FCPA Announces First 6 IT Certification Exams

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The Field Certified Professional Association (FCPA), the promoter of performance-based certifications, announced today the introduction of their first six Field Certification exams. On July 1, 2002, the association will offer performance-based (Field CertificationÔ) tests for the following certifications:

• Field Certified PC Technician (FCPT)
• Field Certified Systems Administrator (FCSA) for Cisco
• Field Certified Systems Administrator (FCSA) for Windows NT
• Field Certified Systems Administrator (FCSA) for Windows 2000/XP
• Field Certified Systems Engineer (FCSE) for Windows NT
• Field Certified Systems Engineer (FCSE) for Windows 2000/XP

"These performance-based, hands-on exams represent a major leap forward for IT certification," emphasized Dr. Amir Elahi, Chairman of the FCPA and originator of the "Field Certification" concept. "Job seekers, employers, trainers and vendors recognize the immense need to move beyond multiple-choice, paper tests to create the testing infrastructure and examinations that test real world skills. This is the mission of FCPA."

The FCPA has established three Field Certification Testing Centers (FCTC) in the US and one in Europe to offer these first tests. By the end of the year the association's goal is to approve 20 testing centers in the US and 5 abroad. Details on testing centers, pre-requisites, preparation and registration are provided at the FCPA Web site.

In the new Field Certification exams candidates will be confronted with a partially broken system or network in a live environment. Success with the exam requires that they perform the assigned tasks and bring the system or the network back to a working status within a certain amount of time.

The exams are designed to test ability to plan, design, implement, test, monitor, optimize, and troubleshoot the system or the network. Candidates are provided with most resources that are typically available in a work environment, such as tools, books, reference materials and online resources. The candidates may be asked to decipher appropriate information to perform a task, as all information provided may not be needed.

Candidates may also be confronted with situations in which it may not be possible to meet all the requirements. In such cases, the candidates may have to make some compromises based on priorities implied from the scenario. The exams are also designed to test ability to perform tasks within time constraints.

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