5/14/2003 -- Recently, Apple dropped the elective requirement from its Apple Certified System Administrator (ACSA) title.

When Apple first announced the ACSA updated for OS X 10.2, the company had added an elective requirement where candidates needed to choose one of three electives.

Now, however, the elective is no longer required, and those exams are now being offered as "specialization" exams.

"These exams are not required for the certification tracks, but do offer validations of professional knowledge that have demonstrable value to Macintosh technical professionals at various levels," Apple's Web site states.

The first of exams to be offered is Mac OS X Client Management 10.2. This exam was scheduled to debut May 2, but the release date has pushed back until May 30.

Although the Web site says that the exam is delivered via the Internet, a Prometric testing center exam number is given: 9L0-605.

CertCities.com unsuccessfully attempted to reach Apple for comment on these changes and to verify the delivery method for the specialty exams.

More information on Apple's ACSA certification and specialization exams can be found here. -B.N.