The Same Pants
I'm wearing the same pants, for the third day in a row. I hope no one notices. In other news, I have two things to say about beta exams.
Gerry O'Brien posted an explanation of what happens to your comments and feedback on the betas. You can read that here. Thank you, Gerry.
When taking a beta exam at Prometric, you add comments by marking a question for review. The "mark for review" option covers both true reviews (i.e., I want to return to check my answer) and marking beta items for comment during the comment period.
I'm pointing this out because this was, I'm told, handled differently by VUE (there was a separate "select comment for review" option, I guess) and we've had questions from some of you after taking a first beta at Prometric. More info from our team:
Here’s how it works at Prometric: All MS exams have a checkbox in the upper left hand corner of each item that allow the candidate to mark an item for review. After a candidate has gotten through all the items in the exam, the candidate then sees a final screen with the item numbers listed and the ones that are marked will be highlighted.
In the comment period at the end of the exam, these items remain highlighted. When the candidate clicks on any item, highlighted or not, they are taken to that item where there is a comment button that allows them to type their comments in a pop up box while viewing that item. (They cannot change answers while viewing that item.) This comment period is typically 30 minutes for a beta, 15 min for a live exam.
Comments
Anonymous
January 03, 2008
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January 03, 2008
True - but if you run out of time, you can just jam all of the remaining comments into the last question you have open. I'm sure that makes it easy for the people reviewing comments...Anonymous
January 03, 2008
People will notice the pants if they are red corduroys and you wear them for a week straight. This happened at my last job and the guy who did this was forever known as Charlie Red Pants. No comments about the comments.Anonymous
January 03, 2008
If there's a "maximum seat time" per exam, then why doesn't their system allow you that "total time" to finish the exam along with comments splitting the time between each as you choose? I've participated in over 95 Microsoft exams and have never "run short on time".Anonymous
January 03, 2008
Hi, I recently passed several beta and for 71-646 and 71-647 for example I can tell you that it wasn't like you said in this post (if I have well understood it). You are saying that we need to "Mark for review" a question if we want to be able to let a "Comment" during the beta certification. During those certs, before the End of the exam, I was able to view every questions and mark or unmark them for review. Then, I had to click "End Exam" and right after, the system asked me if I want to let some comments. I was so able to list every questions I wanted (marked or not for review) and I could see my answer but without the right to modify them. The time for the Comments was only to 15 minutes. Quite short for 70 questions ! :)Anonymous
January 03, 2008
Yeah but the VUE method was to have two states, marked for comment or marked for review. This made sense, as I tend to do exams over 3 passes (blitz the 'obvious' questions, mark others for review. Then do the rest, skipping any that don't seem reasonably obvious after a few mins thinking. Then those last few) This is fine with VUE's method as I can still mark the dozen Q's I want to comment on. Not so with Prometric, as I've just got the last couple I needed to answer marked rather than the questions I want to comment on.Anonymous
January 03, 2008
but why? when you have such great skirts! ;-)Anonymous
January 03, 2008
Pete 1 Everyone else 0 I'm just bitter because I missed two beta exams due to people not turning up for work and moi having to cover their shift. Roll on New Job ;) Why not allow unlimited time to make comments for Beta Exams? (or at least 60-120 Minutes) Surely the more information you get back the better.Anonymous
January 04, 2008
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January 04, 2008
One nice option would be to have general feedback on the exam as a whole, not tied to any particular question. For instance, I recently took the Vista upgrade exam, as described here: http://johnckirk.livejournal.com/214723.html The practice test hasn't been changed since 1999, so the example of a question where you have to scroll down to see all the answers doesn't really work anymore; modern screens are big enough to show them all at once! Also, the timings were a bit confusing; I thought that I'd finished the exam (based on the countdown timer), but it turned out that I'd only finished the first section.Anonymous
January 04, 2008
I will wear the same pants too for three days in tribute to your great postings.Anonymous
January 04, 2008
Add to Jose's - I will wear the same pants too for three days in tribute to your great postings. I have 6 more hours to go. This posting serves the same purpose, Why stayed there to comment?Anonymous
January 04, 2008
@ tlamothe I know what you mean but beta exams don't happen that often really, also the amount of people taking them is spread all over the world. Perhaps your right though, even one hour would still be plenty enough time. My own test centre never seems to be full, usually its just me + a randomAnonymous
January 06, 2008
Alternatively, I'm sure it's been said before, but if an exam has say 4 hours plus 15 mins for comments, and is finished in 3, surely that leaves 1h15m where the testing center can't schedule use of the machine(s) anyway so might as well make the time available for comments.Anonymous
January 14, 2008
Hello... I have the same gripe about the limited time for commenting. It just does not work out correctly. You want us to take those exams, so we can provide feedback, and yet, we are only allowed to comment on a few questions. My last Beta was the SQL Server 2005 exams, and I ran out of time for comments quite early. I had like 5-6 more questions marked, but I only got to comment on 3 of them, and the other questions also badly needed a comment on them. I am also not native english, and so it takes another moment for me to get the things right. So far I have only taken my exams with vue, so I appriciate the warning about the different handling of the review options in advanceAnonymous
February 12, 2008
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September 17, 2009
My native language is not English. What exactly do you mean with "pants"? Is it some kind of underwear (e.g. slip)? Or more sth. like trousers (e.g. jeans or khaki)? Thx in advance for any clarifying!