Microsoft's retake policy

ImTheKing

Hello all,

I took one of the SA tests a while back and unfortunately bombed it. I took it again today after doing a lot of studying and missed a passing score by 19 points.

MS's policy is to wait 14 days after a second failing score -- does anyone know if it's possible to get this waiveD?

14 days is a long time to wait for missing one question. It seems like it's taunting me at this point. One more question right and I would have passed .

Essendon

Nope, you've got to wait 14 days. While it may suck big time, use the 2 weeks to study up on your weaker areas. You never know how hard the next one's going to be.

MeatCatalogue

This seems to be a little known fact but Microsoft Exams are not linear. This means that your 19 points does not necessarily mean it was 1 question away from passing.

I know for example that on my 70-642 I only missed 3 or 4 questions yet I only scored 880. On my 70-643 I missed at least 15 (possibly 20 out) questions and scored an 800. Somehow MS ranks its questions based on difficulty. I must have done better on the "hard" questions and worse on the "easy" ones. Or something to that effect. MS keeps this secret of course. The only "linear" part is 100% right = 1000, and 100% wrong = 0.

Now back to on topic: Yes, you can call MS and talk to them. I know a guy who failed an exam 5 times in 6 months and had to call them to get his 6th try (in which he passed, some sql exam) but you can always call MS learning and plead your case.

Essendon

I concur that the MS exams arent linear. Curious, how do you know you missed 3-4 questions and not 1-2 or 6-7? You cant really tell which question carries more weight or any weight at all. MS have been known to have a dummy question here and there, apparently to weed out dumpers. 100% correct = 1000, but 100% wrong = 300. The exams are scaled between 300 and 1000.

ImTheKing

MeatCatalogue wrote: »

This seems to be a little known fact but Microsoft Exams are not linear. This means that your 19 points does not necessarily mean it was 1 question away from passing.

I know for example that on my 70-642 I only missed 3 or 4 questions yet I only scored 880. On my 70-643 I missed at least 15 (possibly 20 out) questions and scored an 800. Somehow MS ranks its questions based on difficulty. I must have done better on the "hard" questions and worse on the "easy" ones. Or something to that effect. MS keeps this secret of course. The only "linear" part is 100% right = 1000, and 100% wrong = 0.

Now back to on topic: Yes, you can call MS and talk to them. I know a guy who failed an exam 5 times in 6 months and had to call them to get his 6th try (in which he passed, some sql exam) but you can always call MS learning and plead your case.

Well, I called them yesterday morning and was told if I sent an email that they would be able to do it. I got canned response this morning just restating the policy. I called today and was just told repeatedly that it wasn't possible . Should have got the first guys name unfortunately.

sratakhin

Just curious, has anybody ever gotten 1000 on an MS exam?

MeatCatalogue

Essendon wrote: »

I concur that the MS exams arent linear. Curious, how do you know you missed 3-4 questions and not 1-2 or 6-7? You cant really tell which question carries more weight or any weight at all. MS have been known to have a dummy question here and there, apparently to weed out dumpers. 100% correct = 1000, but 100% wrong = 300. The exams are scaled between 300 and 1000.

According to someone with Microsoft Learning who wrote this blog, you are incorrect. The exam varies between 0 and 1000:

The truth about Microsoft Exam Scoring: 700 Does NOT Equal 70% « IT Training and Certification

As for missing 3 or 4 - I know because I aced that exam. I had marked only 7 questions for review, remembered every one of the 7 and went back to check to see what the right answer was to them. Thus only missed 3 or 4 so should have received a 940 or 920.

Thus my "884" is firstly mathematically impossible with 50 questions, secondly, if every question was weighted equally I would have received the 940 or 920.