Exam day: what to expect
Most people book their first proctored exam without knowing what the room check involves, what identification is accepted, or what happens if they fail. None of that is complicated, but discovering it fifteen minutes before your exam is a bad time. This page covers what is common across Microsoft, AWS, Databricks, CompTIA, ISACA and Salesforce.
Online or test centre
Every vendor covered here offers both. The trade-off is real.
Online proctored is convenient and strict. A person or software watches you through your webcam for the whole exam. Your room must be clear, your desk must be visible, and you cannot leave the frame — in most cases not even for a bathroom break.
Test centre removes the room requirements and the risk of your internet dropping. You travel, and availability is limited outside cities.
If your home has thin walls, a shared desk or unreliable broadband, the test centre is worth the journey. An exam terminated for an environment violation is a lost fee.
The room check
Before an online exam starts you will typically be asked to:
- Show your photo identification to the camera
- Pan the webcam around the entire room, including under the desk
- Show your desk surface is clear
- Show your ears are not covered, to prove you are not wearing an earpiece
What is usually prohibited: phones, smart watches, second monitors, notes, food, headphones, and other people in the room. Water in a clear container is often permitted; check your vendor’s specific rules rather than assuming.
Paper is not allowed. If you have practised subnetting on scratch paper, be aware you will have an on-screen whiteboard at best, and sometimes nothing.
Identification
The rule that catches people out: your ID must show your name exactly as you registered it, plus a photo, and it must be in date. A passport is the safest option. A registration in a shortened first name against a passport in the full legal name has cost people their booking.
Some vendors require a second form of ID. Check the day before, not the hour before.
Timing
Arrive or log in 30 minutes early. Online check-in takes longer than you expect, especially the first time, and a failed system check with ten minutes to spare is not recoverable.
Run the vendor’s system check on the machine you will actually use, on the network you will actually use, a day ahead. Corporate laptops frequently block proctoring software.
During the exam
- Flag and move on. Every vendor lets you mark questions for review. A question you cannot answer in ninety seconds is costing you marks elsewhere.
- Read the last sentence first on long scenario questions. It tells you what is actually being asked, and often makes half the scenario irrelevant.
- Answer everything. None of these exams penalise a wrong answer more than a blank one.
- Performance-based questions — CompTIA in particular — take far longer than multiple choice. Do them last if the interface allows.
If you fail
You will usually see your result immediately, with a domain-level breakdown but not the questions.
That breakdown is the most valuable thing you get. It tells you exactly which areas cost you. Write it down before you close the screen.
Retake rules differ, but the shape is consistent:
- A waiting period before the second attempt, commonly a few days to two weeks
- A longer waiting period after a second or third failure
- Full price for every attempt, with rare exceptions
- An annual cap on attempts at some vendors
Check your vendor’s specific policy before booking a retake, because paying twice in a window that does not permit it means losing the fee.
The most common avoidable failures
- Booking before you are ready, because a date felt motivating. The free practice tests here will tell you where you stand for nothing.
- Studying the wrong version. Objectives get reweighted and exams get replaced — check the exam changes tracker first.
- Preparing only by reading. Most of these exams describe situations rather than ask for facts, and situations are recognised by people who have been in them.
- A corporate laptop that blocks the proctoring software, discovered on the day.
Before you book
Take the free 20-question practice test in your exam section. Under fourteen correct means more study is cheaper than a retake. The costs page sets out what a second attempt actually costs you.