Locating a candidate record

Test administrators also need a candidate record in order to take the certification exam. For information about locating a test administrator's candidate record, see Locating your VUE ID.

Before you can perform a task for a candidate, such as scheduling, rescheduling, or canceling an exam appointment, you must locate the candidate's record in the testing system database.

When you register and schedule any candidate, it is critical to search for an existing candidate record before you create a new record. Searching for an existing candidate record will help you avoid creating duplicate records. Duplicate records can result in serious consequences both for the candidate, who will fail to achieve certification, and for the exam sponsor, who will have to manually merge candidate records. The ability to register your own candidates provides your test center with a powerful business tool, but Pearson VUE can only extend the use of Registration Manager to test centers that maintain a high level of quality in this area. Registration performance is monitored weekly, and Pearson VUE works with individual test centers to make necessary improvements.

Follow these steps to begin searching for a candidate's record:

Ask the candidate if he or she has previously scheduled an exam appointment through Pearson VUE.

This question helps to determine whether you should find an existing record for the candidate in the database.

If the candidate has not previously scheduled through Pearson VUE, the candidate probably does not have a record in the database (although you still need to search to be sure).
If the candidate has previously scheduled through Pearson VUE, the candidate probably does already have a record in the database.
If the candidate is rescheduling or canceling an appointment, the candidate does already have a record in the database.

Ask the candidate for the name of the exam sponsor that is offering the exam he or she would like to take. Select the exam sponsor from the Client drop-down list in the Customers screen.

This ensures that you will be searching the correct exam sponsor's records for the candidate's record, if the exam sponsor is protected. For more information, see Protected and unprotected exam sponsors.

Only exam sponsors for which your test center is authorized to deliver exams are listed. For more information about how to check which exam sponsors your test center is authorized to deliver exams for, see Exams offered at the test center.

Perform the search.

If it is not the candidate's first registration, you must find the candidate's existing record. There are several ways to search for a candidate's record:

Click Search and enter the candidate's first and last name or other criteria in the Find Candidates window. In this window, you can perform a thorough search by entering a variety of criteria. For more information, see Using the Search button.
If the work list on the left side of the Customers screen shows the candidate's name, click the name in the list. The candidate's record then appears in the Customers screen. Confirm with the candidate that the record on the screen is his or her record.
Use the Get Last button. If you just saved a record, you can click Get Last to retrieve the last record you were working with. However, the button has no effect if the last candidate's record belongs to a protected exam sponsor and you have switched to another exam sponsor in the Client drop-down list since working with the last candidate's record. For more information, see Protected and unprotected exam sponsors.
In the History tab, enter the candidate's order number from a previous exam or the candidate's registration ID number. A candidate will have one of these numbers only if he or she has previously scheduled an exam appointment through Pearson VUE. For more information, see Using the History tab to locate a candidate record.
Enter the candidate's phone number above the work list, and click Find. This type of search works best when you are certain the candidate has an existing record in the database and the record is recent (so that the phone number is current). For example, you may want to try this search method if the candidate is calling to schedule a retake of an exam he or she took recently. For more information, see Using the Find button.