CompTIA and other certification organizations have also started to supplement or replace some of the standard multiple-choice test questions with adaptive and performance-based methodologies that are harder to compromise. With adaptive testing each successive question the user sees depends on whether or not he answered the previous one correctly. As soon as the test determines that the taker knows -- or doesn't know -- the content, the test ends. "It's a more refined manner of judging, but it also provides security," says Greenwood.
ThinkstockCompTIA is adding progressively more performance-based testing, which uses scenario-based questions that ask the user to perform specific actions in a simulated environment. Such questions are harder to memorize. "At that point it becomes easier just to study," says Kainrath.
And that, in a nutshell, is a key part of CompTIA's strategy. "We can't stop cheating, but we can make sure it takes a lot of time versus just studying."
Getting caught: A great way to kill a career
Wary of the damage that rampant cheating can have on an IT certification, like what some say happened in the 1990s (see sidebar, below), companies aren't just getting aggressive about catching cheats, they're clamping down by handing down more severe sanctions.
"We ban for life anyone who is caught cheating. They are not allowed to take any Microsoft exam ever again," says Grieve. And Microsoft, at its discretion, may also strip the candidate of any previously earned Microsoft IT certifications, she adds.
CompTIA is taking a harder line on cheating as well, "casting a wider net" by using data forensics in its investigations, says Kainrath. Today if you get caught cheating you won't get the certification and must wait a period of time, typically a year, before you can take the exam again. But CompTIA is considering changing that to a lifetime ban. "This year we'll roll out a harder policy," he says.
Poyiadgi says that he's seen cheaters lose their jobs in situations where employers sponsored the candidates. And if the person was selling test questions and answers, he or she may be prosecuted by law enforcement as well, he adds.
Kainrath marvels at the amount of time he says some people spend trying to cheat their way through IT certification exams. A certification like A+ serves only to validate the user's skills, he says, and if a cheater is hired or promoted based on false pretenses it hurts the cheater's career prospects as much as it does CompTIA's reputation. Ultimately, he says, "It's not doing them any good by faking it."
This article, Pirates, cheats and IT certs, was originally published at Computerworld.com.