National Testing Network

This will be my second test with NTN and so far I have no complaints. The fact is if you need employment in Fire and Rescue you’re probably going to be utilizing their service. I personally feel their web services are pretty straight forward and easy to navigate. The facility was exactly where they said it would be online, testing instruction was brief but informative and the computer based testing was also straight forward.

The website says to come early at least 30 min… and I get there early but they kicked me out saying they have to take me closer to my testing time around 10 – 15 min before my testing time… and they acted really sketchy… they barely opened the door for me and asked me why I was there… and I replied for the test and the woman kept starring at me as if she wanted to hear more… so super creepy!!! (Weirded me out not even in the right mindset anymore) And so I proceed to say for… the national network testing… and then this lady nods and goes off on me saying she can’t take me now etc etc come back by such and such time. Talk about being non professional, Super creepy as I had to knock a few times before someone answered the door, and it looked abandoned, and then turned away… this is a paid test that should act more accommodating as I drove 1 hour away just to take the test since it’s the locations are not available everywhere and I wanted to use the restroom. This is the weirdest experience trying to reach my goal working for the government. I was never treated like this at pd agencies who provide testing we don’t have to pay for at all.
The test center I’m speaking of is in Southern California.

I was denied rescheduling or refund when a death occurred in my immediate family the morning of the test. I sent them an email explaining what had happened and was met with a reply that, regardless of circumstances, no rescheduling requests can be made within 7 days of the scheduled test, and that I would need to purchase another time slot. For a company that facilitates testing for emergency services, I was shocked at the lack of compassion and flexibility even in times of tragedy.

Awful. They give no money back to you if something comes up. In my case, it was a career-​changer, and they STILL wouldn’t give me my money back. They’re only goal is to make money. If you want to get into emergency services, go to Public Safety Testing. They actually care.

I tested out of the Olympia, WA facility today and had already performed my written/​reading exam for law enforcement at this branch. I was thrilled to see the small size of the group I tested with and the enthusiasm of the two gentlemen who facilitated the physical component. They were extremely encouraging and funny as a train wreck. Neither of those things were necessary or expected but it made the time fly and the tests were much more fun! Thanks again, NTN for an awesome experience. It was very professional and I had a great time!

I had a great experince with them. It was nice to schedule a testing time that worked for me. The video part of it was a lot more interesting and actually fun. I like that I can apply to more than one job with one test. The staff at the testing center was very nice and put my nerves at ease. I wish more departments were using it though. I had to drive up to Washington last week to test for a job and it would have been nice to transfer my test scores instead. Oh well, had a nice trip before the weather got bad.

I’m not a part of National Testing Network, but have lots of friends, that have tested with them. Unlike the previous review, their test for «one department» is 40 bucks; 40 bucks for the test and the 1^st department is free and only 7 bucks for an additional department (see their site). Their website is extremely easy to navigate and selecting departments also easy. «NTN» is the best testing agency in the U.S. and saves departments 10’s of thousand’s of dollars; for larger cities, it can be 100’s of thousand’s. The CPAT does cost $ 125.00, but there is a lot of expense for leasing an indoor building (or owning) and includes a lot of expensive equipment/​maintenance. I know people who work at NTN and they told me, candidates make mistakes by selecting the wrong test dates or times or being late for their exams. Being late is not tolerated. In some cases, they select a completely different test center, but dates/​times are on the calendar and for the majority of candidates, very easy to see! If a person has difficulty scheduling a test on their website, they probably don’t have the aptitude to become a Firefighter. Just the cost of hiring Firefighters as proctors is extremely expensive. Having fixed facility testing from an outstanding company like NTN, also saves them a lot of money, which can now be used to hire more Firefighters!
Some Firefighter candidates don’t like a situational, video-​based test. Unlike a regular paper and pencil test, the FireTEAM test is extremely difficult to cheat on and will actually help in determining, if a person has the ability to become a high-​quality Firefighter!

I recently took a test at this facility and I was struck by how professional and organized the whole testing process was, and how nice the staff was, and how well-​laid out the building site/​offices were. I appreciated how they advised us that our test scores would be available to us right after the test. — and, sure enough, they were! This company’s website is so easy to understand. All the employees there had their facts straight and were very knowledgable about the process. They were also very helpful when it I asked about volunteering in the area and interviews. Very Clean building with great staff. Only 4 stars because I had a hard time finding the building. They need a sign out front.

This company’s website is so confusing. They don’t get their facts straight. They post dates and times and places for tests that don’t exist. We paid for a test that no one at Chemeketa had heard of, even though the NTN information said to go to that address, that building, at that time.
Let’s not forget to mention their testing prices are outrageous. Our total cost was over 120 bucks just to test for one agency. It would be one thing to pay this much for tests if they were well organized and the website was easy to navigate, and instructions were easy to understand… Unfortunately, none of this is the case. It’s disappointing to see so many agencies switching to this form of testing.
For the agency we needed to get tests done for they wanted a written and a physical test. The NTN company actually navigated us to sign up for two physical abilities tests and no written tests, yet named them differently so it looked like the two different tests were the ones we needed.
I urge agencies to think twice and actually try out the company before switching to this testing. I warn candidates to think about whether the agency you are applying for is worth the headache of using this company. In our case, the agency was worth it, but I have decided in the past to not apply for certain agencies because they use this testing.
On a side note, I have taken a test through NTN and it was fine, but that agency set everything up for it’s candidates, and did not make the candidates go through the NTN website. If you use NTN, this is the way to go.