Exam Error with Prometric?

Hi,

This morning I took exam 70-648 to upgrade my MCSE 2003 to 2008. I've done a number of these exams in the past, and they always follow the same format, the question screen, with the question number you're on, and the total number of questions in the top left, i.e. '1 of 29', then when you get to the last question you have the review screen, and when you end the review, it ends the exam.

However, this morning I got to question 29, then went to the review screen, reviewed all of the questions, just to make sure I was happy, then when back in the review screen, clicked 'end review' a pop up appeared as normal saying 'if you end the review this will end the exam, do you want to continue' I clicked 'Yes' the screen went blank, but instead of getting the 'cngratulations you've passed' or 'sorry you failed' screen, I got another round of questions, showing '1 of 29' again in the top left, but the timer was still counting down from my previous screen.

Is this normal now a days? I've never had the exam in 2 parts, but it has been 18 months since I last took an exam. I don't remeber reading anything in the welcome screen blurb, and I'd expect it to say '1 of 58' in the top left, if there are going to be 58 questions!

In the end I went to the exam receptionist and asked her if it had restarted, but she didn't know, and ended up calling Prometric technical support, who exported a folder on the server, and will analyse and let me know within 48 hours. However, they couldn't tell me if it was only 29 questions, or if there we 2 sections of 29 questions each, so I'm left wondering if I only completed 1/2 of the exam!

Can anyone else whoes taken 070-648 with prometic let me know there experience? Did you get 2 rounds of 29 questions, or was it only 1 round?

Thanks

Ben

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Comments

bson

Do you mean you are upgrading your MCSA?
only reason i ask is that the 70-648 exam is for the MCSA not MCSE, 70-649 i think is for the MCSE upgrade.

The 70-648 exam is indeed split between two tests as it is an upgrade it covers material from both 70-640 and 70-642, so if you pass you gain creditation on both of these- i know this as i have passed the upgrade 70-648 for my MCSA 2003 to 2008.

Its a bit of a pain that as its split into two tests you cant review youre 1st set of questions (it tells you you cant go back),

Did you complete the exam?

KeithC

Were they the same questions the second time around? I remember having to go back through the questions to be able to add comments. The questions were not changeable they were grayed out with my answers. So you did not get the score report and or congratulations / sorry you did not pass?

bjblackmore

Hi

Thanks for the replies.

Looking at my certification path seemed to suggest that I had to take 70-648 & 70-649 to upgrade (see attached image), so I assumed you had to do both exams to cover off everything!

Second set of questions were different. I just wasn't expecting it to be in 2 parts. I thought it would have said "Question 1 of 58" as its 1 exam, even if it does cover questions from 70-640 and 70-642.

Didn't complete the exam, as when I spoke to the exam adjudicator or whatever you call them (checks your ID & sits you), and she eventually phoned Prometric helpdesk, they said they thought it was an error, and they pulled off the directory on the server for analysis. I did ask if I should just continue as I didn't want to get into a situation where I'd only taken 50% of the exam, but they just said 'no, it looks like an error, we suggest you end now, go home and we'll contact you with in 48 hours'.

Bit miffed now, as I would have been happy to coarry on if the adjudicator/prometric helpdesk had just said 'yeah, its in 2 parts' or 'complete it just in case'.

Ben

MrAgent

Im getting ready to take 648. Glad you mentioned this. I knew the exam covered 2 exams, but I would think it would be 1 exam, not 2. Hope your situation gets sorted out. Thanks for the heads up.

novovictus

the 70-649 was the same way with 3 parts, the 640, 642, and 643.

Tommy_D

I took this exam this morning and was surprised as well. Mine said each exam name at the top so could see that they were 2 seperate tests. Anyone know how they score these? I assumed it would be an average of both bit I got 863 on one and 552 on the other and got a fail for the whole thing... If you average them I still scored over 700...

earweed

Your final score is the lower of the two (or 3 if you took the MCSE upgrade). If you scored a thousand on one part and a 699 on the other part you would still not pass. They don't average this test.

novovictus

Tommy_D wrote: »

Anyone know how they score these? I assumed it would be an average of both bit I got 863 on one and 552 on the other and got a fail for the whole thing...

They definitely take the lowest score of all the testlets as your final score. on my 70-649 my scores where about 450, 790, and 850. My average on the actual scores was over 700 but failed because of the single lower score.

Tommy_D

Thanks for the info! I wish I would have known that, I knew a couple areas would be a challenge but every other normal exam I have ever done I could overcome a minor 10% category with a strong showing in the remaining 90%...I guess I'll try to retake it tomorrow.

Speaking of, anyone had trouble using a second shot before? I can't get the prometric site to issue me the voucher to schedule my retake.

MrAgent

You have to wait 72 hours or something like that to get your second shot.

bjblackmore

So, to upgrade my MCSE 2003, do I need to take 70-648 & 70-649, or just the latter? As I said in my previous post, the certification path shows both exams, which is why I thought I had to do both! Happy if it's just the 1 exam required!

MrAgent

To upgrade your MCSE to MCITP:EA you need the following 3 exams
647
649
680

To upgrade it SA you need 2 exams
646
648

If you want to upgrade to both you need 4 exams
646
647
649
680

See this link for more info
https://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/certification/mcse.aspx#tab4