On Wednesday 14 June 2006 14:44, Bryan J. Smith wrote:
> On Wed, 2006-06-14 at 02:21 +0200, Alan McKinnon wrote:

> Several other people were noticeably lost.  Especially the first
> part of the test where you have to get a _perfect_ 100%.  

Funny you mention that, I just spoke to a RH Examiner on Tuesday 
asking him what one doesn't have to worry about on the exam and what 
common errors are made. He confirmed that a high percentage of people 
somehow manage to zonk themselves out on this exam, they get spaced 
become hugely over-cautious and type at a snail's pace. So confidence 
in one's own ability to do a simple task goes out the window and this 
single fact causes more failures than any other.

I've seen the same thing in artisan's trade tests and driving tests (I 
failed my own three times and managed to turn a three point turn into 
a four point turn...) so it would seem the methodology is the cause. 
Interestingly, I've never seen this effect at LPI exam labs and I've 
attended a few of those in my time

[snip]

> > A major disadvantage of hands-on is that questions usually follow
> > on from each other - you can only add new users if you perform
> > the install right. making a mistake in the first step affects the
> > rest of the scores, which it shouldn't as failing one step should
> > affect only the score for THAT step
>
> Sometimes the hands-on tests can really "paint you in a corner" if
> you don't have enough experience with something.  I will never take
> the RHCE exam-only again (I got a 96% and passed, but as little as
> a 93% and you can still fail because of some sub-section compulsory
> requirement), you really need the crash-course.
>
> But if I need the crash-course, then what does that say for the
> exam?

I think the target audience for that course is experienced Unix people 
who want a conversion course, kinda like pilots going from 707s to 
747. They already know how to fly and just need to figure out where 
the switches moved to. However, too many people attempt it with 
insufficient background - maybe they or the HR people want to save 
money and think any fool can grasp Linux in a week.

I'm looking at the RH300 materials right now in preparation for my own 
RHCE next week, and there's a huge amount of assumed prior knowledge. 
Which tells me that the crash course is a niche product and is 
probably over-subscribed by the market/customers

-- 
If only me, you and dead people understand hex, 
how many people understand hex?

Alan McKinnon
alan at linuxholdings dot co dot za
+27 82, double three seven, one nine three five
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