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Examinations |
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| Q1.
What is the fee for certification? |
| The initial
fee for the CSTE and CSQA is $300, this includes
the application processing fee, administration fee,
and your initial sitting fee. If you sit for the
exam the first time and do not receive passing marks,
there is an additional fee of $75 US for each retake
(limit two). |
| Q2.
What is the exam format? |
The four
and a half-hour exam is made up of four parts;
two parts multiple-choice and two parts essay
and short answer. You will have forty-five minutes
to complete each of the multiple-choice sections
and one hour and fifteen minutes to complete each
of the essay and short answer sections. There
is a ten-minute break between each part. |
| Q3.
How do I study for the exam? |
There is
no specific outline of study curriculum established
by Software Certifications. Candidates are responsible
for their own study and preparation. The Quality
Assurance Institute, as administrator of Software
Certifications, does not infer that attending
specific courses or programs will significantly
enhance the candidate’s chances of passing
the examination. Bibliographic references are
included in the applicable Body of Knowledge description
for information purposes. Candidates are expected
to know and pursue other and more recent resources.
Professional certification is a significant undertaking.
Sufficient time and energy should be allocated
by the candidate toward preparation. Most of the
needed preparation involves reviewing and brushing
up on the various knowledge domains in the certification’s
respective Body of Knowledge. If candidates have
extensive experience in the quality practices
described in the knowledge domains of the Body
of Knowledge, the examination should not be difficult.
Candidates should avoid last minute cramming,
as it is rarely beneficial in the long term. |
| Q4.
Why do examination retakes now require all four
parts? |
A. Candidates
who do not pass the examination must retake and
pass the examination on another occasion in order
to become certified. In the early days of the
Software Certification program, candidates were
only required to retake those parts of the examination
that they had not passed. Beginning in 2002, candidates
must retake all four parts of the examination.
This change is intended to eliminate the possibility
that candidates can study intensively ("cram")
for a few portions of the examination, and then
study intensively for the remaining portions on
a subsequent occasion. The purpose of the examination
process is to assure all prospective employers
and other stakeholders that those individuals
who carry Software Certifications certifications
demonstrated their competence against the relevant
and entire Common Body Of Knowledge (CBOK) for
the designation. To ensure that this is so, it
is important that the candidate be able to pass
the entire examination at one sitting. Splitting
the examination parts over different examination
dates, possibly months apart, fails to ensure
that the entire CBOK has been mastered sufficiently
on the date of certification. |
Q5.
What is the purpose of the four parts then? |
| A. The administration
of the certification examination is broken into
four parts in order to facilitate breaks for candidates
between each part. Four hours is considered an excessive
amount of time to have candidates sit for an examination
without breaks. Each of the four parts used to correspond
to a specific subset of the CBOK, but this is no
longer so. |
Q6.
How else have the examinations changed? |
A. Examination
security and control have been enhanced by randomizing
the order and placement of questions across the
examination. Candidates taking the examination
more than once will find each version of the examination
they see different, decreasing the opportunities
to improve performance by simply remembering how
questions were presented on the previous version.
Also, computer gradable forms (requiring candidates
to use soft-lead "No. 2" pencils) are
now in use as answer sheets to increase the accuracy
of scoring, and reduce the cycle-time required
to grade, verify, and publish results. |
