PIREP: FAA written at PSI Examination Services

The purpose of this experience report is to give people an idea what to expect when using the PSI test centers to take FAA written tests.

On Monday, I registered to take the FOI. The CATS site where I took my private, instrument, and commercial writtens was available through the new PSI registration site, but since the contract change, locations other than PSI Examination Services have an additional $64 convenience charge. Slots at other locations were available on Wednesday, but the earliest availability at PSI was Thursday.

When I showed up today for my scheduled appointment at PSI, a sign on the outside of the door announced that cell phones had to be powered off prior to entry. After complying and walking inside, one of the test administrators asked with a bit of excitement in her voice, “Are you here for the FAA test?”

“Oh, am I the first one since the contract change?”

“Yep, you’re going to be our guinea pig, and we need to learn how to do it.”

She handed me a clipboard to fill out the top page with my name and date and to initial at the bottom to acknowledge their test policies. A couple of people were in the lobby ahead of me and got checked in. Several people were already in the testing room, which I could see on a security video on the desk that showed overhead shots of each test cubicle. A lady walked in behind me, but the administrator asked if I minded that they go ahead and get her registered because mine would take longer. If only she knew …

She asked for my ID. I mentioned that I moved recently and had a utility bill with my new address, to which the administrator replied, “I thought the address on your ID had to match.” I told her I had seen a utility bill was acceptable. The details are on the Knowledge Testing Authorization Requirements Matrix from FAA Airman Testing, but I couldn’t access it to show her because my phone was off. She took my word for it, crisis averted. Suggestion: Review the matrix and if you are in one of the off-nominal situations, consider bringing a printout with you to your test.

She plopped my driver license on the scanner. It whirred and did its thing, and the image popped up on the scan utility on her Windows box. Back on her browser-based Proctor Console, she wasn’t able to upload the scanned image. There were several Upload buttons on the form, but clicking them did nothing. She expected to see a file chooser dialog.

She had been using Internet Explorer. The other administrator asked whether she was using Chrome. The first lady switched browsers but still no dice. I offered a couple of troubleshooting suggestions like closing and reopening the browser, but they were reluctant to try. One of the administrators picked up a phone to call their company tech support. The other grabbed her cell phone and went outside to call her supervisor.

When she came back in, she said the other PSI centers all around the country were having similar problems and that it was a whole process to fix. They put me on the “30-60 rule,” which meant I had to wait at least 30 minutes but no longer than 60 minutes, after which they’d have to reschedule me. Ugh.

The other administrator sat on hold with tech support, and I sat watching the clock. At around 30 minutes after I’d arrived, tech support picked up and started walking her through the process and took control of her machine. When they flipped back to Chrome, there were two MSI downloads at the bottom that I hadn’t seen before. She clicked and off the install went. Now when she clicked Upload, it popped up a separate browser window with an embedded scan application. Because I was there for FOI with no authorization (i.e., instructor endorsement) required, she had to write “No authorization required” on a blank piece of paper, scan, and upload it. Then she scanned my license and utility bill. I kept waiting for something to go off the rails, but everything went through. w00t!

She gave me a few verbal questions again about their policies. They had me empty my pockets into a locked red bag that I would hang on the back of my chair in the test center. I had to take my pocket knife back outside to my car. I turned my hip pockets inside out. I had to show that my rear pockets, my shirt breast pocket, the insides of my boots, and the insides of my glasses were all empty or otherwise free of test aids. It didn’t apply to me, but their policies prohibited non-religious headwear in the test room. They asked whether I wanted to use the noise-cancelling headphones in the room, which I declined. If I needed to leave the room (restroom etc.), I’d come out and let them know, but my test clock would keep running.

She handed me an FAA test supplement booklet with two sheets of scratch paper, two pencils, a transparent plastic sheet, and a dry-erase marker with eraser. The transparent sheet was for if I needed to draw or make notes over any info in the test supplement because they reuse the booklet and directed me not to write in it. My scratch paper had a temporary login on it. At my test cubicle, I used that to login and got a brief CBT-style orientation with more acknowledgements, e.g., not making notes of test questions, not taking notes away from the test center, and so on. Then it showed a one-page overview of what the various controls on the test form did and gave me a 5-question practice test with third-grade questions.

After answering the fifth practice question, I clicked Next, and it wrapped around back to the first question. To get out, I had to click an Exit button. I wish there had been a Submit or Done button instead. Exit felt like cancel, abandon, and run outside the test center screaming like a madman. But don’t tell my AME.

Then I started the FOI. The controls are slightly more modern in appearance and similar in functionality to the older CATS stuff: forward, backward, bookmark a question. A scrollable dropdown with question numbers allows you to jump to a particular question. The ones bookmarked (“marked” in CATS terminology) showed up in red in the dropdown; the others were black.

When I was done (holding my breath hoping that Exit was the appropriate control), the system put me through a ten-question survey about the test, the center, personnel, cleanliness, etc. Finally, the system directed me to go back outside to get the test report from the administrator. The Airman Knowledge Test Report looks like the ones from before, but the embossed seal is no more. The printout still says not to lose the report. I was hoping the result would go directly into IACRA so I don’t have to keep up with special magic piece of paper. Maybe after the next recompete …

Suggestion: Because the rollout is still so new, consider waiting a week or two to shake the bugs out. If you’re in a hurry, it may be worth paying the extra money to go to a CATS site.