Certification Testing Software

[jhayx7]

I won't name names but I purchased some Certification Testing software from a company to study for the CNA (not taking it by choice), and holy h3ll... how do these companies not get sued. It took me a total of 8 minutes to take the exam. Never looked at the questions, just looked at the answers and clicked the right one.

 

[tfinch2]

Why won't you name names? How will we know not to avoid them?

 

[jhayx7]

Originally posted by: tfinch2
Why won't you name names? How will we know not to avoid them?

Not sure it is ok with the Mods. I would not avoid them... they are awesome for taking certs.

 

[TreyRandom]

They're not sued because many of them are based out of third-world countries. They're selling you the exact questions and answers on the exam, which is no different than buying a professor's final exam stolen from his or her desk.

Those that were based in the US have been sued and shut down. The largest one overseas has been sued by Microsoft, but nothing will probably ever come of it because they're in a third-world country.

I know you probably didn't know you were using material that is considered cheating by Novell, Microsoft, Cisco, etc. However, I thought you would want to know for next time, because you can have your certifications revoked if they find you've used them. If you want to take the moral high ground (and be a better trained tech in the process), stick to legitimate practice exam providers in the future. These include:

Transcender
Self Test
Measure Up
Boson

I've had 5 years of experience writing for one or more of those companies I listed. In fact, I'm creating my own practice exam company to compete with them. However, I must respect AT's advertising rules and not post the name of our company. We hope to have our first products out by next March or April.

Best of luck to you!

 

[jhayx7]

Originally posted by: TreyRandom
They're not sued because many of them are based out of third-world countries. They're selling you the exact questions and answers on the exam, which is no different than buying a professor's final exam stolen from his or her desk.

Those that were based in the US have been sued and shut down. The largest one overseas has been sued by Microsoft, but nothing will probably ever come of it because they're in a third-world country.

I know you probably didn't know you were using material that is considered cheating by Novell, Microsoft, Cisco, etc. However, I thought you would want to know for next time, because you can have your certifications revoked if they find you've used them. If you want to take the moral high ground (and be a better trained tech in the process), stick to legitimate practice exam providers in the future. These include:

Transcender
Self Test
Measure Up
Boson

I've had 5 years of experience writing for one or more of those companies I listed. In fact, I'm creating my own practice exam company to compete with them. However, I must respect AT's advertising rules and not post the name of our company. We hope to have our first products out by next March or April.

Best of luck to you!

IMO certifications are a waste of time and money. My last job, I was a Network Engineer and only had my A+ Net+ and MCP, while interveiwing countless people for positions that opened up in our NOC, 95% of them were paper-certified. We would draw out a small network with about 6 routers, very basic, and give them a subnet to use and ask them to draw out a plan to implament the routers. Most of them just stared at the white board or simply said they had no idea how to do it. We are talking about people who came in with at least a CCNA and sometimes CCNP certifications. Until they change the format of the exams to reflect real world situations instead of textbook examples, I have no respect for certifications (except for the CCIE and the CISSP).

 

[TreyRandom]

Originally posted by: jhayx7
IMO certifications are a waste of time and money. My last job, I was a Network Engineer and only had my A+ Net+ and MCP, while interveiwing countless people for positions that opened up in our NOC, 95% of them were paper-certified. We would draw out a small network with about 6 routers, very basic, and give them a subnet to use and ask them to draw out a plan to implament the routers. Most of them just stared at the white board or simply said they had no idea how to do it. We are talking about people who came in with at least a CCNA and sometimes CCNP certifications. Until they change the format of the exams to reflect real world situations instead of textbook examples, I have no respect for certifications (except for the CCIE and the CISSP).

Simply changing the questions to reflect real world situations won't change the problem of paper-certified techs. Those questions already exist for many exams, and it hasn't solved the braindumping problem. Braindumps exist for those questions and exams as well. In fact, braindumps exist for what I consider one of the hardest exams to pass: the CCIE lab exam. But no infrastructure manager in his or her right mind would hire a CCIE without enough relevant, real-world experience. Braindumps exist for the CISSP as well.

That being said, certifications aren't pointless. They help distinguish yourself over your competition, all else being equal. Obviously, experience trumps all... but education and certification can certainly help put you ahead of competition who have an equivalent level of experience.

EDIT: All that said, neither your original post nor my first response discussed the relevancy of certifications... you asked why these companies don't get sued, and I said that they do, and I told you why. If you want to continue using braindumps, and belittling certifications that you feel forced to get, then do so. I simply offered my advice based on my experience in the industry.