Payment of certification tests through VUE

Introduction

In this post I would like to share my modest experience in payment for certification testing through the Pearson VUE system.
First of all, a few words about Pearson VUE and its closest competitor Prometric.

Pearson VUE is part of Pearson Education Corp., a world-renowned test provider that offers computer certification testing for products from leading global software manufacturers such as Cisco Systems, CompTIA, and many others.
The company Virtual University Enterprises was established in 1997. This global electronic testing service currently has more than 3,400 authorized test centers in more than 120 countries.

Prometric entered the market a few years earlier than VUE as a follower of the parent company of independent testing, Drake Prometric. Prometric is headquartered in Baltimore, USA, and has offices worldwide.
For the past ten years, the company has been testing specialists, working with such well-known vendor companies such as Oracle, Sun Microsystems, HP, SCO, Microsoft, Novell. Testing is carried out at authorized Prometric Testing Centers (Authorized Prometric Testing Centers - APTC's), the network of which operates on the basis of an agreement with Prometric worldwide.

In case of successful delivery, the vendor company sends the candidate a certificate confirming the status he received.
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Cisco Systems chose Pearson VUE to conduct its tests, then the process of ordering and paying for the exam through your account in this system will be reviewed.

Cisco Systems Testing

Fully the entire process of passing certification testing can be divided into the following points:

1. Choice of the direction (list of necessary examinations);
2. Exam preparation;
3. Selection of the test center;
4. Exam payment;
5. Passing the selected exam.

Items 1-3 deserve a separate discussion and therefore I do not see much point in considering them in the current note. Item 5 is rather a story about one’s own experience and is more suitable for discussion in relevant forums. At the moment, I would like to consider 4 item of this list.
Why him?
At the payment stage, the question arises: How to pay? There are two answers to this question:

1. Pay at the test center;
2. Pay yourself through your account in the VUE system.

It would seem that there is nothing difficult in this, BUT, by paying in the test center chosen by you, the exam amount automatically increases, and sometimes the overpayment can reach 30 percent or more. Paying directly in the VUE system you pay only for the exam itself, nothing more. Do not worry, any authorized test center must take your exam, and if the second option was chosen, they will not take you from above. This way you can save a lot of money.

The exam payment process in detail

Payment for the exam in the test center is as follows:

1. Come to the test center or call there, call the number of the selected exam and agree on the time of delivery;
2. Receive a receipt from the administrator of the center in person or by e-mail (you will need to print the receipt), pay it at any branch of the bank, mail and so on;
3. After payment, check with the administrator of the center whether the payment has passed (usually there are no interruptions, but it is better to specify);
4. At the set time, go to the test center 15 minutes before the start of the test and pass the exam.

Payment for the exam through the VUE system is not much more complicated than the process described above, but it is much more pleasant (less unnecessary gestures), more economical (only the exam itself is paid). We will talk about this payment method in more detail. The most important thing you need is a bank card that allows you to make payments online (in my case, VTB24 e-card). We also mean that you already have an account in the Pearson VUE system, otherwise register.

1. Agree with the test center about the time of the exam, when paying via VUE, you need to choose the time of your pass, therefore you should make sure in advance that the center has free space, that they will work, in general, that nothing will prevent you from passing the exam at the appointed time ;
2. Follow the link Login ; click on Career Certifications and Specialization Exams , log in with your account;
3. On the page that appears, go to the Schedule Exams section, in which you will be offered to choose the exam you are interested in, tick the one you need, after updating the page at the bottom, choose the language in which you prefer to take the exam, then click Next;
4. At this stage, you should choose a test center where you prefer to take the exam. Find the closest - the number of displayed test centers; Country - country to search; City - a city to search. After filling in all three fields and clicking Search , you will be presented with a list of test centers for the criteria you entered, from this list, select the appropriate shopping center and press Next ;
5. The next stage is the choice of the date and time of the test, then you should choose the day and time about which you agreed with the test center, remember that the choice occurs in the time zone of the test center. Click Select Appointment , then Next and go to the next item;
6. We read the agreement and agree with it Yes, I accept , click Next ;
7. We check our contact details, as well as enter the voucher number, if any, click Next ;
8. We check your address and enter the card data for payment, click Next ;
9. Once again we carefully recheck all the data: exam, language, place, time, cost. If everything is correct, put a tick in front of I have read and ... and click Confirm order ;
10. The test order is completed, review all the information again. A letter will be sent to your e-mail, confirming the order of the exam and the bank account will be reduced by the cost of the exam. :)

For more confidence, call the test center and ask the administrator if everything is in order, it will never be superfluous. After all, do not forget to go to the test center 15 minutes before the start of the exam and calmly take it.
Remember that the test center should not charge you an extra fee for their surrender, if this happens, you should immediately contact VUE for clarification.

PS: my first post, if there are any shortcomings and errors, write, I will correct. There are also screenshots of the whole process, if necessary, I can explain some points with images.