“Integrity and respect not only apply to how we interact with others, but also to the representation of our abilities and the certifications achieved to document them.” – Cynthia Priebe
My ire was raised when I saw a post on a LinkedIn group for Dynamics 365 Business Central consultants. It is a private and highly active group with more than 50,000 members. Before I could even comment on that post, I saw another from a different author with the same type of content. And what was the content? Exam dumps for passing Microsoft certifications including the MB-800 Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Functional Consultant. To the credit of the group admins, once notified of the posts, the posts and their authors were removed from the group. But this is only one group, how many more posts like this are out there?
MB-800 Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Functional Consultant Certification
As described by Microsoft in Study guide for Exam MB-800: Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Functional Consultant | Microsoft Learn
“Candidates for this exam are functional consultants who implement core application setup processes for small and medium businesses. They configure the application in collaboration with the implementation team to provide the business with manageability and ease of use.
Candidates implement and configure Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central including setting up core functionality and modules and migrating data to Business Central. They have applied knowledge of meeting business needs by specializing in one or more feature sets of Business Central.”
What is an “Exam Dump”?
For clarity, the definition for exam dump used for this blog post found using Bing search – “Exam dumps are lists of questions and answers from an exam that someone remembers and shares online. Exam dumps are often used by test takers who want to memorize the answers rather than study the material.” I would suggest to you, this is cheating.
Is memorizing an “exam dump” prior to taking a certification exam cheating or just another method of exam preparation.
When preparing to write something about the evils of exam dumps, I found that I would not be the first, or even the 20th writer on this topic. So rather than try to express my thoughts without risk of plagiarizing someone else, I decided to provide excerpts and links to articles about this very topic.
While I did find a few search results touting the benefits of exam dumps, these very same benefits can be realized by using Microsoft provided materials without the risk of violating the terms of the certification. The same can probably be said for other organizations’ certifications.
Use this link for MB-800 reference and study materials Study guide for Exam MB-800: Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Functional Consultant | Microsoft Learn. Similar materials exist for other Microsoft certifications.
My two cents
Before we get to other authors and links to their detailed views, I have one point of my own to make. If you are a hiring manager, you must have a means to evaluate any prospective hire on their advertised specific knowledge and skills. As long as exam dumps are available, people will cheat, and we will not be able to rely on a certification alone to validate someone’s knowledge. Nor should we.
Additional perspective
The Dangers of Exam Dumps | CBT Nuggets by Josh Adams
Excerpt – When using with an exam dump, you really don’t have much to engage with – only the repetitive action of memorizing questions and answers.
You aren’t actively retaining information from simply reading through questions and drilling the correct answer into your brain. Because brain dumps don’t explain the reasoning behind answers, you aren’t really learning the concepts. Memorizing a question and answer keeps you away from the concepts and skills that will make you better at your job, and help you progress your career.
How to Pass a Microsoft Certification | Global Knowledge
Excerpt – If you do not have the ability to take a Microsoft official course then there are a myriad of books out there as study guides. Be careful to get a study guide from a legitimate source. Most of the major publishers (MS Press, APress, Sams, etc.) have study guides for the more popular exams and MS Press has guides for most exams. There are also unsanctioned “brain dumps” that many exam candidates use. I will not go into detail, but I strongly advise against using them. Most of these sites violate Microsoft Intellectual Property rights and if you are caught using these resources, Microsoft may levy significant penalties against you.
Benefits Of Using Exam Dumps for Certification Success | LinkedIn by Certification-Questions
Excerpt – It is an invaluable tool for students to stay focused and organized while studying for upcoming tests and exams. The purpose of these dumps is to provide test takers with a comprehensive collection of questions and answers related to the specific IT certification they are studying for. These dumps often include real-life scenarios, sample problems, and specific topics related to the IT certification being studied.
Concluding thoughts
“Integrity and respect not only apply to how we interact with others, but also to the representation of our abilities and the certifications achieved to document them.” And yes, you can quote this as coming directly from me!
Do not be tempted to use exam dumps to prepare for certification exams. Prepare in a manner that matches with your integrity in other matters and improves your knowledge and abilities for the long-term betterment of yourself, the organization you represent and the customers you service.
