PSI Testing Center - Dallas, TX
So I went in for my second attempt at PPD at a PSI center in Dallas on 6/17. My first exam since the switch and I have to agree with several others on here that have been pointing out, these testing centers are atrocious. This was, I guess, a third party facility in a run down office building. It was not made clear to any of us that 3rd party test distributors would be allowed as "official" testing facilities when making a selection in locations. So I was very confused when I eventually found the tiny office suite that was intended to be a testing center with a total of 1, I repeat, 1 poor worker, who was somehow in charge of proctoring and administering what looked like 30 tests ranging from real estate, to GEDs, to now our tests.
There were no official checks really, no wanding, barely looking at my ID, signed in to check in, and she luckily did take my phone and locked it up, following procedures loosely. I was just lead to a tiny room with a buzz saw for a fan and 3-4 other people in there testing with barely any dividers between us and less than 3' of space between any of us. There appeared to be no means for her to be monitoring us at all. She set up the test and she told me to just let her know if there was a problem, I asked how would I do that and her reply was to just walk out the room and let her know......... OK then.
I try to begin taking my exam and it immediately prompts me for a username and password, which given that I've taken 4 other exams without a hiccup, I immediately knew something was off because that is not normal procedure. After trying to attempt my NCARB login, which wasn't working, I finally risk going outside and telling her something was wrong and it's prompting me when it shouldn't be, to which her reply was simply "Well I don't know your username and password". I had to clarify that wasn't the point and it shouldn't be asking me this. At that point she had up to 8 other people trying to get their exams started, so she had me sit and wait in the lobby while assisting the others. To be fair, she was really calm and did want to help me, but clearly had too much on her plate.
I ended up waiting over an hour over my appointment time for her to finish up with others, and by that time my nerves were completely shot. Eventually she contacts PSI and all that had to happen was to close it and restart it....... an hour wait.... to restart the set up. Yea so I ended up taking the exam and failing unfortunately. I'm obviously upset about failing, but wayyyy more upset over the complete unprofessionalism of the PSI center. I luckily live in a major metro area, so there are options of locations, but if this is the quality/disorganization we're supposed to expect, NCARB messed up on this change.
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Hi Caitlin,
Thank you for posting about your testing experience. This is unacceptable and not what NCARB expects from our test delivery vendor, PSI. Please report your experiences to NCARB Customer Service, and we will reach out to PSI directly to address these issues.
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Hello,
I have reached out via email last night and am awaiting to hear a response from NCARB regarding this issue. I would like to receive a seat credit back at the least due to this experience, but overall I'm concerned with the continual lack of consistent testing facilities available to myself and others if this is what we're to expect moving forward with our tests.
My request number sent in was #500920, feel free to respond via email or here, but this needs to be rectified somehow.
Thank you
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I had the same awful experience at 1140 Empire Central Dr. I was sat down right next to that very loud fan. Failed my exam as well. I literally had to laugh at my surroundings. It was laugh or cry.
Yesterday I took PA at the 1701 N Collins Blvd. testing center. I can't believe that I'm saying this, but it is literally worse than the Empire Center testing center. They had to restart my exam about 8 times. They refused to move me to another computer. I lost internet connection with literally every question. But the worse thing was while I lost internet connection I could still see the test time clocking down. I even had a terrible time getting the exam to conclude, having to click the end exam button over 10 times and having the exam continue to freeze. On top of all that, the two people running the test center had a shouting altercation while we were all taking our exam and could hear every word of their argument. I did thankfully pass my exam but the experience was horrible. I would strongly advise to avoid the test center site.
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Hi! I have taken tests in the Richardson location and the 1140 Empire central, I never had any problem in the Empire location, however I was a little shocked at the checking procedures, Im coming from NJ and over there they were so strict regarding the security procedures (but wasn't PSI). On the last test I took back in January at the Richardson location was horrible, their computer kept on freezing and the time kept on running so you can imagine the stress I went through, and then trying to show to the person in charge there, he kept on asking to go forward in the questions to see the problem and they didn't do anything... so today I'm scheduling for my next test and I found out that the Empire location has been closed, I really don't want to go back to Richardson but the Arlington location is at least an hour away from me. Has anyone tested on the Richardson location in the last weeks? Did you have any issues? Has anyone tested in Arlington and had any issues?
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