It just so happened that I had a voucher for the SC-900: Microsoft Security, Compliance, and Identity Fundamentals exam on my Microsoft account, and since I don’t like wasting free vouchers, I decided to use this opportunity as a warm-up for the SC-100 :winking_face:
However, I don’t want you to treat this post as a study guide. There are two reasons for this:
- My prep was minimal because I work with Microsoft solutions every day and am more familiar with them than was required for the exam,
- Web is full of study materials, and Microsoft offers a special path to prepare for this exam.
So what do you find here? A quick guide to how not to take Pearson VUE exams from home!
How not to take Pearson VUE exams
Introduction
Welcome to the guide on how to not take Pearson VUE exams online! Here I’m going to tell you my short story that you can learn from before you take your own exam.
First issues
What went wrong with my exam? A few things, but let’s start with the fact that on the day of the exam I had prepared my laptop specifically for the exam - as usual, a fresh system, the latest updates and drivers, so there was nothing on it that could be detected by the anti-cheat software or block me from taking the exam. Well, that was my first mistake.
Typically, this verification is done several times: 1) before you register for the exam, 2) the day before the exam, and 3) on the day of the exam. However, I chose only option 3) and took the system check two hours before the exam. Why did I do that? Because I knew what the process was like, I had passed few exams before, so I just gave up on unnecessary testing. Unfortunately, the Pearson VUE software didn’t seem to want to pass the Secure browser test phase this time, so I couldn’t take the exam on my device…
Peason VUE chat
So what did I do? Following the on-screen message, I went to the Pearson VUE website and asked in the chat for advice on what to do about the problem. After a quick troubleshooting session with a Pearson VUE guy, it turned out that removing and re-downloading the application, as well as changing Internet connection to a hotspot from my phone, didn’t solve the problem at all.
The exam application also has no additional options for administrators to figure out the mysterious “Oops! Something went wrong while testing your computer. Please try again.” After a few minutes, I realized that I was not going to be able to take the exam on this particular laptop, and that further troubleshooting would be pointless. I also received an invitation to take the exam at a training center, but I was not tempted by this offer 🙃
Disaster Recovery Plan
I had several devices that I could potentially take the exam on:
- Desktop PC - unfortunately without a usb camera + no time for disk swap and device format :cross_mark:
- 2-in-1 tablet - doesn’t meet the requirements - “Touch screens are strictly forbidden”. :cross_mark:
- Mini PC - situation similar to desktop PC :cross_mark:
- Dusty Dell “energized” laptop. - ok it will work :check_mark_button:
Why is the laptop “energized”? Well, this was an option I really didn’t want to use because the hardware is faulty - it has a short on the motherboard on the USB 2.0 line that causes the camera to turn itself off randomly and a deadly system message about a power surge on the USB port….
As they say, “if you don’t take risks, you never drink champagne”. Since I had no better options, I decided to take my exam on this very nice laptop 🙂
PS: Two minutes before the check-in, I received a notification that the overdue updates were ready to be installed, which I postponed until next week.
The exam
The exam was shorter than the whole process of cleaning the room and taking out the junk that the protector (the person who watches you during the exam) might stick to. Fortunately, the worst-case scenario regarding the equipment didn’t happen.
Since I’m bound by NDA, I can’t give you the details of what the questions were or the exact score I received, but I can tell you that I passed with flying colors. As proof, you can see my digital certificate.
Interesting fact - even though I have passed more certificates, by the way, you can view them at my about me page, only the latest one has the option to generate a link to share through Microsoft Learn. Probably Microsoft will add the Online Verifiable feature to the others, closer to the Credly withdrawal date (the current place where you can check if someone has passed a certificate online).
Conclusion
If you want to pass the Microsoft exam and there’s a training center in your city, I think you’ve realized that your mental comfort is worth more than the few minutes it takes to get to the testing facility. Worrying about whether your computer will stop working during the exam doesn’t make it any easier to answer the questions, and it only creates more unnecessary stress. On the other hand, if you prefer to do everything in the cloud, as I do, then you already know that testing your equipment before the exam is very important and that it is worth having a backup laptop from a different vendor.
Now all that’s left for me to do is to show off my new certification on LinkedIn and to dust off the display case with my accomplishments :party_popper: