Great read

Nice blog post. I failed my exams not long ago myself for SQLBI cerfication ;) missed 1 questions! on first attempt and probably 5 questions on second attempt ;p

I like this one

"I often hear from other IT Pros that the tests always seem to focus on the areas in which we’re weakest or that we never use. Does that mean the test is flawed or unfair? No, of course not. It just means I have to work harder and study more in those areas. "

but there are additional similar comments like: questions are not really practical or best practice. I presume that is more applicable to SQL Server BI and I must admit previous version (2005/2008) did have "wrong" questions. I would have passed my MCTS SQL BI 2008 if I wasn't asked "wrong" questions. For instance (not directly related to actual question) I don't build reports that show millions of rows on one report! Why would you want to do that?

I failed twice and compared my area score after the exam. My knowledge hasn't changed between exam but score were very different which underlines inconsistency in exam questions.

If I studied harder (Let's face it I didn't prepare too much for this one) I would have passed it but I decided it is not worth learning questions that I disagree with so after taking Beta SQL BI 2012 I decided to study harder for 2012 certifications as they are much better style and more practical in my area. Big improvement over 2005 and 2008.

Regards

Emil

To your comments on "wrong" questions, don't forget two things:

1. Not all the questions in an exam are scored. Questions can be "seeded" in which have not yet undergone sufficient testing to be scored against your result, but they are added to a live exam in this way to undergo qualitative analysis.
2. Sometimes you will get asked what some would call "silly" questions. I have been asked questions on Exchange exams (which I know extremely well) where I have read the question, and before looking at the answers, I have thought "I know - I'll do ..." and while that would be the right option for the real world, that isn't even an available answer, and you have to choose something else. The reason these questions exist is because there are some features that you should be tested on, and you should know the impact of in the product, but there is no simple way to give you a valid real-world scenario in one paragraph. So the test of knowledge is still valid, but it may not seem like a likely situation you would come across.

Last of all, don't forget you can feedback comments on the exam questions and content in the exam. If you really feel that you know the topic of a question well, but the question seems illogical, poorly laid out, or confusing, use the last section of the exam time to provide that feedback. I know most people (including me!) just want the score and to get out, but I will always add comments if I feel that they are justified, as it's a great opportunity to help make the exam more robust.

James

Hi James,

I must admit I always give feedback at the end of the exam (probably 6 so far). Fortunately it is now much easier to do with new 2012 exam (I took one last Sunday and passed and you can mark questions for review during exam...which helps)..

With wrong questions.... There might be reasons for it but I think it would be better to present only good quality questions and do QC before the test on beta users. I think there are still a few things that can be improved even with 2012.

Regards

Emil