Certification Test Anxiety? Take a Prometric Test Drive!
A certification test can cause a lot of anxiety. Some people seem to be able to add letters after their names as easily as Vanna White gets them to light up on Wheel of Fortune. CBAP, CCBA, ECBA, BRMP®, PMI Professional in Business Analysis (PMI-PBA)®, Project Management Professional (PMP)®, PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (PMI-ACP)®, CSM, CSPO…the list goes on and on, and that’s just for business analysts and project managers. For others, certification is a major hurdle in their professional development. It’s not that they don’t have experience, knowledge, expertise, or skills. They simply don’t test well.
For many professionals, the hours, days, and even months of preparation and hard work can bring a sense of confidence and ability, all of which dissolves when the brain freeze, sweating and shaking starts once confronted with the real exam. Test anxiety. It’s a serious problem for many well-qualified, capable professionals for whom certification is difficult or even unattainable.
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Fortunately, Prometric (the organization with testing sites for many organizations’ exams, including PMI and IIBA), offers a Test Drive for those who would benefit from a dry-run of the testing experience prior to the real thing. This practice run goes beyond just driving to the site to ensure you know where to go, park, and get into the location. Test drivers will be able to get a locker and experience the testing room itself, as well as go through all check-in and testing procedures that they can expect the day of the exam.
The full Test Drive costs $30 and includes:
- Check-in
- ID confirmation
- Documentation checking
- Photo capture
- Seating
- Tutorial
- A generic sample test
- A survey of the experience
- End-of-test report
- Check-out
Those who have taken Prometric test drives report that they are extremely helpful. One student reported a lot of commotion and disorganization at the testing center the day of her test drive, which would have been very upsetting had it been her real test day. Knowing that things may not be calm and organized can help mitigate frustration and additional nerves if it turns out to be one of those days!
So if a certification test is in your future and test anxiety is likely to be part of the experience, take a Prometric Test Drive and keep those nerves calm so you can enjoy certification success and the professional rewards that go with it!
BRMP® is a registered trademark of Business Relationship Management Institute.
Andrea Brockmeier, PMP, CSM, PMI-PBA, BRMP is the Director of Project Management for Watermark Learning. Andrea is an experienced trainer, facilitator, speaker, and project manager, with over 25 years of business experience. Andrea oversees certification and skills development curriculum in project management, business analysis, and leadership. She has been a speaker at IIBA® and PMI® conferences and is an active volunteer. She enjoys practicing what she teaches and has a steady stream of projects that she manages. Andrea is highly committed to partnering with her clients through projects, consulting, and training, and seeks to make every engagement enjoyable as well as valuable.
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