Share Your Certification Story with Us

[beccagre]

We get it. With the COVID-19 global pandemic, getting your SAS Certification is probably not top of mind. However, despite these uncertain times, we are still seeing a fair number of people taking our certification exams and becoming SAS Certified. If you've recently obtained your SAS Certification during the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, we'd like to hear from you. Tell us your story and share it here on the SAS Certification Community.

[ed_sas_member]

Hi @beccagre 

In France for example, most of tests center are closed due to the pandemic, and only a few of them share new dates to reschedule exams.

The option to take the exam at home seems to be the best one.

However, it is a pity that exams are not supported on Mac ☹️.

I'm in this case, and I experienced a lot of trouble with it.

Are there some updates on this side? Does it only concern performance-based exams (Base, Advanced) or also more traditional ones (Business Analyst, ...)?

It would be such a great progress!

All the best and take care.

Best,

[Mark2010]

@ed_sas_member Not to hijack @beccagre thread too much, but to answer your question, the Mac problem really only affects performance-based exams. The problems are with the lab environment. Actually, there turned out to be 2 different technical problems. One of them is fixed, and our team of vendors are actively working on the second issue, trying to find a solution. I am hopeful they will figure it out. The lack of test centers has made the problem more common.

[ed_sas_member]

Hi @Mark2010 

Thank you so much for the prompt answer!

Great to hear that this issue is on the right track and that it only concerns performance-based exams, as I plan to take a 'traditional' one in this confinement period 😊

Would you be kind enough to share information on SAS communities once the issue on Mac is fixed. Indeed, I know some people who can't take the advanced programming exam at home due to this problem.

Thanks a lot +++

All the best,

[beccagre]

Hello, 

Yes, thanks to my colleague @Mark2010 for replying to your post.  Yes, we will absolutely post information on this forum about any progress made on using Macs for performance-based exams.  Good luck to you as you pursue your certification.  Keep us posted on how you do.  Thanks for your posts. 

All the best to you as well. 

[Mark2010]

As of Sept 21, 2020 - I am happy to announce that Macs can now be used for all SAS certification exams.

[#7]

COVID-19 pandemic bummed me out because I felt helpless with the busted job market and economy, but I used the free time to put in the work to prep for my SAS cert. exam in Clinical Trials Programming.

Although I programmed for years, I am grateful I had access to all of SAS's amazing resources so that I could learn new topics and clinical prog. methodologies.

I just passed my exam, which has boosted my confidence tremendously for applying for jobs.

Love you SAS!

[beccagre]

Hello @anonymous_user , 

Thanks for your inspirational post and congratulations on earning your Clinical Trials Programmer certification.  That's quite an accomplishment! 

Kindest regards, 

Becky Gray, SAS Global Certification Team

[#9]

Thank you so much! That's very sweet of you to say.

SAS has opened up a new world to me---very grateful for the problem-solving opportunities it provides.

[mani7601]

great that you cleared the SAS Certification.

Could you have tell how long it took and how you prepared. By own or through any coaching guidance

Many thanks
Mani

[#11]

Hi Mani,

I studied for the clinical trials certification on my own (no coach) via SAS OnDemand For Academics.

1) Go through the syllabus for SAS clinical trials certifications. Know each concept behind every bullet point.

2) Practice programming as much as you can with the exercises from textbooks like SAS Programming in the Pharmaceutical Industry by Jack Shostak! Ron Cody's Learning SAS by Example also helped me a lot too.

3) Go over old practice exams.

4) Take advantage of the e-learning classes like Stat 1, Report Writing, etc. from SAS to flex your brain. 

5) I studied for 1-2 months hardcore during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, I have been programming in SAS for years.

6) Believe in yourself because you are smart, diligent, and capable of awesome work w/ statistical prog.

knowledge. 

GOOD LUCK!😀

[mani7601]

Thank you for the details

[saspert]

Hello SAS Folks! After 12+ years of experience as a SAS programmer, I took not having even a single certification as a personal challenge and an opportunity to grow. I took the old Base SAS Certification a few years back without any preparation and obviously failed it. Now after several weeks of preparation, I took both the foundation and Base SAS Performance exam and cleared both of them. Thank you to the SAS/Pearsonvue team to allow certification at home during this pandemic. Now I am working on the Advanced Performance test and borrowing a windows laptop since my macbook does not like the software that is used to run the new performance exams. 

[mani7601]

its great that you earned the ceritification.

could you tell me how did you wrote exam. from SAS EG or SAS on demand

Many thanks
Mani