A SearchWin2000.com article talks about making certification harder with real life scenarios to get rid of memorizers. Well don't you have to "memorize" the stuff for the real life scenarios? I do not think I ever had an issue come up at work where I did not have reference materials and tools to help answer it. So, doing some lab work will test what a person can do. Otherwise, it is still just a test of memorization skills.
Actually, you raise an interesting point about how exams with scenarios get designed. Theoretically, such scenarios are supposed to emerge from a careful analysis of common situations and circumstances that IT professionals are rather more likely to encounter than less likely to encounter. Practically, because you may not yet have encountered such situations or circumstances, indeed some study, analysis and memorization may be necessary on your part. But the underlying idea is that this learning should do you good in the workplace as well as on the exam, rather than being useful on the exam only.

HTH,
--Ed--

This was first published in November 2002

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