We're all well aware there are cracked versions of just about any software you can think of somewhere on the internet. Most of the torrent or filesharing sites rank among some of the most visited sites I've seen. Being in the line of work that I am, I review site ranks and compare website popularity almost on a daily basis and I don't think I've ever seen a torrent site with a rank greater than ~3,000 (Alexa.com) and a monthly visitor count of less than ~50,000 (Compete.com). So the popularity of "free" has definitely increased over the past few years.
Unfortunately, the cracked software I'm speaking of also includes some of the software you may be using to earn your certifications. Practice test providers ("PTPs"), such as SelfTestSoftware, MeasureUp, Transcender, PrepLogic, and Boson, are all victims of software piracy; and it's killing their business. These PTPs spend millions of dollars annually developing the practice tests you use to earn your certifications and they are being forced to spend even more so that they can better protect their software, continue to develop quality test prep materials, and stay in business. Unfortunately, every dollar they have to spend on piracy prevention is a dollar less they are able to spend on their content authors and quality software development; and protection of their software comes first.
So where does this leave you, the exam candidate looking for the cheapest way to get certified? Well, your best bet when searching for practice tests is to stay away from the torrent sites, the filesharing sites, and places like eBay that allow anyone to sell whatever they have in their arsenal for any price. If you're interested in purchasing the Boson NetSims to pass your CCNA, then get them from Boson.com, not some guy that claims he's a reseller, or even selling a used copy of the software.
Robert Williams is co-founder and CEO of CertGuard. Robert founded CertGuard after an 8-year stint in the U.S Navy, three years of college and five years in IT. While on a quest for more knowledge, Robert decided to work on earning a certification when he noticed the abundance of braindumps and illegal services that plagued the industry. Putting his certifications and further education on hold, Robert decided that it was time for someone to dedicate their time to preventing the spread of these illegal products and services. And CertGuard was born.
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Hi, An acquaintance of mine
Hi,
An acquaintance of mine recently went for the CCIE R&S exam and he used one of the braindump sites you mentioned for his study. He failed the R&S written exam and mentioned that maybe around 20% of the questions he got were the ones he had seen before..rest were all new.
Not sure how others feel about that? I'm quite happy that this happened! :)
thx
Re: Hi, An acquaintance of mine
Just for clarity, none of the websites I mentioned are braindumps. Those are all legitimate sources of study material.
But what you've stated is something we too have recently realized; that cheating is so rampant in the IT Industry that even the CCIE Program isn't as "prestigious" as everyone thinks it is.
Best Regards,
The written part of CCIE is
The written part of CCIE is a pre-qualification test and passing it probably requires 2-10% of the effort required to pass the lab (depending on your previous level of knowledge).
The existence of these braidumps are a real shame but they do in no way make the CCIE certification less prestigious.