Anyone else get the invite for the Server+ 2009 beta?

skrpune

JDMurray wrote: »

They haven't hit 400 yet? I wonder if they posted Server+ beta exam articles to digg, slashdot, facebook, linkedin, and twitter.

Either they haven't or no one's interested...

I tried canceling my appointment and then scheduling again, but it's still showing my voucher as expiring in June...so I might be emailing Sharon later on today!

wd40

I got the Voucher number but could not register in July .. in the mail Sharon says:

Sharon Tierney wrote:

Please note that a request has recently been submitted to extend these vouchers to July 30th. It may take several days for this update to be implemented.

If your test provider advises that they cannot schedule this exam past June 30th, it is because their systems have not yet been updated with the extension.

I will wait for some time ..

joecontreras

I called Prometric and the representative that answered verified that my voucher was valid but had to be used before the 30th and that none of the testing centers in my area had any opening before then. She checked to see if there was any news of the extension and put me on hold several times before coming back and saying they knew nothing of it as of yet. I will try again tomorrow I guess.

UnixGeek

I previously had my exam scheduled for the 29th, but was able to reschedule for July 6th through Vue's website.

skrpune

Well I couldn't get another date in June at my test center and Prometric wasn't registering my voucher as being extended to July yet (and I didn't want to drag this out too much further & risk losing out on the beta), so I just bit the bullet and took it this morning as originally scheduled.

It wasn't that bad at all, although I'll feel really dumb for saying that if I don't pass . I am wishing I did a little more reviewing of things like iSCSI, SNMP/monitoring tools, etc. but all in all I think I did pretty well. I left comments on 9 questions total - mostly for clarification of the question, one to say that there was more than one right answer (really, I checked when I got home!), and at least one where they asked for what sounded like more than one answer but only let you choose one.

Now for the long wait until October...yeesh...

matradley

I completed the exam today. I did not find it overly difficult. I found a question or two I commented on that seemed to have more than one answer. Other than that, I believe I gave it a good shot towards certification. I should note that there are quite a few questions on VT.

ahson

Any news on the extended deadline for Prometric? I tried to schedule an exam on their website and they won't let me schedule it on July!! Have they finally updated their system now?

joecontreras

ahson wrote: »

Any news on the extended deadline for Prometric? I tried to schedule an exam on their website and they won't let me schedule it on July!! Have they finally updated their system now?

Nothing yet I guess. I emailed Sharon Tierney from CompTia this morning and asked her about the extension or seeing if I could get a Vue voucher instead (the testing center I use is a Prometric and a Vue center) but I haven't heard anything back yet. The testing center in my area only has testing dates available on July 2, 6, and 7 so I am hoping they get the extension complete before it's too late and I can't schedule the exam at all.

joecontreras

I just noticed on CompTia's website that you can't register for the Beta anymore. So, that must mean they reached the 400 test takers already and that would be why no email responses or possible voucher extensions. I guess that means the ones of us that didn't get the voucher extended didn't make the cut. A little disappointed because I shouldn't have been given a voucher if I wasn't going to be able to even get a chance to schedule the exam.

ahson

joecontreras wrote: »

I just noticed on CompTia's website that you can't register for the Beta anymore. So, that must mean they reached the 400 test takers already and that would be why no email responses or possible voucher extensions. I guess that means the ones of us that didn't get the voucher extended didn't make the cut. A little disappointed because I shouldn't have been given a voucher if I wasn't going to be able to even get a chance to schedule the exam.

I am not sure about that because when Sharon emailed me with the voucher, she clearly mentioned my voucher will be expired on JULY 31, but not June. I am guessing we (voucher holder) will still be able to schedule the exam, but need to wait for Prometric to update their system. Prometric is horrible.

skrpune

Yup, when you go to the link to sign up for the Beta, it's a dead link...looks like they've gotten enough interest (i.e., vouchers handed out) that they've closed open sign up for it but not enough results yet to officially close the exam.

ahson

skrpune wrote: »

Yup, when you go to the link to sign up for the Beta, it's a dead link...looks like they've gotten enough interest (i.e., vouchers handed out) that they've closed open sign up for it but not enough results yet to officially close the exam.

I am still not quite sure, do they only hand out 400 exact vouchers to 400 testers? Or even I have a voucher and it still possible that I might not be able to take the exam due to the 400 testers rule? Im confused

JDMurray

I would assume that a voucher is a ticket into the beta test. If you have a voucher then you have a seat in a testing center--if you can find a date and location that fits your schedule.

skrpune

JDMurray wrote: »

I would assume that a voucher is a ticket into the beta test. If you have a voucher then you have a seat in a testing center--if you can find a date and location that fits your schedule.

I would assume the same, except for what Sharon said in the email with the voucher number:

This voucher will expire on June 30th. However, once 400 candidates have received vouchers and taken the exam, we will terminate this offer. If we note that you have not registered or taken the exam prior to us reaching the goal of 400 exams, we will advise.

Soooo, that leads me to believe that they gave out over 400 vouchers and will end the offer if that happens before all the vouchers are used. I think they assume some people would request but not use the vouchers.

JDMurray

That does sound like CompTIA will give out more than 400 vouchers, but only honor the first 400 to actually sign up for an exam. Past experience has probably shown that a certain percentage (10-20%?) of gratis vouchers are never redeemed, making "voucher inflation" necessary to insure they get a certain number of test results.

The only safe thing to do is sign up for an exam date as soon as you get a free voucher, regardless if you plan to change the date or not. It may be that signing up for the exam guarentees you an exam seat, not just receiving the voucher.

Piers

whenever I try and book at my two nearest Prometric centers, after selecting the location, I get the one line message on the next screen "Retake Policy Notification."

a quick search tells me this means all the slots are full.. grrr

skrpune

Piers wrote: »

whenever I try and book at my two nearest Prometric centers, after selecting the location, I get the one line message on the next screen "Retake Policy Notification."

a quick search tells me this means all the slots are full.. grrr

I say try to email Sharon & see what the deal is - when I told her I got that message when trying to reschedule, she said she could give me a new voucher.

Piers

skrpune wrote: »

I say try to email Sharon & see what the deal is - when I told her I got that message when trying to reschedule, she said she could give me a new voucher.

doubt she could do anything, it's a prometric thing. I hadn't even entered the voucher number yet..

joecontreras

Piers wrote: »

doubt she could do anything, it's a prometric thing. I hadn't even entered the voucher number yet..

I was finally able to schedule my exam using the voucher on Thursday. The two testing centers in my area were full except for the 7th of July so that is when I will be taking it. I never heard anything back from Sherry but just tried using the voucher every morning until it worked. If they have 400 test takers now I just barely got in under the wire obviously. Now on to study. It's been a long time since I have sat an exam.

jfmcaninch

Hi All,

I requested a voucher on 6/22 and replied back to Sharon on 6/30. Just received my voucher code today that expires 7/31/09. Went to the Prometric Site and tried to book my exam and notice the "exam retake policy" message for my first few choices. Found my last close test center and only had tomorrow to take the test. At least I have 24 hours to study . I am solely going to use JD Murray's 2009 Objectives. Thanks for the guide JD Murray!

wd40

I took the exam yesterday, I think it was like A++ it just takes A+ up one level.

joecontreras

wd40 wrote: »

I took the exam yesterday, I think it was like A++ it just takes A+ up one level.

I also took the exam yesterday afternoon. Not sure what to say about it. Seemed about 60% (straight forward) easier type questions and 40% questions that were difficult or a little confusing because of unclear questions or insufficient amount of information to answer the question.

On about 5 or so of the questions I will admit that I had no clue about the technology because I haven't had to use it in any of my Server environments and wasn't sure how to correctly answer the question. Some didn't even really have the right answer in my opinion and my experience. Even some questions made you assume a lot of stuff to even come up with a guess at an answer and hopefully those questions will be left off the final exam. I left comments on all the ones I had a serious issue with and with some of the ones with misspellings and wrong sentence structure.

If you have Server experience, especially with the hardware side and you know a good deal about most of the objectives you should have no problems with this exam in beta or even when in the final version. No real trick questions. Just more of a "do you know your stuff" type of exam.

Now to wait until Octoberish.........

TravR1

They sent me 2 vouchers, haha. I told her I already took it like a month ago or more. This test was definitely like A+. I think anyone with A+ and Network+ can probably wing this exam experience or not. At any rate, the Exam Cram for the last Server+ book should do more than enough to fill in the holes for people with A+ and Network+. This cert would probably look good paired with the MCSA/E but by itself is probably not worth much.

I'd be very surprised if they said I failed.

matradley

Under CompTIA's Exam Development section, they are doing these particular workshops:

We are currently recruiting for the following workshops:

* CompTIA Server+ Cut Score Workshop, Sept. 28-Oct.2
* CompTIA Linux+ Cut Score Workshop, Oct. 5-9
* CompTIA CDIA+ Job Task Analysis, Nov. 2-4

darkerosxx

So we'll probably find out in October if we passed, assuming that workshop is successful.

skrpune

darkerosxx wrote: »

So we'll probably find out in October if we passed, assuming that workshop is successful.

Yeah, I could have sworn the target for releasing results is October, so it sounds like they'll be right on time if they gather up folks for the workshop. I'm not too concerned that I did poorly, but I don't want to get overconfident and "jinx" myself.

120nm4n

Has anyone else here pretty much forgetten that they took this? lol

JDMurray

No, not forgotten. We're just living our lives and working on other certs until one day an email from CompTIA arrives in our inboxes.

skrpune

JDMurray wrote: »

No, not forgotten. We're just living our lives and working on other certs until one day an email from CompTIA arrives in our inboxes.

Yeah, I haven't forgotten either...although I did take a few exams in a relatively short period of time, so I tend to get mixed up on what I took when. I just remember that when I took the Server+ beta, October seemed SOOOOOO far away. Now it's just around the corner. Man, this summer went way too fast.

matradley

There have been more changes to the score cut dates:

We are currently recruiting for the following workshops:

* CompTIA Linux+ Cut Score Workshop, Oct. 19-23
* CompTIA Server+ Cut Score Workshop, Nov. 2-6
* CompTIA CDIA+ Job Task Analysis, Nov. 9-11

Seems like we will not be hearing anything until late November now.