BusinessObjects Certification Exams

[Dave Rathbun]

There are true / false, multiple choice (single answer), and multiple choice (multiple answer) questions. They have to be determinate answers (no fill-in-the-blank) because they are graded by the computer, so an answer must either be right or wrong.

The tough ones are the multiple-choice multi-answer questions, which can be something like:
Q: Identify all of the following that are true
1. BOB is awesome
2. BOB sucks
3. BOB is my home page
4. 1 and 3 but not 2
5. 1 and 2 but not 3
6. All of the above
7. None of the above

If you miss any part of the multiple correct answers, the entire question is wrong.

[rawan]

hi to all,

about the exams, i didn't make any exams untill now but i knew that the exams are multiple choices but they are very exact and obscure exams so good luck for all and for me too..

rawan

[sfaridi]

My experience with the exams
1. 10% questions were subjective especially in Part I
2. 20% questions had one obvious answer
3. 50% questions can be answered if you take a moment and think it through in light of your experience (see Dave's post)
4. 20% questions required mastery of the material and handling some curve balls, for example exact same choices one used the word ‘downloaded’ and other used the word ‘streamed’. Course used the word streamed to identify file transfer between FRS and Page server. So the question becomes are they testing your knowledge of BOE processes or mastery of material or they want to make sure you can distinguish between ‘downloaded’ and ‘streamed’ processes.

All in all being BECP means squat if you have don’t have hands on experience. But you can not pass it if all you have is experience but no understanding of the architecture and process flows. Part III requires experience and understanding beyond BOE
good luck all

[Dexterous]

Great to be welcomed by a senior and thanks to all who replied. This is a great help.

Couple more questions:
Is there negative marking for the wrong answers?

I am mostly a reporter and I do design universes, but am not into server administration. Is that knowledge required to get the certification?

Thanks,
Dex

[Eileen King]

The three exams that I'm looking at the achieve the BECP are CMC, server administration and deployment. They are expected to add exams for universe and report design in the future.

The exams will change on July 3rd to include Release 2. The certification will become "BOCP". The number of questions on the 2nd exam go from 40 to 50 and the time for the second exam goes from 80 minutes to 100 minutes.

I've taken the classes and I'm studying...

[sfaridi]

Good luck Eileen
Please email/call/shout if you I can be of any help
Hope Chi town is treating you well

[Andreas]

[Dexterous]

Alright. Looks like I have to wait for sometime before I give the exam. Thanks Eileen and Andreas.

[praksb31]

Hi All,
I attended the BObj training classes and have been working on XI for a while now..I have cleared the first 2 exams without any problems..But the third is slipping away..Any pointers to manage SABE401 questions effectively would be greatly apreciated -- Like what has worked for you and what has not worked?..I am fairly good in areas of administration and sizing; It is the multiple correct multiple choice questions that cause the issue..

Any pointers on a better appraoch would help..right now, I am only relying on the administration pdf, training manual and my own experience..

Thanks
Prakash

[MichaelWelter]

Prakash,

I'm schedules to take all three next week, so I would be interested in any insights as well.

[praksb31]

Michael,
The first exam is very doable..If you have been administering XI for user / folder management, and if you have a sound grasp of the architecture you should be good.

As for SABE301, go through all the process flows - I mean as in 'From the book' because the exam could get confusing by the way in which the questions are worded.

LATEST UPDATE : The new pattern of exams comes into effect starting July 3rd; Coverage for XI R2 features (questions on WebI and DeskI) have been added. And section-wise scoring comes into effect. This could make it easier to approach SABE401. Atleast we will know where we go wrong..

Goodluck
Prakash

[sfaridi]

Good luck Michael and Parkash
In my experience third one was easy. You have a bit of memorization to do, either the questions around sizing are framed such that with good understanding of the process flows and common sense alone may be sufficient to answer the question or the other three choices were way off. There were only few confusing multiple choice questions. However the mastery of the course material is not sufficient some of the questions reqired one to have architecture and system design experience.
Michael I have no doubt you will breez through it. See you in November.

[MichaelWelter]

My real fear is this: In the past, in order to be a certified instructor of Business Objects curriculum, I had to takes tests. However, some of the questions on those tests were worded wrong, and the answers they wanted were wrong as well. I could answer correctly, and still get the question wrong. I hope they've improved that process.

[praksb31]

Michael,
I completely agree with you. I did have some questions that had the wrong choices (No way to select the correct one even if you know it)..

I am hoping it would improve when the new exam pattern comes into effect next week...

Prakash

[cezekwuka]

I just took the new BOCP-BOE level 1 test this weekend - July 8 2006. and passed with 67%. The test didn't seem very difficult and I thought I did better than the score I got, but the important thing is that I passed.

The exam had changed for the better, for those multiple chioce questions with mulitple answers, they now tell you how many chioces to pick, so you know when to pick three or two. I think that a great improvement because it would have been tougher not knowing whether to pick tow or three answers.

There are still improvements that need to be made though, some of the questions are not very clear cut, I mean some of the questions are quite ambiguos and therefore the answer could be either of two.

To pass the test you really need to read though BOE Admin guide and have some experience administering BOE.

I hope this is helpful to anyone who is intending to take the test.
I'll be taking the second test next month and I'll appreciate any advice or tips from anyone who has take the test.

Chrix.