Beta Update

[Evelyn Cartagena-Meyer]

Hello Everyone!
FYI
I have sent out more than 400 vouchers and as of TODAY, approximately 300 have registered with Prometric, only 120 have TAKEN the exam.
Please sign up to take the beta, I need 400 beta testers (actually taken exam) for this beta. I have had at least 10 no shows (signed up and don't show up).
I will send out an email to everyone I have sent vouchers to notifying that I have 400 complete beta testers. That looks like a long ways away...
Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.
Happy Testing and Good Luck
Evelyn
[e-mail]

[qadir sabri]

Evelyn
can u tell the exact figure that how many vouchers u have sent out I think it will be more satisfactory for those who are preparing for the exam and they can have better planning

Qadir Sabri
SCJP1.4

[Evelyn Cartagena-Meyer]

Hello,
I can give you an estimate of 400-600. The reason being in my past betas there are always candidates that sign up for the beta exam and then decide not to show up at the last minute, so even if they register, doesn't mean they will show up. Since I need 400 beta testers I send out more vouchers than the exact 400.
Hope this helps.
Evelyn

[qadir sabri]

quote
-------------------------------------------------
I have sent out more than 400 vouchers and as of TODAY, approximately 300 have registered with Prometric, only 120 have TAKEN the exam.
-------------------------------------------------
Does the regstration matter,when you will close the beta after 400 registration or after 400 exams

Qadir Sabri

[Jim Bedenbaugh]

I'll take it again if you'll let me! I bet I would do bunches better the next time!
Hee, hee. . .you have not if you ask not. . .

[Anonymous]

Originally posted by Evelyn Cartagena:
Hello Everyone!
FYI
I have sent out more than 400 vouchers and as of TODAY, approximately 300 have registered with Prometric, only 120 have TAKEN the exam.
Please sign up to take the beta, I need 400 beta testers (actually taken exam) for this beta. I have had at least 10 no shows (signed up and don't show up).

Courtesy these no-shows, some of us who really wanted to take the test didn't get to.

[Vedhas Pitkar]

Hi Evelyn,
If 300 have registered does this mean that after a 100 more registrations ,the beta will close OR it will close after 400 testers have ACTUALLY taken the exam?
Please clarify.

[Neeraja Neeraj]

Evelyn,
I am one among those who got the free exam voucher. But since I need time for preparation I have not registered for the exam yet. I will be able to give the exam only on the first week of July. But I am skeptical if I will be allowed to if I am out of the 400 testers.
Anyways I cannot give the exam earlier than that.
All the same I am very interested in taking up this beta. :roll:
Pls tell me if I can still give the exam anytime before 7th July-the close date for beta.
Thanks.
Neeraj
[ June 11, 2003: Message edited by: Neeraja Neeraj ]

[manasa teja]

Originally posted by Evelyn Cartagena:
Hello Everyone!
FYI
I have sent out more than 400 vouchers and as of TODAY, approximately 300 have registered with Prometric, only 120 have TAKEN the exam.

Only 120 out of 400 .. Oh God.. I should have planned the exam for this weekend. I thought 400 mark was alomost reached and hence i took th exam yesterday itself and paid heavy price as O did not go thru Specifications and EJBQL...
Should have planned properly.. Also, Sun should have given us some more time to prepare for this beta exam..


[ June 11, 2003: Message edited by: Murthy Ram ]

[Theodore Casser]

*sighs* Wish I'd realized fewer folks rushed out to take it than I initially thought would - I could have used the extra study-week.

[Matthew Anderson]

Me too
I sort of adopt a crash course in revising the ejb specs within 4 days and rushed straight for the exam thinking that the 400 mark would be reached within a few days.
This is so disappointing. Guess not many people are keen on EJB after all

[Vijay S. Rathore]

I confess that I have written the exam in a hurry and per sure that was not the objective of the beta.
If you talk about the real test any candidate will take his/her own time to prepare for exam before appearing. If we talk about beta it had around 3 times more questions than real exam.
Ideally we should have got some buffer time to prepare for exam before writing the exam. (At least half of time to, prepare as compared to real exam). Means the period between the voucher distribution close date and exam start date should have been at least 10 days.

Considering the fact that

Lot of people including me got voucher only on last date.

People appearing for exam are from different backgrounds. Some are working professionals and some are students. Working professionals can contribute at least 8 hours less than the students excluding exceptions. (I am sure the exam was not for exceptional candidates).

120 people in 5 days, is a bad number.

There should have been some running counter indicating the number of candidates written the exam.
But I think this also indicates that there are not many aggressive business components developers available around the world.
Overall I think this was not a fair deal.
I am sorry if I am too aggressive as after writing any exam I feel that I could have done better.

[Jamie Shi]

Thanks,
I scheduled the exam on June 10. However, I rescheduled the exam on June 13 (Friday) because I have one important meeting on June 10.
It sounds good for me. I was worrying I would not be one of 400 testers before.
I have more 3 nights to review the spec than before.

[Evelyn Cartagena-Meyer]

All,
Even though I have about 300 registered candidates, this does not guarantee that I will have 400 beta testers. I will only close the beta once I have 400 beta testers (actually taken the exam). This as of today seems far away!
So please sign up and take the beta! The beta does close on July 7th, so you have time to study and take the exam.
For those who read the posts, if you have not received your voucher, please send me an email at [e-mail] and I will send you a voucher. Just FYI, I've sent out vouchers and I have people asking where their voucher is, for some reason you are not receiving your voucher even though I have sent them out! So please contact me if you feel you registered and have not received a voucher yet.
Thanks!
Evelyn

[Vijay S. Rathore]

Can I apply for a voucher again, even though I have taken the exam.

[Evelyn Cartagena-Meyer]

Unfortunately, NO you cannot take the exam again if you have already taken it. It would not be fair to all candidates.
Sorry.

Originally posted by Vijay Singh Rathore:
Can I apply for a voucher again, even though I have taken the exam.

[eric mcentee]

Well, I had planned on trying this but wasn't sure I'd be able to prepare enough (due to work schedules) to give myself a valid shot, or to be able to provide meaningful data for the test authors. Seeing that as of 6/10 Evelyn still had 280 openings, I decided to give it a shot. I scheduled for 6/20, hopefully there is still a spot left for me!

[Evelyn Cartagena-Meyer]

Thanks Eric!
Good Luck!

[Al Newman]

I can give you an estimate of 400-600. The reason being in my past betas there are always candidates that sign up for the beta exam and then decide not to show up at the last minute, so even if they register, doesn't mean they will show up. Since I need 400 beta testers I send out more vouchers than the exact 400.

Evelyn, this would have been extremely valuable information about 3 weeks ago when a number of people including myself asked for it. I had assumed from things which were written that many, many more vouchers were given out. On the order of 1500 or so. I assessed the odds and did not like them, so I went a different direction (preparing for the Weblogic 7.0 exam).
As it is the lack of information has caused caused many of us to take the beta while ill-prepared and others to decline the opportunity. Many of us feel disappointed with the way Sun has handled this process.
Good luck, I sincerely hope that you gets the 400 beta testers needed. If possible I may sit for the beta exam at the end of the period but it is somewhat likely that I will be beginning a new contract before then and may not have the four hours available any more.
[ June 11, 2003: Message edited by: Alfred Neumann ]