{"id":69,"date":"2012-02-18T23:14:00","date_gmt":"2012-02-18T23:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.appledomination.co.za\/index.php\/2012\/02\/18\/my-first-apple-certification-done\/"},"modified":"2015-08-10T16:33:11","modified_gmt":"2015-08-10T16:33:11","slug":"my-first-apple-certification-done","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.appledomination.co.za\/index.php\/2012\/02\/18\/my-first-apple-certification-done\/","title":{"rendered":"My first Apple Certification, done."},"content":{"rendered":"

In my years of tech support, I have naturally been exposed to a completely Microsoft-dominated industry. And in order to stay ahead of the curb, and of any worth to my employers’ partnership accreditations, I have written many a Microsoft exam and became certified to the hilt. <\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n
\nBut as I am developing my career and returning to my training roots, I am entering into a field dominated with a much scarcer set of accreditations. Check out the certifications<\/a> I am talking about. <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nStarting off at the beginning, I attempted the OS X Support Essentials 10.7 Exam<\/a>.<\/i> <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

\nThis exam focuses on the end user experience of OS X Lion (expect Mountain Lion soon). The exam reminded me a lot of the Microsoft OS exams, like Windows 7. There are no directly server-related questions, but there are a handful that are much easier to answer when you have a server background. <\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nIf you use the OS all day everyday, you have a serious foot in the door. But don’t think that that is all you need.<\/div>\n
\nThere are quite a few questions relating to items that you will not use everyday, or even encounter at all during your Mac lifetime.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nIf you have the time, attend the 3 day instructor-lead training course, which will include the exam on the 4th day. Watch Torque-IT’s website<\/a> over the next 2 months for the launch of their Apple offering.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nIf work won’t allow 4 days off, then self-study is the key. I purchased the official training guide<\/a> from PeachPit.com, which proved very useful indeed. The eBook went for R200, and made it very easy to study on the iPad. The book has no extra question and answer sections whatsoever, or real-world scenarios, so it was essential to include the official Prep guide<\/a> too. This PDF has a whole bunch of Q&A’s, and proved very helpful in the exam.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n
\nThe exam itself is 2 hours long, with 80 questions included. All the questions are multiple choice, obviously, since it is online.<\/div>\n
\nOnce you select the “end exam” option, there will be a pause of a round 15 seconds or so before you score is shown on the screen. Those 15 seconds feel as long as 2 lifetimes! Your report-card<\/i> is simple, with your passing score, and how many questions you got correct and incorrect per section. Unfortunately you won’t be able to see which<\/i> questions you got right and wrong though. The passing score is 73%.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nShould you pass (I did<\/i>, in case you were wondering), you will immediately be emailed your confirmation of taking the exam, with the confirmation of passing the following day. Once you receive these mails, you will be able to register yourself onto the Apple Certified Professional Registry<\/a>, and get ready to be discovered by anybody in the world looking for Apple Pro’s. Look for me there in the next couple of days.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nNow that I have this first certification, I will be submitting my application to become an Apple Certified Trainer<\/a>, and start to train the course once I have it.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nStay tuned for upcoming posts on my Apple Certification career path, and feel free to drop me a mail<\/a> for more info regarding the certification itself.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\nEnjoy!<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In my years of tech support, I have naturally been exposed to a completely Microsoft-dominated industry. And in order to stay ahead of the curb, and of any worth to my employers’ partnership accreditations, I have written many a Microsoft exam and became certified to the hilt.  But as I am developing my career and[…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":583,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[174,139,132,209],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.appledomination.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Lion_IT_Pros.jpg?fit=322%2C154","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6OBBc-17","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":53,"url":"http:\/\/www.appledomination.co.za\/index.php\/2012\/05\/18\/attend-launch-of-latest-apple-training\/","url_meta":{"origin":69,"position":0},"title":"Attend the launch of the latest Apple Training Center in Cape Town","date":"May 18, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I am extremely proud to be apart of this! 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