Badly Worded Questions?

Discussion in 'A+' started by Gogs, Sep 1, 2010.

  1. Gogs

    Gogs Bit Poster

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    Hi folks,

    I just sat my 701 & 702 today, and although I passed with "good" scores I felt that some of the questions were pretty badly written. As did my colleague who sat at the same time. As part of my job I had to do the 601 & 602 only about 2 months ago, but don't recall the questions being so decidely iffy.

    Just wondering if anyone else felt this way or was it just me?

    Gogs
     
    Certifications: in Signature
    WIP: MCITP: Server Administrator (646) , Security+
  2. michael78

    michael78 Terabyte Poster

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    I remember sitting my A+ exams about 7 years ago and thinking the same thing that some of the questions were really badly worded and looked like they had been written by an 8 year old. Also thought the exam was poorly if at all localised for the UK.
     
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  3. BosonMichael
    Honorary Member Highly Decorated Member Award 500 Likes Award

    BosonMichael Yottabyte Poster

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    I wholeheartedly agree... the questions ARE poorly written, and I've said so for years.

    CompTIA's questions are written by "Subject Matter Experts", or SMEs. Know what qualifies you to be an SME? Passing a previous version of the corresponding CompTIA exam and being able to travel to Chicago (NOT reimbursed) for a daily stipend of $300. Take out the hotel, food, and travel costs, and I don't know too many ACTUAL "subject matter experts" who would sacrifice vacation time for such a small amount of money. You'd have to live in Chicago, not make much of a salary, or be unemployed to make it worthwhile.

    Additionally... question writing is an art. It is easy for an untrained writer to create a question with unintended "correct" answers, or to create choices where none of them truly answer the question. Add that to the fact that most techs don't write very well... and you get the reason why CompTIAs questions are poorly worded.

    All that said... if you truly understand the concepts in A+, there aren't enough poorly written questions to cause you to fail. Just the fact that you *realize* that the questions are poorly worded should give you a bit of confidence about your level of knowledge. :)
     
    Certifications: CISSP, MCSE+I, MCSE: Security, MCSE: Messaging, MCDST, MCDBA, MCTS, OCP, CCNP, CCDP, CCNA Security, CCNA Voice, CNE, SCSA, Security+, Linux+, Server+, Network+, A+
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  4. Josiahb

    Josiahb Gigabyte Poster

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    I found the same thing with both the A+ and N+, I was saved by the fact that the practice exams I'd used (from a reputable vendor who shall remain nameless) suffered from exactly the same problem so I was fully prepared for the odd turns of phrase and ambiguous answers which formed the bulk of the exam!

    Thats either genius on the part of the practice test vendor or a fantastic **** up by both parties!
     
    Certifications: A+, Network+, MCDST, ACA – Mac Integration 10.10
  5. Simonvm

    Simonvm Kilobyte Poster

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    Hehe, yesterday I was doing the practice exams that came with the Mike Meyers' Certification Passport.
    Some questions had twice the same answer in them. Worst of all, the answer that should've been the correct one, seemed to be replaced by a duplicate incorrect one :rolleyes:

    It was something like this:

    Q: What service allows for time synchronisation between all network clients?

    A WINS
    B DNS
    C WINS
    D NETBIOS
     
    Last edited: Sep 1, 2010
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  6. BosonMichael
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    BosonMichael Yottabyte Poster

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    Name and shame! Hey, don't you want other people to have access to the same poorly worded questions that got you through the exam? :twisted:
     
    Certifications: CISSP, MCSE+I, MCSE: Security, MCSE: Messaging, MCDST, MCDBA, MCTS, OCP, CCNP, CCDP, CCNA Security, CCNA Voice, CNE, SCSA, Security+, Linux+, Server+, Network+, A+
    WIP: Just about everything!
  7. Josiahb

    Josiahb Gigabyte Poster

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    nah, don't want the competition in the job market do I :p

    Truth is I can't actually remember and anything that would tell me is at home....

    Their bloody sales guys have rung me up once every couple of months since though trying to flog me all kinds of crap, they don't get the hint when I hang up on them repeatedly either...
     
    Certifications: A+, Network+, MCDST, ACA – Mac Integration 10.10

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