Cisco Mulls Adding Verbal Interview To CCIE Exams

Julie188 writes "Here's a new idea to stop certification test-taking cheaters; Cisco is considering introducing a verbal interview portion to its CCIE lab exams across the world. Cisco confirmed that it is running a pilot in its exam lab in Beijing, China that involves candidates taking a 10-minute verbal interview as part of their lab exam. Cisco said that if the pilot is successful, the interview could be introduced as a requirement for CCIE Routing & Switching candidates worldwide. The company has been running the pilot since August."

What about other certs?

[glitch23]

I didn't know CCIE had issues with cheaters but maybe all cert exams are susceptible to it. I think if this works that maybe MS and other companies should take notice and think about using the idea for their own certs. Doing this could increase the value of the certs to companies and therefore to people who are thinking of taking them.

Re:What about other certs?

[jackharrer]

To save costs that can be done over the phone. Some official line with video recording to prove that the person talking was the person taking test. Just in case of problems afterwards.

Re:Cisco should be careful

[Anonymous Coward]

If they already localize their material and written exams then holding a verbal interview in the candidate's native tongue shouldn't be a problem.

If the written portion is not already localized, however, then there's no more bias being introduced with verbal interviews carried out in English.

Re:How did they fudge the practical lab?

[Anonymous Coward]

One of the problems that has started coming up in some places (ie Beijing) is people taking the test for one another, faking their identity. Also there are a lot of boot camps and crash courses out there now that could theoretically allow one to get just a tenuous enough grasp on the exact material to barely pass.

As a CCIE Voice who actually worked to earn it I applaud this move. I'm prepping for my R&S now and honestly this won't affect my prep work at all. If you know it thoroughly enough to pass the lab portion, a handful of questions shouldn't even phase you (unless you're just hanging by a thread after braindump/bootcamp type prep).

Cheers,

-J, #18858

Re:Cisco should be careful

[Anonymous Coward]

Have you ever been outside your country (I'm guessing USA)?
  Plenty of people can read and write English perfectly well; in fact plenty of people can read and write English *better* than the vast majority of English speakers (we don't confuse "their" and "they're", for one!). Yet *speaking* it is something else, and not required for most extra-company communication and documentation.

Like the GRE...

[gandhi_2]

...it could at least have essay questions that real people read. You can't bullshit a bullshitter.