On Thu, 2004-09-23 at 03:43, Peter George wrote: > My 2 cents, speaking as a CIW trainer, etc. > I think there would be advantages offering LPI through Prosoft, and veveloping other > LAMP certs with them.
Again, I was talking from a standpoint of getting CIW interested in _independently_ developing their own LAMP program, using LPI's current exams (and possibly any future ones). > - Development of authorised training materials of higher quality than anything I've > seen in the Linux space Prosoft Training produces some excellent materials, I agree. > - Development of adaptive exam testing I disagree on the exam development thought. LPI's exams are far less ambiguous, and properly use distractors. The psychometrics are there in a rather advanced exam. CIW is the king of giving you an "outstanding answer, but something tiny is wrong with it," and you have to pick the "well less than best answer" to get it correct. I pulled an 85% on one CIW exam, my first CIW exam, the only exam I ever failed (before the SL103 exam), because a got a 69% in one area. I was perplexed. When I retook it, whenever I saw an outstanding answer, I _ignored_ it because it was "too good to be true" and picked a "less than best" answer. I went against _every_ instinct and picked something that was "less than the best answer." Sure enough, I got an absolute 100% -- perfect! I approached all subsequent CIW exams and typically scored close to perfect each time (always over 95%). I was shocked to see that, because it meant as long as you knew just a little of the content, you could pass if you understood how the test is written. I know two others who took CIW exams and once I told them how to pass, they did easily. > - Wider exam reach through Prosoft/Vue exam centers > There is actually a Perl Fundamentals exam IDO-437 > http://www.ciwcertified.com/publicreadaccess/catalog/outlines/CIW_Web_Languages/PERL_Fnd_v2_07_Outline.pdf That's what I was referring to. CIW has a number of exams including Perl. > While the Server Administrator tracks include Apache, there's certainly > no proper focus on Linux, Apache and MySQL yet. > Having taught CIW for a year or so, and helped students towards exam success, > I'd caution on being too hasty to criticise the certification track. > The CIWv5.0 material just out is of the highest quality in terms of > training materials, I've _never_ criticized the _training_ materials, and given them _nothing_ but praise. But the exams, pardon my French, suck -- every single one I've taken. Once I learned how to pass them, using a technique of scanning all the answers, ignoring the answer that "just sticks out," and going after the answer that is typically poorly worded -- bam! Good scores. > I've literally seen noone better either for Linux or other. I personally like the comparison of Linux and Windows implementations in the System Administrator track. The courseware is top-notch, I agree. And it is _nothing_ to do with the exams. That's the sad part. -- Bryan J. Smith [EMAIL PROTECTED] ------------------------------------------------------------------ "Communities don't have rights. Only individuals in the community have rights. ... That idea of community rights is firmly rooted in the 'Communist Manifesto.'" -- Michael Badnarik _______________________________________________ lpi-examdev mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://list.lpi.org/mailman/listinfo/lpi-examdev
