Qt Certification Exam simulation - would it be 1. legal? 2. useful?

infoctopus · wrote on 4 Dec 2010, 12:10

[quote author="Denis Kormalev" date="1291414644"]Gerolf, not sure about questions. There is some chance that some of this questions will be similar to questions from official set of essentials exam. In this case I think they should be removed/changed.[/quote]

I passed the exam 4 monthes ago and don't remember even a one single question.

Chances that there would be exactly the same questions as in Qt Essentials exam are negligibly small :)

infoctopus · wrote on 4 Dec 2010, 12:12

[quote author="Milot Shala" date="1291414668"]In my opinion main purpose of the certification exam is to make sure that exam takers know the material in order to pass the exam; putting an exam simulator with exam questions/answers out there I think people will try to memorize the questions and pass the exam without having the exam-passing skills, the exam would become meaningless. If we already have the exam answers and pass the exam without knowing the material that good, why bother getting certified[/quote]

Since questions are supposed to be different (not completely different, since Curriculum is the same, but significantly different), such 3rd party exam simulation will be useful for detecting topics that should be studied better.

infoctopus · wrote on 4 Dec 2010, 12:20

[quote author="Volker" date="1291416201"]There is an example question on "Qt website":http://qt.nokia.com/developer/learning/certification/exam/format-flow.

I passed the basic certification and I did the C++ advanced test. I can clearly state, that there is no need to simulate the exam. The questions and their format are easy to understand. The answers are multiple choice.

If you fail to understand the exam format I really doubt that you are a programmer skilled enough to deserve the certification. Sorry if that sounds a bit rude, but the certification should not be downgraded too much. We all remember the times when it was almost enough to know where the start button in windows is to become some kind of MCxy-something...

I totally agree that the exam form is plain simple. Any developer can go through it.
[/quote]

The intended audience of the exam simulation are people who would like:

to be more sure that their knowledge is good enough for trying the real exam
to find out what topics have to be studied better
to decide whether they are ready to spent thier time and money

[quote author="Volker" date="1291416201"]Regarding the legal side:
Once you take the exam(s) you sign a non disclosure agreement. If you make a training app that at least some minimal sense to its users, I suspect you will break that agreement, because you make public the format of the exam. If you did not take the exam, how will that training give the users any benefit?[/quote]

Format of the exam, as Denis has already pointed out, is publicly available. The question will be different. Me personally couldn't compose the same questions even on purpose, I don't remember a signle one :)

infoctopus · wrote on 4 Dec 2010, 12:26

[quote author="tamhanna" date="1291464685"]
[quote author="infoctopus" date="1291464455"]
[quote author="Gerolf Reinwardt" date="1291414524"]I think, if you create the questions from scratch, it should be ok. And I would also be interested in :-) als perhaps in developement.[/quote]

Thank you! But if such app and questions will be created, it will be done by my company's developers. We have a need for such exam application for testing candidates/newcomers.[/quote]

This could probably be sold...[/quote]

Yes, probably.

I think that it would be better to make such application free for personal use.
And maybe sell it to corporate users with some additional functionality, e.g. history, statistics.

infoctopus · wrote on 4 Dec 2010, 12:29

[quote author="tamhanna" date="1291465577"]To be honest: multiple choice questions often are harder than normal ones, especially if they were written by a non-expert.[/quote]

Of course such questions are harder due thier nature.

Quality of questions is a key success factor. Prior to getting into the databae, questions created by one Qt expert/senior developer must be reviewed by at least another one.

infoctopus · wrote on 4 Dec 2010, 12:42

[quote author="tamhanna" date="1291466054"]
I meant, if a moron does the question, one can be both true and false.
Had this at an university once. Was fun...
[/quote]

;)

Cross-reviewing should eliminate such questions

goetz · wrote on 4 Dec 2010, 18:02

That's why there is this beta test, to sort such things out.

infoctopus · wrote on 5 Dec 2010, 16:48

I think beta tests also exist for adjusting level of points for deciding whether exam is passed or failed.

giesbert · wrote on 5 Dec 2010, 18:01

Hi,

look at: "Qt Certification Advanced Exams":http://qt.nokia.com/developer/learning/certification/qt-certification-advanced-exams

DenisKormalev · wrote on 5 Dec 2010, 18:02

Gerolf, beta is closed already (Dec,3 was the last day AFAIR).

giesbert · wrote on 5 Dec 2010, 18:14

ups, sorry...
That I haven't seen.

infoctopus · wrote on 5 Dec 2010, 18:41

[quote author="Denis Kormalev" date="1291572125"]Gerolf, beta is closed already (Dec,3 was the last day AFAIR). [/quote]

good news. Waiting for the release! :)

DenisKormalev · wrote on 5 Dec 2010, 18:41

infoctopus, I'm more waiting for results of beta :)

infoctopus · wrote on 5 Dec 2010, 19:06

i guess there's a chance that these two event will be fired at the same time )

giesbert · wrote on 5 Dec 2010, 20:16

Didn'tr they say, we get the results of the beta this year? so it can't be far away....

DenisKormalev · wrote on 5 Dec 2010, 20:22

Gerolf, yes there were such announcements, but as I understood time estimation was not finished, so it can be moved to Jan for example. Vladimir can clear it.

infoctopus · wrote on 6 Dec 2010, 22:18

Any official comments on the subject? :)

fcrochik · wrote on 6 Dec 2010, 22:28

When I took the test they said no later than end of the year... I just hope they meant 2010... :)

andre · wrote on 15 Dec 2010, 16:26

My question is: why create a new application at all? Applications like this exist already. There are several flashcard like applications that would be useful or could easily be adapted. The hard work is putting together a question database, I think.

If you would want this thing to be useful for studying, it should also give you some idea of the topical areas where you did well, and the ones you need more study in.

fcrochik · wrote on 16 Dec 2010, 15:58

Andre,

Do you know of any that is open source and qt based? Most likely it wouldn't be necessary to change the source code but as a "community effort" would make more sense (if this is a community effort).