Hello Everyone,
Late last night, Microsoft Learning did a very important announcement on their Born2Learn blog! You can now take your Microsoft Certification Exams from home! At first, this seems like a good idea since a lot of people cannot take exams because testing centers are far away. However, being able to take an exam from home might increase chances of people cheating at the exam, and therefore decreasing the value of the certification.
Microsoft decided to combat cheatnig by implementing the following steps:
- the exam is administered by a remote proctor who will supervise you via webcam and microphone while you take your test.
- You’ll be asked to empty your pockets while on camera, provide a close-up on your ears so you can prove you’re not wearing a Bluetooth earpiece, do a visual sweep of your desk and the room… all things you’d expect a proctor to check if they were there in the room with you. If you ensure that all of the requirements are met before you check in for your exam, the whole check-in process should only take about ten to fifteen minutes. If you have as many Bruce Springsteen posters on your office wall as I do, add another five minutes for the proctor to inspect them all for hidden notes.
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You’ll be recorded—both video and audio—for the duration of the exam.
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You can’t take notes during the exam.
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You can’t eat, drink, or chew gum while you take the exam.
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You can’t take a break—for any reason. Including biological ones.
In theory it all seems well, however Microsoft didn’t specify if the proctor is able to see your second screen, or stuff on your desktop!
The announcement ends with this line:
“And now if you’ll excuse me, I have an exam to take, and I need to go put on my Microsoft Certified Pajamas”
And I realized, Microsoft never included any dress code for taking the certification online….. I don’t wanna know what your lucky pijama looks like :P.
Oh yeah, and the last note is that it’s still in beta and only available for US residents at the moment.
What do you think about the move, is it a good move by Microsoft and you wish to see it in production all over the world , or a bad move that decreases certification value?
Personal side note:
Microsoft wants more testing centers close to people, however it takes away business of existing testing centers by stealing away their clients? How does this work? Also, do you think online training + online exam will kill the Microsoft Certified Trainer industry and in-person bootcamps or MOCs at MS Learning partners will slowly die?
I personally don’t have a preference either way.
However, I would have to disagree on the increased potential for cheating when taking the test at home. That would really depend on how well the exam is proctored. I took the ITIL v3 at home and it was very well managed. You have to enable webcam, audio, and screenshare. There’s a live person watching you on the other line throughout the entirety of test. You have to really go out your way to cheat.
Can you or will someone do it? Sure! Cheaters will always find a way to cheat. Regardless of being at home or at a testing center. There are places out there now giving out answer keys to tests for a price. Is that any different?
What I don’t expect seeing is a huge shift of cheaters becoming MCSE overnight. Because at the end of the day, you still have to answer to your colleagues and your clients. And it’s easy to spot a phony.
I had the same thought about MSFT wanting to cut the middleman out, which as most company’s reasoning for doing so, would be to make more profit. But for a company the size of MSFT to try and just scrape about an extra $50-$70 per exam fee (or whatever their cut is) seems so insignificant. They make billions each year, I just can’t figure out what this is all about.
If I could +1 Darren – I would. I am sure this is the general feeling of many out there. I really can’t see how you can stop the few that would cheat from doing so.
Sorry, but I have to confess to being a little perturbed by this. During this past 14 years I have lost count of the amount of hours spent in various training centre’s Microsoft training providers around Europe followed by as many as 3 or even 4 times more hours sat reading, ingesting, absorbing, regurgitating, practicing, revising for the dozens of Microsoft Exams I have sat all at considerable expense to myself and/or my employer. Then in one fell swoop Microsoft seek to devalue the time, devotion, money and sense of achievement by allowing those with a penchant to cheat to do so from the comfort of their own armchair?! It was only the other day I found myself chastising someone for openly advocating the use of “braindump” type sites. LinkedIn
How in the world do Microsoft genuinely hope to ensure an exam proctor is able to prevent cheating? How long before sites spring up describing how to “beat the proctor”?!
I take a great deal of pride in my list of Microsoft accreditation. Every one of them achieved under proper exam conditions with the necessary amount of preparation to secure a pass. I’ve sat in exam rooms with CCTV covering the full 360 degrees and am somewhat comforted that the exams I am taking are viewed important enough to put security measures in place in an attempt to ensure the integrity of the exam remains intact. The exam centre process whilst not infallible has to be better than the proposed exam proctor by webcam.
This is either some naff gimmick or some surreptitious attempt to cut the middleman out.
Some Feedback from twitter:
@vladcatrinescu Just double checking the date…Nope definitely not April 1st. #dumbestideaever
Odd! I’ll still go in person. MT @vladcatrinescu: Good move? You can now take #Microsoft exams from home! #SharePoint spvlad.com/1pqmuU9
RT @vladcatrinescu: Good move or disaster? You can now take #Microsoft exams from home! #SharePoint spvlad.com/1pqmuU9 // GOOD
