Can another 100 more registrations be considered.

[Rishi Singh]

Hi Evelyn,
Can you consider another 100 more registrations for people whom you have already distributed the vouchers.Only those people having vouchers issued before 27th of June should be considered. I would request personally that all the people whom you have issued the voucher should be given a chance to sit and appear for Beta , otherwise the Voucher should not be issued to them on the first count.Please consider it...
Regards
Rishi
[ July 02, 2003: Message edited by: Rishi Singh ]

[Raghuveer Rawat]

hi Evlyn
same request from me.
Please allow all voucher holders to take this exam as we have put a lot of efforts in prepration of this exam.
Thanx

[Tina Desai]

well, I wondered this from the day I got the voucher.. but no one seemed to have a problem!
Just cannot figure out what is the purpose behind such a strategy.
To make ppl rush(?)..
Tina

[Evelyn Cartagena-Meyer]

Rishi, Raghuveer and Tina,
As you know I made a big effort to move the number from 400 to 600 candidates taking the beta, ensuring everyone with vouchers gets an opportunity. I even gave out vouchers to last minute requests.
Unfortuantley there were alot of candidates that did not register as soon as they received their voucher, hesitated to take the exam and/or waited until the last minute to register. Everyone with vouchers had the opportunity to schedule their exam on any day until July 7th as soon as they received their voucher, have a date and time and study for the exam.
I have reached the 600 mark registered for the exam and I will not be extending that number or extending the beta date.
Sorry.
Evelyn

[Tina Desai]

I do not want you to extend anything.
just that y we did not follow a simple thing.
distribute 400 vouchers and that's it.
To avoid the fall outs affecting the beta?
Thanks and Regards,
Tina

[Randall Stevens]

I somewhat disagree in the fact that people waited until the last minute. In my particular case, Prometric did not have the exam listed (on the website nor when I called in). The next attempt, I was told my voucher was invalid. The third and final attempt I was told that the 400 people limit had been reached.

[Raghuveer Rawat]

hi Evelyn
I also disagree with you. I got voucher on 19June and made registration next day for 27June. But could not take exam as this prometric center was not authorized for taking this beta exam. I came to know this fact when I reached there to take my beta exam. This is not my fault or laziness.
you can go thru my message in this forum dated 27June

saloon.javaranch.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=70&t=000281
web page
and same day on 27 june I have sent you a email regarding this matter. Please check it.
and many many more similar messages I have posted on this forum.

[jaideep singh]

hi everybody
these are questions for evelyn.(Not just for beta but for other Sun exams)

1) Are all prometric center are not authorized for Sun test?
2)If a candidate is registered for exam ,how can this be possible that they could not appear for that exam from same center?
Is it a communication gap between prometric head office and sub-centers?
jaideep
[ July 02, 2003: Message edited by: jaideep singh ]

[Evelyn Cartagena-Meyer]

I am not saying you waited until the last minute I meant in general.
As for Prometric the beta was available as of June 6, I am not sure why they were having so many problems with their systems or registration centers. I've been working with them since day 1 once I received your concerns.
I cannot just send out 400 or 600 vouchers, because candidates usually sign up and don't show up, or request a voucher then don't want to take the exam and return the voucher, so that is why I usually send out more than the actual number.
All VOUCHERS I have sent out are VALID and usable until July 7th!
I am sorry this has caused so many problems. I am working with Prometric to make sure I do not encounter these problems in future betas.
Thank you.
Evelyn

[Raghuveer Rawat]

Hi Evelyn
As you said

I cannot just send out 400 or 600 vouchers, because candidates usually sign up and don't show up, or request a voucher then don't want to take the exam and return the voucher, so that is why I usually send out more than the actual number.

Are you sure you will get exact 600 beta takers till 7 July.
I mean all the 600 persons who have made registration will take the exam.
What if these people do not take exam.
Would it not be better to allow all voucher holder to register and let them take exam and when actually 600 persons have taken the exam you close it.

All VOUCHERS I have sent out are VALID and usable until July 7th!

what does this mean All voucher are valid and usable. when we can not register and take exam then how these are valid. I think these are invalid.
Is not it.

[Radu Zaharia]

Would it not be better to allow all voucher holder to register and let them take exam and when actually 600 persons have taken the exam you close it.

I think this is not a solution.
The most normal thing to do in such a beta test is to give a number of vouchers (let's say maybe 650 to be sure you have at least 600 exam takers) and then to let all the people with vouchers to register and take the exam! What's the problem if instead of 600 exam takers you have 610 or 618? Is this so bad? This way all people with vouchers know they can register and take the exam and they can concentrate on actually preparing the exam, not gambling about the number of takers every day and moving back and forth their appointment for the exam based on this gambling.
If you have already given a much larger number of vouchers than you really need (say 1000) and you still want to have around 600 beta takers, then the most normal thing to do is to let about 650 of them to register (just a proposal, you name the exact figure) then stop the registration. But then let all the registered people actually take the exam! This way you can end with a little over 600 beta takers (again, what's the problem?) but at least all beta takers know in advance if they are allowed or not to take the exam.
Registering over 600 (much over 600?) people for the exam and the stopping the exam at the exact 600 figure seems the worst thing to do (at least for the beta takers ). Let's not forget that many of the beta takers must take a day off from work and have invested a lot in preparation and it's just not right for them to go to the Prometric center and find out that one hour earlier somewhere in Australia (just an example) someone took the 600 exam and they must go home!
Just my opinion, anyone else feels the same?

[Raghuveer Rawat]

hi Soto
you are right to some extent.

The most normal thing to do in such a beta test is to give a number of vouchers (let's say maybe 650 to be sure you have at least 600 exam takers) and then to let all the people with vouchers to register and take the exam!

This solution seems fine.
as opposed to this one.

If you have already given a much larger number of vouchers than you really need (say 1000) and you still want to have around 600 beta takers, then the most normal thing to do is to let about 650 of them to register (just a proposal, you name the exact figure) then stop the registration.

As I have seen during this beta exam that most of the guys who have had voucher's and were very much interested and were preparing for the same after receiving their voucher could not register
either due to problem with prometric centers
or they have registered but when they reached prometric center to take exam they came to know that this particular center is not authorized to take the exam <b>( as happened in my case)</b>
or they were registered earlier but later been told that they could not take the exam as 400 or 600 limit has been reached.
so I donot know what is the fault of these beta taker.
Is Sun ( or other companies as general case ) taking this exam only in their own interest
what about those persons who wasted their precious time in making this beta exam a success but could not take exam themself.
This is the reward they get for their efforts.
I think there are lot of issues about this beta exam that need to be discussed very carefully so that one do not get this kind of reward of one's efforts in future.

[Radu Zaharia]

after receiving their voucher could not register either due to problem with prometric centers or they have registered but when they reached prometric center to take exam they came to know that this particular center is not authorized

You're right in this case, I didn't take into account the possible problems with Prometric. But neither should you be sent home from the Prometric center because in that very moment the 600 limit has been reached.
So it seems the only rational solution is for Sun to estimate carefully the number of vouchers (and to give a little more they need just in case some of the beta takers do not show - this can be statistically calculated from other beta exams), and then let all people with vouchers register and take the exam! Even if instead of exactly 600 exam takers they will have 600+/-10! I hope for future beta exams (and maybe even for this one it isn't too late to a certain extent) they will take into account such proposals.

[Eric Ma]

Guys, please give Evelyn a break. This beta has been advertised for a long time, both here and at the Java Developer's web site. I contacted Evelyn as soon as I found out the beta (early June?), got my voucher in mid-June, scheduled the test the very next morning, and took the test on June 25th. There was not a single hitch for me. Why can't you guys do the same? Why did so many got the voucher but did not register right away? Keep in mine this is a beta exam and the number of testers has to be limited. Also, IMHO it is for people with real EJB experience to take the test and help SunEd to evaluate the questions and refine them. It is NOT for people who never worked with EJB to cram on study materials/mock exams and hope they can get a free certificate!

[Rangarajan Suresh]

I agree with you Eric. I think Evelyn has tried her best to disperse the vouchers. She even responded to individual mails. I saw the advertisement only by june 1st week, got my voucher by 3rd week and took the test on 27th. The certifications have lost their values only because of the people who pass by studying cram materials/mock exams and those getting some dump from people who have taken the exams. Are'nt Certifications meant for ppl with experience? It does not take more than a week for an experienced person to review the theory and take the exam(atleast in the case of SCBCD).

[Raghuveer Rawat]

I think Evelyn has tried her best to disperse the vouchers. She even responded to individual mails.

yes I agree Evelyn did a great job. but it is true that there was communication gap between Evelyn and Prometric.

The certifications have lost their values only because of the people who pass by studying cram materials/mock exams and those getting some dump from people who have taken the exams.
Are'nt Certifications meant for ppl with experience?

I don't think that certification are meant only for experienced people and certifications are loosing their values due to non-experienced persons taking the exam.
In true sense, These certication are more important for beginers (non-experienced people) as this proof that person have at least mininum qualification and person is eligible for the job.
Certification will proof that at least these people have theoretical concepts.