Certification News

MAC OS X 10.5 Certification Coming Soon

The current Mac OS X and Mac OS X Server certifications are in the process of being updated from 10.4 to 10.5, with the new exams expected in February. There are three levels of certification available in the tracks:

• Apple Certified Support Professional (ACSP): Aimed at help-desk  professionals, this certification requires passing a single exam: Support Essentials. The certification was previously known as Apple  Certified Help Desk Specialist (ACHDS), but the name changed with  the release of Leopard.
• Apple Certified Technical Coordinator (ACTC): A midlevel  certification, this designation requires first achieving the ACSPand then passing another exam on Server Essentials.
• Apple Certified System Administrator (ACSA): With the exception of  the updates, there's really no difference between the 10.4 and 10.5  tracks for the previous two certifications. That's not the case  here. Previously, you were required to pass a total of seven exams  to earn this certification, but now it's only four. In addition to  the Server Essentials exam you must take in order to become  certified as a Technical Coordinator, you must also take an exam on  Directory Services, Deployment and Advanced Administration.

In terms of what to expect, here are a few things to keep in mind: The current version of the Support Essentials exam consists of 74 questions (multiple choice) that must be answered within 120 minutes, with a required passing score of 62 percent. The topics, in order of (rounded) weighting, are:

• Accessing network services (18%)
• Command-line interface (11%)
• Network configuration and troubleshooting (11%)
• File systems (9%)
• Providing network services (9%)
• Users (9%)
• Installation (7%)
• Permissions (7%)
• Application environments (5%)
• Printing (5%)
• Troubleshooting (4%)
• Peripherals (3%)
• Startup sequence (1%)

Most exams are priced between USD 150 to 200 and are available through Prometric testing centers; Skills Assessment Guides, listing domains and objectives will be available when the exams are released.