Prometric Testing Center Columbia

I’ve taken multiple exams at this testing center and have had wonderful experiences the first two times (which is why they even get two stars). The most recent time, however, I had a particularly mean middle-​aged female proctor who gave test-​takers an unnecessarily hard time, which really ruins your sense of composure on test day. I really wish I knew her name — she worked on the morning of 12/​23/​2015 and had a strong accent. She worked in the back room, and was in charge of finger-​printing /​signing test-​takers in and out of the area.
I had arrived on time to the testing center, but did not get registered until 40 minutes after my arrival. I was fine with this, since there were some other people that had arrived before me and I just assumed that it took some time to get them set up. When I was finally called in, this particular lady yelled at me for being late (though I was not). The fingerprint-​er was not working, yet she made me try again and again and again. We had to sign in and out of the testing center each and every time, and she scrutinized my every loop in my signature to match it with the signature on my license exactly every time. When a loop was off, she would make me cross out the signature that I had just used, and re-​sign — this happened multiple times.
The exam that I took was a 9 hour exam, with only 45 minutes of break time that we were allowed to allocate the way we want. Break allocation is very important, as you can imagine, since a 9 hour exam is exhausting both physically and mentally. I had planned 5 minutes of break between my 1^st and 2^nd section, but because of this lady’s particularities, it took me 10 minutes to get in and out of the exam room — thus making me lose one of my breaks unnecessarily. In addition, the fact that I was yelled at and the fact that I lost one of my breaks made me feel unnecessary panic, so that I was unable to fully focus on the second section of my exam.
I was not given special mean treatment, as I saw her being rude to other test-​takers in the area as well. I was just very disappointed that she did not know how to act towards test-​takers, who are already in a particularly vulnerable and stressed position.
The other proctors were very nice. I was relieved when her shift was finished (which was 4 hours into my exam), as I encountered much nicer people after her.
Otherwise, it was relatively quiet, there were lockers with locks provided, hangers, well-​controlled temperature, comfortable seating, headphones and noise-​cancelling headphones provided, clean bathrooms. Very nice location and resources provided. So unfortunate that one particular staff member was so poorly trained.

After taking exams in other prometric sites around the DMV this by far was the most quiet of all the centers if tested in. (The test center in dc is a bit noisy, you can hear cars honking and police sirens outside. Or like in other centers where the proctors are loud when they open and close the doors when they walk around the room to make sure no one is cheating.) The staff here are very quiet when they go about their business knowing people are testing.
Check in and security process was the same. They have lockers for your things. The bathroom is in the lobby of the test center not like other test centers where the bathroom is outside of the suite. This is significant if you are on a timed break. Every minute counts.
There is ample amount of parking spots and its free parking so thats good.
Overall experience was good. The ladies were professional and they called a day before to remind me of my appointment. Best part is i passed so i hope you have the same luck as I did at this test center.

I took my MCAT here last month and cannot fault Prometric Testing Center for any of my stresses at all.
I’m not totally sure how to review a place where I am not fed (sigh) so here is just a quick rundown:
— Easy to find
— Clean facility
— Competent staff
— Ample locker space
— Coat hangers
— Water cooler
— Comfortable seating
— Didn’t love the noise-​cancelling headphones
If I wasn’t taking a ridiculously stressful exam, I would’ve really enjoyed myself here!