MCP Welcome Kit
I got my MCP certification at the end of March, about time I got some certificates. For the non-technical that's the Microsoft Certified Professional qualification.
Well, when I say qualification, I'm sceptical about the whole thing.
I managed a score of 968, whatever that means. A pass is at xxx, from xx questions that may or may not be marked. And that's all Bill's boys say. Questions may be added to the test for the purpose of gathering statistics but may not count towards your final score, which is OK if you got it wrong but a waste if you got it right.
So there's nothing in the exam which says how the scores are calculated, what the maximum score is, what each question is worth, whether all questions are equal in value. A stark contrast from school & university exam questions.
So xx questions in, 50 minutes from a maximum of 165 minutes, and I leave the exam. A score of 968 out of some unknown number meant nothing to me. But I'd passed, and that's all that matters.
So why the scepticism? I swotted up on some elements of Xp that I'd never touched before, namely VPN settings for one. Sure enough I was asked a couple of questions on VPN, which I guess I got right, but I still haven't ever touched a VPN setting in my puff.
But as long as I can still show an ability to learn I'll be happy to shove it on the CV.
Oh, that welcome kit. Apologies for digressing into the exam itself. As a newly qualified MCP I was entitled to get a welcome kit. And the contents were:
What a let-down. Now if there was a free MSDN subscription for the first year after qualification that would be worth having...
[2006-07-11] Editing the scores out so as not to fall foul of the non-disclosure agreement you have to sign in blood before taking the test
