Security+ 601 vs 701 Break down
- Thread starter jlyon
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Where does Dion get his information about how the exam is scored? To my knowledge, CompTIA has never publicly disclosed how the exam is scored, how many points questions are worth, whether partial credit is given (or not), or if there are unscored questions.
Dion is a CompTIA Training Parter, As I cannot speak to his statement however, he said it in a way that is just a guess and as he knows, a question that gets asked alot. even if he knew it would be NDA that he could not publicly confirm as "this is exactly how a exam is scored." I think he did a great job with how he compared and contrasted the info and seen it as a important factor moving forward with Sec+ going forward. but for a question of how is the exam sorced we could give a best guessed off the possible points vs amount of questions, which I would say the same thing in my classroom.
Being a CompTIA partner wouldn't give him any inside information. CompTIA uses one team to write the Job Task Analysis, a different team to write the exam objectives, a different team to write the exam questions, a different team to write the CertMaster resources, and a different team to teach the classes. CompTIA maintains that segmentation to preserve the integrity of the exams. Trainers don't know how many points the multiple-choice questions are worth. Or how much the PBQs are worth. Or if partial credit is given. Or how many unscored questions are in an exam. The number of questions on most CompTIA exams is variable, so the scores are scaled on a 100-900 scale.
Either he has insider information and is in violation of his NDA or he's speculating.
That is a VERY interesting question. Apart from CompTIA, PearsonVUE, and the SME's which are blood-oath sworn to secrecy (maybe), no one would really 'know' how the scoring actually works. Anything that we come up with would be either anecdotal or deductively reasoned.
So, if we deduce, looking at it mathematically, a 900 point max exam with 75 questions will be 12 points per question, if everything were weighted the same. We do know that not every question is not weighted the same. I would say the higher up Blooms Cognitive that the question rises the score. And I've always maintained that CompTIA does, from time to time, add and remove questions from the question pool. 750 over 900 is an 83%.
There's nothing that says that PBQs are weighted heavier or lighter. And the scoring might break down to the number of data points in a PBQ. If it follows CertMaster's methods (separated teams, granted), partial credit may be available for those.
At the end, it's all really conjecture. /r
The Truth is out there somewhere. But we are not there to know it..
Like for CASP: pass or fail.. Nothing more is important in the End.to know that ..
;-)
Like for CASP: pass or fail.. Nothing more is important in the End.to know that ..
;-)
Well you seem to know the most about it. I clearly stated that it was his best guess or as you would say speculation). I admire and respect your passion and interest on this topic however, its not that serious.
as long as are students pass at the end of the day.
If someone is speculating, they need to state that up front. They should not state it as fact. Any instructor who makes stuff up will lose credibility with their students. Integrity matters.Well you seem to know the most about it. I clearly stated that it was his best guess or as you would say speculation). I admire and respect your passion and interest on this topic however, its not that serious.
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Trainers can be SME for the Exam Objectivs. They can`t be part of the Exam Question Team, or they are not allowed to train this course while available, or to write a book about it.Well you seem to know the most about it. I clearly stated that it was his best guess or as you would say speculation). I admire and respect your passion and interest on this topic however, its not that serious.
That is what i know so far.
And maybe not even the People creating and evaluating Questions are not knowing how questions are valued (i guess that).
We will not know, the NDA should be really strict. With Microsoft, you where not even allowed to say, that you participate there...
Would me wonder, if it is much different for CompTIA.
But is it important?
We do not even know, if you start the Exam with 0, 100 or 400 Points... Someone could try, spend some money, start the Exam but not answering a question correctly... But why waste money?
Michael
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I worked as an SME for a CompTIA Exam Item Writing Workshop in April 2022. I helped write exam questions. I do have first-hand experience with how the process works. We are required to sign NDAs so that none of us leak any of the exam questions. I can say that CompTIA does an impressive job overall of maintaining the integrity of the exams.
CompTIA's official position is that it does not disclose how the exams are scored. They do disclose that the scores are scaled on a 100-900 scale. CompTIA also published the passing score for every exam except the CASP+ which is pass/fail.
CompTIA's official position is that it does not disclose how the exams are scored. They do disclose that the scores are scaled on a 100-900 scale. CompTIA also published the passing score for every exam except the CASP+ which is pass/fail.
jlyon: your comment is in my Posting.
Not good to read. Please edit it to make sure, what is your Post.
Not good to read. Please edit it to make sure, what is your Post.
Yeah, there are points where I wish I could have had feedback on how well I did on CASP, but perhaps at that level, you should already know where your strengths and weaknesses are. Or it's more binary a statement - if you pass CASP, you got the goods. If you don't, well, you don't. Simple.
I'm not sure I completely agree here. Yes, the end result is training students to have the skills to be in the workforce and to validate those skills through certification.Well you seem to know the most about it. I clearly stated that it was his best guess or as you would say speculation). I admire and respect your passion and interest on this topic however, its not that serious.
And I think, personally, this is the right policy, otherwise, you have students gaming the system, rather than mastering the content. Too many times, which is at the heart of this conversation, students aren't looking to necessarily master the material completely - just Pass.The.Exam. All the braindump marketing is so you can....Pass the Exam. Big name trainers want to sell you on passing the exam.
Rarely do we see any marketing material where we're told "our materials will help you prepare you to master the content so you can be effective in the job role". No, the marketing is on the Golden Apple - Pass the Exam.
Some job requisitions ask for knowledge and skills, others say, "have the cert". What we're all trusting in, is that the certification says, unequivocally, that the holder is a master of the content at that level. Without getting overly cynical, we can ALL say here that's not always the case. There are these things called "paper certs", you see...
And then there's the money component. Certs mean better shots at getting bigger money positions, more respect, promotions - so, folks will ride that belief that CERT = ESTABLISHED KNOWLEDGE all the way to the bank.
In other words, we are asking the question here, what is truly important:
- Passing the Exam and getting the Credential
- Mastering the Content to be able to operate as an A+, Sec+, CySA+, or CASP+/SecurityX?
Sounds like Jason or someone at Dion Training listened to the Sneak Peek and the first couple of CIN Security+ SY0-701 TTT webinars.