Hi List, Just proctered the 101 and 102 last weekend for 13 guys in the Netherlands. Amongst them was a true Linux expert, who commented "I'm sure I've failed". His - IMHO correct - remark: Why should I know the difference between blah -d and blah -D if in the real world I would do blah --help to find out how it works and use the command appropriately within 30 seconds? I couldn't agree to him more, especially after listening to some examples about the questions that these people have had. Please allow me to elaborate a little.
"hands on" certifications seem to make so much more sense these days. Take the Novell CLP/CLE or the Red Hat RHCE exams, these measure real working knowledge of real working systems. I know, this isn't possible because we (LPI) want to be able to take exams everywhere, even if no infrastructure is available, and do it for a reasonable price as well. So that's a dead end. Any alternative that would work? Well, maybe there is. Has anyone of you ever taken a Microsoft test? In their more advanced tests, they have scenario's and try to measure real world knowledge. For example: let's say we want to make a question in which we want to measure knowledge of the tar command. You can go two directions: 1) A user wants to make a compressed backup of his home directory. What command would he use? a. tar -zfvx . b. tar -cz . c. tar -czf blah . Another way is by making it a tiny little scenario in which we don't measure knowledge of options, but the ability to use the command (I know, the question is lame, it's the idea that counts): 2) A user has problems making an archive of his home directory. Every time he tries to do so, he gets an error message: "Cowardly refusing to create an empty archive". Which is the most likely cause for this error? a. he tries to make a tar for a directory that is empty b. he has forgotten the -f option to specify the file he wants to make the backup for c. he has forgotten a specification like . at the end of the command to indicate what exactly he has forgotten. I know, asking questions in this way makes LPI 1 easier compared to what it is now. This adds to the thought that Matt has had recently, that maybe the level should be somewhat lower. If we *really* want to make LPIC-1 a junior level admin certification, we shouldn't ask about options no one ever uses, we should ask about things that are used in real life. Small scenario questions are so much more real. To finish this, a fact that shocked me. Just to do a self test, I did some of those preparations that you can find on the internet myself. I'm not new to Linux, I'm using it since 1993 and I hold all relevant Linux certifications and passed LPIC-1 a long time ago. Also I'm a trainer, preparing junior admins for their jobs as a Linux admin at least a week a month, doing that for more than seven years now. Guess what my results were? Yes, I failed. Either I must be a very stupid person / drank to much beer the evening before, or something really is wrong. Looking forward to your comments. Sander van Vugt _______________________________________________ lpi-examdev mailing list [email protected] http://list.lpi.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/lpi-examdev
