As you may or may not know, I have been engaged in a rather extended process of obtaining state teacher certification that would enable me to be employed at international schools and/or state schools here in the US. As with everything else, I seem to have came at this a little backwards, but at least I am moving toward the goal! The latest step was to take two more subject tests; this time at the testing center in Colorado Springs, Colorado!
I obtained my directions via the testing website and google maps. As the center is right on a main road close to my hotel, I figure it would be easy to find given the information; I was wrong! Perhaps it was because the road I needed to use to make the U-turn (which I think would have been illegal) was not properly marked. Or perhaps it was the that the center is hidden in a complex of stores/businesses behind even larger businesses. One window with the curtain drawn and the one door with a small, barely visible sign, that faces the parking lot is not enough to alert you to its presence until you have parked and already walking toward it!
One must walk through this door, inform the person at the desk who you are, take the clipboard with information you need to read and a number. And then, as if sitting at a doctor's office waiting to be called by the nurse, you wait.
When your number is finally called, you sign in, show them your two forms of identification, get your palm read and your picture taken. They must watch you turn off your cell phone. They have you put your belongings into a small locker and continue with security screening. They make you pat down your pockets or turn them inside out to make sure there are no scraps of paper. You then have to pat around your belt and run your hands down your pant legs to show that there is nothing hidden there as well. Then long sleeves must be rolled up to show nothing is there except your arms. If you happen to have long hair, you need to move it out of the way so they can see your ears and check behind them as well! When they are satisfied that dirt is the only thing that can possibly be behind your ears, they lock the locker and give you the key. It is time to be escorted to your computer to take the actual test.
Before you are allowed to enter, the staff informs you that any contact with other test takers, including eye contact, is strictly forbidden! You must raise your hand if you have a question or when you are finished. If you feel the need to get some water, you can come to the door and have them go and get you a cup from where you were sitting just around the corner. Unfortunately, one is unable to get it themselves because once you pass the lockers, if you are to return you must be screened again! That extra 5 feet (at the most), though still within the office, is apparently not secure.
When I tell people that I have traveled to many foreign countries or that I have visited various governmental buildings within the US and overseas to include the Israeli Consulate in Atlanta, if they ask where the most extensive security measures were taken, I know what I can tell them: Pearson VUE Test Center in Colorado Springs!
I obtained my directions via the testing website and google maps. As the center is right on a main road close to my hotel, I figure it would be easy to find given the information; I was wrong! Perhaps it was because the road I needed to use to make the U-turn (which I think would have been illegal) was not properly marked. Or perhaps it was the that the center is hidden in a complex of stores/businesses behind even larger businesses. One window with the curtain drawn and the one door with a small, barely visible sign, that faces the parking lot is not enough to alert you to its presence until you have parked and already walking toward it!
One must walk through this door, inform the person at the desk who you are, take the clipboard with information you need to read and a number. And then, as if sitting at a doctor's office waiting to be called by the nurse, you wait.
When your number is finally called, you sign in, show them your two forms of identification, get your palm read and your picture taken. They must watch you turn off your cell phone. They have you put your belongings into a small locker and continue with security screening. They make you pat down your pockets or turn them inside out to make sure there are no scraps of paper. You then have to pat around your belt and run your hands down your pant legs to show that there is nothing hidden there as well. Then long sleeves must be rolled up to show nothing is there except your arms. If you happen to have long hair, you need to move it out of the way so they can see your ears and check behind them as well! When they are satisfied that dirt is the only thing that can possibly be behind your ears, they lock the locker and give you the key. It is time to be escorted to your computer to take the actual test.
Before you are allowed to enter, the staff informs you that any contact with other test takers, including eye contact, is strictly forbidden! You must raise your hand if you have a question or when you are finished. If you feel the need to get some water, you can come to the door and have them go and get you a cup from where you were sitting just around the corner. Unfortunately, one is unable to get it themselves because once you pass the lockers, if you are to return you must be screened again! That extra 5 feet (at the most), though still within the office, is apparently not secure.
When I tell people that I have traveled to many foreign countries or that I have visited various governmental buildings within the US and overseas to include the Israeli Consulate in Atlanta, if they ask where the most extensive security measures were taken, I know what I can tell them: Pearson VUE Test Center in Colorado Springs!
No comments:
Post a Comment