Prometric Thompson Learning Center

My first and last experience at Prometric, Burlington. They moved offices — no longer on NE Executive Park.
Technical difficulties starting somewhere around 10am and were unresolved by my test at 11:45. I wish I got a heads-​up and the option to reschedule when the problem surfaced. But nope, I drove from NH to Burlington, to wait, to then drive home. What a way to spend a vacation day.
Staffing is low, only 2 from what I was told — and after 1pm, there was only 1 person. That made it so no more triage on the issues with the SNIA test could be done. Who knows when it’ll be fixed.
Since I *have* to use Prometric for these «SNIA» certs, I’ll just select another location. Let’s see how Prometric — Worcester is.
Imagine if *I* couldn’t make the exam with no notice? I’d have to pay it in full. They screw up? Well, tough, apparently.
Find another testing center.
This isn’t the first time people from my company were turned away from the Burlington location due to technical difficulties.

On January 25^th, I took the TOEFL test at Prometric Test Center located at 8 New England Executive Park, Suite #230, Burlington, MA. I can say from my time there that Prometric didn’t make my experience «as stress-​free as possible». The people that operate the Center made me feel harassed and uncomfortable during the test taking process, which affected me emotionally, decreasing my performance in the test. I hadn’t been treated before this way, in any TOEFL test Center, the behavior of these people disrupted my peace and invaded my privacy. Here are a few points I would like to raise to your awareness:
1. The test center operators (they) made me pull up my sleeves and bottom part of my jeans making sure that I didn’t have any suspicious academic material. They even pulled out a metal detector, treating me like I was a criminal or something. During my break, they followed me to the locker making sure that I didn’t pull out any academic material to read … My God, I just wanted to eat a banana during my break! Isn’t this taking things too far?
2. When my time break started and finished, they made me sign the same sheet twice, and fill in the time break started, and finished I had to do this AGAIN to enter the lab room. I don’t think this procedure is fair to students that just want to relax during their 10-​minute break. This procedure is unnecessary and these administrative operators are taking time out of students’ break to fill information (signature and time) to record time data that could easily be done by them and not by the students. I paid to take the test and not do anyone’s job
3. When I lifted my hand for quite some time, a woman finally noticed and approached me. When she arrived to my desk, I was taking some notes, because I was in the middle of the speaking exercise and had to write down information. When she approached me, at that moment I was writing, this woman couldn’t wait a few minutes until I finished to write, so I could hand out the used sheet paper, and then she could give me back the new sheet paper. Instead she decided to leave the computer room and didn’t come back. As a test taker, her duty is to offer assistance when needed and she simply walked away.
4. One of the worst things that directly affected my performance was that the headphone had a feedback sound that it was very sensitive and picking up background noises. I could hear every single noise through these headphones which was/​is very distracting. How often does this equipment get tested?
5. Lastly, these people even invaded my space during the test, bothering me with how my passport was placed on top of the desk. A woman came to my desk and flipped over the passport to see if I had any suspicious academic material beneath or within my passport.
These people should work for a security agency, not a test center. Come on. What is going on there?
I truly think ETS should worry more about the quality of service offered to its paying customers. Just because I’m an international student doesn’t mean I can be taken advantage of. People should become aware (as you have today) about this terrible center and how they treat students! I think international students should not be treated this way, it is disrespectful, low-​quality and discriminatory.

I agree, with the most recent cancelations due to snow, trying to reschedule is an absolute nightmare. I would not risk having to change an appointment.

I suppose the testing center itself is fine, but Prometric is absolutely horrible should you ever need to reschedule an appointment. I went through 1) my «confirmation» number not working 2) Having to dial no less than 3 different numbers 3) waiting on hold for a freakin eternity. So if you ever have to use Prometric, you’d better PRAY that you don’t have to reschedule your test.

one of the nicer prometric testing sites… has some larger lockers, but get there early to snag one of those. a place to hang coats. and [drum roll please]… a free poland-​springs water cooler! with cups always stocked! i love it! the bowl of candy on the receptionist’s desk is pretty nice too.
plentiful clean restrooms are just down the hall.
there’s a rebecca’s café on the first-​floor, so you can buy food or iced-​coffee if you have a break. and there’s a mall within walking distance, if you need retail therapy to recover from your test…
thumbs up.