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Home > Archive > microsoft.public.cert.exam.mcsd > February 2003 > 71-300: end of January, 12 weeks already, out of patience!
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71-300: end of January, 12 weeks already, out of patience!
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| Danut 2003-02-01, 12:23 am |
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| Gregory Lin 2003-02-01, 1:23 am |
| Sound to me that too many people passed the exam and Microsoft need to
tighten the passing score and rescore it.
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| Piginapen 2003-02-01, 4:23 am |
| I believe this is true. Some of my developer colleagues (I am not a
developer) took the exam, and like you, are still waiting. As we work for a
gold partner, they contracted people they knew at Microsoft at the beginning
of the week (around 1/27), who told them the exam passing grad was being
'recalculated' as it showed about 90% pass mark using their original matrix.
I suppose this is not surprising in that according to the people here who
took it, quote "It was a piece of piss" un-quote. The contact's at Microsoft
would not give a date when the testing centers would be releasing the
results, but indicated that it could be after the exam goes live.
"Gregory Lin" <rainnight@excite.com> wrote in message
news XJ_9.113212$Ve4.8034@sccrnsc03...
> Sound to me that too many people passed the exam and Microsoft need to
> tighten the passing score and rescore it.
>
>
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| Jason Mauss 2003-02-01, 4:23 am |
|
What's wrong with a 90% pass rate? I mean...I suppose if this beta exam were
made available to everyone that might seem a bit high but when the people
taking this exam are the stay-on-top-of-certification-type people with
actual experience and skill - what does MS expect? Maybe for once the people
that SHOULD be taking the exam were really the ones taking it.
Just a thought, I know...call me crazy. This is making me wonder if there is
some kind of "Fail Quota" Microsoft is under so they have to re-do their
test matrix.
Jason
"Piginapen" <Piginapen@Piginapen.rollup> wrote in message
news:#YV8mRdyCHA.2600@TK2MSFTNGP11...
> I believe this is true. Some of my developer colleagues (I am not a
> developer) took the exam, and like you, are still waiting. As we work for
a
> gold partner, they contracted people they knew at Microsoft at the
beginning
> of the week (around 1/27), who told them the exam passing grad was being
> 'recalculated' as it showed about 90% pass mark using their original
matrix.
> I suppose this is not surprising in that according to the people here who
> took it, quote "It was a piece of piss" un-quote. The contact's at
Microsoft
> would not give a date when the testing centers would be releasing the
> results, but indicated that it could be after the exam goes live.
>
> "Gregory Lin" <rainnight@excite.com> wrote in message
> newsXJ_9.113212$Ve4.8034@sccrnsc03...
> > Sound to me that too many people passed the exam and Microsoft need to
> > tighten the passing score and rescore it.
> >
> >
>
>
| |
| Ben Douglas 2003-02-01, 4:23 pm |
| AFTER THE EXAM GOES LIVE??????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
yikes! that means we will not be able to know whether we passed or not and
we will not be able to take the live exam either. That was an ultimate waste
of my 5 hours. And more than that none of us who took the beta will be one
of the first to achieve MCSD.NET. THIS DEFINITELY SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!
"Piginapen" <Piginapen@Piginapen.rollup> wrote in message
news:#YV8mRdyCHA.2600@TK2MSFTNGP11...
> I believe this is true. Some of my developer colleagues (I am not a
> developer) took the exam, and like you, are still waiting. As we work for
a
> gold partner, they contracted people they knew at Microsoft at the
beginning
> of the week (around 1/27), who told them the exam passing grad was being
> 'recalculated' as it showed about 90% pass mark using their original
matrix.
> I suppose this is not surprising in that according to the people here who
> took it, quote "It was a piece of piss" un-quote. The contact's at
Microsoft
> would not give a date when the testing centers would be releasing the
> results, but indicated that it could be after the exam goes live.
>
> "Gregory Lin" <rainnight@excite.com> wrote in message
> newsXJ_9.113212$Ve4.8034@sccrnsc03...
> > Sound to me that too many people passed the exam and Microsoft need to
> > tighten the passing score and rescore it.
> >
> >
>
>
| |
| Alan Davis 2003-02-01, 7:23 pm |
| >AFTER THE EXAM GOES LIVE??????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
>
>yikes! that means we will not be able to know whether we passed or not and
>we will not be able to take the live exam either. That was an ultimate waste
>of my 5 hours. And more than that none of us who took the beta will be one
>of the first to achieve MCSD.NET. THIS DEFINITELY SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!
I have seen posts to this ng where by it has been months after the
exam went live before some people received the results of the beta
exam.
| |
| Alan Davis 2003-02-01, 7:23 pm |
| >And more than that none of us who took the beta will be one
>of the first to achieve MCSD.NET
Don't worry, yes you will be. The exam will shown has being passed on
the date you took it, don't the date the exam results were received.
| |
| Frank Camp 2003-02-02, 7:23 am |
| Hi Alan,
I don't know if things have changed (this is my third beta exam)
I wrote my first 2 beta exams (71-155 en 71-156) in November 1999, but in my transcript the date I passed those was February 9, 2000 and the exam went live on February 17, 2000.
Regards,
Frank Camp
ProSysPlus Europe
Weert, the Netherlands
ProMatrix MVP Life
Microsoft MCP, MCSA, MCSE, MCDBA, MCSD (Foxpro), MCAD (C# .NET)
COMPTIA A+, Network+, I-Net+, Server+
Alan Davis <.> wrote:
>>And more than that none of us who took the beta will be one
>>of the first to achieve MCSD.NET
>
>Don't worry, yes you will be. The exam will shown has being passed on
>the date you took it, don't the date the exam results were received.
| |
| Alan Davis 2003-02-02, 7:23 am |
| >I don't know if things have changed (this is my third beta exam)
>I wrote my first 2 beta exams (71-155 en 71-156) in November 1999, but in my transcript the date I passed those was February 9, 2000 and the exam went live on February 17, 2000.
Really, may be I should not have said what I did.
The last 'beta' exams I did was back in 1998, and the transcript shows
the date when I took the exams; maybe things have changed since then?
Having said that, I'm sure for the 70-100 beta takers (also back in
1999) also showed the transcripts being updated to reflect the date
the test was taken. I did work with someone a while back who did the
beta for 70-100. He received the result just before the exam went
live, but I do remember him saying his transcript had been updated
correctly. A while later he received something from ms about being one
'of the first' vs98 mcsd's.
| |
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"Frank Camp" <frank- microsoftnewsgroups@prosysplus
.nl> wrote in message
news:qAw9PmvHMGp7UHnYlw2RCIMY5
6l7@4ax.com...
> Hi Alan,
>
> I don't know if things have changed (this is my third beta exam)
> I wrote my first 2 beta exams (71-155 en 71-156) in November 1999, but in
my transcript the date I passed those was February 9, 2000 and the exam went
live on February 17, 2000.
Your transcript is in error. The same thing happened for me with a few betas
I did in 1999. The transcript should show the date you actually took the
exam, not the date the result was received. I contacted
mcphelp@microsoft.com and they had me fax in the score sheets - both the
ones at the beta with no result and the ones snail mailed later with results
(all reflected the correct dates) and my transcript was fixed shortly
afterward.
| |
|
| "Gregory Lin" <rainnight@excite.com> wrote in message
newsXJ_9.113212$Ve4.8034@sccrnsc03...
> Sound to me that too many people passed the exam and Microsoft need to
> tighten the passing score and rescore it.
I heard the exact opposite from someone at MS who is directly involved in
the development of this exam. She warned that the 70-300 seemed to be harder
than most, implying there would be a lower percentage of passing results
than for most betas.
And separately, I don't believe MS makes any consideration for the passing
rate when creating exams. I've participated in two 'cut score' meetings at
MS for other beta exams and the pass rate that would result from the meeting
proceedings was never a consideration. I'm sure they take a look at the pass
rate their proposed required score would produce, and check back in on it
from time to time for live exams, but not for much more than a sanity check.
Unusually high or low pass rates would deserve rechecking for errors, but
the MS folks at the meetings I attended gave every indication that pass
rates were not in any way a goal of the pass score calculations.
It would also seem that if I'm wrong and MS decided they did want to
"recalculate" the passing score in order to produce a more desirable pass
rate, that would take less than two minutes. It would actually be easier for
a case study style exam since with so many questions allowing partial
credits, there should be a very smooth scale of actual scores, allowing very
precise 'selection' of a passing rate. Traditional exams that might force a
difficult choice between a score of 750 and a pass rate that's 'too low' and
725 and one that's 'too high'. The fact that our results are slower than
usual for this exam really doesn't lend any credibility to the theory that
it's because the pass rate needs adjustment. I'm not at all surprised that
this exam is slower than others - it's a more complex style of exam. We also
had December holidays to deal with, which puts a huge drag on any work
involving meetings. I gather that exam development is very much a group
effort.
I'm impatient too, but MS said recently we should start to see results this
week.
| |
| Alice Ciccu \(MS\) 2003-02-03, 1:23 pm |
|
"Piginapen" <Piginapen@Piginapen.rollup> wrote in message
news:#YV8mRdyCHA.2600@TK2MSFTNGP11...
> I believe this is true. Some of my developer colleagues (I am not a
> developer) took the exam, and like you, are still waiting. As we work for
a
> gold partner, they contracted people they knew at Microsoft at the
beginning
> of the week (around 1/27), who told them the exam passing grad was being
> 'recalculated' as it showed about 90% pass mark using their original
matrix.
> I suppose this is not surprising in that according to the people here who
> took it, quote "It was a piece of piss" un-quote. The contact's at
Microsoft
> would not give a date when the testing centers would be releasing the
> results, but indicated that it could be after the exam goes live.
>
> "Gregory Lin" <rainnight@excite.com> wrote in message
> newsXJ_9.113212$Ve4.8034@sccrnsc03...
> > Sound to me that too many people passed the exam and Microsoft need to
> > tighten the passing score and rescore it.
> >
> >
>
This sounds like a good time to dispel some common myths around exam
development information. Any time you hear (or read) that someone at
Microsoft said the pass rate was X or that the passing score of a specific
exam is X, you should file it in the same place you file all your urban
legend information.
The exam development team at Microsoft is a very small group of people, and
those who work on any one exam is much smaller. We realize how sensitive our
data is and do not release information such as the pass rate or passing
score of any exam, either beta or live, to anyone outside of the few number
of people that need to know. For example, I worked on exam 70-300 and I do
not know the final passing score. I was not involved in that part of the
process so I don't need to know that information.
Jason is correct when he says there is nothing wrong with a 90% passing
rate. Our goal is to pass 100% of the qualified candidates. If all the beta
candidates were well-prepared and qualified, then the pass rate would
reflect that. There were times in the past, several years ago, when exams
would go live before beta exam candidates received their scores. This has
been changed and we are now committed to not releasing any exam live until
all beta exam scores have been mailed. It is true that mail takes longer in
some parts of the world than others, so if it takes longer than a week for
someone to receive mail from us, there is a chance the exam will go live
before they receive the beta exam score. However, all online transcripts
should be updated before the live date.
And Tim is also correct. A recalculation of the pass score takes minutes.
I think the real problem here is that we didn't set expectations correctly.
Case study-based exams usually take longer to rescore than the others and we
may not have changed the final screen to reflect that. Traditional exams we
can analyze, score and release in 6-8 weeks, but the case study-based exams
can easily take up to 12 weeks, they are just more complicated.
I hope this helps, your scores should be coming soon.
--
Alice Ciccu
Microsoft Training and Certification
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights.
| |
| Ignacio Machin 2003-02-03, 2:23 pm |
| Good Answer Alice
I think that the server is overloaded, I haven;t been able to log in since
9AM 
"Alice Ciccu (MS)" <alice@online.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:uKXgrZ7yCHA.2648@TK2MSFTNGP11...
>
> "Piginapen" <Piginapen@Piginapen.rollup> wrote in message
> news:#YV8mRdyCHA.2600@TK2MSFTNGP11...
> > I believe this is true. Some of my developer colleagues (I am not a
> > developer) took the exam, and like you, are still waiting. As we work
for
> a
> > gold partner, they contracted people they knew at Microsoft at the
> beginning
> > of the week (around 1/27), who told them the exam passing grad was
being
> > 'recalculated' as it showed about 90% pass mark using their original
> matrix.
> > I suppose this is not surprising in that according to the people here
who
> > took it, quote "It was a piece of piss" un-quote. The contact's at
> Microsoft
> > would not give a date when the testing centers would be releasing the
> > results, but indicated that it could be after the exam goes live.
> >
> > "Gregory Lin" <rainnight@excite.com> wrote in message
> > newsXJ_9.113212$Ve4.8034@sccrnsc03...
> > > Sound to me that too many people passed the exam and Microsoft need to
> > > tighten the passing score and rescore it.
> > >
> > >
> >
> This sounds like a good time to dispel some common myths around exam
> development information. Any time you hear (or read) that someone at
> Microsoft said the pass rate was X or that the passing score of a specific
> exam is X, you should file it in the same place you file all your urban
> legend information.
>
> The exam development team at Microsoft is a very small group of people,
and
> those who work on any one exam is much smaller. We realize how sensitive
our
> data is and do not release information such as the pass rate or passing
> score of any exam, either beta or live, to anyone outside of the few
number
> of people that need to know. For example, I worked on exam 70-300 and I do
> not know the final passing score. I was not involved in that part of the
> process so I don't need to know that information.
>
> Jason is correct when he says there is nothing wrong with a 90% passing
> rate. Our goal is to pass 100% of the qualified candidates. If all the
beta
> candidates were well-prepared and qualified, then the pass rate would
> reflect that. There were times in the past, several years ago, when exams
> would go live before beta exam candidates received their scores. This has
> been changed and we are now committed to not releasing any exam live until
> all beta exam scores have been mailed. It is true that mail takes longer
in
> some parts of the world than others, so if it takes longer than a week for
> someone to receive mail from us, there is a chance the exam will go live
> before they receive the beta exam score. However, all online transcripts
> should be updated before the live date.
>
> And Tim is also correct. A recalculation of the pass score takes minutes.
> I think the real problem here is that we didn't set expectations
correctly.
> Case study-based exams usually take longer to rescore than the others and
we
> may not have changed the final screen to reflect that. Traditional exams
we
> can analyze, score and release in 6-8 weeks, but the case study-based
exams
> can easily take up to 12 weeks, they are just more complicated.
>
> I hope this helps, your scores should be coming soon.
>
> --
> Alice Ciccu
> Microsoft Training and Certification
>
> This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
> rights.
>
>
| |
|
| "Alice Ciccu (MS)" <alice@online.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:uKXgrZ7yCHA.2648@TK2MSFTNGP11...
> Our goal is to pass 100% of the qualified candidates.
Simple! Set all the passing scores to 0, and you'll meet the goal every time
and be able to go home early. 
Yes, I'm a PITA in real life, too.
| |
| Alan Davis 2003-02-04, 5:23 am |
| >There were times in the past, several years ago, when exams
>would go live before beta exam candidates received their scores. This has
>been changed and we are now committed to not releasing any exam live until
>all beta exam scores have been mailed. It is true that mail takes longer in
>some parts of the world than others, so if it takes longer than a week for
>someone to receive mail from us, there is a chance the exam will go live
>before they receive the beta exam score. However, all online transcripts
>should be updated before the live date.
May be it is a good time to tell those people who took the 71-300 exam
when they can expect to know their results.
It must be quite annoying when these people are told '8 weeks' yet
have heard nothing from you lot in the mean time. Surely you have some
idea now we are at the beginning of Feb when the results would be
released??
| |
|
| Alice,
As you mentioned, we are now committed to not releasing
any exam live until all beta exam scores have been
mailed. ..... all online transcripts should be updated
before the live date.
When will the transcripts be updated?
Also, the first MCSD.NET will carry the title as MCAD.NET
Early Achiever. Is it correct?
Thanks!!
Sun
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