So it’s no secret that since being laid-off, I’ve hit the certification trail again. 8 exams in 5 weeks to be exact. The fact is, certification is supposed to be a confirmation of someone’s skill set. That is what I believed when I got my original MCSE in January of 1999. But over the years, the popularity of “brain-dumps” saturated the market with what most refer to as “The Paper MCSE”, the guy that has his certification, but has no real experience in the market. I think in the US, most employers do a good job at screening out paper MCSE’s. But overseas, in particular India, they seem to hire paper MCSE’s in hoards.
This was visibly noticable at my last job where a lot of our work went to Best Shore teams that were barely capable of patching boxes. They were not skilled enough to serve on-call rotations, or participate in critical implementations. Yet they held the same titles as the rest of us.
So what has changed? Microsoft has! Or at least they are trying to. Many of the new Windows 2008 Server exams I’ve taken had questions that seemed much more real world than exams of the past. This was clearly evident to me as I lined up my exams in order of score from least to greatest. It truly mirrored the experience. Exchange 2007 is new to me. It is something I am self studying. I have a lab environment setup, I’ve seen it implemented live, I’ve read a few books, but I’ve never been an actual Exchange Administrator. And to that end, it was the exam I scored the ‘worst’ on.
So what else have they done? Well, the 70-620 exam is littered with simulations. Or I should say; Emulations. More on that later. So now you click on the a simulation button and are forced to actually perform actions. Setup user accounts, configure applications, etc… Usually several tasks; and some involving multiple PC’s, in which you have to switch back and forth. There is one problem with this though. The simulations are setup so that you can only click on items actually related to the simulation. If you try and click on a unrelated area, it will inform you that “This function is not available or required to perform the necessary objectives.” or something like that. So what happens is that if you click enough, you’ll eventually find what you are looking for. Imagine being in a room with 100 doors, 99 of which are locked. So basically it’ll take you some time, but eventually you’ll find the unlocked door.
But here is what is coming. True lab based simulation testing. Now while you are sitting at your test cubicle, you will be connected to a live server in Redmond. You may be given a list of several exam objectives, and it’s completely up to you as to how you achieve them. So if you are more comfortable using the command line, that’s there. If you are more comfortable using the GUI, well that’s there to. Decide that you don’t feel like configuring Active Directory? Well then play a few quick rounds of Minesweeper instead. :-)
The point is, these new performance based objectives will finally weed out the people who actually know what they are doing, and will actually simulate real world problem solving skills. From what I’ve heard, even the help system is included!! So going back to my Exchange exam, the questions that gave me the most trouble were the Powershell commands, since I hadn’t really used them, when presented with 4 multiple choice options, I was left to guessing. Now had I been on a live server, 1st of all I could have used the GUI. But even if I had been forced to use Powershell, I could have used the knowledge I do have about Powershell to help complete the commands. If you type “Get-” and begin pressing Tab, Powershell with cycle through the available commands.
So here are the Key Benefits to lab-based testing
- Real-life, hands-on testing format requires individuals to actually execute a task, rather than simply answering questions about it
- Places a higher value on results—how closely a solution meets the requirements—not the path taken to achieve it
- Provides a more accurate assessment of demonstrated actionable skills
- Reproduces work environments that more accurately reflect problem-solving in the real world
- Mirrors the actual job demands made in the workplace to help build confidence
- Transforms preparation and practice for an exam into genuine experience
We aren’t there yet, but it’s coming.
Certification, Exchange, Microsoft
