For those out there that are Microsoft Certified Professionals and have taken beta tests in the past, there is an update to the beta program. Due to a lot of no-shows when it comes to the beta exams, Microsoft will be giving an 80% discount on the beta exams instead of 100%. You also get a 20% discount when you show up – pass or fail. If you’re planning another certification in the next year, it can make the beta exam essentially free.

As many of you know, seats for many of our beta exams fill rapidly, which, in theory, should be a good thing. Quick registration means high levels of interest, which should translate into having a sufficient enough of candidates taking our exams quickly enough that we can perform the required psychometric analysis to identify the good items and remove the bad items in a few weeks.

However, we are seeing an increasing number of no shows. Unfortunately, these seats are “lost,” meaning that they took a seat from someone who would have showed up but couldn’t participate in the beta because all the seats were taken when s/he tried to register, often requiring us to extend betas. As a result, every no show delays our ability to gather the necessary data to move the exam out of beta and delays the scoring of the beta exam for those who DID show up—because we need several hundred completed exams before we can start scoring.