[nfbcs] Java Certification

[William Griffiths]

My experiences are probably dated at this point, but when I took the Java Programmer Certification exam 8 years ago, it was mostly text-based.  I was granted double time to take it.  Since then I've also taken and passed the A+, Network+ and Security+ certifications from CompTIA.  For these exams I was given a monitor/reader in the room that assisted with the more visually-oriented questions and tasks (like dragging/dropping).  These exams were administered through Prometrics, which did not provide many options at all-either extra time and/or a monitor/reader.  The option of using a screen reader seemed completely alien to them.  If I had requested assistive technology be installed on the testing PC, there was no guarantee it would function effectively; if it didn't, I would lose the money I paid to take the exam, so I went with the safer option. I would hope things have improved since then although as with content in Flash and HTML-based content employing AJAX, accessibility is often an afterthought, and it is often very difficult to test the accessibility of the exams beforehand.

I would be interested in hearing about the experiences of others taking Microsoft certification exams.

Bill


Dr. William J. Griffiths
Assistive Technology/Information Accessibility Consultant
Office of Human Resources - Dept. of Administration
915 SW Harrison
Topeka, KS  66612

Phone: (785)-296-4206
E-mail:William.Griffiths at srs.ks.gov



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