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Prometric
Company typePublic
Founded1990; 34 years ago (1990)
HeadquartersBaltimore, Maryland, United States
Key peopleStuart J. Udell (CEO)
ParentEQT Private Capital Asia
Websiteprometric.com

Prometric, also known as Prometric Testing, is an American test administration company. The corporate headquarters are located in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. The company manages a network of test centers, with thousands of sites in 160 countries, where various examinations are conducted.

History

Prometric's computerized testing centers were founded by Drake International in 1990 under the name Drake Prometric. In 1995, Drake Prometric L.P. was sold to Sylvan Learning in a cash and stock deal worth approximately $44.5 million. The acquired business was renamed Sylvan Prometric, then sold to Thomson Corporation in 2000. The Thomson Corporation announced its desire to sell Prometric in the fall of 2006, and Educational Testing Service announced plans to acquire it. On Monday, October 15, 2007, Educational Testing Service (ETS) closed its acquisition of Prometric from the Thomson Corporation. In 2018, Prometric was bought by Baring Private Equity Asia.

Prometric co-sponsored the 10th Annual International Conference on Medical Regulation, which took place at the Ottawa Convention Centre in Ontario, Canada in October 2012.

Test takers for the LSAT (Law School Admission Test) experienced technical difficulties in scheduling their exams for August 2023. The same technical issues were unresolved by the time registration for the September 2023 LSAT arrived with many test takers experiencing the same technical difficulties.

During Prometric's first administration of the LSAT (Law School Admission Test) in August 2023, many test takers, especially remote test takers, faced issues and interruptions when taking their exam. Due to the issues with administering the exam, some individuals were unable to begin their exam.

Executive Leadership

In 2017, Charles Kernan was appointed as president and CEO of Prometric, replacing Michael Brannick. Brannick had held the position since 2001.

In September 2019, Roy Simrell joined Prometric as president and CEO, taking over for Kernan.

In April 2021, Prometric appointed Oliver Chang as chief technical officer. In June 2022, Prometric appointed Nikki Eatchel as chief assessment officer.

In February 2023, Prometric appointed Stuart Udell as the current CEO, taking over from Simrell.

Business

Prometric sells a range of services, including test development, test delivery, and data management capabilities. Prometric delivers and administers tests to approximately 500 clients in the academic, professional, government, corporate and information technology markets. While there are 3,000 Prometric test centers across the world, including every U.S. state and territory (except Wake Island), whether a particular test can be taken outside the U.S. depends on the testing provider. For example, despite the fact that Prometric test centers exist worldwide, some exams are only offered in the country where the client program exists. The locations where a test is offered, as well as specific testing procedures for the day of the exam, are dictated by the client.

In the Republic of Ireland, Prometric's local subsidiary is responsible for administering the Driver Theory Test.

In April 2021, the Canadian affiliate of Prometric acquired Paragon Testing Enterprises from the University of British Columbia.

In August 2022, Prometric acquired Finetune, an AI-assisted assessment and learning technology tool.

In January 2023, Prometric renewed its partnership with CFA Institute for a multi-year deal.

Contracts

In 2011, Prometric lost the contract for conducting the Oracle certification exam and they were replaced by Pearson VUE.

In 2014, the IBM Professional Certification Program exam delivery was moved from Prometric to Pearson VUE Test Centers. In 2014, Prometric lost the bid for conducting it second time to an Indian tech firm.

In 2014, Microsoft ended its exam partnership with Prometric.

In 2017, Prometric lost the contract for conducting the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) exam. They were replaced with Pearson VUE.

In 2019, Project Management Institute (PMI) ended its exam partnership with Prometric. They were replaced with Pearson VUE.

Controversies and Legal Issues

Prometric has faced criticism by many test takers as a result of its lack of accountability and mismanagement.

In 2009, the company faced a hurdle due to widespread technical problems on one of India's MBA entrance exams, the Common Admission Test. Over 8000 test takers were affected.

In 2014, a latency issue affected one Prometric-administered test, namely the AIPGMEE.

In 2020, as a result of COVID-19, Prometric cancelled exams including the United States Medical Licensing Examinations (USMLE) and the Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensing Examination (COMLEX) in compliance with local and national regulations.

In 2021, An exam proctor noticed Somali speaking examinees failed the Washington state nurse assistant licensing exam at a disproportionally high rate. The overall pass rate for this exam was 97.1%, while examinees using the Somali version had a pass rate of 23.1%. When the proctor raised this concern, he was informed by Prometric an investigation would not occur due to the high costs of doing so. A Prometric spokesman later justified this decision by saying, "The low pass rates should be attributed to the Somali's literacy rates among native speakers and their proficiency with technology.” After the proctor escalated the issue to the Washington State Board of Health, he was terminated by Prometric. Prometric was ultimately forced to re-translate the exam after the former proctor challenged them in court, as well as pay an undisclosed amount due to violation of labor laws.

References

  1. "Drake International early years". Archived from the original on 2012-06-19.
  2. "Sylvan to acquire test firm". Archived from the original on 2013-02-20. Retrieved 2012-10-15.
  3. "Thomson Acquires Prometric". Archived from the original on 2020-08-31. Retrieved 2009-12-07.
  4. ETS news ETS to Acquire Prometric Archived 2011-07-26 at the Wayback Machine
  5. "The Thomson Corporation to sell Prometric to ETS" (Press release). Thomson Reuters. 2007-07-02. Archived from the original on 2010-08-20.
  6. "INTERIM REPORT 2018" (PDF). Partners Group. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2019-05-07. Retrieved 2019-05-07.
  7. "10th International Conference on Medical Regulation - Sponsors". BUKSA Strategic Conference Services. Archived from the original on 2012-10-05. Retrieved 2022-09-27.
  8. "PROMETRIC APPOINTS CHARLES KERNAN AS PRESIDENT AND CEO". Prometric. 2017-06-13. Archived from the original on 2017-12-01.
  9. "Profile: Michael Brannick". LinkedIn. 2017.
  10. "Prometric Announces Roy Simrell as New CEO | Prometric". www.prometric.com. Archived from the original on 2020-08-31. Retrieved 2020-06-15.
  11. Kirby, Stephen Babcock, Donte (2021-04-23). "Power Moves: CAMI adds board members, Prometric appoints CTO". Technical.ly. Retrieved 2023-07-29.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  12. Kirby, Donte (2022-06-16). "Power Moves: CLLCTIVLY appoints its first COO". Technical.ly. Retrieved 2023-07-29.
  13. "CEO of Baltimore testing provider giant plans expansion into K-12 market". www.bizjournals.com/baltimore/. Retrieved 2023-02-22.
  14. "QAI India Ltd Announces A Partnership with Prometric". Archived from the original on 2014-12-15. Retrieved 2014-12-15.
  15. the official Irish RSA Driver Theory Test booking site Archived 2012-02-17 at the Wayback Machine. TheoryTest.ie. Retrieved on 2013-08-17.
  16. Dorbian, Iris (2021-04-07). "BPEA-backed Prometric buys Paragon Testing Enterprises". PE Hub. Retrieved 2023-07-29.
  17. "Prometric LLC Acquires Finetune®". ca.finance.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2022-08-04.
  18. Prometric. "Prometric and CFA Institute Renew Partnership for Multi-Year Deal". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 2023-07-29.
  19. "Pearson VUE Exam Transition: What If I Had An Exam Scheduled at Prometric After May 31?". Oracle University Blog. 2011-05-25. Archived from the original on 2019-08-22. Retrieved 2019-08-22.
  20. "IBM Exam Changes: From Prometric to Pearson VUE with NEW Exam Codes – IT Certifications Blog". Archived from the original on 2019-09-05. Retrieved 2019-09-05.
  21. "CAT 2014 exam: Why TCS got CAT 2014 and Prometric lost". www.mbauniverse.com. Archived from the original on 2014-12-20. Retrieved 2014-12-11.
  22. "Microsoft Ends Exam Partnership with Prometric". 16 July 2014. Archived from the original on 25 October 2016. Retrieved 3 July 2017.
  23. "Pearson VUE to deliver Medical College Admission Test® (MCAT®) beginning in 2018". Pearson VUE. 2017. Archived from the original on 2017-12-01.
  24. "PMI and Pearson VUE partner to deliver full suite of certification exams in over 5000 locations". PMI. 2019-04-23. Archived from the original on 2019-07-28. Retrieved 2019-08-21.
  25. Alex, Zubair; er (3 June 2014). "Microsoft Once Again Decides to End Prometric's Monopoly as an Exam Delivery Provider | Alexander's Blog". Retrieved 2020-07-15.
  26. "IIM-A names 2 viruses that caused CAT chaos - Times of India". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 2009-12-03. Retrieved 2009-12-07.
  27. "Medicos Irked by Technical Glitches in NBE's Exam System". The New Indian Express. Archived from the original on 2021-09-13. Retrieved 2021-09-13.
  28. "Corona Virus Update | Prometric". www.prometric.com. Archived from the original on 2020-06-18. Retrieved 2020-06-15.
  29. Fowler, Lilly. "Would-be home health workers claim bias in state's qualifying exam | Crosscut". crosscut.com. Retrieved 2023-05-12.
  30. "Proctor fired after he complained a health-licensing test was unfair to Somali candidates, lawsuit claims". The Seattle Times. 2019-09-12. Retrieved 2023-05-12.
  31. "Stewart v. Prometric LLC, CASE NO. C19-1362JLR | Casetext Search + Citator". casetext.com. Retrieved 2023-05-12.
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