Since I have to go write a cert this morning, I thought I would share a little tale with those of you who have never written one of these. According to my poll, no one else has any certs but that?s ok, because now you can learn the fun that is writing a certification exam.
First off, what is a certification exam? In the IT industry, there are companies that have certain designations that indicate a person with that designation has a certain skill level. For example, if you are a CPA, Certified Public Account, then this means you have a certain skill level when it comes to accounting practices. IT is no different. But with us, there?s a LOT of tests.
For me, I have taken a pile of these tests and the good side, is that for the most part, it?s all multiple choice. This makes the idea of the test easier, but in fact, can make it harder. If someone is reading my results and interpreting what I have written, there?s a human element that could give me a correct answer even if I?m not totally correct. With multiple-choice the answers are pre-defined with no option for interpretation. Therefore, you either get it or you don?t.
I have passed some certification tests before and received my designation. Novell CNA 3 & 4, A+, I-Net+, and now MCP. I am pursuing the MCSE certification in the 2003 track. What does that mean? Microsoft has their own certification process but it requires that you take 7 exams. Even though I have already taken one exam, it does not count towards the 2003 track, which is unfortunate, but it did give me my MCP designation.
Today, I am writing the 70-227 Microsoft exam for ISA Server. I am not as confident about this one as I was with Exchange but I will go in, and do my best, and whatever outcome it is, I?ll deal with it. But what went into today?
Let?s start with the fact that I taught the class. I taught it and in the course of teaching it, I learned a hell of a lot about the product. When I decided to go write the cert, I made sure that I read my study book 3 times from cover to cover. Reading the book helped me get some of the main fundamentals down and stuck in my head. Once I had read the book, I was ready to switch to self-test software; something everyone should use for studying certs. Unfortunately, I was screwed.
I dug online many times, asked people I knew, and people I worked with, and no one had anything even remotely close to self-test software for this exam. So, I grabbed some study guides off the net, and began using them as more study material. Between the book, and the guides, I used that as my primary material. The guides I have are in question and answer format so I made my own answer key from the answers given, then blacked out all of the answers in the guide so I wouldn?t accidentally see the answer, and then not be able to give an honest answer of my own.
Last night, I finished my studying up with some more reading of the book and then put it to rest. I either know the material or I don?t. Today I will find out. If I pass the test, which I?m feeling ok about, I can put one more exam to rest, and take a small break before venturing on to another cert. If I fail it, I?ll re-request the voucher, and hopefully get it before the end of the month so I can book the exam a second time, and get a free rewrite should the unthinkable happen, and I not pass it a second time.
Regardless, this time, I am prepared. I had postponed the exam by a week simply because I was feeling very ill, and not prepared at all for the test. In the last week, I have done a lot more studying, and feel better about the exam.
I now have one hour left before testing begins and I can feel the anticipation and nervousness beginning. A small little upset stomach and the fact that I am writing about it now will probably make it worse. So for now, I?m going to save this work, and come back to it after I have written, and hopefully passed, my 70-227 exam.
So I am back. I wrote the cert and pulled a 916/1000. Feeling damn good! Now I know the materials I had to study from were kickass. Tres, tres bon!
