After completing 4 courses so far and being incredibly frustrated with the ambiguous questions on the knowledge exams (the practical questions are generally OK ), i see Laserfiche haven't updated the exam questions despite plenty of feedback on here.

I've taken and passed 11 courses, and while I can certainly relate to some of the difficulties expressed by other members of the community, it was my experience the only real "problem" course/exam was "Laserfiche Specialist - Troubleshooting".

Not only is the material quite outdated (covering version 8.2) and many of the questions/answers unnecessarily obscure, the test results tabulation is bugged so regardless of an examinee's diligence, there is no way to ensure getting the question right on a retest.

Case in point: my colleague and I were working through the courses simultaneously. After each failing our first attempt, we took screenshots of each test slide with the answers we selected, to compare afterward. There were numerous questions that we both answered the same, but for which only one of us got credit--the other got the answer wrong.

One of the problem questions asks for the Problem Analysis steps to be numbered. The proper order can be found in the table of contents of the Troubleshooting Training Manual. My colleague and I both answered the question according to the order presented in the Manual. He got the question right, I got the question wrong. This leads me to believe that the score calculation logic is broken.

Assuming this is the case, with any luck, Laserfiche will either reassess the failed tests to grant a "pass" to those who actually did, or they'll update the material and allow past students take the revised course gratis.

has anyone completed one of the video's of a cpp course only to return to the account window only to find out that all your paid courses have been deleted from your account.

Is laserfiche doing some kind of maintenance, or is this a glitch?

I failed my 2nd time exam, the score was 55%, my wrong answears:

If Amanda is explicitly denied browse/read access to a document through group membership but explicitly allowed browse/read access to the same document as a user, what will Amanda be able to do?

A user requires access to change field values. Which of the following security rights should the user be granted?

What is the difference between an encrypted volume and a secured one?

The Marketing group has not been given the Delete feature right. However, they have been given the Delete Entry entry access right on a particular folder. What will happen if a user in this group attempts to delete a file from this folder?

What is the main consideration when backing up volume files?

The Volume Shadow Copy (VSS) service can be used with a third-party backup utility to backup which of the following components while the repository remains online?

What is the preferred method to back up the Laserfiche database in Microsoft SQL?

What is the preferred way to test that the backup of a Laserfiche database in Microsoft SQL is successful?

Through the Administration Console or the Client, an administrator can purge or restore any document that has been sent to the recycle bin. What rights and/or privileges are required to do this?

In order to perform a field search for a document, the document must:

A user notices that a full-text search fails to return a document that should be returned. Additionally, some documents that are returned should not be. What is the best way to correct this problem?

When should FTSUSER$ and WFUSER$ connections be disconnected by the Administrator from a repository?

Which of the following is not a way field values should be used?

Dear CPP User Community,

Thank you for sharing your concerns and suggestions. This is helpful as we are currently in the process of revamping our online training courses.  In order to successfully create and implement this program so that we can help individuals effectively learn, we have hired an Instructional Designer who has had years of experience developing online courses.

The courses being built will have the central objective of teaching learners how to navigate, understand, and utilize Laserfiche effectively.  Our end goal is to make sure that you walk away feeling that you have gained confidence in using Laserfiche and that the assessments accurately reflect what you have learned.  Again, thank you for your invaluable feedback as our team moves forward with creating more engaging, interactive, and helpful learning tools.  

I can agree with all of the frustrations expressed above.  I've take 5 exams and passed 4 (thankfully the Admin 1 was a rewrite and I was able to take the "new" one instead of trying to figure out the old one.) I've got 4 tests to go to reach Gold Certification.  Each test is totally nerve-wracking, even though I feel like I understand the program pretty well.  I feel like a kid again struggling to carefully fill in my bubble sheet with my #2 pencil, answering questions designed to lead me to choose the wrong answer; like I have to carefully examine the use of each specific word in the question and answers because one little variation stands between the right answer and the wrong one.  

I thought these courses were designed to TEACH us something! Or to, at the very least, accurately measure what we know and have learned about the complex program. I'm not sure either of these objectives is being accomplished.  I like the idea behind certifications, but if someone serving for 5 years as an Admin has to stress out over the Admin 1 exam, then that sort of indicates a problem.  That's what I'm hearing on this Board...that people who work daily in the program and understand what they are doing are shocked when they fail the exams.

Two years ago, at the 2014 conference, there was a slide in the opening presentation that showed the number of CPP course registrations...a number in the thousands, maybe even hundred thousands.  Then right under that number it showed the number of successful certifications...I was shocked! It was so low in comparison to the number of course registrations that I remember laughing out loud and thinking, "Why would they even put that number on there?!"  It most definitely was not a number to be proud of. If that doesn't scare everybody off, nothing will.  I think it was less than 20% of registrations had resulted in successful certifications.  Now I know most people have them stacked up in their account like I do, and plan to take them at some point.  But I think most people are like me, after those first few we learn how difficult they are and put off taking them.

My suggestions....

1-More sample questions along the way.  This prepares the tester for the style of questions that will be asked on the exam.

2-Stop offering deliberately confusing answers (example:  All of the above; None of the above; Both B and C; A, B and D but never C unless it's Tuesday or a Leap Year)

3-NEVER use "Select all that apply"---PLEASE!!!  If there are 2 correct answers, tell us to pick 2!  The question is hard enough as it is, without throwing all these answers at us and not providing any way to narrow it down.

4-If we test twice and fail both times, send by mail or email a listing of the questions missed along with information that we could use to determine the correct answer.  Better yet, provide us with the number of someone we could call to discuss our questions and turn this into a learning opportunity instead of a depressing failure.

Above all, please remember that these are supposed to be tools for us, as users and administrators, to better our understanding of this outstanding program. We should be able to recommend these as resources to new users as a means of gaining knowledge and understanding for the program.  That is not possible with the tests as they are now.

I just ran into this frustration. I took the Records management CPP course. I really struggled with the exam, due to not having records management. If there was a "Playground" where we could link to to play with the software, it would be really helpful.

I read the manual, and the help files, and still did not come up with some of the answers I missed. I know if I could play with files, i would've figured it out. 

I understand and have  experienced all the frustrations encountered with the CPP course.

My biggest frustration is after exhausting all the resources ( Manuals, Course Material, Videos, Laserfiche Answers, Support Site etc ) is not being able to find the correct answer to a question, and not having anywhere else to turn. I would like to see a weekly CPP Exam webinar where you could sign up and discuss exam questions before you use up your 2nd exam attempt. After all the intent is to learn !

I agree with all these comments... I have now taken 4 CPP exams and I felt I was being tested on my testing abilities rather than on the contents in the course.   Very challenging when the wording is very similar for the answers to choose from.   I have gotten more value by using Laserfiche than by these courses.    I feel for the cost of the courses the tests need to be about the section you are learning, not about testing ability.  I have heard of other users taking screen shots of the exam the first go around, finding the answers on their own time and then taking the exam.  Even with this approach a lot of the questions did not make sense and they still failed.    Please improve these exams.

I took the Repository Architect course and failed it twice with a 65% both times. What's interesting is the first time around I ignored the PDF coursebook because the course rehashed things I knew, and I never felt like I was in over my head while taking the test. So my bad, I retook it checking my answers against the book, and I noticed maybe three questions where if you didn't fish through the whole book for each question you would easily miss the 'Select all response that apply' type questions. Even when  I located the area under discussion I didn't always see a direct correlation between the question responses and the text.  Much of the test content was based on the book alone and not the video modules, which might have led me to use the book the first time had I known. 

The course covers the type of basics that you hear a lot (e.g. don't use ambiguous entry names and don't setup the whole repository under one folder) so despite learning nothing particularly new, I managed to fail it twice, which makes me believe the phrasing of the questions is way off.  It's hard to know for sure because while you are shown which questions you missed, I don't recall seeing what answer I gave or what the correct answer is. So you really can't learn from your mistakes or see how you may be misinterpreting the questions. So in this case I'm glad I only took it for free for attending Empower.

On the other hand the ECM 101 course is a good overview for new users.

I am in agreement with the "PDF reminder" sentiments that have been stated previously.  It might be an idea to simply have a link available during the test to allow users who have not saved a local copy to open the document.

I also found some of the questions to be vaguely worded enough that correct answers were difficult to discern clearly. While I would not necessarily say that "knowing less than more" makes taking the exams easier I can certainly understand the sentiment.  For instance after getting only 65% (fail) on the Admin II course first attempt, I practically memorized the PDF before my second attempt.  I still got questions incorrect but comparing what I got wrong between tests showed some questions I incorrectly answered the second time I got correct the first time when I definitely knew less of the material.  (And yes I am aware the specific questions can differ somewhat between tests).

I hate to be that guy who states that "I didn't get the answer wrong, the test did" but in several examples I can probably show in the documentation why I answered a question the way I did and why it wasn't an incorrect answer.  It appears that for some questions the correct answer being sought is limited to details expressed in the primary paragraph of that section of the manual.  If you actually know the material well enough and remember there is another reference later in the document it appears to hinder your test rests rather than bolster them.  I don't know if that is considered what people have referred to here as "trick questions" but it feel like it.  Its sad when one might score better on an exam just by CTRL-F'ing their way through the PDF for key terms rather than actually learning the material contained within.

It would also be nice to see posted what threshold you need in order to pass each exam.  I left in a funk on a Friday thinking I had to retake an exam again the following week only to receive the "congratulations on passing" email later that night.

Sorry this got a little wordy but that's just my $0.25 :)

To be specific, I just took the QuickFields CPP exam and failed. I felt that quite a few of the questions were not even covered in the videos or the manual. I would have expected more questions to come from what the preparation materials covered.

I took a CPP exam last week and failed it for the second time.  This is the first one I have totally failed one of the exams.  I did excellent on my other two.  I wish I could dispute several of these questions.  Totally agree with each and every comment made above.  After looking at the questions I missed, I went back to the manual, the videos, and other LF materials to find the correct answers.  In this test I took, I found two possible correct answers, answers that an IT person (I'm a user) would understand because in the manual there was not a "detail" description of what they were asking (programming language), and questions I didn't even remember seeing on the exam (possible I pressed "next" twice (?)).   I truly felt I knew/know this material. And, the questions that had ""select all that apply", get rid of them.  I believe that just one or two questions that didn't have this, I probably would have passed this test.  Oh, and I am a LF 9/QF 9 user.  These tests are for QF 8.  I think that is why I got some questions wrong.   In QF 8 they were add-ons.  In QF 9, they aren't.  I have been using QF 9 for a year.  I know this stuff.  And I feel if you pay for these exams, you should be able to take them until you pass.  You just don't get your certification until you pass.  Well, getting ready for another.  I sure hope Records Management is update.  Capture II wasn't.

I agree with all these comments... after taking a few of these I found the way the questions were misleading and I felt tricked.  I have taken many exams in my life on-line and this by far was the most puzzling.  It would be good to be able to go back and see the "correct" answer as some of the questions had very similar answers it was just a matter of wording.

I feel a general outline of the test would be helpful if you fail the first go round. With it being timed, some of the questions that are very tricky make it very difficult to go in depth. The multiple options ones you have to try and understand the meaning. 

Pricing of the certifications is an issue for us as a non profit organization, it would be cost prohibitive to certify many of our staff.  I do appreciate the free CPP courses given to attendees of the Empower conferences and hope that trend continues.  See you in January 2015!

For any VA users struggling with the CPP - watch for a return of Roz's CPP Boot Camp in October in Virginia!

I have done 2 CPP courses so far and have pretty much given up. The questions are not detailed enough and the answers even less detailed. Sometimes the questions can have multiple answers or if you put some further thought into the question you wouldn't actually do any of the answers selectable but something much better!

All in all quite I'm disappointed with the CPP courses. It seems the less LF knowledge you have the easier the exams become because your view of the question isn't as broad with LF knowledge and knowing immediately what is or isn't possible with LF.

Perhaps there can be a text box at the bottom of the question for comments if the question appears misleading or not enough information. You can add free hand why you chose answer 'B' for example.

It would also be nice to know which questions you got wrong!

I agree with the other comments.  I sometimes felt tricked or mislead into getting a wrong answer and it certainly wasn't because I didn't understand the concepts.  I normally get 80 to 90% on most exams like this, yet I completely failed two out of the 8 exams I took and am now locked out with no possible way of improving my score and getting certified.  It is very frustrating.  If you've reviewed the manual and videos as thoroughly as I have and still can't figure out what answers the exam is expecting, then maybe the exam questions are too vague...?

I would appreciate having a way to find out what it is that I'm missing.  Even if it's just a comment on the page that tells a person where to go or who to contact to find out more about the topic that you've failed in. 

I have taken two CPP courses so far, mainly for the training of how to do something.  In taking the test I have noticed that there are several questions on the two that I have taken that are not mentioned at all in the training manual.  I am new enough to Laserfiche that I don't necessarily know where to look for those answers while in the middle of a test.

To me it would be nice if everything on the test was covered in the training manual for the course.

I'm part of the team that puts these together, and we'd be interested in this type of feedback so we can try to make things better. 

There are some questions that by their wording seem a bit subjective, but can still be gotten wrong. It's been a while since I've taken a CPP exam, but there were a few questions that really gave me fits and not because I lacked the technical understanding.