Monthly Archives: July 2013

ISACA Academic Advocate Program

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Yesterday (July 26th) I attended a workshop that was put on by our local chapter of the ISACA, where information on Mobile Application and Device Security was discussed. In conjunction with the workshop I receive four (4) continuing professional education hours that I can use to meet the continuing education requirements associated with a number of the security certifications I hold (see certificate below).

isacaCert

 

The ISACA has a program specifically designed to partner with academic institutions like my college. Through their Academic Advocate Program, I serve the “advocate” role for my College. There is no cost for my college to join the program. The program provides me and my students with access to a number of beneficial learning resources.  Unfortunately none of the other colleges and universities in my region participate in local chapter activities (or this Academic Advocate Program), something I hope to work on this academic year. For those of you who are security minded like me, I strongly encourage you to consider joining the ISACA and possibly working towards their principal certifications (CISA and CISM).

EMC Information Storage and Management Exam (E10-001) Next Effort

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With a week’s vacation behind me, I’m adjusting my efforts relative to the next certification. I had thought about focusing on certification relating to Microsoft SharePoint, but the class I’m taking next week at the BATEC workshop is more super user specific than administration. So rather than focus on it, I’m looking at the EMC storage and management exam as my next certification effort that I will take after completing the online 5 day course through CSSIA.

Of interest to educators like me may be the recently announced “Microsoft Certified Ecucator” certification.  Information in the certification is a bit sketchy, but what I’ve been able to uncover is the 62-193 certification exam is actually administered by CertiPort.

I have been a bit challenge in finding information about the exam. According to the Microsoft website, through a single exam:

MCE demonstrates that educators have achieved technology literacy competency in six content areas, mapped to the UNESCO ICT Competency Framework for Teachers, Technology Literacy:

  • Education policy
  • Curriculum and assessment
  • Pedagogy
  • ICT/technology tools
  • Organization and administration
  • Professional development

CompTIA Cloud Essentials Certification Success

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Finished the CompTIA Cloud Essentials CLO-001 exam this afternoon and I was pleased both with the exam content and my 889/900 (see the score report below). The exam was unusual in nature in that it was only 50 questions (as opposed to the usual 100 questions on most CompTIA certification exams. Exam content pretty much mirrored the sort of questions you would expect by focusing your study efforts on the Cloud Essentials Exam Objectives. Good news is that I didn’t spend a lot of time studying and was more than adequately prepared to pass the exam. I’m taking a couple of weeks off to focus on relaxation and get ready for both the BATEC SharePoint class and the CSSIA EMC storage class that I’ll be taking before the fall semester starts at Sierra.

CloudEssentials

 

Cloud+ Score Sheet – Cloud Essentials Exam Tomorrow

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Today’s mail brought the score sheet for the Cloud+ beta exam (see below). I managed to score 839/900 where the passing score was a 750. Given that there is an 800 point swing between the lowest (100) score and the highest (900) score, I’m happy that I did so well on the exam given the lack of available study materials. With this level of performance I’m sensing it makes sense to take the Cloud Essentials exam before the start of my vacation on Tuesday and have registered to take the exam tomorrow afternoon. Not much time for test preparation, but hopefully I’m not reacting with over confidence in my ability. But given that the Cloud Essentials is the lowest level of CompTIA certification in this area, I think I’m making the right decision.

CloudPlusScore

Success on CompTIA Server+, Next Targeted Certification is CompTIA Cloud Essentials

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Passed the SK0-003 Server+ exam this morning with a score of 893/900. Passing was a 750 so I had plenty of cushion and it looks like I missed a single question. I actually know which one it was, requiring a pure guess that was apparently wrong. Without violating the non-disclosure agreement, in general terms it was one of those inappropriate questions which asks you to identify a specific number that stretches a human’s imagination on just how large a number can be (something akin to asking us how high a stack of one dollar bills would be if the stack represented a trillion dollars). My scoring sheet is shown below.

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My next CompTIA attempt, the Cloud Essentials exam, shouldn’t be all that challenging given certifications that I already hold that relate to virtualization and cloud computing. I’m thinking of taking it next Monday, a day before I depart for a week’s vacation. Goal in doing so is it will enable me to focus on SharePoint, the five-day class I will be taking in Boston from July 29th to August 2nd that is provided at the BATEC National Summer Institute. Once I complete the Microsoft SharePoint 2010 course, I plan to focus efforts on studying for the Microsoft SharePoint 2010, Configuring 70-667 exam even though the actual course appears more in line with what a SharePoint power user might need to know. That will likely be the final exam I take before the Fall Semester begins.  A productive summer given all of the certifications I’ve managed to complete and plan to complete.

Success on CompTIA Cloud+ Exam, CompTIA Server+ Exam Next

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One of the problems associated with being a beta exam tester (a test tester), is you have to wait so long to learn whether you achieved a passing score. I discovered that “test testers” are finally learning about whether their efforts were successful. The first indication on CompTIA beta exams about whether or not you pass is through PearsonVue. I went on their website, signed in and viewed exam history and obtained a “pass” notation for the Cloud+ exam (see below).

CloudPlus

Tomorrow morning I’m scheduled to take the Server+ CompTIA (SK0-003) exam. My sense based upon my knowledge base is the exam shouldn’t be too challenging. Given that this is “vacation” time, I’ve only spent a few hours studying for the exam so I hope that I’m not too confident relative to my level of the various aspects of server installation, configuration and management.