New Horizons Computer Learning Center

I had the most horrible test taking experience in my life in this place — and before i go any further, don’t take any certification exams here unless your circumstances absolutely force you to do so.
I was scheduled to take a SAS certification exam, and I was informed by the SAS to check in at least 30 min. prior to the exam time. So I arrived 35 min. prior to the start time, and there was no one there. A sign on the reception counter was put out that said «will be right back». Oh so he/​she probably had to go to the bathroom… So I waited, 20 min. before the start time, no one showed up. 15 min. before the start time, no sign of a person coming in. At that point, I was beginning to think I may have showed up on the wrong date/​time, so I decided to go back to my car to fetch my cell phone. On the way back to the center on the 2^nd floor, I saw a guy walking around the entrance of the building. I took the stairs to go upstairs to the center. And there he was, the guy I saw downstairs hanging out, sitting at the center. He must have taken the elevator.
At that time, it was 10 min. before my exam time. I started saying how long I had to wait for him to show up, this guy said, in the most aggressive way, «I put up a sign that said ‘will be back’, dind’t I???» Then he went on and on and on, defending his behavior. At one point, I had to ask him to just check me in.
I was furious for being treated so incredibly unprofessionally, and was distressed for the entire 25 min. waiting for some one to show up and thinking I may have showed up on the wrong date… I could not focus on the test for the good half hour of the actual exam, feeling disturbed and intimidated, and my heart was racing which did not help me focus, AT ALL.
I took a vacation day, for nothing. If you are taking an important exam, do not go to this place. You will be treated horribly, no apologies followed, no response from the office, even they become retaliatory.

I have taken 2 excel classes here both of which my company had paid for, one was the excel level 3 and the other is the VBA class. The first time I took a class here was for their level 3 excel. Unfortunately a lot of the people that signed up for the class should have probably been in level 1 which slowed down the class a lot and also caused us not to go over a ton of topics. These classes at New Horizon are not cheap so there should be more consideration to how to deal with people signing up for the wrong level. One possibility is having people take a mini quiz so that they know what level to sign up for. I dont mind questions but when I am in a level 3 class and people are asking questions regarding copying and pasting and we spend 15 minutes on that topic that is just unfair to other students. Also in both classes it took about an hour and a half just to get going because of setting up the screens, workbooks, etc. In my opinion this should already be set up by New Horizon so that when i get to the class at 9am we are going right into working and not waiting for 20 people to set up their computer. Overall classes are 9 – 5 but you probably get about 3 – 4 hours of real learning. For anyone looking to take a class here, if you are paying out of pocket you will probably be unhappy with the class. On a good note and the reason this isnt a 1 – 2 star rating is because the teacher of my VBA class was excellent and I did learn a lot from him and would take him again if he taught somewhere else instead of Horizon.
This review is not towards the teachers as I think they were both very knowledgeable and very equipped to teach the classes.
Also I was in a big room with people from all different classes. one suggestion to horizon put people in the same class in the same room because what happens is one class will have a lunch break at a different time and it gets very difficult to hear the teacher when I am in the class but half of the room is on their lunch break talking. I even asked if people could lower their voices but guess what… that didn’t work… so frustrating!
Key Points
The Good:
Nice facility, clean, spacious, knowledgeable teachers, 2 monitors
The Bad:
Out dated computers with slow processors, too expensive for the quality, too many people in a class, students taking wrong level classes slowing everyone else down, cheap headphones that don’t block out sound.

I have been coming here for my Microsoft Office Specialist certifications the past few months. I like the secluded room for test taking and Muriel at the front desk is an amazing person. Few technical hiccups with the computer randomly restarting, so I would advise saving your progress every few steps.

My company sent me here for an Excel Level 3 training course. The class was supposed to be from 9 – 5 but we started around 9:20 and were done by 4pm. Normally I wouldn’t complain about getting out early but I felt like the class itself was lacking in information.
The teacher was incredibly knowledgeable and obviously very well versed not only in Excel but on several PC programs. Let’s break this down
1 — Class rooms were basically one large entire floor with each person sitting at their own desk. No privacy barriers as you can see the person next to you and watch their screen even if they were in a different training program. The desks were set up with 2 screens each, one to watch the trainer and one to do the exercises yourself. Excellent setup as this is exactly how people should be trained. Very clean place. Each person also got the headphone’s set in order to participate in the class.
2 — I was the only one from NYC in my class as participants were from all over the country. Teacher was in his home in Long Island but I was able to hear him loud and clear. Very little voice interaction as we mostly answered him with checks or X if we understood. We could also put smiley faces or confused faces to show if we were following the class. This was good because if everyone was able to speak, the class would end up confusing to everyone. However, there was an open chat box for questions and comments.
3 — Now for the negative: I felt there wasn’t enough information in the time I was given. What I mean is, the teacher spent a lot of time chatting and we still ended an hour early. Now the portions and information on Excel that he taught were very informative and the explanations were great, but there could of been so much more provided for the price. If there was no chatting with the students, we probably would of been done by 2pm. Now that’s 3 whole hours of information/​learning that could of been added to the class. Either that or just say the class is a half day. Why schedule me for 8 hours if the material only covers 4 – 5 hours of the day? Just felt there could of been more.
4 — Outside my one class, New Horizons does offer classes in a huge variety of programs and covers different levels of each.
Now that I have experienced a class at this facility, I wouldn’t come back here unless my Company pays for it again.

I took two courses at this place and I rated it based on experience, quality and price (value).
The office is nice and everything looks like state of the art! They have small LCD TV’s at the class room doors so you know what course is taking place in the rooms, they even have a sleek looking server setup on the 3^rd floor. Initially I thought, «Wow this place is going to have some cool computers to play with.»
I’d have to describe this place as a pig with lipstick! It looks beautiful and initially you feel like it’s a great thing but when you finally sit down to a computer you soon realize your computer is outdated by like 10 years! Computers were at 1GHz processing with 1GB of RAM and for those not tech savvy yes it means its a slow computer when modern PC’s are sporting at least 3GHz processors. Poor performing computers will be obvious when you do simple tasks & computer pauses for 15 seconds.
Aside from the crap equipment the teachers are not bad. I took two courses and one instructor was fabulous and the other instructor was below average almost missing topics to go over just when he was about to dismiss us. Several people pointed out the missing topics.
If they charged less for classes I’d recommend but based on overall value I would not recommend this place unless your employer would reimburse you for it.

I went to this school for the MCSE program. The sales people promise you the world. They tell you when you «graduate» you will earn a minimum for 40 $ per hour at your first job. They tell you you will have no problem finding a job. They tell you all employers care about are certifications. These are all LIES. Their job placement program is complete garbage, and most of the teachers will lull you to sleep. The classes do not prepare you at all for the certification exams. In each case, I have had to buy an outside book/​exam prep in order to pass the test. They do not offer an internship program like other schools do. Instead they claim to have this wonderful system called mentored learning… which is basically a video program you watch on the computer which painstakingly goes through the entire course at a snails pace. It would be a huge help if you could get through a half hour without falling asleep from the monotonous vocals being supplied.
I spent $ 18 000 to go here, and instead should have spent $ 11 000 to go to NetCom, which insists you take an internship which will help further your career.
Do yourself a favor and listen to their sales pitch, then go to a dice message board or something similar, listen to what people in the industry have to say, and then you will be able to discover the truth on your own. Just do not waste your money until you hear both sides. I wish I had done so.

I’ve taken 3 courses at this facility and I don’t think I will go back even if my company pays for the classes.
Teachers and course content are so so — I felt I wasted 3 full days. Video Professor line is probably better.

A very enjoyable learning experience.
Pros: Comfortable chairs, modern enough computers, functional website from which I can do labs at home or on the go if I have my laptop, intuitive mentored learning programs, free parking, flexible schedule. I have been to two other colleges, and this one beats the other two.
Cons: No class after 5 on Friday night (I don’t get out of work until 6, somewhat inconvenient), no real teacher in the class; just computers, lights in classes are dark, making me sleepy.
For me, this is working out great, I guess to each their own.

Any technology related training is offered here. It’s a bit tricky to find classrooms due to the design of the floor (basement), but once you get used to it, you will find your way easily. Staff members are very kind. But equipments like computers are not as new as you expect. No cellphone signal here, so do not expect to get business calls in class. Wifi is only available only in the break room. This may be the perfect place to focus on what you learn in training. Isolation!

Generally, I hate standardized testing. Preparing for and taking the GMAT was fun! Bear in mind I said that with all the enthusiasm of a baked potato. I have graduate school to worry about, too, but I decided to buckle down and take some professional certification exams. They were long overdue.
I walk, see Bryant Park and move towards the «Grace» building. New Horizon’s sits in between Fedex Kinko’s and M&T Bank. As you enter, a few receptionists greet you. I tell them «Howdy, I’m here to take an exam.» One receptionist directs you to go downstairs through one of two stairwells which lead to the same place (it doesn’t make any sense but neither do Rubik’s Cubes). Much to my chagrin, there is no one «waiting» there.
Who’s holding down the fort?
You may wait from 3 to 15 minutes for someone («downstairs receptionist»?) to show up. This is extremely frustrating, when anxiety attacks and butterflies are eating your stomach. After providing two pieces of ID, signing a few papers and putting your jacket, phone, pager, keys into a locker, this person leads you to the exam room. I sat down and took my exam quietly at the selected workstation.
Win, lose or draw, you discover your fate (at least for Oracle exams) before you leave the exam room. So it means you’re doing a victory end zone dance or the walk of shame. Take your result sheet, unload the locker and get out.
In hindsight, I came here merely because of convenience (it’s closest to me). This test center doesn’t stand out in terms of services provided.
Who cares? It’s official. I’m Oracle 10g Database OCP certified. It’s just another way of saying, «Congratulations, now you are a super dork/​über geek/​nerd without glasses!»
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PedroK shut down.
IFHTP 3+

Allison G gave an overview of New Horizons Learning Center, so I won’t repeat what’s already been said. This is also a center to take certification related exams.
This facility is excellent. I can not say much about their classes though. However, I can not say the same about the stability of their workstations for test candidates taking certification related exams.
The check-​in procedure was okay.
I chose New Horizons Learning Center as the site to take my Microsoft exam, once in June and most recently September. In both cases, I experienced technical difficulties with the workstation that I was assigned to. The first time, I got an error similar to an application error. No big deal, just restart the exam from where I left off. The second time, I was staring at a white screen with a cursor for minutes. They had to shutdown and restart the PC, by the time it came up, it felt like 5 – 10 minutes have gone by. Oh lovely, I lost my work to the question I worked on before the technical difficulties. I cannot recommend New Horizons Learning Center as a place to take your certification exams. New Horizons Learning Center failed to keep their workstation stable for test candidates. In both cases, I had to leave the test room and go upstairs to «fetch» someone for assistance. They can’t even keep someone front and center downstairs.
Following the second incident I sent an email to
and then the email was forwarded to
. It seems New Horizons can’t even issue a proper reply and I received no response even though a follow up was sent to
.
Given the technical issues (2 for 2) and lack of response from New Horizon, I am going to rate this location 1 star as a testing center. I will NOT be returning to this testing center to take any certification related exams.

New Horizons Learning Center offers tons of classes (many levels available!) in various computer programs and applications. My job sent me here to learn more about MS Access, so I took Access Level 1 with instructor Andrea Peterson.
I had a really positive experience at this learning center. Over the course of two days, I got an excellent overview of Access with TONS of hands-​on experience and practice. Andrea was a spirited, friendly instructor. She answered all questions clearly and in one instance when she didn’t know an answer, she found out for us before the next day. An LCD projector was utilized so that all of the students could see the instructor’s computer screen. Class size was kept small, under 20 people. Each person has a computer terminal to work on. We had three breaks during the day — 15 minute morning break, 1 hour lunch break, and 15 minute afternoon break.
This facility is excellent — there are lots of classrooms, and there is a nice «break room» where (I’m not kidding!) hot cookies, fresh from the oven, are available!
I definitely recommend this place to anyone who wants to learn a new computer skill, or to brush up on an old skill.