How much would you want to pay for test prep software?

Discussion in 'Training & Development' started by ericrollo, Jun 13, 2009.

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How much would you want to pay for testing software?

  1. Illegally download for free?

    5 vote(s)
    17.9%
  2. £25 - £30

    11 vote(s)
    39.3%
  3. £30 - £50

    5 vote(s)
    17.9%
  4. £50 - £100

    5 vote(s)
    17.9%
  5. £100+

    2 vote(s)
    7.1%
  1. ericrollo

    ericrollo Megabyte Poster

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    How much would you want to pay for testing (Test Prep Software like Boson and Measure Up) software?

    I'm not complaining about the prices or anything i am just interested.
     
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  2. dmarsh
    Honorary Member 500 Likes Award

    dmarsh Petabyte Poster

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    Surely they should pay me for testing their software ? :D
     
  3. Bluerinse
    Honorary Member

    Bluerinse Exabyte Poster

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    Sorry your poll question isn't very clear.

    Do you mean *test prep* software, like Boson, Measureup, Transcender etc?
     
    Certifications: C&G Electronics - MCSA (W2K) MCSE (W2K)
  4. ericrollo

    ericrollo Megabyte Poster

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    Yes sorry about that.
     
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  5. Bluerinse
    Honorary Member

    Bluerinse Exabyte Poster

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    No problem.. i took the liberty of changing the title of the thread too. :)
     
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  6. Kitkatninja
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    Kitkatninja aka me, myself & I Moderator

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    I prefer free (when works pays for it), however if I purchase it, then anywhere from £25-£50. Normally when the vendors have their sales :)

    -Ken
     
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  7. Sparky
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    Sparky Zettabyte Poster Moderator

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    £100

    if its more than that then I`ll gamble and take the exam. If it doesnt work out then I`ll take it again :biggrin
     
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  8. BosonMichael
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    BosonMichael Yottabyte Poster

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    I'd be interested to know what nimrod voted "illegally download for free". :dry In truth, it shouldn't even be an option in this poll.

    If you want high quality, it costs money. Good technical writers aren't cheap. You wouldn't want your practice exams written by someone without enough technical experience to command a decent salary, would you? I wouldn't.
     
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  9. soundian

    soundian Gigabyte Poster

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    It all depends on how much a resit would cost and the quality of the questions (and answers) I'm paying for. Also, maybe how confident I felt.
    Personally I reckon about 50% of the resit cost would tempt me if the quality was good. Much more than 50% and I'd probably just take my chances.
     
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  10. UKDarkstar
    Honorary Member

    UKDarkstar Terabyte Poster

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    It also depends on your circumsatnces. At the moment, just on benefits, I'd only look at the £25 range and I'd have to be really convinced it was gonna help (i.e. better than anything that came with books) or else I just can't justify the spend when I need to eat !

    If I was in work etc. and "money no object" then I'd probably go for anything up to about half the cost of the exam.
     
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  11. ericrollo

    ericrollo Megabyte Poster

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    Lets face it its quite common for anything digital.
     
    Certifications: MOS Master, A+, MCP 271
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  12. m3lt

    m3lt Byte Poster

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    Hypocrisy roams the land.

    I doubt some of the unemployed folks on a £49 quid a week life style will ditch anything above £5 to an exam prep material.

    Sure they do cost and they cost because of value they add and the time it took the authors, but between feeding your family and feeding my family, the choice is clear.

    So let's quit the BS and tick the correct answer once in a while.

    PS: I am not unemployed and I do buy my stuff legally... because my eBooks printed on my laser printer cost way too much! :twisted: :batman
     
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  13. Fergal1982

    Fergal1982 Petabyte Poster

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    Personally, I'd like to see some more flexible options from prep providers mate.

    I fully agree that you get what you pay for, and if you want quality, you pay for it. However, there has to be an understanding that, like m3lt says, some people just financially cant afford some of the better quality products without going for piracy.

    What id like to see more of, is some sort of online version, that people could pay for a couple of days use from. Sure, price it so that if you plan on using it over several months its going to be cheaper, but anything up to a month works out a bit cheaper (or even just make a week or two a reasonably bit cheaper).

    If nothing else, it provides an extra income for the company. In some cases it will even generate more business, as people pay for 1 week, love the product and buy the full package. In other cases, it generates money where you may not necessarily get any at the moment.

    I know some companies do similar things, but id like to see more of it.
     
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  14. dmarsh
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    dmarsh Petabyte Poster

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    MeasureUp offer an online 30 day subscription, it costs around £40 with current discount which is a little pricey (i'm pretty sure they used to be cheaper)...

    I think it would be good to have more affordable options in the £25-£30 range.
     
  15. m3lt

    m3lt Byte Poster

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    Agreed Fergal. I also think that a business model where you lower the price of either the service or the material, but at the same time increase volumes sales because people can afford it.

    In reality we would all want to genuinely purchase the products and give the credit and payment to the authors.

    Not everyone can afford to pay up to £50 in one type of course material (prep exams) at this day and age, and while I am not a skint bastard, I would prefer to have a subscription model on a monthly basis than forking out the whole shebang in one go.
    The benefits of it would be:

    1. You get a lower exponential income at first, but in the long run it is actually more.

    2. You will build a loyal customer who will not only use the materials you have at the moment, but if you launch new purchaseable materials that require one off payments, that client is more likely to purchase it because it knows the on-going consistent quality you delivered throughout his experience with your company.

    3. Lastly but also extremely important, it doesnt dent your wallet heavily.

    I think we could add and discuss more about this, but I think I speak for the majority of us here that we genuinely would like to purchase things, and we obviously do most of the times, but there are also times that we simply cant afford.
    And I am not saying by comparisson that when we are poor we would go around "stealing" (because that is the term) of good hard working authors, but simply we wont buy. And there are of course some of us who cannot be bothered to go to a local library and resort to get illegal downloads online.

    It is a very complex matter and it dwells between our own moral judgement as well, so there is a lot to talk about and I would like to see the opinion of those involved in making such materials, to speak here and share their opinions about this.

    :)
     
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  16. JK2447
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    JK2447 Petabyte Poster Administrator Premium Member

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    I agree mate. I think there should be a sliding scale whereby you can purchase a decent product for £25 say, but can opt for the ultimate edition for up to £50. Purely just because you can manage the costs of a certification better IMO so maybe you got your books cheaper and have more money for practise exams, or vice versa, some of my books cost a fortune so I'd be looking to save on my pracky exams in that situ. Cheers, Jim
     
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  17. JK2447
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    JK2447 Petabyte Poster Administrator Premium Member

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    I agree mate, no ones getting any respect off me for illegal downloads. Stuff like that is why I want to get into Information Security and digital forensics. If they download transcender, boson etc their probably downloading brain dumps as well. Ah don't get me started ha ha Jim
     
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  18. UKDarkstar
    Honorary Member

    UKDarkstar Terabyte Poster

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    I suppose it also depends on who is buying the material i.e. individuals for themselves or corporates for their staff.

    To come back to my earlier point tho' about exam prices, if you take a MS exam for example costing £88 in the UK, I wouldn't want to be paying over the £30 - £40 mark for a "mock"
     
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  19. JK2447
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    JK2447 Petabyte Poster Administrator Premium Member

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    Likewise the CompTIA exams are dearer again so £25 is I'd wanna pay for their prep exams myself
     
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  20. BosonMichael
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    BosonMichael Yottabyte Poster

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    That's be nice. Unfortunately, if we offered our product at that price, our customers would pay that price and we'd have to let people go to stay afloat. Then we'd either have to compromise product offerings or product quality. You can't have good quality and not pay for it. You can't.
     
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