Exam Simulation?

DenisKormalev · wrote on 7 Oct 2010, 16:54

No, there are no simluations. But there are less or more detailed curriculum blocks for exams. You can find them at Qt site. For example "block for essentials":http://qt.nokia.com/developer/learning/qt-curriculum/qt-essentials-curriculum-block

VladimirMinenko · wrote on 8 Oct 2010, 08:44

We hear this question again and again! This is understandable! There are several good reasons why such "simulations" are generally not available. "Generally" means here that other certification programs do not have this either (IMHO), and you probably did not see it in your schools/universities. The point is that if you know the subject matter, it will be not a problem to pass the exam. If you do not know the subject matter good enough, a "simulation" cannot and even "may not" help you. There is still one thing you should know up front: how do questions generally look like and how to respond in a correct way. For this purpose, we have a few examples on the web as well as an explanation of the exam flow. I said before that a "simulation may not help you", because we believe that you should better spend more time learning Qt, rather than drill through a simulation. Believe or not, this rule is in your benefit too! The value of your certification will be considerably undermined, if it would be known that one can drill for this in a simulation without knowing much of Qt. Do we all really want it?

DenisKormalev · wrote on 8 Oct 2010, 16:26

Vladimir, maybe good idea will be to have demonstration of test interface with any questions (even unrelated to Qt development, for example "What is the web-address of Qt DevNet?: developer.qt.nokia.com; 127.0.0.1; developer.qt; 192.168.1.2"). It will help to all who didn't pass any Pearson VUE tests yet to concetrate at exam topics not on working with test interface.

VladimirMinenko · wrote on 21 Oct 2010, 11:51

Yes, certainly. We will improve the way how we explain for form of the exam in the future!

andre · wrote on 1 Dec 2010, 08:57

[quote author="Vladimir" date="1286527466"]We hear this question again and again! This is understandable! There are several good reasons why such "simulations" are generally not available. "Generally" means here that other certification programs do not have this either (IMHO), and you probably did not see it in your schools/universities. [/quote]
Well, actually, at university there were lots of courses where you were able to get practice materials, old exams (complete with the answers and a good working to get there). That was very useful material for studying the topic. It is also a good way to gauge the required level of expertise for the exam in question.

infoctopus · wrote on 1 Dec 2010, 17:13

bq. maybe good idea will be to have demonstration of test interface with any questions (even unrelated to Qt development, for example “What is the web-address of Qt DevNet?: developer.qt.nokia.com; 127.0.0.1; developer.qt; 192.168.1.2”). It will help to all who didn’t pass any Pearson VUE tests yet to concetrate at exam topics not on working with test interface.bq.

I don't think that this is needed at all. Interface of the test application is plain and straightforward. I can't image a person who is able to program with Qt and isn't able to master UI of the test program ;)

MarPan · wrote on 1 Dec 2010, 19:02

[quote author="Andre" date="1291193829"]
Well, actually, at university there were lots of courses where you were able to get practice materials, old exams (complete with the answers and a good working to get there). That was very useful material (...)
[/quote]

At which university? Could you publish those materials and/or old exams?

DenisKormalev · wrote on 1 Dec 2010, 19:04

MarPan, I think he is talking not about qt exams but about his university studies :)

MarPan · wrote on 1 Dec 2010, 19:30

Oh, right, now it makes sense why it didn't make sense to me before -sorry :)

andre · wrote on 2 Dec 2010, 10:48

[quote author="MarPan" date="1291230141"][quote author="Andre" date="1291193829"]
Well, actually, at university there were lots of courses where you were able to get practice materials, old exams (complete with the answers and a good working to get there). That was very useful material (...)
[/quote]

At which university? Could you publish those materials and/or old exams?[/quote]

Twente University in Enschede, The Netherlands. I certainly could not publish them; as I don't have anything of that anymore.

? This user is from outside of this forum · wrote on 4 Dec 2010, 10:12

[quote author="Vladimir" date="1286527466"] .... I said before that a "simulation may not help you", because we believe that you should better spend more time learning Qt, rather than drill through a simulation. Believe or not, this rule is in your benefit too! The value of your certification will be considerably undermined, if it would be known that one can drill for this in a simulation without knowing much of Qt. Do we all really want it?[/quote]

I agree with Vladimir, this happened with the microsoft certifications way back in 1997-1999, initially lot of demand and value for the certifications, then came the simulations and the brain dump sites which totally undermined the whole thing. I know of guys who cleared the exams just by going thru the dump sites without no prior knowledge or experience on certain certifications ...

andre · wrote on 4 Dec 2010, 10:17

I don't agree. Examples of exams need not ask the same questions as the exams themselves, just give a good sense of the kind of questions and the level of expertise to expect.

? This user is from outside of this forum · wrote on 4 Dec 2010, 15:11

[quote author="Andre" date="1291457850"]I don't agree. Examples of exams need not ask the same questions as the exams themselves, just give a good sense of the kind of questions and the level of expertise to expect. [/quote]

andre, in the brain dumps, folks who attended and cleared the exams would go and contribute their questions with the options and the correct answer .. after a few days the entire db of questions was available and i know people who got > 950 out of 1000, without having worked on the subject :(

? This user is from outside of this forum · wrote on 4 Dec 2010, 15:16

[quote author="tamhanna" date="1291458386"]As someone who failed multiple Microsoft exams, well, I should have looked at these brain dumps more...[/quote]

[quote author="tamhanna" date="1291475590"]Chetan - I should have known this some years ago...would have made my life a lot easier...

:)[/quote]

yes tamhanna saw ur earlier quote too ... :) but brain dumps will get u a paper certificate, but won't take you far right ?

xsacha · wrote on 4 Dec 2010, 15:56

[quote author="tamhanna" date="1291475817"]Was a huge waste of money for me...[/quote]

I think the biggest waste is time.

Hence why, if you're certain you know the area well and just want to ensure you don't slip up on a few silly questions (and need to repeat the process again) -- a brain dump is good :)

? This user is from outside of this forum · wrote on 4 Dec 2010, 16:52

well back in 1998, i was a mcse and a mscd and it got me a job in US, that too without even a tech interview ... these were before the brain dump days ... and profit i did .. u bet ! :)

vinb · wrote on 25 Apr 2011, 13:34

[quote author="chetankjain" date="1291475483"]
[quote author="Andre" date="1291457850"]I don't agree. Examples of exams need not ask the same questions as the exams themselves, just give a good sense of the kind of questions and the level of expertise to expect. [/quote]

andre, in the brain dumps, folks who attended and cleared the exams would go and contribute their questions with the options and the correct answer .. after a few days the entire db of questions was available and i know people who got > 950 out of 1000, without having worked on the subject :([/quote]

But why this dont happen at this moment then?
In other words, people who passed the exam at this moment dont post the questions and answers. So why be affraid for that.

I also want to check were i stand in knowledge about Qt.
With an example exam i can check this, just like i did with for example drivers license, math or historie exams.
Mayby the trolls will reconsider their answer, because i think there will be more people willing to do the exams when they can practice in front. When i take myself as an example, i dont spend money on an exam when im not absolute sure that i make a reasonable chance to pass the exam.

andre · wrote on 25 Apr 2011, 17:27

I think it doesn't happen because of two reasons:

You sign a kind of NDA at the beginning of the exam

There is no centralized place to do it.

But I do agree that it would be reasonable to have something to indicate the level of the exam. Not the exact questions, but the type of questions you can expect.

DenisKormalev · wrote on 25 Apr 2011, 18:22

Type of questions and their level are showed in curriculum I think.

VC15 · wrote on 7 Jun 2011, 17:49

I'm preparing for the Essentials exam and I'm absolutely sure that a simulation would be helpful. I don't agree with Denis Kormalev that the level of questions is obvious from Curriculum block.

Curriculum doesn't show how deeply one should know the topic. For example, what does "Learn how draw on widgets" mean? Is it enough to know that there is QPainter, it provides rich variety of drawing methods, supports affine transformations, different composition modes and so on? Or one should know all the details of working with QPainter, remember the most part of its methods and be able to draw complex things without looking at the documentation.

The same thing is with "Learn how to use qmake" and "Be able to create and manage a Qt project via *.pro files". Qt Assistant contains an enormous amount of information about how to write Qt project files. What things should one remember about that?

To my mind all these ambiguities might be avoided by providing an example exam that would help understand the necessary knowledge depth.

P.S. Of course, I understand the arguments against exam simulation and share the opinion that simulation questions must differ from the exam ones.