Hi All,

This is way off topic, but I'm posting here because I suspect some of 
you have worked with Prometric, a testing company that administers exams 
for many state and federal government agencies, multinational 
corporations, and other entities, like state BAR associations and 
medical boards. Please respond to me privately, rather than cluttering 
the list.

If you've worked with Prometric, what has your experience been with the 
testing accommodations office and with the accommodations themselves?

I've taken two professional exams through Prometric, and I've had two 
really dissatisfactory experiences. I passed the first exam. I'll know 
about the second in about two months. If I don't pass, I'll have to work 
with the service again to retake it, and I'm wanting tips and tricks for 
making the experience more productive.

I'll give you the short version of my experiences to give you a sense of 
how things went wrong both times. In one of my other lives, I'm an 
interpreter and translator. I decided to take the court interpreters 
certification exam for my state. This means I need to take a 
multiple-choice written exam, and if I pass it, I need to take a 
three-part oral exam.

If you have a disability and are testing through Prometric, you're 
supposed to call to request an accommodations packet, which is mailed or 
faxed to you. You email or fax it back, and someone called an advocate 
from the accommodations office is supposed to contact you within two 
weeks (for mailed packets) or 5 days (for faxed packets). The advocate 
discusses your accommodations with you, approves them or requests 
approval, and registers you for your exam.

When I sent in my packet for the written exam, requesting a reader and 
recorder, no one got back to me. I followed up eventually. My file was 
misplaced and found; my accommodations were approved; and I was 
instructed to call X to register. When I called X, I was sent back to 
Accommodations, and had a _Groundhog's Day_ experience of being told my 
file was no where to be found, etc. After the third or fourth such call 
with Accommodations, I was finally registered. But when I showed up to 
the testing site, the testing staff weren't really prepared for me. 
They'd been told that a blind person would be sitting the exam and that 
the blind person would need an Armenian interpreter (I don't know the 
first thing about Armenian), and nothing else. when testing staff 
contacted Prometric, my file could not be found, etc. Fortunately, staff 
at the testing site were great, and the Armenian interpreter was willing 
to read the test to me and record my answers.

I had a similar experience when I requested accommodations for the oral 
exam. One part of the exam involves reading documents out loud in the 
other working language. This is usually substituted for blind candidates 
by having the documents recorded onto tape so the interpreter delivers 
the content consecutively. I also requested permission to take braille 
note taking equipment to the testing center.

Again, no one called me, so I followed up. Again, my file was lost, but 
this time, I had to refax it. Again, I had to call and hear the lost 
file story one or two more times before things moved anywhere. At some 
point in the process, I was told by a supervisor that the official 
accommodations policy for this set of exams was (1) that the written 
test is waived and (2) that candidates follow the regular registration 
procedures only they register for the Modified Oral Exam. I tried doing 
that, but it didn't work because I already had a set of approved 
accommodations from the first exam. then accommodations said they 
couldn't find the modified oral exam. Then more pointless and annoying 
calls regarding the status of this, that, and the other .... Eventually, 
two weeks after registration closed, I was given a test date and time. 
When I got to the testing site, testing staff knew about my request for 
braille note taking equipment, but they didn't know anything about the 
modified oral exam and they, of course, didn't have it. again, local 
staff were really proactive, and they were able to find a solution that 
didn't involve me rescheduling or losing my money for the test, but it 
took a while and was touch and go.

I'm really not sure where the problems lay. I feel I approach staff with 
a pleasant demeanor, and I feel I'm clear and direct about what I'm 
trying to accomplish. One bad testing experience can be chalked up to a 
perfect storm of events and circumstances, but two suggests a pattern.

If anyone on list has had positive experiences with Prometric, please 
let me know what you think may be helpful for future tests.

Thanks.

Ana


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