Oh goodie, another gripe about Cisco exams thread! I'll wade in on this
one ;-)
I have only done one Cisco exam recently - BSCI at networkers last week.
Since it was a freebie, I wasn't taking it too seriously. The exam topics
were as per the exam outline - OSPF, EIGRP, IS-IS, BGP, and some general
routing stuff (VLSM, redistribution, blah blah - this is straight out of
the exam outline so I don't consider I'm breaking NDA). Now, I work with
OSPF all the time, so I was reasonably confident there (although there are
certainly features of OSPF that I've never had cause to use so don't know
well), and ditto the general routing stuff. EIGRP I studied for the ACRC
exam two years ago, and have never actually used (and I didn't get around
to revising my notes). IS-IS? I read half of the chapter in Doyle, ran
out of time, and skimmed the rest. BGP? I'm maybe a third of the way
through Halabi, and hadn't picked it up for the six weeks before the exam
(holidays were wonderful, thanks ;-).
Did I expect to pass? Heck no. With no practical experience of 60% of
the main exam topics, and barely any study, I don't think I should have
been able to pass. But I did. Not with a great score, but comfortably.
The majority of the questions were at a level of very basic understanding.
Several, while not exact repeat questions, tested the same knowledge.
Interestingly enough, I was speaking to a local Cisco SE about it, and he
admitted that several other people had said the same thing to him at
Networkers - they had gone to an "intro to technology xyz" session, sat
the "xyz" exam, and passed.
At risk of being labelled an old curmudgeon who hankers for the good old
days, I studied extensively for the ACRC exam, had practical experience of
more of the exam topics, and got a massive two points more on my ACRC exam
than I did on my BSCI. OK, I have two years more experience now (but not
in most of the BSCI topics), and more accumulated groupstudy reading time
(some of it's probably sunk in subconciously), but I still reckon the ACRC
was a lot harder.
I'm glad I passed my ACRC two years ago - I'm not so glad I passed BSCI. I
would like the Cisco exams to demonstrate that somebody who passes the
exam has a good knowledge of the details of the subject matter, not just
an understanding of basic concepts (although that's important too), and I
don't think I have a good knowledge of all of the BSCI subject matter.
JMcL
Oh, Priscilla... PHB = Pointy Haired Boss, from Dilbert.
----- Forwarded by Jenny Mcleod/NSO/CSDA on 14/03/2002 11:41 am -----
"John Allhiser"
Sent by: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
14/03/2002 10:04 am
Please respond to "John Allhiser"
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
cc:
Subject: RE: Oops....Re: Re: Quality of Cisco exams [7:38063]
Hi Howard,
I'm glad to see gettlabs.com is up and running -- I will definitely peruse
it tonight.
Preface: I used to teach technology courses at a 4 yr college. The
courses
more or less coincided with certifications.
Why get certified?
For some with no experience, it's their introduction to the technology.
For
those with experience it can be a baseline determining where they stand.
One thing I always told my students: "Don't cheat yourself." Don't study
for the test. Study to master the subject. Testing and certification are
merely mile markers if you do it this way.
I've seen many posts recently on the new test format, the quality of the
tests, and whether the certs really even matter. One can only write so
much
into a test question, and some only learn enough just to answer that
question That's why the CCIE lab is still where the rubber hits the road.
The quality of the tests are fine. The ideal situation is for the
questions
to improve as feedback is provided by the test takers, and the questions
are
evolved by the test creators.
My .000002 cents worth. (not an argument - just another view)
John Allhiser
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of
Howard C. Berkowitz
Sent: Wednesday, March 13, 2002 4:02 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: Oops....Re: Re: Quality of Cisco exams [7:38063]
I'll admit the quality of Cisco tests (other than perhaps the CCIE
Written) leaves a good deal to be desired. But unless things have
radically changed, this is, in part, a result of the process used to
create them, and the fact that "instructional design professionals"
are in charge.
When I knew definitely how tests were written, what happened is that
a completed (perhaps beta) course was sent to a generally
non-technical instructional designer who was a specialist in writing
test questions. The good news is that all the questions and answers
came from the course materials; the bad news is that all the
questions and answers came from the test materials.
If the course was obsolete or wrong, the test writer wasn't qualified
to recognize the problem and fix it, or realize that a question would
be ambiguous to someone in the field.
Now, don't get me wrong. Instructional design is a legitimate
discipline and I use principles from it in developing lots of my
material. But when instructional designers rise to the PHB level, and
see themselves as managing what they sniff at as "SME's" -- Subject
Matter Experts -- the process loses quality. Instructional designers
and technical experts that respect each other and work together
effectively are not from the world of Dilbert.
It isn't easy to write good questions. We've found that's one of the
toughest skills for CertificationZone writers, given that as well as
asking a good set of choices, the question writer also needs to write
a technically accurate and succinct explanation.
--
"What Problem are you trying to solve?"
***send Cisco questions to the list, so all can benefit -- not
directly to me***
****************************************************************************
****
Howard C. Berkowitz [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Chief Technology Officer, GettLab/Gett Communications
http://www.gettlabs.com
Technical Director, CertificationZone.com http://www.certificationzone.com
"retired" Certified Cisco Systems Instructor (CID) #93005
Message Posted at:
http://www.groupstudy.com/form/read.php?f=7&i=38167&t=38063
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