaded very quickly, results were under my history two hours I finished the test.

pzero

slymesta wrote: »

hi guys,

i was there just yesterday, man that place was busy!!!

but the admins were just cool, calm and collected.

the ladies were checking in everyone on time and made us comfortable.

inside the exam room, it was pretty quiet, very happy, even more cause i passed.

btw, they have free coffee, tea and WIFI - saw a couple of guys studying. lol!

IT Futures in St Kilda Rd? I had a terrible experience there. It wasnt their fault, but they failed to mention when I called up 3 hours before the exam that there would be construction work going on downstairs! Try concentrating to the sound of jackhammers

david1010

Hello everyone,

I just wanted to share a horrible experience I had at a Prometric Test Centre located at 4900 Sheppard Avenue East, Suite 208, Scarborough, Ontario Canada. The following is their contact information:

Canadian College of Business Science andTechnology
Toronto, Ontario M1S 4A7
Phone: 416 850 6028 Site Code: on222

The following is a list of issues I experienced there:

1. The exam room itself was small and besides having only 4 computers for the tests, it had a lot of computer junk (old PC's, boxes, etc) stashed away in a corner collecting dust and making for an unsafe environment.

2. They didn't have enough lighting in the room.

3. The blinds on the windows were such that the test centre staff couldn't close them since the stick (that would do such things and that's attached to the blinds) was up too high

4. While I was actually writing the exam there and the clock was ticking, the test centre staff came in and interrupted me for petty and unnecessary things such as the following. It almost looked like they did that on purpose, maybe trying to discriminate against me and to make me fail the exam by trying to waste my time and trying to engage me in a conversation:

a. It's snowing out there.
b. How am I doing so far?
c. Am I almost done with the exam?
d. Come see me in so and so room when you're done with the exam.

Regarding the interruptions, I talked to them during and after the exam and they told me that before I started writing the exam, I should have told them that I wouldn't like to be interrupted/disturbed.

From that response, it seemed to me that perhaps they might not have ever written or passed any exams in their entire life !! The whole concept of an exam is that the examinee (the person writing the exam) needs to pay full uninterrupted attention to the exam without any disturbances. This is an obvious. Asking the examinee to tell the exam centre not to disturb him during the exam is ridiculous.

I also filed a complaint about this on www.prometric.com website and received an email from Prometric saying that I should call their toll free number to complain. So far, I haven’t been able to find the time to do that considering the hold/wait time on such phone calls. And they might dismiss this whole thing as hear say since I don’t actually have real hard recorded evidence or any signed incident report about this.