Help with booking MCDST

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Hi all,

Right ive registered on the prometric website but it doesnt appear to want to let me search for my nearest test centre ( i live in blackburn by the way )

when i click on locate a test centre it just asks me what test i want to take and then shows me the full list of every test centre in the uk.

Blackburn college is listed on the first page but ive contacted them and they say i'd have to sit the full course to be able to take the test there which isnt much use to me.

Can anyone offer any help here as i really need to get this booked A.S.A.P

Cheers,

Ryan

 

the nearest one is wigan, which doesnt even show any available test dates

is prometric the only company to offer the exams??

sureley there must be another way

 

If a test centre shows no dates then its either fully booked all year or its a test centre where you have to do a course through them.

My nearest test centre is 58 miles away

 

Very true... and my usual one is now about 70 miles away from me. It's a great test centre, but just too far away.

However, I managed to book my 272 at a test centre only 18 miles away pretty much on the date I want to take it... wooh! That was just pure luck though... they have no dates at any other times in the year.

 

There is one 54 miles away from me, but its part job centre and part internet cafe. So its full of meths and people who can't use computers who shout for help all the time.

 

sounds like an absalute p!ss take to me, firstly we have to fork out for the exams and then travel miles and miles just to sit them

we must all be mad lol

 

Yeah I know. The test centre I did my A+ at had 4 sets of cameras in the room. 2 on either side of the desk, one behind the candidate and one going under the desk. No chance of cheating there then.

 

Yes im afraid I get that too, I have a test site in Reading, but that hardly ever has any places which is a shame as there is plenty of parking and I can do shopping afterwards too (if im in a good mood). I dont know whether its because they are fully booked as there is mostly no times to take for the next year (and I cant believe thats true, but if you wait until the week of the exam then sometime spare days and spaces pop up. So it just seems to me that rather than being booked up they let prometric know when they want to let people in to test meer days before.

So I travel about 30 miles in stead to a center I can book a couple of months in advance with.

 

It's a joke really. Where I live (so this goes for WagnerK as well) we used to have plenty of local choice when it came to booking MS exams, when they were still with Pearson anyway. Now we have to face a 2hr car journey (not to mention the petrol costs) to get to our nearest centre.

 

Consider it an investment in your career.

 

true,

but when you consider the fact that im really hard up on money at the moment, and that i am probably going to need more than just MCDST to gain a position on any sort of higher salary, it just seems like prometric are taking the mick a little, ud think for £90 that youd be able to get a test centre a little more local

why blackburn college wont take external candidates baffles me

 

sorted now, some test dates have strangeley popped up at a test centre in wigan which isnt too far really

thanks to all for replying to this topic

 

Because you are not paying them money to do a course, quite a few colleges do this.

 

The certification doesn't enable you to gain a position on a higher salary... experience enables you to gain a position on a higher salary. Certification merely gets you in the door. With it, you're more likely to get a job in the first place so you can GET that experience!

Prometric doesn't make the test centers, mate... Prometric authorizes test centers who are interested in becoming a test center for Prometric. Thus, if there are no test centers in your area, that's not Prometric's fault.

If Blackburn College has decided that they'll only proctor exams for their students, that's unfortunately their decision. The reason they do it is to artificially drive students into their classes (using the local testing center as a benefit). If you don't like that policy (I wouldn't like it much either), complain to Blackburn College. But again, that's not Prometric's decision.

You see the £90 exam fee and think that all you're paying for is to put your butt on the wobbly seat in front of the 1998-vintage computer, CRT, and ball mouse (again, the testing center's decision, not Prometrics). But realize what Prometric has to do and pay for:

- give Microsoft their cut
- give the authorized training center their cut
- distribute the exam to the center (so you can take it)
- provide the results to Microsoft
- maintain your testing records
- develop the testing software
...and much, much more.

Just sayin'... you're growling at the wrong company.