Everybody in my department is expected to take a certificate exam to beef up their qualification for work. If they pass this exam, they’ll get an extra allowance in their salary. Previously I’ve been taking the Apple Certified Support Professional exam (ACSP) and passing the exam without any problems. I go to a two day class, read the big text book (or pdf) and then take the exam. The questions were challenging but they’re mostly answerable. Today, there’s no more ACSP but instead, they’ve replaced it with the Apple Device Support Exam. There’s no more expensive courses and it’s replaced with a few free online tutorials and guides made by Apple for you to read and remember as much as possible.
That should be easier right? The first red flags were when two of my colleagues took the exam and failed to pass. They only need to not get 21 of the objective questions wrong but they couldn’t manage it. I did my fair bit of studying based on these guides and I don’t remember studying as hard since my final year diploma exams. I basically spend every minute of my free time doing the revision. Come exam day, I thought I did pretty well although I was not that confident. The questions were a mixed bag. Some were quite difficult and I truly have no idea what they were and just shoot. Some of them were not that hard but it requires you to remember exactly what the answers are. If I could just access my Mac OS and look at the settings, then I would get them right. That day it was 50-50. Others were confusing enough such as the multiple-choice answers were given too similar to each other. In the end I was 0.6% short of the passing mark.
Disappointed? You bet. Especially when it comes with a financial repercussion. If I don’t resit the test soon, my next drawn salary will be 300 ringgit short. And I’ll have to fork out my own money first. That’s USD149 with the current abysmal exchange rate. Sucks I know but that’s the department policy. Getting certified has its pros and cons. Con is obviously when you don’t pass. Not only that I got a tiny little increment this year, I stand to lose what little allowance I got if I screw up the exam. Is it time to look for a greener pasture? No wonder we’re seeing some high turnover round here this year.
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