Microsoft Expels MCPs, Comes Down on Web Sites for NDA Violations
10/25/2000 -- Microsoft said recently that it has expelled a number of MCPs from its certification program as a result of its recently updated anti-cheating and exam non-disclosure policy. The latest iteration, made public in June (go to www.microsoft.com/trainingandservices and click on Certification, then on the news item “Microsoft Enforces Exam Security Policy”) threatens anybody caught cheating on an exam with immediate loss of any current certifications the candidate holds and permanent ineligibility for any Microsoft Certified Professional certification. Examples of violations include using notes brought into the testing center, copying test questions, and looking at the monitors of other test takers.
Microsoft is also hitting hard on Web sites suspected of publishing exam material. Alice Ciccu, exam development program manager in the MCP program, said the owners of seven sites were recently found to be in violation of the nondisclosure agreement by publishing questions from certification exams.
“We can go after individual posters, but that takes a long time,” said Ciccu. “If I can just get the Web site taken down, all those people [who] posted to it are removed.”
The site owners -- four MCPs in Indiana, Kansas, Massachusetts, and Texas -- were immediately decertified and are now permanently ineligible for any Microsoft certification.
“All four of those people had violated the nondisclosure agreement,” Ciccu said. “They also violated their MCP program agreement, which said they would not do anything to cause harm to the program or Microsoft, which a braindump site clearly does.”
Ciccu said she believes that most of the Web sites in question have either come down or removed content related to Microsoft exams. She added that a “couple of dozen” individuals will probably become decertified in the month of September for sharing questions or cheating.
The company requests those who know of specific incidents of cheating or exam piracy to provide details to or by calling 800-636-7544. As the policy states, “We will investigate all credible leads.” -- Dian L. Schaffhauser
This article originally appeared in the November 2000 issue of Microsoft Certified Professional Magazine.
What do you think of Microsoft's crackdown on braindumps? Post your comments below or enter our Forums.
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There are 54  user Comments for “Microsoft Expels MCPs, Comes Down on Web Sites for NDA Violations”
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| 6/4/01: Real says: |
I'm certain a legal argument could be made that says very little difference exists between a MCP or MC*** working for Transcender Corporation and a so-called braindumper. What good is the NDA if MS condones a third party consisting of certified individuals in constructing "similar" test questions? Should not the malformed (although strikingly similar) questions presented by a braindumper be subject to the same forgiving NDA? I've worked very hard and taken several MS exams. I do not take the exams on a whim and I certainly do not take them because some braindumper claims to know something the rest of us do not. I'm certainly not for cheating of any kind! A recent MCP Open Letter stated that the strategy of going after the sites was, in fact, the logical strategy to deal with exam content being compromised. I FULLY agree with this. If MS truly has a legal argument, then it should stop the sites and not pursue the individual "braindumpers". To anyone that argues this point with, "What about the paper MCSEs?", I would simply state that I will (and have) fired any IT 'professional' that could not perform the duties assigned him. To the gentleman that claims to have Paper MCSEs working for him, I would simply argue that his management team should reconsider his position and the value it is adding to the company. The 2000 certs have changed DRASTICALLY. ...but that isn't enough! When MS starts pursuing individuals rather than the Troytecs, MCSEBraindumps.com and Sasasites, then it can consider my long range plans to include moving to Sun, because the bottom line is this: While MS is WASTING time going after individuals, the Troytecs and dump sites are finding ways to ensure that my company's certified (and qualified)employees will inevitably be viewed as Paper MCSEs through and beyond the 2000 track. And if I post some information on a web site that provides insight into product knowledge, but that is construed as supporting an actual exam question, you can bet the farm that MS taking my certifications will have little impact other than pissing me off! Like it or not, paper MCSEs are part of what made NT so successful and despite what the latest survey says, there were and are plenty of qualified MCSEs around.</MS> |
| 6/22/01: B says: |
let them use the BrainDumps to get the Certs....Then they'll get the job....Then be fired the first week.....because they don't know what they are doing... |
| 7/22/01: liu says: |
please me about some new messages about the windows2000 mcse exam |
| 7/24/01: Planet says: |
See that Trey, you won't be an MCSE anymore. Do you think you can just cheat your way through life??? Get a JOB! |
| 8/14/01: T R U E says: |
I worked for 2 and a half years on NT servers before starting my MCSE tests and that took 6 months to complete. I am very happy MS is cracking down on these sites. I can not believe someone with no experience could call themselves an MCSE anyways. |
| 8/24/01: Alan says: |
Microsoft should concentrate on genuinely testing the knowledge of candidates rather than generating trick questions and convoluted "adaptive" tests. These tests most often test the candidates' ability to pass the exam rather than the ability to do the job. I got my MCSD without looking at one braindump. Since the farce that was the first 70-100 exam, I have lost all confidence in the validity of these tests and it has now become a matter of getting through by whatever means available. |
| 9/1/01: Shaun says: |
Ive been working with NT for three years now without any certification - thats never stopped me from doing my job well - it has so far took me four months to pass two core exams and i have worked bloody hard to get them - I was absoloutletly maddened when some one gave me a braindump after I had just sat 70-215 it had nearly all the questions and answers for that exam I had just sat - on the flip side though when I eventually get to MCSE status I will know that I will have worked hard for the certification and it will show in my quality of work and knoledge in my chosen career - YOU WANT TO CHEAT THEN CHEAT - YOUR THE LOSER NOT ME |
| 10/3/01: MCSE Early Achiever says: |
I spent two years working with NT, and a year working with 2000, as well as using core study guides and taking the official class. I used the transcender to test what I had learned. Nothing prepares youlike hands on. Sure, cheat on a test. Go ahead. When you get a job and someone asks you to do something, don't expect them to wait for you to look it up in a book. |
| 1/17/02: Anonymous says: |
I'm a teacher and I'm appalled at the manner in which learning the material for Microsoft Certification exams is set up. The materials to study for the exam don't reside all in one place. The labs are either too complicated, or too shallow, and there are no opportunities for practice where you can check your work against well explained answer. Trasncenders, which don't really give you hands-on ability, are the only route you have, as far as I can see. So, in the absence of good materials that help you learn honestly, people who lack experience resort to cheating. I think it would better if Microsoft pre-qualified candidates for the exams by requiring some kind of employment verification before letting your write the exam -- this would weed out people who aren't qualified by experience and reduce the desperation that leads to cheating. While this is labour intensive, fees could absorb it as people are willing to pay for things that boost their careers. They could also offer two tracks -- a premium track that people with a minimum of say a couple years of experience are qualified to write. Also, they could have a a standard track where people without experience can learn how to use the software and pass tests honestly. Microsoft could also use their clout to make service providers their policemen -- by putting it into software agreements that ISP's who host sites with Braindump material could have licences to use software revoked. While I don't condone all the cheating that goes on, I do think the fact that the learning materials and the exams don't correlate very well is a major cause of all the cheating. Certification and it's companion, education, should not be a game!! |
| 6/10/02: Anonymous says: |
Maybe just maybe the problem is laziness. If IT is that complicated (and I believe it is) then there should be an endless supply of intricate questions and challenges. WHY DO THE QUESTIONS NEVER CHANGE. As IT personnel our job is all about good procedure and handling the occasional challenge. Every day is a search for answers to some new problem or a better solution to an old problem. I am an MCSE only because without those 4 letters on my CV I would probably end up digging ditches. I am a network administrator because I work hard at my job and deliver a good service to my users. It is human nature to find the easiest route to any destination. The Microsoft motto is "Where do you want to go today". Well if the MCP program is anything to go by it will be the same old place as yesterday. P.S I am not a cheat and would never cheat on an exam, I am anonymous only because value I my privacy. |
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