Test Centre Reviews

[zcapr17]

I've been using the same test centre ever since I started out on my IT certification journey. However, since Microsoft dropped Pearson Vue the choice for exam slots via Prometric is so limited that I am now having to look further afield to sit my exams.

Now I have to admit that I am quite sensitive to my environment, particularly when trying to concentrate on an exam. A flickering light or noisy traffic can shatter my concentration, and this has got me thinking about whether there are some good test centres and equally others that should be avoided at all costs?

No doubt the majority are all exactly the same: 2mx3m room with 3/4 average PCs in their own cubicles and the aircon set at 21°C. But I bet some of you have some experiences worth sharing.

So, what do you think of the test centres you've used?


To start the ball rolling - QA-IQ Milton Keynes:

• Location: Easy to get to and plenty of free parking nearby (one plus point of MK).
• Exam room: Small, free from distractions. Particularly quite, but aircon usually on the cold side.
• PCs: Average PCs - no problems running MS exams/simulations. Never had any duff hardware.
• Staff: Very friendly.
• Other: Sandwich shop next door - great for that last minute sugar rush.
• Overall: 5/5

I would be particularly interested in any reviews of the test centres in Luton or Northampton...

[greenbrucelee]

My nearest test centre is 55 miles away and is part job centre/internet cafe / baghead central. So not very good. I did the PDI+ beta exam there and I Was put of alot by people making noise.

When I took my A+ exams I went to Lancaster uni which was the same distance but a different direction, each room (large cubicle) had two PCs divided by a partition and the room was completly soundproof. You were monitored by CCTV and if you needed the admin you just signalled to the camera.

A very nice experience compared the job centre place I did the pdi+ at.

[Fergal1982]

This might be better served as a series of separate articles, like book reviews? Perhaps in their own subforum?

I agree though, this is a great idea. I would perhaps like something a bit more detailed than you list above though.

[GiddyG]

Location:Talanton in Leicester.

Ease of booking an exam: They always have plenty of dates and times, If you arrive early, you can normally take the exam early.

Parking: Easy parking in the Holiay Inn on the nearby roundabout... yes, the hotel is on the roundabout.

Exam Room: Airy, with half a dozen PCs. Kit is knocked about, but I haven't had any problems.

Staff: Excellent

Other: city centre minutes away. McDonalds a few doors down, so you can grab a coffee, or a cafe across from McDonalds.

Overall: 5/5

[wagnerk]

Originally Posted by zcapr17

I would be particularly interested in any reviews of the test centres in Luton or Northampton...

In Northamptonshire, Tresham in Wellingborough is still having problems with connectivity with Prometric (they are already a Vue centre). They are currently working with their ISP and Prometric to sort this out.

I have sat exams at 3 different Prometric testing centres, but one of them has been review already (the MK one).

Luton

BIIT LTD AS PITMAN TRAINING CENTRE Site Code: GB123

Location:Town centre.

Ease of booking an exam: Excellent, they also have exams on Saturday

Parking: Good if you can find the multi-story car park, otherwise you'll be lucky to find a side street. If you do make sure you have £3 at least of change on you for the meters.

Exam Room: Nice.

Staff: Excellent

Other: McDonalds a couple of minutes away, shops all around. Testing centre is not clearly marked, it shares a building with some sort of "College". The college has a big banner across the top of the building, while Pitman only has a small plaque near the front door (took me 10 mins to find the place). GEORGE STREET actually splits into 2 streets and the testing centre is on the split. The testing centre is on either the 1st or 2nd floor, I didn't see a lift (but that doesn't mean there wasn't one) so if you need to use a lift, contact them first before booking the exam.

Overall: 4.5/5 Because of parking and I couldn't find the testing centre straight away on the street, but Saturday exams are a bonus.

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Coventry

GLOBAL KNOWLEDGE TRAINING Site Code: GB37

Location:Business Park in Coventry.

Ease of booking an exam: Excellent

Parking: Excellent, plently on site parking.

Exam Room: Nice.

Staff: Excellent

Other: Take your sat nav, there were alot of road works when I went and there are two business parks I was told when I got lost (I was following the signs for the wrong buiness park). I did have to wait a couple of hours for the centre to re-download my exam, but that was down to Prometric and not the actually testing centre. However they do have a onsite snack tray that you just pay for what you what and there are other shops around. The testing centre is on the ground floor and their WC's are modern.

Overall: 5/5

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To be honest I have not come across a testing centre that I didn't like, so far for Vue, Prometric, Certiport all of them have either been 4/5 or 5/5. The issues I have experience have been thru the exam provider (eg Prometric) rather than the individual testing centres.

-Ken

[greenbrucelee]

I forgot to add that I would give the test centre at Lancaster Uni 5/5. I arrived 30 minutes before my exam was due to start and they let me start straight away.

[Tinus1959]

Well, here is our site:

New Horizons Eindhoven (The Netherlands):
Location: In the centre of the city. 10 minutes walking from the railway / bus station, Parking garage next door, Parking area on the other side of the road. We provide exit tickets for the parking garage to a reduced rate, so when your stay is longer than 3 hours, you do not pay for that extra time spend in the garage.
Exam room: 4x8 meters, with 14 cubicles. Survailance cameras in the room. Airco on 20°, no extreme noise, but for the easily distracted we have earplugs.
PCs: standard PCs - at the moment no problems running MS exams/simulations (we had them in the past due to Prometric).
Staff: Extremely friendly (of course, I work there).
Other: lots of restaurants, snack bars, sandwich shops, McDonalds, Kentucky fried chicken in a 2 minutes walk.
Overall: 6/5

[Miro]

* Location: Global Knowledge Training - Wakefield, West Yorkshire
* Exam room: about 3m x 4m , 6 PCs not in their own cubicles so you can see everyone, that might disturb
* PCs: Average PCs - old type mouse, test software was runing well
* Staff: Very friendly.
* Parking: a lot of parking places
* Other: the site is very quiet, it is located away from town centre

The site is very close to my house. However next time I will go and have a look another place. Even it is in a good location but the PC's are to close to each other. Some people were entering and leaving the room during my exam.That disturb me a lot.I prefer to be in my own cubicle as well. The CCTV was there but that should be the only one who look at me not another people next to me.

Overall: 3/5

[craigie]

GLOBAL KNOWLEDGE TRAINING Site Code: GB37

Location:Business Park in Coventry.

Ease of booking an exam: Excellent

Parking: Excellent, plently on site parking.

Exam Room: Nice.

Staff: Excellent

Other: Take your sat nav, there were alot of road works when I went and there are two business parks I was told when I got lost (I was following the signs for the wrong buiness park). I did have to wait a couple of hours for the centre to re-download my exam, but that was down to Prometric and not the actually testing centre. However they do have a onsite snack tray that you just pay for what you what and there are other shops around. The testing centre is on the ground floor and their WC's are modern.

Overall: 5/5

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Just changed my site to this location after your feedback.

Thanks Ken

[wagnerk]

Originally Posted by Tinus1959

...Overall: 6/5

Good to hear un-bias reviews
I'll probably be like that when Tresham gets it's centre up and running

-ken

[wagnerk]

Originally Posted by craigie1977

...Just changed my site to this location after your feedback.

Thanks Ken

Cool, glad I could help. My mate also recently sat an exam there and he likes it too

-ken

[Dunny]

I have to agree the Global Knowledge test centre is a good place, close to sainsburys, Macdonalds, KFC, very small test centre and if you dontknow were your going it is confusing, the good thing is that the testing room is next to reception and very quiet.

Also tried the testing centre at New Horizons Birmingham, what a nightmare that was, the room was fairly big but all the classrooms were on the next floor up, and you could hear talking and banging sounded as if they were having a dance lesson very off putting, wont be going back there quickly.

[RufusA]

Tried a new exam centre today (my previous two favourites have now closed):

Mass Information Systems - Bracknell

Location: Just on the edge of the town centre, main multi-story next door (£1 for 2-3 hrs) and a short walk from station.
Exam room: Small, almost noiseless, with 4 PCs in seperate cubicles. I had a window seat with views over surrounding hills / country side. Might get too toasty on a sunny day, but nice aircon unit in room set to cold.
PCs: Average, but good LCD screens and cheap nasty mice. No problems on a Sun exam.
Staff: Receptionist friendly and helpful, and you get a locker to put your valuables in!
Exam Availability: For me choice of any weekday 9 - 2:30
Other: Took me 15mins to find venue - no building name at street level (you enter via high street car park). Plenty of food / coffee places with a Costa a minute's walk away.
Overall: Another 5/5 - if only they were all like this.

Rufus.

[UKDarkstar]

Deverill, Poole, Dorset

Location: Easy to get to round the one-way system near the Quay. Free parking at the site though they are an MS Gold Partner and run their own courses as well as support and development so can get busy. Public car parks (70p p/hr at date of writing) nearby (5-10 mins walk, max)

Exam room: Small, straight off reception area which was a downside as the doors were not very noise-proof. Was on border of going out to complain at start of exam but the girlies giggling with the receptionist left. Two desks in room side by side with a partition between them. Righ hand side glassed area had stairs down it and was occassionally noisy due to their staff. Temp was ok

PCs: Looked like fairly new HP workstations, no problems at all

Staff: Friendly though no-one there when I came out (!) so just had to wait as no bell/buzzer apparent to call anyone

Overall: 3.5/5

[Rob1234]

Global Knowledge, London, Old broad Street

Location: Near Liverpool Street train station, as London lots of Publci transport to get there. Need to keep an eye out for building numbers as its only a small part of the building its near a Tesco Express.

Exam Room: Small room had air conditonering, room was very quiet with good sound proofing as it was quite busy outside the room.

PCs: Average PCs no real problems.

Staff: Helpful adn friendly same person everytime I have been for exam, told me to put my bag etc. a cupboard which he locked but it also contained other peoples bags takign exams so not the securest thing really.

Overall: 4.5/5

QA Middlesex Street

Location: 5 minute walk from Liverpool street, not as easy to find as above testing centre but still not bad.

Exam room: Quite a large room. No noise and plenty of space between PCs.

PCs: Good PCs no problems.

Staff: Friendly and showed mw where to store my bag had my own locker.

Overall: 4.5/5

London College of Business and Computing, Bethnal Green

Location: 5 minute walk from Bethnal green tube, tucked away behind some apartments but not to diffcult to find. Buzzed to be let in but in the end had to phone them to let me in.

Exam Room: Was quiet as was at the far end of the building however the bloke left the door open the whole time for some reason, but he was at the other end of the building.

PCs: Reasonable seemed quite old I dont think they had laser mouses, also had a map as a divider between me and the other PC, and the test crashed several times, they said it was the exam not the hardware. Had my own locker to store my stuff.

Staff: Helpful and friendly.

Overall: 3.5/5