Lack of available dates for Prometric's exam scheduling?

Hello all,

I was perusing the General Certification forum just to take a breather from working on the HelpDesk here and studying for my 70-290 exam Saturday Feb 27th.

I stumbled onto this posting <http://goo.gl/M8vT> and it got me thinking. I spent a good deal of time trying to see if this was discussed, but I did not find any previous postings.

In hopes of taking advantage of Microsoft Second Shot program right now, I was trying to schedule my 70-290 exam through Prometric. I reside in Edmonton, AB Canada. I saw there was only one test-taking centre. At the time, I thought no big deal, until I saw the available dates.

The test taker centre did not have any flexible dates for me. Either they had days where I was working and days when I'm not busy, they had no available appointments available. I went back a few times to see if things have changed, and I noticed the dates became available...on the very same week going in. IE: If I checked Sunday, the available dates would be availabe for the upcoming Tuesday, Wednesday, etc.

Since this was the only test-taking centre available in my region, I tried looking in Red Deer, which is an hour and a half drive south for me. No dates until April or May.

I looked further south to Calgary, AB (3 hrs away) and I see two places (one place that even offers dates on Saturday). I did not want to wait any longer for Edmonton test-taking centre to open, so I scheduled down in Calgary. Which means I'll be driving 3 hours south to Calgary this Friday and then taking the exam at 12PM.

After all this, my question: should I prepare to expect this kind of scheduling now? My goal this year is to complete 70-290, 70-291, 70-293 and 70-294 before the end of 2010 year. I'm getting the idea Prometric has gone downhill in terms of service.

In my mind, I'm doing whatever is needed to get these exams and pass them. Very expensive investment if I have to drive 3 hrs there and back home as well if the Edmonton test-taking centre doesn't give more dates to schedule. What if the same problem with user "gregrnel" happens? It makes me nervous to think after driving 3 hours to learn my exam's been cancelled or worse.

Focusing on the exam now, will worry about the details afterwards...

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Comments

MentholMoose

Prometric doesn't operate the testing centers, so they have no control over the schedules or whether or not there is a location near you. Give the closest location a call to get their hours and ask about their test schedule.

I have about 10 locations nearby so I have minimal trouble scheduling exams. Unfortunately none of the nearby testing centers are open late, so I can't take an exam after work. But, I can take an exam on Saturday, and if I really want to take an exam on a weekday, I can take a long lunch hour to sit the exam.

SrSysAdmin

I'm glad I live in Northern Virginia! There are no less than a dozen testing centers within a throwing distance of anywhere in this area.

Piers

I hear ya physicskid.. I work in downtown Calgary, and up til now (2006-present) I've had 2-3 sites to test in, and all had great availability. Now there's one at the other end of downtown, and the one on 32nd Ave where you're going (watch the street numbers, if you hit 19th, you've gone too far). For my next test (70-646), the only downtown test center doesn't have appointments until late March and even then, only on Monday or Friday. When I tried to book my last test last month (83-640), the downtown place didn't have anything til.. late March.. hmmmph. Not sure about these places anymore, I miss the one that was one block away with tons of availability.

But now since you're coming to Calgary from the Chuk, I'm not going to complain about my 30 minute drive from the other end of the city

physicskid

Thanks for the direction, MentholMoose. Once I know the results of my exam attempts this Saturday, I will give a call to my now-only test-taking centre here and see what can be arranged. It was either PROMETRIC to blame or the test-taking centre, so now I know better.

Piers, the centre I scheduled was the one around the middle of north Calgary area since they were the only place open on Saturdays. Not that I'm trying to stir up anything, I was merely bewildered because Edmonton used to have 2-3 places I could schedule only 2 years ago and now they have knocked it down to only one place for 2010. I'll take MentholMoose's suggestion, call them up and see what can be done so that I don't have to drive 6 hrs in total back and forth. Now that I know better, it's time to finalize my knowledge and do the best I can with this attempt.

Thank you very much all!

physicskid

I went in for my second try with 70-290 this morning and I didn't make the cut again. I scored exactly 583, which was the same score when I went down to Calgary Feb 27th. Anyways, this is another forum topic so I'm just responding back with the information I received from my only local Test taking centre in Edmonton.

I spoke with the test coordinator afterward, asking him about the lack of available dates to schedule exams. I told him about my having-to-go-down to Calgary for my first attempt and I told him that Microsoft has the Second shot program going on until June 30th. The coordinator told me that the lack-of-available-dates is due to:

1) the place, ctc Traincenter, being the ONLY place in the Edmonton, AB, Canada (which I knew in advance)

2) Other examinations and classes having to take place as well as allowing for exam scheduling. (I knew very well because my test-taking area was RIGHT NEXT to a classroom and the instructor was talking very loudly while my exam took place).

This gave me some understanding about the situation at least. Though, it makes me wonder why Prometric isn't allowing for another test-taking place in Edmonton. As well, with the setup of the test taking area, I'm going to insist on bringing ear-plugs or something to minimize the noise from the other classroom and just focus on what I can control which is to do well on the test.

Paul Boz

Its ridiculous that Baton Rouge doesn't have a testing center any more (rampant cheating). I have to either drive to New Orleans or Lafayette. We have more citizens in BR than New Orleans now, so I don't know what the damn deal is.

arwes

LOL really? We were without one for a few years and I had to go to Shreveport or Jackson. The Monroe Air Center was where I took the A+ and Network+ in 2001 & 2002, but Prometric stopped testing because they rarely did anything.

Paul Boz

I have to take SANS exams at the Lafayette Airport hanger B. It's ghetto and I hate that place. My other option is LaPlace but I've been technically banned from that city for some 16 year old antics and would prefer to avoid that town.

SrSysAdmin

Paul Boz wrote: »

I have to take SANS exams at the Lafayette Airport hanger B. It's ghetto and I hate that place. My other option is LaPlace but I've been technically banned from that city for some 16 year old antics and would prefer to avoid that town.

Haha, how do you get banned from an entire city?

Story time?

Paul Boz

Something about doing doughnuts on the municipal baseball field in a ford F350 and burning a B===D into the high school football field using diesel. It was retaliatory but the police didn't think it was funny. It WAS hilarious beating their team on a field covered by a 40 yard johnson though.

petedude

Paul Boz wrote: »

Something about doing doughnuts on the municipal baseball field in a ford F350 and burning a B===D into the high school football field using diesel. It was retaliatory but the police didn't think it was funny. It WAS hilarious beating their team on a field covered by a 40 yard johnson though.

That's pretty funny. I'm not sure you get a lot of stories like that here in Cali.