On Monday afternoon, I figured I was as ready as I was going to be and finally scheduled my PHP 5 Zend Certification Exam for Tuesday Morning. Since my original post about preparing for the exam seemed fairly popular, I figured a follow up was in order.
As I’m sure you’re aware Pearsonvue administers the exam. The testing centers are usually apart of other organizations (colleges, tech centers, etc.)
First, I was asked to arrive 15 minutes early so that I could complete the registration process and start my exam ‘on time’. Registration basically consisted of showing two forms of ID and locking away all personal items; including wallets, bags, hats (if I had known this I would’ve combed my hair), and so on. I was then given a laminated piece of paper, a black dry erase marker, and an eraser which I was allowed to use during the exam. The exam ‘proctor’ then lead me to a computer, started the exam application, and wished me luck.
The exam was setup very similar to the practice tests. The screen displays the amount of time left, the current question number and the total number of questions. If you don’t already know, there are 70 questions to be completed in 90 minutes.
For each question you can check a box to mark for review, submit a comment to the test writers, and of course a place to answer the question. Answers range from: true/false, multiple choice, or fill in. Multiple choice can ask for more than one answer or ‘None of the above’ / ‘All of the above’, I hate that.
Since I cannot give you examples of actual questions, or any real detailed information about the questions asked, let just say you definitely need a good basis in the topics listed on the Zend Certification page (scroll to the bottom). You, of course, don’t need to know everything contained in the topics listed, but have the knowledge to make an educated guesses, when you run up against a question you don’t know.
After completing all the questions, a review screen is displayed which tells you the questions marked for review, and whether you answered the question. I get very apprehensive when taking exams, and have a tendency second guess all my answers, consequently my review screen showed that I had marked all but a few questions for review.
You then have options to ‘end the exam’, ‘review the questions marked’, or ‘review all questions’. Since I had about half the exam time left, I chose to review all questions.
On my second pass at the questions, I only left about 5 which I wanted to go over once more if I had the time, which I did.
Upon clicking ‘end exam’, it calculates your score, in about 5 (very long seconds), then displays whether you’ve passed or failed. Since I’m writing this post you should know that I passed, else I would have just never mentioned the exam again 
.
BTW – If you don’t already know, learn how to convert hexadecimal and octal, you may only have one question which asks, but it is one question you are guaranteed to get right, if you know how.
PDF
