My question was fishing to see if you were asking for the actual answer keys for the real exam PBQs

But you've answered it adequately: it's for CertMaster-whatever. It's odd that CertMaster does not include details on how to score their PBQ.

Rick Butler said:

Career College/Tech school, traditional college, and a scant amount of consulting/freelance training and a scanter amount of DoD internal training.

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Thanks. Do you have any observations about the differences between teaching for career tech and college?

Gregory Childers said:

I have worked for training centers and as an independent contract trainer. I have traveled to all 50 of the states in the US, as well as DC and Puerto Rico. I've also traveled to six countries abroad. I've taught for local, state, and federal government. Health care, shipping/logistics, food services, manufacturing, defense companies, universities, community colleges, and school districts. I've taught in almost every industry and in most of the United States.

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This is great information. Thanks. I would be interested to hear about your overseas experiences if you're willing to share anything.

congrats

congrats

I used Transcender back in the day to get my MCSE.

Gregory Childers said:

DataX is an expert level data science certification. It is a higher level than Data+ and DataSys+. It currently does not renew either of these certifications.

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See, I could see DataX renewing these two.

Gregory Childers said:

CloudNetX is an expert level networking certification. It is a higher level than Network+ and Cloud+. It currently does not renew either of these certifications.

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Meanwhile, not so much here - since CloudNetX is more of an amalgam of cloud and networking. Like a Venn diagram, there's a good amount of material in Cloud+ and Network+ that would not come out in CloudNetX from what I can determine.

Gregory Childers said:

I also recommend CyberVista (formerly Kaplan IT, Transcender)

CompTIA Practice Tests, Labs, and Vouchers - CyberVista now N2K

CompTIA exams are world-recognized, vendor-neutral IT certification exams that grace the resumes of today’s most qualified and skilled technology professionals. Since the program’s inception, more than two million individuals have earned a CompTIA certification, paving the way for better job...

certify.cybervista.net

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I used to use CyberVista for a while. Their questions weren't quite certification grade in the years we used them. I would say they are more on par with CompTIA's review questions from Learn and Labs, in terms of difficulty. Good for ramping up, but not so great if trying to evaluate for test readiness.

Gregory Childers said:

The Sybex books from Wiley Publishing are rather solid

https://www.amazon.com/CompTIA-Complete-Certification-Kit-220-1101/dp/1119863228/

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I always liked Sybex' materials. I'm with Greg here - well put together. I used to review them when I wrote for MCP Magazine/Redmond/1105...wayyyyy back in the day.

I recommend MeasureUp


I also recommend CyberVista (formerly Kaplan IT, Transcender)


You can also try Boson


The Sybex books from Wiley Publishing are rather solid

@Tess Sluijter I am unsure how to respond as in the set-up we use at City Colleges of Chicago, PBQs are in the "CertMaster Learn and CertMaster Labs". In "CertMaster Practice" we have only the five (5) Domains and the Practice Test.

I searched throughout for a similar thread but didn't find one. Hoping this has been discussed, if someone could point in that direction, I would be grateful.

I agree with Rick: there are already many first and third party solutions for practice quizes.

Ranging from mixed quality on Udemy, to solid with prof. Messer and the practice tests from Sybex.

I'm sincerely hoping you're referring to CertMaster Practice or CertMaster Learn.

Thanks for the update @Stephen Schneiter !!

So, it sounds like you're looking for practice testing for these exams, yes? There would seem to be a wide range of practice testing options out there.

Is there something you're specifically wanting? Because it would seem that all you might need is something like CertMaster Practice or maybe a third party's practice question bank (just avoid all the Certification Trendz stuff - that's all braindumpy material).

Our college has an on-prem PearsonVUE testing center for testing - not just for our computer programs, but for our AMT medical programs as well. Our test center is not available to the public, meaning you can't schedule through the web for our site - you have to contact our librarian who would set you up. Since we put students through testing in waves, it's just easier to run an eight seat center. We've had it in place since 2016.

Private test centers do get a small cut of testing fees. Like 5-10 bucks per candidate, but it's not a defined revenue stream for us. We do it in conjunction with our programs. One downside is that I can't take beta exams at the private center - since beta exams are scheduled online, and we can't schedule our private center online, well, I have to go to a public center for beta testing (I don't do a bunch of it, but when I do...)

I am not a fan of OnVUE. With the horror stories I've heard, I'm just more comfortable going to a test center. My brain seems to engage better when I have to go somewhere. I, myself, don't typically test at our school - as I don't like taking up a seat for a student - so I go elsewhere. I know OnVUE got its wind during the Coronapocalypse - but it's just never been my thing.

I also have a great story:

Turns out, about a week before I was supposed to do the Server+ TTT for 005, @Stephen Schneiter asked me to take the beta. Well, I had to go to a nearby public site for that - for the reasons addressed above. Well, the pandemic hit the day before my testing date and I couldn't get tested. It cost me a bottle of my homemade mead to the test center owner for her to quietly open the test center (despite Pearson 'highly recommending' everyone close down), to get my Beta done. The Test Center Owner and I still laugh about it to this day, which is one reason why I keep coming back - they became good friends of mine.

/r

The one thing about servers is that, if properly maintained, they just keep going and going and going.

I still have some Dell PowerEdge T410s that still hold up our on-prem infrastructure, which we'll retire before too too long, although one might say they've been in operation for too, too long. I've built a HCI out of Dell Minis, to teach the concepts of clustered computing.

After Broadcom's acquisition of VMWare, we might see some changes in their pricing (probably more expensive), but I've never, really been a fan of VMWare - mostly because they charged the same for licensing for academic institutions, which to me, is asinine (or at least they did when I monkeyed with it). Now, for virtualizing, I would just teach QEMU/KVM for Linux platforms, HyperV on Windows, and VirtualBox to teach the concepts. Sure, you lose the advanced enterprise management stuff, but to me, a 0-2 year shouldn't be touching that stuff anyway.

But I'll agree with Tess here, having a couple old bare metals at the ready.

Because, remember this:

There's no such thing as the cloud - it's just someone else's computer. And the cloud is made up of servers.

/r

I take all my CompTIA exams online. The only exams that I take at a testing center are ISC2 exams because they do not do online testing.

Online is so much easier. The nearest testing center is ten miles away and they only test M-Th from 8:00 AM until 1;00 PM. With OnVue, I can schedule 24 hours a day, seven days a week. I've taken exams on weekends, nights, and early mornings. Plus, there's no traffic from my kitchen to my home office.

Mark Anthony Germanos said:

On a similar note, are you recommending your students take the test at a testing site, or remotely with a sanitized environment?

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I recommend neither, I recommend that they figure out what's best for them and their circumstances and preferences.

Any update on the Cloudnetx voucher ??

I haven't experienced personally the online remote testing, but I recommend to our students to write at a test center.

On a similar note, are you recommending your students take the test at a testing site, or remotely with a sanitized environment?

The school I teach at has its own PearsonVue testing center, which definitely is used by the general public. As far as I know they are indeed paid for the effort. No clue how much; that'd be something you'd have to figure out via PV.