What is your first reaction to this question: “How would you like to take an exam today?”
If you are like most people, you probably responded in a not so positive way. Maybe your brow furrowed, you physically leaned away from your computer (and this article), or your stomach knotted up. Throughout our lives we are tested in various ways to demonstrate what we can do or what we know. It might be an informal interview or a full blown, closed book examination. And for some reason no matter how much we know, there is a tendency to feel that perhaps we are being tricked by a series of questions intentionally designed to sabotage us.
There is a very human component to the technical exams that make up the SAS Certification program -- specifically exam development project managers and subject matter experts (SMEs). How are exams built? Who builds them? What does it mean to be SAS Certified? Beyond the Credential, a new blog from The SAS Learning Post, goes beyond the impersonal and sometime sterile world of technical exams and shines the light on the more human side of testing.
Exams typically do not create themselves -- with the exception of some marginally performing computer-based test question generators. SAS exams are built from the skills and knowledge of SMEs who come from all types of backgrounds, have a wide variety of experience and certainly their own opinions on what should be tested. The job of the exam development project manager is to pull content out of the SMEs brains in a consistent, structured manner that ultimately produces an exam that is valid, reliable, successfully measures what it’s supposed to measure, and is legally defensible. I have been on both sides of this spectrum -- SME and project manager -- and the SMEs carry the lion’s share of the work.
Teri Patsilaras, Rob Collum, and Edoardo Riva are three SMEs I have the privilege of working with on three recently published SAS exams. They are technical experts in their respective fields and they share passion and commitment to helping people learn SAS software. Part of that commitment is working with the SAS Global Certification team. As an exam development project manager my main focus is to create an exam that is clear, concise, and certifies the right people at the right skill level. But Collum says that SMEs have the unique opportunity to “learn how to perceive the software from a fresh perspective” when creating an exam -- it’s about creating quality content not tricky test questions.
The SAS exam development process is based on credentialing industry standards and has many checks and balances built in so the exam is well rounded and encompasses many broad perspectives. SMEs by nature are very detail oriented but exams don’t start with the test questions, the development process begins by asking, “Who are we certifying?” Patsilaras says this is her favorite part of the exam development process because it forces her to take a step back from the detailed step-by-step enablement she typically develops and think about larger, big picture concepts. Once the candidate has been defined, then SMEs dig into the details by contributing their depth and breadth of skill and knowledge to the project. Says Riva, “My favorite aspect is working with a team of talented people, each bringing their own competencies, and everyone being open to learn from and listen to everybody else.” It is indeed a creative process that focuses not on who is right or wrong, but rather a collaboration of efforts to ensure exam content is solid and accurate.
Throughout the entire exam development process, SAS SMEs do not think about how they can sabotage the test taker. Their goal is to create a quality exam that has value to the candidate, customer, and SAS. “Knowing that a certified individual has a solid foundation in this technology and being able to evaluate the talent and areas of focus for our customers” is what Patsilaras perceives as the biggest value of a SAS certification. So the next time (or the first time) you take a SAS exam, think beyond the credential and know there are people who want you to earn the certification and, in the words of Riva, “be globally recognized as the talented professional you are.”
