The Future Of Laptop Certification Exams
The format and problem of computer certification exams is continually changing. When I took my first certification examination (Novell NetWare 3.1x CNA, January 1997), there was no such factor as a simulator question, and my practical abilities really were not tested. The exams then have been a lot heavier on memorization.
One factor that helped make up for that was that the Novell exams have been adaptive. Should you missed a query on a specific subject, you’ll continue to be asked questions on that topic until you bought it right. You couldn’t afford to be weak in any matter, because the examination would almost definitely find that out and maintain hitting you with questions on that subject till you failed.
Including to the stress, after a sure number of questions your examination may finish at any time. You had no thought how many questions you would get, simply that you’d get at the least 15. Each time you hit the “subsequent” button after question 15, you did not know in the event you’d get one other query or if the examination would out of the blue end and offer you a cross or fail response.
Times have changed. Cisco has led the best way in introducing simulator questions to their exams, the place the candidate is offered with a simulation of a router or community and requested to perform tasks that someone who is able to earn that certification ought to have the ability to perform. This is an a lot better check of competency than the exams had been eight years ago.
What would be the subsequent “large leap” in computer certification exams? To earn the world’s most tough technical certification, the CCIE, the candidate should first pass a rigorous a hundred-question qualification examination, and must then cross a practical lab exam. The candidate is introduced with an exacting set of community necessities and should construct that network on a pod of Cisco routers and switches in lower than eight hours.
This is just personal opinion and not “insider info”, however I believe the day will come when the CCNA, CCNP, and other Cisco certifications will require some sort of arms-on practical lab to earn the certification. What better option to take a look at competency than to need to perform tasks on actual Cisco tools? There could be extra overhead for Cisco with this sort of testing, since lab gear and lab proctors could be wanted, but the already-prized CCNA and CCNP would grow to be that rather more precious within the office if employers knew that to earn that certification, the job candidate needed to pass an arms-on exam.
This is able to benefit the candidates as effectively, since it will do an even higher job in defending their funding in time and money. This could also be the following step in ferretting out candidates who attempt to get previous the CCNA and CCNP exams by way of braindumps. As I always tell my college students and customers, if you’re standing in front of that router or change, there is no such thing as a multiple alternative … you both comprehend it or you don’t!
Chris Bryant
CCIE 12933
The net is covered with stories regarding the benefits of professional pc certification, and most of them are backed up with wage surveys and the like. Whereas there’s definitely nothing mistaken with making extra money and having better job prospects, there’s one advantage of certification that many candidates forget about.
Confidence.
You possibly can’t pay your rent with confidence you’ll be able to’t pay for fuel with confidence you may’t pay for ANYTHING with confidence, proper? So who cares, right?
Wrong. The confidence you build from truly earning a certification, whether or not it’s an MCSE, CCNA, or CCIE, can’t be bought, borrowed, or stolen. It needs to be earned.
What do I imply by “actually earned”? First, I’m referring to those little documents out there typically referred to as “braindumps”. If you purchase certainly one of these things and occur to skate by a certification exam, did you learn anything? No. Did you learn anything? No. Are you going to be effective on the job? No. As I tell my college students, once you’re standing in front of a server or router that isn’t working, and all eyes are on you to troubleshoot the issue, the proper answer shouldn’t be “B”. There is no a number of choice.
Secondly, I’m referring to the hope that the certification you earn was earned by taking a demanding exam.
Now, you’re most likely considering “okay, Chris has lost his mind. I should HOPE the test is demanding?”
Yes, you should. There’s nothing more ineffective than earning a certification that’s straightforward to get. There’s no feeling of delight, of feat moreover, if everybody else has that certification, what value does it have?
I can converse from expertise on this one. These of you relatively new to the sphere might by no means have used NT 4.0, however the MCSE NT 4.zero was the certification that ended up inflicting a whole lot of damage to the value of professional certifications. EVERYBODY had one. The checks have been repetitive and far too simple, there were no simulation questions, and the exams required no actual hands-on experience.
As a result, my MCSE NT 4.0 had little value. I also felt no sense of satisfaction in achieving it.
Fortunately, exam distributors and authors appear to have learned their lesson. Cisco exams usually are not simple to move, and the initial Cisco certification, the CCNA, calls for fingers-on knowledge and experience. Microsoft is (finally) adding simulator inquiries to their certification exams as properly, and the MCSE exams have gotten more durable as well.
So if you happen to should happen to fail an exam along the way to the highest – and almost all of us do – just remember that if the exams weren’t demanding, they might have no value.
In any case, if it had been simple, everybody could be doing it!
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