Is it safe to schedule the CKAD?

bronhy

I am reading about so many issues candidates are experiencing prior and during the exam over the new platform. I am really uncertain if this is the best time to do it.

Also I am uncertain of what type of location is acceptable.
My room has a tv, book shelves with many books and wardrobe in the background is that even allowed?

The only light I have is behind my desk and my chair which could also be too bright. How can you even know this?

It would be nice to get some feedback from community.

fcioanca

Hi @bronhy

There are plenty of students taking and passing the exam with no issues. Please look at all the exam documentation provided (candidate handbook, exam tips, FAQs, etc), and you should find instructions on your exam environment, as well as tips to help for a smooth exam experience.

Good luck!
Flavia

bronhy

@fcioanca

thank you for your official feedback. Could you also give me some feedback on other questions from my post?

I still do wonder what the community thinks about the current situation.

fcioanca

@bronhy I cannot provide answers to your other questions, other than advising you to consult the official documentation, where you will find plenty of information. If you cannot find answers to your questions there, you can open a ticket with the Linux Foundation Customer Support Team at trainingsupport.linuxfoundation.org. Forums should be used only for course content related questions, not exams.

torre

@bronhy The tests are definitely passable, but you have to be able to stay calm with many things not working as you would expect.

If you have a free retest, you could take it once to adjust your expectations without stress and plan on your retest being your serious attempt. Just don't get bogged down with PSI Tech support or trying to fix any issues as they cannot stop the test timer. Also if you have to refresh or restart the test environment you will have to do the complete check-in process again (Including the waiting for 'check-in specialist'). I took two different exams last week and my biggest regret is that I bothered with tech support instead of just powering through the issues. I have filed tickets with LF , but haven't heard anything back yet.

Alternatively, if you don't have a pressing need to take the test soon, you might prefer to wait. You may get lucky and have a great experience but you might not.

My personal check-in experience : Thursday mid-day it took 45 minutes of panning the camera and trying to satisfy the proctor. I was even asked to relocate all the books on my bookshelves. ( I was able to cover them with blankets so my advice here is to be prepared for that). Friday early morning the check-in process was painless with no waiting and no issues with my office or large library of books.

I think it depends a lot on the proctor. I was told by the difficult proctor that the Linux Foundation requires no visible books nearby. So one proctor may interpret nearby as within a few feet, another may feel that there cannot be visible books anywhere in the room. The 'Acceptable Testing Location' section of the candidate handbook does not even mention this. I would definitely move your lighting or somehow make sure that the room is well lit with no light directly behind you. This is the document: https://docs.linuxfoundation.org/tc-docs/certification/tips-cka-and-ckad#acceptable-testing-location

My advice would be to budget at an extra hour for the check-in process maybe more.

I think the experience with the PSI Secure Browser will probably depend on what your own computer platform is. I only have Ubuntu computers and can tell you that there were many issues with the PSI platform. Also there are many things in the official FAQ and official Candidate Handbook that are NOT correct regarding the environment. (at least how it works on Ubuntu, YMMV)

Whenever you do take the exams Good Luck to you!

bronhy

@torre

thank you for your feedback and these extensive information you provided from your own experience.

I will defiantly take all the points into the account when I do schedule the exam. At the moment I do not have a pressing need to make this exam as I think of it as a nice bonus and confirmation of my skill set.

I will definitely put off the exam onto a later point in time and start looking for alternatives to the LF CKA. The CKAD is unfortunately already paid for.

It is too bad that they switched from a system which was working so well till now.

fcioanca

@bronhy Please keep in mind that we deliver thousands of exams on a weekly basis, and the number of complaints is only a very small percentage of those - the exams work and are being passed by candidates on a daily basis.

bronhy

My exam was scheduled today but I was not able to get in touch with the proctor.

I have made many screen shots of several errors I had during the lunch of the exam.
This just proves my suspicion I had from the start.

This is such a waste of my time and obviously looking at all the feedback not a single isolated case.

I already created a ticket on linuxfoundation but I am wondering when are you going to clear these issues. I would not like to go through this again.