Since the pandemic doing certification exams remotely has become convenient and a great option for test takers on most technical certifications such as those from Amazon Web Services (AWS).
I use a personal MacBook Pro to do my exams and since I’ve done a few I thought it might be useful to give some points about how I approach the exam situation:
- Create a new user account on your computer for doing exams so you can customise it.
- Use a wired connection if you can, but have WiFi turned on too in case there’s a problem (set the wired connection as a higher priority in the settings).
- Check your laptop is up to date, you don’t want it rebooting mid-exam to install updates.
- Turn off all notifications – I’ve had exam experiences where a notification has popped up over the top of the exam screen and would not go away, meaning I couldn’t see some of the question – very annoying!
- Pick a room that is quiet and away from noise if at all possible.
- Put notices on the doors saying “Exam in progress, no entry” or similar. Tell everyone that might use the room that they can’t.
- Turn your phone to silent – you’re not allowed to have it in reach during the exam so having it play notifications and ringtones is an annoyance.
- Make sure you take off your connected watch (i.e. Apple Watch, fit-bit etc).
Good luck and if you have any more tips let me know!