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Home > Archive > microsoft.public.cert.mcdba > February 2003 > **70-215: FYI - Ask about testing problems**
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**70-215: FYI - Ask about testing problems**
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| Leigh Kendall 2003-02-13, 10:23 am |
| I had the most unpleasurable experience yesterday taking the 70-215 exam. It was the last one I needed to complete my MCDBA and thank heavens I passed. BUT, not the first time.
Nooo...., the first time I tried to take the test at 9am. I was on question 11 with a simulation question. That's when it all went bad. The computer froze and the exam wouldn't continue. The test administrator (me watching) spent the next 30 minutes on the phone with Prometric trying to decide what to do.
The long and short of it is this: some testing centers have been having problems running the updated version of the 70-215 exam MS released a couple of weeks ago on Win98 machines. So Prometric recommended sites run it on Win2K. Of course the testing center I went to put me on a Win98 PC by mistake; apparently they didn't read the memo. So, they tried to restart the exam on their Win2K PC but to no avail. Prometric told them I would have to reschedule at least a week out so they could resolve the problem.
Went home, called Prometric and found out that NOT ALL sites were having problems, just some. So I quickly rescheduled for the same afternoon at another site and to retake the exam and passed. BUT, a simulation question froze the PC at that site too and the test admin had to reboot the PC to get me back into the test. Arghh...
Morale of the story? If you're scheduled to take the 70-215, check with your test center to see if anyone has recently taken the test successfully before going; unless you don't mind being their crash dummy.
On the upside (and it's a small upside), I did get a free test voucher from Prometric for my troubles. Oh boy.
--
Leigh Kendall, MCSD, MCDBA
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| Billy Goat Gruff 2003-02-13, 3:23 pm |
| Congrats on the exam pass...
I've had unpleasurable experiences while doing exams.... like those stupid little note boards they give you to write notes, and the bottle of Windex and crappy tissue paper so you can wash them off and reuse them.... unfortunately the bottle of Windex exploded all over the desk.... BIG MESS.. ..
"Leigh Kendall" <lkendall@msdnnewsgroups.com> wrote in message news:eSe9Rq30CHA.2184@TK2MSFTNGP09...
I had the most unpleasurable experience yesterday taking the 70-215 exam. It was the last one I needed to complete my MCDBA and thank heavens I passed. BUT, not the first time.
Nooo...., the first time I tried to take the test at 9am. I was on question 11 with a simulation question. That's when it all went bad. The computer froze and the exam wouldn't continue. The test administrator (me watching) spent the next 30 minutes on the phone with Prometric trying to decide what to do.
The long and short of it is this: some testing centers have been having problems running the updated version of the 70-215 exam MS released a couple of weeks ago on Win98 machines. So Prometric recommended sites run it on Win2K. Of course the testing center I went to put me on a Win98 PC by mistake; apparently they didn't read the memo. So, they tried to restart the exam on their Win2K PC but to no avail. Prometric told them I would have to reschedule at least a week out so they could resolve the problem.
Went home, called Prometric and found out that NOT ALL sites were having problems, just some. So I quickly rescheduled for the same afternoon at another site and to retake the exam and passed. BUT, a simulation question froze the PC at that site too and the test admin had to reboot the PC to get me back into the test. Arghh...
Morale of the story? If you're scheduled to take the 70-215, check with your test center to see if anyone has recently taken the test successfully before going; unless you don't mind being their crash dummy.
On the upside (and it's a small upside), I did get a free test voucher from Prometric for my troubles. Oh boy.
--
Leigh Kendall, MCSD, MCDBA
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| Christopher Hance 2003-02-13, 10:23 pm |
| Gyah. I've had glitches in the exams, such as 228 producing a "calculating score" message, then returning me to the review screen and requiring me to end the exam again. One of those "Dear God, don't tell me I'm dreaming/hallucinating all this after that ordeal" moments. Fortunately, it worked fine within a minute or so of the problem, and that's about the worst I've had.
I commend your tenacity, and your patience. I'd have to have a very pressing motivation and a vast store of good humor to have the presence of mind to take and pass an exam after all you went through.
I'd almost worked up the courage for 215 to finish off my DBA as well. Now that devil's advocate part of my brain has something else to sieze on... aside from my aversion to the possibility of being construed as a generalist and/or "Windows technician," and the fact that all my admin work has been in a LAN-only (or directly-connected static IP DSL / cable / leased line) environment. VPNs, Netware, and all the other fun compatibility stuff has a tendency to throw me, and even when I co-administered 60 or so servers, they were never built en masse and each needed sufficient customization to justify an interactive install.
Well, maybe VUE won't have the same problems, as my MSPress 215 2nd ed book with VUE discount voucher seems to have a palpable presence in this room. I really hate it when inanimate objects start taunting me.
--
Chris Hance, paranoid cynic
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| Chris Cubley 2003-02-14, 12:23 am |
| I'm planning on taking 70-215 soon. Is VUE having the same issues as Prometric? I've always had a better experience with VUE. It doesn't hurt that there's a VUE center about a mile from my office and the nearest Prometric center is a little tiny bit of "modular office space" all the way across town that primarily gives FAA preflight exams and is located a couple hundred yards from the end of an airport runway...
Anyhow...has anyone tried the "new" 215 at a VUE facility? I don't exactly relish the idea of encountering problems in the middle of an exam.
You are a large software corporation. Approximately two years ago you deployed a certification test in which candidate's skills are measured to assess their technical qualifications. In an effort to increase exam security, you recently deployed a new version of an exam that includes new simulation type questions. Since this deployment, exam candidates and test administrators have reported sporadic crashes of the newly deployed exam. What strategies can be implemented to reduce future deployment-related software defects?
[Select all correct answers]
(A) Perform daily builds.
(B) Implement regression testing.
(C) Require all client computers to run the Windows 2000 Professional operating system.
(D) Rewrite the testing software in Visual Studio.NET to utilize side-by-side DLL versioning.
(E) Perform compatibility testing on the oldest piece of junk computers you can scrounge up because that is inevitably what the testing app will run on.
(F) Implement Microsoft Telepathic Intelligence Scanning (TIS) to automatically scan candidates' brains for the required knowledge and grant certifications based upon the candidates' Resident Knowledge Factor (RKF).
(G) Use a web service.
(H) Configure a Group Policy Object (GPO)
Chris Cubley, MCSD
"Christopher Hance" <chris@acceleration.net> wrote in message news:uNdQq190CHA.2296@TK2MSFTNGP10...
Gyah. I've had glitches in the exams, such as 228 producing a "calculating score" message, then returning me to the review screen and requiring me to end the exam again. One of those "Dear God, don't tell me I'm dreaming/hallucinating all this after that ordeal" moments. Fortunately, it worked fine within a minute or so of the problem, and that's about the worst I've had.
I commend your tenacity, and your patience. I'd have to have a very pressing motivation and a vast store of good humor to have the presence of mind to take and pass an exam after all you went through.
I'd almost worked up the courage for 215 to finish off my DBA as well. Now that devil's advocate part of my brain has something else to sieze on... aside from my aversion to the possibility of being construed as a generalist and/or "Windows technician," and the fact that all my admin work has been in a LAN-only (or directly-connected static IP DSL / cable / leased line) environment. VPNs, Netware, and all the other fun compatibility stuff has a tendency to throw me, and even when I co-administered 60 or so servers, they were never built en masse and each needed sufficient customization to justify an interactive install.
Well, maybe VUE won't have the same problems, as my MSPress 215 2nd ed book with VUE discount voucher seems to have a palpable presence in this room. I really hate it when inanimate objects start taunting me.
--
Chris Hance, paranoid cynic
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| Leigh Kendall 2003-02-14, 9:23 am |
| Hey Chris-
I would definitely recommend calling your preferred test center ahead of time and ask them what their experience has been with the new version of 70-215.
The first site I went to where I had the problems; I was their first candidate. And to boot, they put me on a Win98 PC. Prometric states that is MUST be a Win2K PC.
Good luck!
--
Leigh Kendall, MCSD, MCDBA
"Chris Cubley" <chriscubley@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:OmqLJ5#0CHA.1352@TK2MSFTNGP11...
I'm planning on taking 70-215 soon. Is VUE having the same issues as Prometric? I've always had a better experience with VUE. It doesn't hurt that there's a VUE center about a mile from my office and the nearest Prometric center is a little tiny bit of "modular office space" all the way across town that primarily gives FAA preflight exams and is located a couple hundred yards from the end of an airport runway...
Anyhow...has anyone tried the "new" 215 at a VUE facility? I don't exactly relish the idea of encountering problems in the middle of an exam.
You are a large software corporation. Approximately two years ago you deployed a certification test in which candidate's skills are measured to assess their technical qualifications. In an effort to increase exam security, you recently deployed a new version of an exam that includes new simulation type questions. Since this deployment, exam candidates and test administrators have reported sporadic crashes of the newly deployed exam. What strategies can be implemented to reduce future deployment-related software defects?
[Select all correct answers]
(A) Perform daily builds.
(B) Implement regression testing.
(C) Require all client computers to run the Windows 2000 Professional operating system.
(D) Rewrite the testing software in Visual Studio.NET to utilize side-by-side DLL versioning.
(E) Perform compatibility testing on the oldest piece of junk computers you can scrounge up because that is inevitably what the testing app will run on.
(F) Implement Microsoft Telepathic Intelligence Scanning (TIS) to automatically scan candidates' brains for the required knowledge and grant certifications based upon the candidates' Resident Knowledge Factor (RKF).
(G) Use a web service.
(H) Configure a Group Policy Object (GPO)
Chris Cubley, MCSD
"Christopher Hance" <chris@acceleration.net> wrote in message news:uNdQq190CHA.2296@TK2MSFTNGP10...
Gyah. I've had glitches in the exams, such as 228 producing a "calculating score" message, then returning me to the review screen and requiring me to end the exam again. One of those "Dear God, don't tell me I'm dreaming/hallucinating all this after that ordeal" moments. Fortunately, it worked fine within a minute or so of the problem, and that's about the worst I've had.
I commend your tenacity, and your patience. I'd have to have a very pressing motivation and a vast store of good humor to have the presence of mind to take and pass an exam after all you went through.
I'd almost worked up the courage for 215 to finish off my DBA as well. Now that devil's advocate part of my brain has something else to sieze on... aside from my aversion to the possibility of being construed as a generalist and/or "Windows technician," and the fact that all my admin work has been in a LAN-only (or directly-connected static IP DSL / cable / leased line) environment. VPNs, Netware, and all the other fun compatibility stuff has a tendency to throw me, and even when I co-administered 60 or so servers, they were never built en masse and each needed sufficient customization to justify an interactive install.
Well, maybe VUE won't have the same problems, as my MSPress 215 2nd ed book with VUE discount voucher seems to have a palpable presence in this room. I really hate it when inanimate objects start taunting me.
--
Chris Hance, paranoid cynic
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