Microsoft certification exam accommodations survey
Hi all: Earlier I had posted to this group about a survey Microsoft was running regarding accommodation's for certification exams. This survey had been scheduled to end on 12/16, however the date has been extended until 12/31. If anyone is interested, you can take the survey herehttps://forms.office.com/r/XY7S7JgKL6. My apologies for the late notice of the extension, I have been on vacation for the past few weeks. If there are any accessibility issues taking the survey, please reach out to the Enterprise Disability Answer Deskmailto:edad@microsoft.com for assistance. Thanks a lot. Ryan Ryan Shugart Senior Program Manager, Cloud+AI Accessibility Microsoft Corporation 425-705-1262
Hi.
Thanks for the actual form, I emailed the guys about this when the survey opened but didn't get a response. This survey is mainly for the accommodation request process which I actually didn't have an issue with myself. Interesting that accommodations for a screen reader can now go through without extra documentation but extra time requires additional documentation. When my accommodation status renews I might try and just go for screen reader support and get rid of extra time because I never used any of the extra time in my exams.
The main issues I am having is actually booking the exam with the accommodations in place, I am talking to someone in Microsoft about this. I have done a few exams now since I got my first in October, I'm on a role.
Andrew.
-----Original Message-----
From: Ryan Shugart via Blind-sysadmins
Glad to hear Andrew. I haven't actually taken a Microsoft exam in a number of years so I haven't personally dealt with the accommodation process since the mid 2000's. Do the exams work pretty well with a screen reader?
Ryan
-----Original Message-----
From: Andrew Hodgson
Hi.
The exams work well with a screen reader, better than the Measure Up practice tests actually as they describe the diagrams. I do need to feed back one issue I had with the latest exam where I couldn't enter in text into a text box.
The first time I did an exam I got a warning for leaning into the screen and the way the warning came through wasn't accessible. For my last couple of exams I've had no such warning even though I had to lean in to get the text box entry sorted.
The issue actually is booking the exam with the accommodations in place. You can only do this via the phone and due to mixes up at Pearson's end you can sometimes book an exam and it has to be cancelled. Even more annoying is I have a system where I don't pay for the exams as they are through the employer, but Pearson manual bookings can't interact with the system which means I need to book in advance for the date I want then try and get accommodations sorted. I have to cancel the exam if I think I can't get the accommodations sorted in time for that.
I would recommend trying it once you get the hang of the format you shouldn't have any issues. I'm not going to do a load more as they all have to be renewed each year so staggering them out a bit. The guys I work with though are seriously smart people and they all have 5-6 exams at a minimum so need to keep up with that.
Andrew.
-----Original Message-----
From: Ryan Shugart via Blind-sysadmins
Dare I suggest that an e-mail link is provided where such complaints can be
referred to?
It might just encourage them to check accessibility more seriously if they
get flooded with complaints!
-----Original Message-----
From: Andrew Hodgson
Hi:
For any Microsoft related exams, you can always email edad@microsoft.com with any accessibility issues. Microsoft doesn't always have control over what the policies of the 3RD party exam provider are, but if we keep getting complaints about issues relating to a provider we can at least try to put some influence over them, its better than not having any details.
Ryan
-----Original Message-----
From: "george@techno-vision.co.uk mailto:george@techno-vision.co.uk"
participants (4)
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Andrew Hodgson -
george＠techno-vision.co.uk -
Ryan Shugart -
Ryan Shugart