Well the center I take my cleps at right now is a pearsons vue testing center so I guess ill be able to take all my ECE's there when the time comes around.

__________________
Houston, Texas
B.S. - Liberal Arts, Excelsior College

Not necessarily. Keep in mind the ECE's are at the "Professional" testing centers, not the "IT Certification" testing center that many colleges have.

__________________
Hi I'm Rob, and I'm an Internetaholic.
Excelsior BSLS - CIS/Psychology Student
3 Credits to go.
DSST Ethics?
.. Graduate, then start over in another program

I'm curious to know your experience with the Pearson Vue testing center in your area. Talk about a police state. They took my fingerprints four times. When I asked why, they said if I refused I would not be allowed to test and I would lose the fee. Then they photographed me, followed me to the locker to stow my supplies and then told me I would be videotaped and audiotaped. I have no problem with any of this if it had been done politely and with courtesy, but the staff was either downright nasty, uninformed and incompetent, and definitely wanted to be anywhere but there.

The next day, I received an e-mail asking me to "share" my Pearson Vue testing experience, which I did happily.

__________________
Crystal King
BS Liberal Studies 3.87
Preparing for GRE
Goal Master Library Science 2009

Ambition is the Path to success,
Persistence is the vehicle you arrive in.

ouch...sounds like a terrible experience. I'm all about security and academic honesty, but really...shouldn't a verified photo ID, signature, and videotape be enough? Hell, in the five classes I'm in right now, I could have someone else do ALL of my work in 4 of them, with almost no chance of being caught. Seems absurd for a testing center to be THAT bad....maybe they've been burned too many times in the past.

__________________
CLEPS:
Social Sciences and History
College Math
English Composition (no essay)

DANTES:
World Religions
Civil War and Reconstruction
Drug & Alcohol Abuse
Management Information Systems

Excelsior:
Organizational Behavior
Ethics: Theory and Practice
World Conflicts since 1900
World Population

All done! 42 credits by exam

there's not that much security at the airport. maybe they think you're going to take them hostage if you don't get the grade you want.

__________________
Dawn
Taking the Road Less Traveled
The Journey of A Thousand Miles Starts with The First CLEP
BS-Psychology - Excelsior College
Enrolled in the School of Business, BS in Accounting
After MIS I'll be halfway there!
72 CLEP Credits, 21 DSST Credits, 25 ECE Credits (Including Inf Lit), 6 TESC Credits, 2 FEMA Credits = 126 Total
Withholding 6 Credits for Accounting = 120 for Psychology
12 credits completed toward my accounting degree

HOLY COW! I hope they don't do that to me. I just checked, its 32 miles one way for me to go to a "professional" center.

I haven't taken an ECE test yet though. How is it administered? Computerbased? And how long do you wait for results?

__________________
Houston, Texas
B.S. - Liberal Arts, Excelsior College

Hi Casey,

I'm sure the security procedure is standard at every Pearson Vue center, but the bad attitude Crystal encountered is hopefully not!


ECE exams are computer-based (like CLEPs), and you get your grade (not a score) immediately, at the end of your exam.

Hope that helps,
Snazzlefrag

__________________
My name is Rob
So far, I have earned 142 credits (12 not used).

Excelsior College
- BS Psychology (5 courses/exams to go)
- BS Business (2 courses/exams to go)
____________
Upcoming: N/A
In-progress: CSU-Pueblo: Labor Relations course
Most Recently Completed: English Composition at PFC (97).
Exams/Courses Passed To Date (43):
- Courses (4): 1 ECE, 1 CSU-Pueblo, 2 PFC.
- Exams (39): 24 DANTES, 15 CLEP.
GPA: 4.0

I have 4 EC exams under my belt through Sylvan Learning Center testing sites, and every one required a photograph and a thumbprint. So I'm not surprised that the security checks continue through VUE. Just remember, you're saving a bunch of time and money by testing out, and make them happy by doing whatever it is they ask for! Then take your credits and move on....

__________________
-Need 6 more credits for Excelsior College BS in General Business
-Tested out of 46 credits to date
Credits to finish:
Operations Mgmt-CSU-Pueblo MGMT 311
Business Policy- CSU Pueblo MGMT 485 or TESC exam???

Becky,

I'm sorry to hear about your experience with your local Pearson Vue testing center; hopefully the e-mail you replied to will lead to some changes in how their personnel treat people!

I had my first experience with a Pearson testing center yesterday morning when I went to take my first ECE--Ethics. Fortunately, I had a much better time of it than you did, but I do agree with you that their procedures are a bit much, especially compared to the testing centers at the universities and colleges.

I'm not sure if EVERY Pearson center will be exactly the same, but this what my experience entailed:

• I had to arrive at 7:30 a.m. for an 8:00 a.m. exam time.
• They had scheduled 13 people to take various exams at 8:00 a.m., and each person had to take a number as they came into the center, which determined the order in which you were "processed". (Unfortunately for me, I was #12, so it took until 8:20 a.m. before I was even able to begin my exam.)
• They required you to empty all of your pockets and remove any watches and/or bracelets (you know...the kind of places you could hide cheat notes...LOL).
• All of your personal effects go into a locker (as with other testing centers I've dealt with).
• They had me sign my signature on a "digital pad" (don't know what to call it), took a digital fingerprint of my right index finger, and then took a digital photo of me.
• Then I sat back down and waited another 10 minutes for the test proctor to call my name, at which time she went over a few instructions, scanned my fingerprint again to make sure it was MY photo and signature that came up on their computer screen (in case I changed my identity in the 10 minutes in-between...LOL).
• Once the test proctor had me logged into the computer, I was free to work away, knowing that they had video and audio surveillance on me (I resisted the urge to pick my nose to provide them with some entertainment, but it was tough).
• If I wanted to take a break from the exam, I had to raise my hand to get the proctor's attention, and she would come over and lock my computer.
• Then before leaving the testing area to take a break and AGAIN upon returning to the testing area, they scanned my fingerprint once again!

When I was all done with my exam, the computer reported my letter grade to me and also printed out a two page document which had the letter grade and a detailed breakdown of how I scored in each category, which was nice to be able to view (the document is for you to take with you).

In the end, it was not a BAD experience...just totally different from my CLEP/DANTES testing experiences.

JoAnne