FAQ's - Examinations

Frequently Asked Questions About Examinations:

What is the fee for certification?
What is the exam format?
Why do examination retakes now require all four parts?
What is the purpose of the four parts then?
How else have the examinations changed?

FAQ's

Q. What is the fee for certification?

The initial fee for the CSTE and CSQA is $350.00 (USD), this includes the application processing fee, administration fee, your initial sitting fee, and a CD of the Guide to the Common Body of Knowledge. If you sit for the exam the first time and do not receive passing marks, there is an additional fee of $100.00 (USD) for each retake (limit two).

Q. What is the exam format?

The 4 1/2 hour exam is made up of four parts; two parts multiple-choice and two parts essay and short answer. You will have forty-five minutes to complete each of the multiple-choice sections and one hour and fifteen minutes to complete each of the essay and short answer sections. There is a ten-minute break between each part.

Q. How do I study for the exam?

There is no specific outline of study curriculum established by Software Certifications. Candidates are responsible for their own study and preparation. All applicants will receive a CD of the Guide to the Common Body of Knowledge. The Quality Assurance Institute, as administrator of Software Certifications, does not infer that attending specific courses or programs will significantly enhance the candidate’s chances of passing the examination. Bibliographic references are included in the applicable Body of Knowledge description for information purposes. Candidates are expected to know and pursue other and more recent resources. Professional certification is a significant undertaking. Sufficient time and energy should be allocated by the candidate toward preparation. Most of the needed preparation involves reviewing and brushing up on the various knowledge domains in the certification’s respective Body of Knowledge. If candidates have extensive experience in the quality practices described in the knowledge domains of the Body of Knowledge, the examination should not be difficult. Candidates should avoid last minute cramming, as it is rarely beneficial in the long term.

Q. Why do examination retakes now require all four parts?

A. Candidates who do not pass the examination must retake and pass the examination on another occasion in order to become certified. In the early days of the Software Certification program, candidates were only required to retake those parts of the examination that they had not passed. Beginning in 2002, candidates must retake all four parts of the examination. This change is intended to eliminate the possibility that candidates can study intensively ("cram") for a few portions of the examination, and then study intensively for the remaining portions on a subsequent occasion. The purpose of the examination process is to assure all prospective employers and other stakeholders that those individuals who carry Software Certifications certifications demonstrated their competence against the relevant and entire Common Body Of Knowledge (CBOK) for the designation. To ensure that this is so, it is important that the candidate be able to pass the entire examination at one sitting. Splitting the examination parts over different examination dates, possibly months apart, fails to ensure that the entire CBOK has been mastered sufficiently on the date of certification.

Q. What is the purpose of the four parts then?

A. The administration of the certification examination is broken into four parts in order to facilitate breaks for candidates between each part. Four hours is considered an excessive amount of time to have candidates sit for an examination without breaks. Each of the four parts used to correspond to a specific subset of the CBOK, but this is no longer so.

Q. How else have the examinations changed?

A. Examination security and control have been enhanced by randomizing the order and placement of questions across the examination. Candidates taking the examination more than once will find each version of the examination they see different, decreasing the opportunities to improve performance by simply remembering how questions were presented on the previous version. Also, computer gradable forms (requiring candidates to use soft-lead "No. 2" pencils) are now in use as answer sheets to increase the accuracy of scoring, and reduce the cycle-time required to grade, verify, and publish results.