How are SIMS graded

I noticed in a previous post that people were stating that they would determine how to complete the sim first and then reset it, then redoing the sim only to complete it with the fewest amount of input.
My question is: how are the sims graded? Are they graded by the fewest amount of input or by the final correct answer?

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dynamik

They don't disclose how they grade those, so just try to get them right

Jordus

Disclosing that the sims can be reset should be an NDA violation.

Its borderline cheating to poke through every portion of the sim to figure out the answer and just reset and do it perfect that time through.

You should be ashamed of yourself if you do this, as it only proves that you had to subvert the flaws in the system to pass without actually knowing the material.

RobertKaucher

Jordus, chill out. Just because you reset the sim so as to redo it perfectly does not amount to cheating. All it means is that the individual believes he/she may have made an error or felt he/she did not fully understand the objectives. For all we know there may be a penalty for hitting reset. NOT ONE OF US knows how the tests are scored.

I remember on the 290 I probably hit reset on every sim just to be sure I had gotten all of the objectives. The reset button is there to help people pass because mistakes happen and because the questions can be complicated.

If MS felt this was cheating they would remove the button. Being sure you have completed the sim properly before submitting the answer is not cheating any more than going back and reviewing a multiple choice question you think you may have gotten wrong and changing your answer because you reread the question and understood it better.

Jordus

RobertKaucher wrote: »

Jordus, chill out. Just because you reset the sim so as to redo it perfectly does not amount to cheating. All it means is that the individual believes he/she may have made an error or felt he/she did not fully understand the objectives. For all we know there may be a penalty for hitting reset. NOT ONE OF US knows how the tests are scored.

I remember on the 290 I probably hit reset on every sim just to be sure I had gotten all of the objectives. The reset button is there to help people pass because mistakes happen and because the questions can be complicated.

If MS felt this was cheating they would remove the button. Being sure you have completed the sim properly before submitting the answer is not cheating any more than going back and reviewing a multiple choice question you think you may have gotten wrong and changing your answer because you reread the question and understood it better.

Resetting itself isnt cheating, but ive seen a few poeple post that they sat there and dug through every possible portion of the SIM they could to find the answers. Akin to not knowing what they are doing but just figuring it out by process of looking. It would be like bringing in a laptop to use to look up answers when they ask you about a syntax for a command line tool or something.

RobertKaucher

No it's not like brining in a laptop because you have agreed to a legal contract that you will not do such a thing. The reset feature is a comnponent of the exam provided by Microsoft. It's not cheating because they allow it. I am sure the smart people at Microsoft considered this.

The sims are to gauge performance. Can you do this (or figure out how to do this) in the alloted time. The original poster never suggested blindly stumbling through a sim. He stated "determine how to complete the sim," which could simply mean determine how best to complete the sim or determine how to most efficiently complete the sim and not "figure out how to complete the sim because you have no idea what the f you are doing," which is how you interpreted it.

I am saying this because I respect the knowledge you have shown in this forum: you are, in my opinion, too quick to accuse others of cheating when you do not have enough information regarding their backgrounds, motives, or intentions in their posts.

Edit: Jordus, I reread your comment and you didn’t accuse him of cheating so what I said is incorrect and I offer my apologies for being overly assumptive. But I stand by what I said about this not being cheating.

goforthbmerry

Jordus,

I guess you think I am a cheater. I do go through the sims and look for anything that I might be missing. However, remember, there is no way to test whether or not your final solution is correct. If the final answer is not correct, the sim is marked incorrect. I don't think that if you really didn't know anything about the operating system that you could come in and "fake" the sim. You still have to have a clue. In the real world when a user comes to you with an issue, you poke around at the settings. I don't know anyone that just made the 6 clicks necessary and let the user go on their way. Remember the exam certifies that you have the skills and knowledge to complete the job in a reasonable amount of time. You have to be able to look at the machine and figure things out. Memorization of steps isn't learning the OS. Understanding how to solve problems is what is more important. Microsoft still leaves plenty of questions where they can ask you for the details and the minutia. This doesn't mean that all of the regular questions are about minor details but there are certainly a few on every exam.

As for resetting the sims, I don't know how the sims are graded. None of us do. I see no reason to take the chance that too many incorrect clicks mean that my answer is counted as wrong. Heck, in my every day work I will occassionally "misclick" a button. I am allowed to go back and click what I need again (in most cases). On the exam, I would rather be safe than sorry. I also wonder how revealing that the sim can be reset should be a violation of NDA. It isn't a secret. It is the little button that says "reset". Is it a secret that to go to the next question you click "next"?

I know that you think I should sit in a corner "ashamed" of what I have done. Unfortunately, I can't. I don't have time. I actually have to use the OS to help users every day I work. Luckily for me and my users, I have the skills and knowledge to do so.

p.s.

jjshornet88

I didn't bring this up to accuse anyone of cheating. Sorry to ask the question...

rfult001

"the candidate is evaluated on the accuracy of the end result, not the path that they took to complete the task."

http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/certification/exam.aspx#tab4

dynamik

jjshornet88 wrote: »

I didn't bring this up to accuse anyone of cheating. Sorry to ask the question...

It was a valid question. There's no need to apologize for irrational outbursts

goforthbmerry

jjshornet88-
You certainly did nothing wrong. I was a bit over-zealous with my response to Jordus. I think I took his response personally because the first time I took the an exam I wasn't careful enough with them. This time I was very careful with them. I certainly feel that I knew the OS well enough to pass and did not need to "subvert the flaws of the system". I suppose what Jordus was trying to say is that if you don't know whether you need "User Accounts" or "System" for a particular situation then you don't know the OS well enough that you should pass. Conversely, I think it is a good idea to take your time and becareful on certification exams. No one wants to take them twice if they don't have too. If you really don't have a clue, your time will run out and you won't know the multiple choice questions either. I believe Microsoft put the reset button there for just that reason. They certainly did not have to.

I love this forum and respect those on it. I am especially appreciative of people like Dynamik who have been on the forum forever and always willing to help others. If my tone sounds more dramatic than I intended it to, forgive me. I extend the olive branch

RobertKaucher

jjshornet88 wrote: »

I didn't bring this up to accuse anyone of cheating. Sorry to ask the question...

I was just over-reacting to Jordus' comment... You should not have taken any issue with it. It happens on the Interwebs some times. Like Dynamik said, it was valid question.

RobertKaucher

rfult001 wrote: »

"the candidate is evaluated on the accuracy of the end result, not the path that they took to complete the task."

http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/certification/exam.aspx#tab4

Now THAT was informative.

Jordus

I wasnt really directing that to the OP. I'll ready comments about a topic for weeks and then just make a comment in the next thread i see.

the question was valid.

The problem is that some poeple wont know anything about Vista but will find their answers in the sim solely by poking around and eliminating the wrong areas. There is no way to really control this or weed out people that do it. Perhaps a time limit on the individual sims would be ideal.

*shrug*

skrpune

Jordus wrote: »

The problem is that some poeple wont know anything about Vista but will find their answers in the sim solely by poking around and eliminating the wrong areas. There is no way to really control this or weed out people that do it. Perhaps a time limit on the individual sims would be ideal.

*shrug*

Not trying to be difficult here, but how would someone be able to find the right answer if they didn't know the right answer in the first place? You don't know you've found the solution unless you already know what the solution is. If entire exams were simulations, then yes, it would kinda suck if you could just poke around to find the right path to what you want to do, but exams are balanced - there are sims and there are 'straight' questions, so anyone who can only remember how to do things by reviewing and resetting sims probably won't be passing anyway unless they're a really good guesser.

My humble opinion is that if MS stops making sims with umpteen different goals that require you to get into several different areas and do several different tasks all under the umbrella of one sim question, and if I can get over my obsessive compulsive tendencies, THEN I'll stop going over my sims multiple times to make sure I got them right and hit all the things I was supposed to.