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Put your pencils down and get ready to click your way through the state licensing exam.
Computerized testing should be back online by October for 10 professions, the state Department of Business and Professional Regulation said this week.
Because of a bidding dispute over a contract to administer computerized testing, applicants since May have had to take pencil-and-paper tests to be licensed as real estate agents, appraisers, auctioneers, building code administrators and inspectors, community association managers, cosmetologists, veterinarians, barbers, funeral directors and embalmers, and landscape architects.
An administrative law judge has now ruled in favor of the department, so the disputed contract will be awarded to Promissor Inc., a testing company with offices in Philadelphia; Evanston, Ill.; and London. The challenger, Experior Assessments of St. Paul, Minn., has until Tuesday to file objections, then a final order will be issued by department secretary Diane Carr.
"Over 10,000 people have been tested since May 29," department spokeswoman Meg Shannon said. They've had to wait about three weeks for results of the paper tests, which are available immediately after tests are taken online.