Comments on: 70-113, the Virtual Lab exam, gives Microsoft Certification new hope

By: techdeuce

techdeuce — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 22:35:52 +0000

right on target with this one. Too easy to cheat. They need to take a page from the cisco CCNP testing. Part of it is multi choice. Other part is a lab. You have to setup the equipment according to specs. Then they break what you setup and you have to come back in and fix it.

By: robfarley

robfarley — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 02:58:12 +0000

I think it will all come down to whether the question has multiple parts to it (which I’m sure it will). If one part is “Make a backup”, and another is to put the file somewhere in a particular drive, it may not care whether you have the backup go straight there or whether you take the backup and rename the file.

But I can’t be sure, and if I’m involved in creating questions, I won’t be able to say anyway.

Rob

By: Super Soaker

Super Soaker — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 02:23:22 +0000

@Jim: “What if you took the backup correctly, but named the file slightly differently from what you were asked?”

I’d expect you’d fail that question.

Not being able to adequately follow instruction, or insufficient attention to detail, or thinking they know better (pick one, or more) are more fundamental than anything specific to an operating system let alone a backup. If I were interviewing based on a scenario, inability to follow specific arbitrary instruction is a most telling fault, the explanation why often more telling again 😉

By: robfarley

robfarley — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 04:07:32 +0000

Sorry Jim, I’m not sure on that one. I can almost certainly say there won’t be marking by people, but I don’t know what kinds of things it will be based on.

If you’re asked to do a backup, it could check the date of the last backup to see if you achieved that correctly. Hopefully you can be involved in creating questions as well, so that you can make sure that the checks cater for those scenarios.

Rob

By: Jim McLeod

Jim McLeod — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 20:19:51 +0000

Good post, Rob. I’m excited about this new format, as it shows that you have to know how to actually do the tasks, and under time constraints.

Any idea on the marking system? Is it graded immediately (which I would assume to be marked as just checking to make sure the VMs are left in the correct state), or is there some amount of marking performed by people? The reason being, in a practical exam, you might get 90% of the way there, but get 0 marks for the task. For example, you had to take a full backup and put it in a directory.

What if you took the backup correctly, but named the file slightly differently from what you were asked? Is that worth a 0? At least the multiple choice questions are an obvious right/wrong.