CCMS exam feedback (worst exam I've ever seen)

[Nik_Bloemers]

Hello everyone,

I hope someone from Check Point reads also this, but I suppose it's also a warning to other people choosing a Specialist exam to take.

This morning I did the CCMS (Multi-Domain Security Specialist) exam to renew my CCSM-Elite certification. This was litterally the worst quality exam I've ever seen from any vendor, and I have made quite a few exams over the years.

It's full of mistakes and errors. Not just in grammar, but technical errors too. Multiple questions even had duplicate answers actually already marked as being duplicate(!). For example:
A) cpd
B) cpd_Duplicate
I had two questions with answers like that (one was MultiDomain Log Server_Duplicate or something like that). It's if I was making some sort of exam that was still being developed or some sort of weird test exam. It's also an R81 exam, so it's not like it's a new exam or anything like that, so there is no excuse.

Check Point never had high quality exams in my humble opinion compared to other vendors, but I've never seen anything this bad before. Fair warning to all and hopefully Check Point reads this and takes a good look at this exam (and the rest too in my opinion) and hopefully hires a few people to up their exam/certification game to match the rest of the IT security world.

Nik

[Don_Paterson]

Hi Nik,

Your feedback will be read by the team/s involved, no doubt. You've posted it in the right place for that.

Did you leave feedback on any of the questions in the actual exam?

I don't remember seeing the Duplicate wording when I did the exam, and wonder if it is a technical issue in the provisioning of the exam.

The CCMS is part of an older generation of exams and I am sure it will improve in the next generation (after the CCMS course is updated into the R82 generation, and the exam is then released).

Regards,

Don

[_Val_]

Thanks for the write-up. I personally could list a number of awful exam experiences with other vendors that could beat CCSM to the punch, but let's not play this game here on CheckMates 🙂

I believe PearsonVue still allows providing feedback directly after taking the exam. I hope you did that. The feedback is then sent directly to the exam owners, which I find to be more effective.

That said, we do want to hear about how exams could be improved. I will ask the relevant people to follow up. 

[Nik_Bloemers]

Hi Val,
For the two questions with the _Duplicate answers I did add a comment with the button in the exam software. Hopefully that gets to the right people.

Thanks!

[_Val_]

Perfect, that is what I meant. 

[the_rock]

I would have some funny stories about other vendors' exams too, but anyway, I wont share them here 😂

[the_rock]

Interesting...I did lots of CP exams myself, never seen that before.

[Vincent_Bacher]

Same here and I did many exams as well.

[Jason_Tugwell]

@Nik_Bloemers 

I'm sorry your exam experience was less than satisfactory.

I will look into this exam right away and thank you for your honest feedback.

Regards,

Jason

[Vanessa_Johnson]

Hi Nik,

Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback regarding the CCMS exam.

We take all reports of potential issues seriously, including concerns related to answer duplication, grammar, or technical accuracy. Our exam development process includes multiple rounds of review and validation, and we continuously monitor feedback to identify areas needing improvement. That said, we are reviewing the specific points you raised to determine any corrections or clarifications that are warranted.

We appreciate constructive feedback that helps us maintain the quality and integrity of our Certification Program, and we remain committed to delivering fair, accurate, and professionally developed exams. Thank you again for bringing your concerns to our attention.

Best Regards,

Vanessa Johnson

Manager, Americas ATC Program & Certifications

[Vincent_Bacher]

I would like to take this opportunity to speak up in defense of the exams. When I started working with Check Point over 25 years ago, the quality was at times genuinely poor. Today, while one may still occasionally question certain questions, this is more a matter of content than of quality. In terms of overall quality, there is a world of difference between then and now.

[the_rock]

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