Switch failed...

So just failed the switch test with a 698, 790 needed to pass. Ran into a huge issue on a sim where the VLAN's that the question was talking about vanished, also talking about non existant VLAN's, bad typo errors. Who do i email/call to see about getting a free retake voucher for such a poorly put together test?

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tndfr

JZegers wrote: »

So just failed the switch test with a 698, 790 needed to pass. Ran into a huge issue on a sim where the VLAN's that the question was talking about vanished, also talking about non existant VLAN's, bad typo errors. Who do i email/call to see about getting a free retake voucher for such a poorly put together test?

i ran into the exact same problems few weeks back, i have added comments on those questions but obviously they havent done anything about it, i was as pissed off as you when i failed the first time.

i passed it the second time but i have no respect and loyalty to Cisco whatsoever now.

Chris_

Sorry to hear that. I have spoken to a few people who have taken this exam and everyone says it's terrible - the language and ambiguity, not the technical content.
Surely if all these people are leaving comments then it's a disgrace that cisco haven't done anything about it.
Does anyone know who official complaints should go through, is it Pearson or Cisco themselves? And does anyone have any tales of getting a free retest based in a complaint?

down77

A proctor for another organization once explained the appeals process to me as being similar to going through a District Court of Appeals (he happened to be an attorney). If an argument had not been submitted during trial and was introduced only on appeal it generally holds less weight or may be outright rejected during the appeals process. Likewise, failure to notify the test center and going right to Vue/Cisco may hold less weight since the issue was not brought up during the exam experience. Then again, it appears many people have complained about this one.

I would start with the testing center and work my way up from there. Since you took the exam today the issues should be fresh in your mind and I would venture to say they may not have submitted your scores back to Vue yet. Talk with the proctor/test center and see if they are willing to open a ticket on your behalf with Vue AND feel free to notify Vue/Cisco as well about the issues you experienced during your test after you talk with the testing center.

My apologies for your experience and as tndfr said, he passed on the second attempt and so will you! Keep at it and good luck!!!

tomaifauchai

Sorry my friend, you were close to nail it though. Don't lose your motivation and keep it up! Beter luck next time !! Champaign will be better once you pass !

Daniel333

Yeah, it was pretty bad. A number of show commands that I normally use didn't work. Etc etc. I put it on the back burner until Cisco gets their act together. You might want to move onto Tshoot in the mean time.

mikej412

If you have an issue with an exam question you should use the comment option and document the issue, take your best shot at answering the question, and move on with your life (and the exam). There are ungraded BETA questions on the exam, so if you spend 30 minutes on an ungraded BETA SIM and then run out of time on the exam, it's because of poor time management. At least that's what you should tell yourself during the exam (it's a BETA Question) and cut your losses at the 10 minutes mark (or less if the graphic/exhibits are messed up).

And let the proctor know -- it may just be an issue with a raggedy PC and a reboot may cost you a couple of minutes but fix the display problem. Between complaining to the proctor and using the the comment option you may have started building a case to complain to Vue and try for a free retake.

shednik

mikej412 wrote: »

If you have an issue with an exam question you should use the comment option and document the issue, take your best shot at answering the question, and move on with your life (and the exam). There are ungraded BETA questions on the exam, so if you spend 30 minutes on an ungraded BETA SIM and then run out of time on the exam, it's because of poor time management. At least that's what you should tell yourself during the exam (it's a BETA Question) and cut your losses at the 10 minutes mark (or less if the graphic/exhibits are messed up).

And let the proctor know -- it may just be an issue with a raggedy PC and a reboot may cost you a couple of minutes but fix the display problem. Between complaining to the proctor and using the the comment option you may have started building a case to complain to Vue and try for a free retake.

Normally I would agree with you Mike, but this exam it pitiful.

Spelling errors, grammatical errors, incoherent statements, I even had a drag and drop with answers with an identical meaning.

It was a poorly made test to say the least, and I had my SE escalate it for me internally at Cisco. They claimed to have found "some" of the issues I stated and were working to fix them. I will find out when I re-take, they did atleast give me a voucher for a retake. Complaining to Vue unless the exam itself malfunctioned is a waste of time, because they don't care about the content of the exam just if it works.

billyr

VUE are not responsible for the exam content only the delivery. Any refunds are up to Cisco. As has been mentioned if problems occur fill in the comment section and get the proctor to submit an incident report. You will still have to contact Cisco on your own, VUE won't do this for you.

mikej412

shednik wrote: »

Spelling errors, grammatical errors, incoherent statements, I even had a drag and drop with answers with an identical meaning.

In my 25+ Cisco exams I've seen all those problems -- just never all in the same exam

If no one complains or uses the comment option it will never get fixed.

pert

mikej412 wrote: »

If you have an issue with an exam question you should use the comment option and document the issue, take your best shot at answering the question, and move on with your life (and the exam). There are ungraded BETA questions on the exam, so if you spend 30 minutes on an ungraded BETA SIM and then run out of time on the exam, it's because of poor time management. At least that's what you should tell yourself during the exam (it's a BETA Question) and cut your losses at the 10 minutes mark (or less if the graphic/exhibits are messed up).

And let the proctor know -- it may just be an issue with a raggedy PC and a reboot may cost you a couple of minutes but fix the display problem. Between complaining to the proctor and using the the comment option you may have started building a case to complain to Vue and try for a free retake.

I have a problem with the comments system. Why would you ever write a comment on a test? Even if it was the worst question ever asked and it was about underwater basket weaving I am not going to write a comment. I drive 80 miles and spend hundreds of dollars in study materials, test fees, and missed work to take a test. Even spending 6 seconds writing a comment is 6 seconds I could be using to figure out what that question is asking or how to work around the problem. What if I get to the last question and needed those 6 seconds to get the answer right and it would be the difference between a pass and a fail?

I understand why the timer doesn't stop for you to write comments during a test, but I don't understand why you can't be given 2 minutes after the exam to go back and write comments. People say its because it will help people braindump...well so what? These people are cheating anyway, I'm more concerned about how it affects the legitimate users. I've had questions before I really wanted to comment on, but when I'm taking the test I'm worried about myself, not about how Cisco looks, I'm not giving up some of my limited resources to help them during the exam.

Undy

Not to mention the errors in the study materials as well. The further I get though the SWITCH Official Cert Guide the more errors I come across. Not to mention just flat out wrong information. Double check your notes against other books or Cisco's website. I just expect more from Cisco.

When I took the BSCI, the testing center computer crashed during a lab. And even worse, after I finished the exam it said please wait for like 8 minutes before telling me my score. 8 minutes seemed like an eternity.