Scheduling knowledge exam (psi)

Jim K

Jim K

Final Approach
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Richard Digits
Has anyone been able to reach psi to schedule a knowledge exam? I've spent 30 min. on hold in three attempts and left three messages (all of our lines remain busy....please hold for the next available agent.....all calls are handled in the order they are received). I'm starting to think this will be the biggest obstacle to getting my PPL. Of course the registration on the website is broken too....

Almost feels like I'm dealing with the government.
 
The acronym needs to be PITA than PSI.

The past few writtens I did, I just scheduled directly with the test center and skipped calling PSI.

If anyone is near Fort Worth, I highly recommend Pro Test at KTFW. The owner/proctor is very friendly, the place is set up very comfortablely, and you can walk in with out an appointment to take your exam.
 
You can try calling the test center directly. Many do not do tests on weekends though.
 
PSI sucks. I had 4 days in between atp ctp and ground school to take the written. The schools wouldnt schedule me on their own "call psi to schedule" i called for 2 days before i even got someone on the line. When i did it took 20 min to get through the process.

"Id like to take the atp me at this school this day"
Psi "20 min of back and forth to determine that that is indeed the right testing center and test"

They said they'd call within 24hrs on the measages i left. They never did. I hate them but they are a monopoly.
 
I schedule tests for my students in San Antonio and we don't call PSI anymore - the testing centers handles everything now. They were an absolute pain to deal with.
 
SkyDog58 said:
You lost me at PSI.
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This is the company that now owns both cats and lasergrade, so they have a monopoly on FAA testing.

I got ahold of the head of the testing center, which is at a local community college that runs a part 141 school. He said they can't take payment, so I have to schedule through psi. The only number he had was the one I've been trying, but he said he'd ask the flight school folks on Monday if there's another way to do it. The next closest location is about an hour further away.

I'm not very happy about having to hand over $150 to this ****ty no- service company. Can I complain? to the fsdo?
 
Jim K said:
I'm not very happy about having to hand over $150 to this ****ty no- service company. Can I complain? to the fsdo?
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Good luck with that. FSDO has bigger things to worry about. If the testing center is still on the old PSI software and hasn't been converted to CATs they really can't do anything. If they got converted they *can* schedule you but they're not required to. They make less than half the fee... majority goes to PSI.

It's a racket, but I can assure you it's not the testing center doing it.
 
They did finally call back....8 days after my initial message. While I was flying, of course. Then they left the wrong phone number in the message. By some miracle I actually managed to get through today, and got registered. On the bright side, my free AOPA student membership got me $10 dollars off.
 
Yea, I waited 20 minutes the other day and gave up. Called today around 10:30am and got through after about 10 minutes
 
Dead thread but relevant to me, is PSI the ONLY way to schedule an exam?
 
Magnus P.IFR said:
Dead thread but relevant to me, is PSI the ONLY way to schedule an exam?
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For the FAA? Yes.

Even if you plan to take it at a facility very much local to you, You schedule (and pay) via PSI
 
Try becoming a test site through PSI... even more WOW.

Yes, you can complain. My FSDO POI has sent up a complaint for me.

contact info, FAA AKT:

Kieran O’Farrell
Branch Manager, AFS-630
863-399-2488

It’s SO bad I’m contemplating becoming an AKT ODA just to avoid them.
 
Magnus P.IFR said:
Thanks. Not impressed by their system at all.
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The system has changed. You used to do the scheduling via telephone calls but now it is all online. And if the desired test site doesn't have any time slots listed on the PSI website for you to select you'll need to call the test site first and have them add some testing times. The online scheduling works decent if you know how it is supposed to work and everyone does their part but it was honestly easier when you just called and set things up.
 
EVERYTHING is easy once you know how...

Partial differential equations were a bear until I was taught...

And requiring multiple sources to do their part of what should be simple, pretty much eliminates it forever from the usable pool.
 
Late breaking news from AFS-630 presumably. Was relayed as a quote from my FSDO POI:

“The ODA program model for knowledge testing was retired a few years ago, and now everything operates under a contract model where the testing vendor, PSI Services LLC, is contracted with the FAA to provide testing. PSI chooses what testing centers they want to partner with to provide that testing. The FAA does not get involved with the choices that PSI makes on who to partner with. There are rules that govern that in the acquisition regulations. I encourage the interested flight school to continue to have a positive dialog with PSI and possibly elevate their request internally within the PSI organization. It’s important to note that PSI receives hundreds of applications each year for testing partnerships, and they simply can’t approve everyone who asks.”

So there ya go, if they suck, too bad. Wow....
 
Tools said:
Late breaking news from AFS-630 presumably. Was relayed as a quote from my FSDO POI:

“The ODA program model for knowledge testing was retired a few years ago, and now everything operates under a contract model where the testing vendor, PSI Services LLC, is contracted with the FAA to provide testing. PSI chooses what testing centers they want to partner with to provide that testing. The FAA does not get involved with the choices that PSI makes on who to partner with. There are rules that govern that in the acquisition regulations. I encourage the interested flight school to continue to have a positive dialog with PSI and possibly elevate their request internally within the PSI organization. It’s important to note that PSI receives hundreds of applications each year for testing partnerships, and they simply can’t approve everyone who asks.”

So there ya go, if they suck, too bad. Wow....
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Government Contractors - making the government less efficient since 1776.
 
You better call the test site after making your appointment anyhow. PSI booked me in to a session at the local A&P school and I got there to find no one there able to give the tests because they were essentially closed that week. The second appointment (same place) ended up having me wait an hour for them to get someone on the horn with PSI (they're in California, I am on the east coast) to resolve some problem in getting the system up.
 
Tools said:
Try becoming a test site through PSI... even more WOW.
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If you're considering becoming a testing site I would strongly recommend you ask other sites their experiences. I have been one since around 2017 and with each update or acquisition it gets worse. If I wasn't the only facility within 200 miles I'd close it.

I wrote a much longer paragraph but ultimately deleted it. Feel free to PM me if you want to know the reality of operating a PSI center.
 
Rich Holt said:
Government Contractors - making the government less efficient since 1776.
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Fairly, PSI is in the commercial proctored exam business and most of those aren’t .gov contracts, they’re B2B.
 
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