Q & A from 10/2/2019 Webinar: SAS Certification: An Overview of the Base Programming Specialist and Advanced Programming Specialist

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This is a complete summary of all the questions asked during the webinar:

You can watch the complete webinar On-Demand.

Q: If we are currently certified in the base 9 certification, will that roll over into the new base certification or will we have to re-take the exam?

A: You do not have to retake the exam. That credential does not expire. However, you could take the delta exam the A00-233 if you want to show that you have actual programming experience and that will allow you to earn the Specialist designation.

Q: What interface to SAS is offered during the exam?

A: You can use SAS Studio Enterprise Guide or Display Manager.

Q: Given this new approach to certification, is it still worthwhile to take the multiple choice practice exam?

A: The practice exam for the Specialist and Advanced Programming exams, offered through Pearson VUE does offer practical items on it so that you can practice.

Q: What happens to those of us who have a Base certification to V9?

A: Your credential is good and does not expire. You could choose to take the Delta exam which is A00-233 which will allow you to upgrade to the Base Programming Specialist.

Q: Are you required to upgrade your base via the delta exam to take the new Advanced Programming exam/credential? 

A: No, the older or previous version of the SAS Base Programmer can serve as the prerequisite for the new Advanced.

Q: Are there any discounts to the training materials and test fees for military (active or veterans)? 

A: Yes, please go to our certification website www.sas.com/certification to see those discounts.

Q: If I have SAS through my college will I be able to use the A000-233 code? 

A: As a student, you get a 50% discount for academics. Go to our website www.sas.com/certification to see details.

Q: What type of test is the base programming specialist (Performance, or what?) 

A: It is performance-based with some multiple choice and short answer questions.

Q: I wish, the webinar would be recorded to see later. I would like to see the slide deck as well. 

A: Yes, you will be able to view this later. Just click on the same link that you used to join our webinar the day of the live broadcast.

Q: How are project questions marked for the SAS Programming Specialist exam (performance-based)? 

A: If you are referring to the scoring on the exam, then the performance-based exam items are weighted more heavily than the multiple choice.

Q: For the Back to School discount mentioned during the webinar, do I have to take the SAS exam before October is over? Or do I just have to at least register before October is over? 

A: The exam has to be taken by October 31^st 2019.

Q: I hold both SAS Base Certification for SAS 9 and SAS Advanced Certification for SAS 9. Can I do only SAS Programming Professional exam in October 2019? 

A: No, you can upgrade to the new credentials at any time. Your other credentials do not expire. You could take the delta exams that Mark has mentioned during the webinar. These are the A00-233 and A00-234.

Q: I am using Enterprise Guide and NOT SAS studio for the programming e-learning. Do I need to know how to use both tools to pass the performance- based portion of the exam? 

A: You can use Enterprise Guide for the exam if you wish. The exam is platform agnostic.

Q: Can you take the exam on your personal computer? 

A: Yes, through Online Proctoring through Pearson VUE. You can choose to take the exam from your home or your office when you go to register for an exam. Pearson VUE then offers additional information about Online Proctoring on their website. They provide detailed information about the requirements.

Q: Are we able to use 2 monitors for the exam to separate the different windows?

A: Pearson VUE does not offer two monitors.

Answered on air

Q: Is the 15-minute intro for the exam a part of the test time? OR is it in addition to the test time? 

A: It is in addition to the test time. The clock doesn't start until you get your first question.

Q: Is the SAS documentation website available during the Base Specialist exam as well as the Advanced Programming Professional? 

A: Yes, the documentation is available, but it may slow your environment down.

Q: For the Base Programming Specialist exam can you outline the number of Projects and multiple choice questions?

A: The number of projects versus standard questions can vary, therefore we cannot be more specific. However, the split between projects and standard questions is about 50/50. From a time perspective expect to spend about 75% of your time with programming questions and 25% of your time with standard multiple choice questions. The project-based programming questions are weighted more heavily than the standard multiple choice.

Q: I took the base specialist exam a few months ago and, unfortunately, was a couple questions away from passing. One issue I noticed, however, was that the testing environment was quite limited because I was using a monitor that was not very big. Is there a way to identify testing locations that may have larger monitors? Resizing windows throughout the exam burned valuable time that may have helped me get through a couple more questions and pass. 

A: We have recently made improvements to the exam environment that will take better advantage of the available space and will provide a larger work area in nearly all Pearson VUE test centers. If you choose to use Online Proctoring, then you are in control of your monitor size.

Q: What´s the link with SAS syntax references? (The speaker showed it few minutes ago.)

A: Documentation:

https://go.documentation.sas.com/?cdcId=pgmsascdc&cdcVersion=9.4_3.4&docsetId=pgmsashome&docsetTarge...

Q: For the Advanced Programmer exam, are there questions and projects? Or just projects?

A: There is a combination of projects and multiple choice questions on the exam.

Q: In the practice exams if a question is partly correct, do we get some marks or something or do we get partial credit?

A: In the practice exams you are provided with a score and there is a way that you can look for a rationale for each question that you missed.

Q: I have last year version (2018 5th edition) of the prep guide for base programming. Do I have to purchase 2019 version?

A: For the new exam, there is a new 1^st edition prep guide that is aligned to the performance-based exam.

Q: Is there a course we can take that is dedicated to the performance base test? 

A: The courses for Programming 1 and Programming 2 will prepare you for the exams. Check out the website www.sas.com/certification for complete training details for both the Base Programming Specialist and the Advanced Programming Professional.

Q: When will a practice exam become available for the Advanced Programming Professional certification?

A: We have that practice exam available now.

Q: When is the advanced programming cert guide coming out? 

A: The prep guide will be out by the end of October 2019.

Q: In the base exam, are we able to use the Internet as well to look at syntax? 

A: No, you cannot access the Internet during the exam, but you can access SAS documentation.

Q: I have been running SAS UE through a Fusion VM on Mac OS, opening Studio in Safari.  Took the practice exam this way, everything works great.  Will the actual exam perform in this manner? 

A: At this time, we cannot deliver exam on Macs but we are working on this issue to eventually be able to offer it via Mac. Sept 21, 2020 Update: Macs are now supported for all SAS exams.

Q: How much time do you have to finish the exam? Do all certification exams have the same time?

A: The times for the different exams vary and this information is on our certification web site listed for each exam. For the Base Programming Specialist exam, it is 125 minutes. For the Advanced Programming Professional exam, it is 2 hours 5 minutes.

Q: In your demo, you showed the macro that scores whether your code used the correct technique. Is this method used on the Base Programming Specialist exam? Or only on the Advanced Programming Professional exam?

A: The scoring macros are only used on the Advanced Programming Professional exam. Both exams utilize projects where you will need to do programming but only the Advanced exam uses the scoring macro.

Q: For sample questions and practice questions for the Advanced Programmer exam, how do you get the scoring macro?

A: For the samples and practice exam for the Advanced Programmer exam, we do not evaluate the code with a macro, however, we describe ways to check the code and provide example code that you can use to help you assess code you have written.

Q: Are the sample exams also on sale?

A: We provide a small set of sample questions free of charge on our certification website for each of our exams. Practice exams are available but there is a charge.

Q: Is there any change in the Clinical Trials Programmer exam?

A: No, no change has been made to this exam at this time.

Q: What is the pass rate among those who take the base programming certification test?

A: We do not share that information publicly.

Q: When can I start taking the Base Programming Specialist or the Advanced Programming Professional? 

A: Both exams are available now.

Q: Will the new exam contain questions about the background execution in SAS, such as how the PDV operates?  

A: Check out the exam content guides for our exams at: www.sas.com/certification. We provide a detailed content guide for every exam that we offer.

Q: If I haven't taken a SAS exam before can I take the Advanced Programming test and skip the Base Programming test? 

A: No, you must have your certification for the Base Programming Specialist in order to receive credit for the Advanced Programming Professional.

The following is a complete summary of the questions asked and answered live during the webinar:

Q: In the practice environment, do we have the option to review the structure of the documentation, so we know where to find the item we're looking for?

A: In the practice environment, do we have access to the documentation? The practice exam doesn't provide you with a lab. With the practice exam, you are going to bring your own SAS to complete the practice exam. So that can be University Edition, which is free and available to everybody, or it can be an installation that you have.

We provide a data set or a collection of data sets in a zip file that we then tell you how to position them on your computer so that it will behave the same way that the exam behaves, the way the live exam behaves. Then we present the scenario, the project scenario, within the practice exam. And then you bounce back and forth between your SAS and the exam to solve the problem.

So in terms of things like the way that documentation is accessed through the exam environment, no, you don't. The link for the doc is really nothing more than the home page for SAS 9.4 documentation. You could go there and look at how that is structured. The Base exam, because that content is a little more straightforward, we provide a couple extra hyperlinks on the Bookmarks bar for Internet Explorer.

If you're taking Base, functions are very important, we provide a link directly to a summary of functions. We provide a link to formats, and we provide a link to the Base Procedures Guide. If you needed to look something up, and PROC MEANS or PROC FREQ, you'd have easy access to that material

Q: Are we able to use two monitors for the exam to separate those different windows?  

A: Good question. Not yet. Let's talk about delivery a little bit. It is all going to be on one screen. And I could talk for the next 15 minutes because this is interesting to me. I know you don't want to hear that long. Probably yes or no is good enough. But your second-- so you have two monitors. When the secure environment starts, it's going to shut down your second monitor, and you're just going to have the one.

Maybe someday we'll get to the point where we can figure out how to securely do two monitors, but often our vendors who help deliver our exams haven't figured that out yet. A bigger monitor helps. So if you can get the full 1920 by 1080 resolution, that's helpful. We have PVTCs. I'm using abbreviations. Pearson VUE Test Center. Clearly, you don't have control over that monitor. You're going to use what you get.

There is also an option to do online proctoring. Online proctoring means that you test at your home, at your office, in a private environment, and you are proctored over the Internet with a webcam. And that's where some of the two-monitor problems come in, is that we want to make sure that the person is looking at the exam. Therefore, the proctor is making sure that you're looking at the screen. And if there's two monitors and your head's turning away, now the proctor's is thinking what are they looking at?

So that's one of the things we're stuck trying to solve. I agree, two monitors would be a great experience for this type of environment. But today, it's just the one with the split screen between the two. So online proctoring, in that case, you control the monitor, and you could have a 1920 by 1080 display on a 30-inch monitor, and that's pretty nice. So online proctoring is a good option for performance-based exams.

Q: Can you recommend a place to practice the techniques that are taught for the exams, if there's somewhere that might have test data sets set up.

A: Our practice exam is what I would refer to, available from-- I can pull that back up. Where's my screen?

So let’s talk about sample questions right off the bat. Those are free sample questions you can grab quick. There are examples of what you'll see. And these just use SAS Help data sets that are available as part of the installation of SAS. With these sample questions, you don't need to do anything. It's all there. You don't have to download anything. You don't have to pay for anything. You've got a few sample questions that you can work through. I think there's three projects before it gets into standard questions.

Because I should point that out. Both exams are not 100% performance-based. In terms of number of questions, they're about 50/50. And in terms of the time you're going to spend on the exam, you're going to spend 75% on the practical performance-based portion and about 25% on the standard questions. So sample questions, you've got a few there to see what it looks and feels like.

Then, the practice exam. And now the practice exam is full length, same as the actual exam. And we give you a data set, and then that data set-- or a set of data sets, and you use those to work through the problems. The sample questions are free. The practice exam is 55 US dollars.

Q: Are the exams based on SAS Studio or other platforms? The person is saying that they do not have access to Viya, and so they would not be able to answer questions that relate to SAS PY, et cetera.  

A: That's all right. I get it. I know what they talking about. So this is a SAS 9.4 exam, and you do not need access to Viya to prepare for this exam. And in terms of like SAS Studio, you get to pick your interface. If you're more familiar with Enterprise Guide as a programming environment, than you're welcome to use Enterprise Guide.

And for our folks who-- how do I say this-- have been programming a long time, maybe you're still using Display Manager, you can use Display Manager when you go into your exam as well. I don't call anybody old. I'm just saying maybe you've got lots of experience. You haven't picked up the SAS Studio yet. SAS Studio is my favorite. I've programmed in Display Manager and EG and Studio, and SAS Studio is my favorite environment.

Q: Can you go over cross-industry trend? You are not saying that for pharma experience that you're able to take Base with pharma flair.  

A: I heard the cross-industry trend, and I think that's back to this slide that I've just pulled back up. Oh, I need to stop the screen share, don't I? I think that'll let you see the slide again. So the slide is up. Why performance-based? So that wasn't really referring to anything SAS specific. It was more referring to say that it's not only SAS that's moving in the performance-based direction. We're seeing IT certification programs across the industry, across industries, whether it's telecom, computers, software, moving in the direction of performance-based exams.

Q:  If we're currently certified in the Base 9 certification, will that roll over to the new Base certification, or will we have to retake the exam?

A: Yeah. So good question. So, it doesn't roll over. It's not like automatically you are now a SAS certified specialist. But there is an easier path to get there.

And this is on the Advanced side, but the same holds true on the-- same holds true on the Base Programming Specialist. The 234 in case of Advanced Programming Professional and the 233 in the case of the Based Programming Specialist is a delta exam. If you hold the older credential, this is a $75 exam versus the 180. 75 minutes instead of two hours, and a fewer number of questions.

So that provides you a lower-cost, faster path to upgrade, what I consider an upgrade, to the new credential. It's totally voluntary. The older credentials are still valid. You will still have your badge, and they are still respected in the industry. But the newer ones are the latest and greatest.

Q: If I have SAS Base Advanced Clinical old one-- I'm not sure what that means, but if I get upgrade in the new 9.4 SAS Specialist, would it show all four certifications on SAS public registry, or with the new exam overwrite the old one?  

A: They would all show up because the old credentials are still valid. So, they would see-- all four of those would show up as credentials that have been earned on our-- so we have a claim, or I think it's-- yeah, I think it's your claim, but it's also known as Credly now. That's where you get your digiting on the digital badges, where you can get a badge associate with your credential that you can then post on your LinkedIn profile or your email signature.

And if somebody clicks on it, then it goes directly to an authentication page to prove that, yes, in fact you do have that credential. All of those credentials would still have a badge associated with them and still be active and all able to display on there as well as our directory that we have.

Q: This person has the SAS certification prep guide called Base SAS Programming for SAS 9 5th edition book. Can that book be used to help study for the new exam?  

A: Yes. You're not alone. There are definitely people who have that previous book. So it's not ideal. it's not it's not a perfect one-to-one match. And let me talk to a little bit of the differences. The new prep guide is going to have a workbook in the back section of it that is going to be at least 10-- scenarios, projects, that are written just like what you see in the exam.

In terms of getting that feel for what-- having the opportunity to practice performance-based items, the prep guides have aligned content. So, it's not just quizzes like in the old book. You also have some projects that it will tell you, here's what you should do with your projects. There are some content differences too. If you're working from the old book, what you're missing is the use of macro variables, so very simple macro variables in terms of a percent let statement, and then how you might reference that macro variable in your code.

And then also PROC IMPORT. PROC IMPORT is used to read CSV data or an Excel file, because the Base Programming Specialist does not test reading raw data with the file and input statements. Back as something that was important to know. So PROC TRANSPOSE is also on the exam. So yes, you can use the old book plus those extra-- do some research into those topics. And again, it's all on my screen share, the Exam Content Guide, which can be found on the certification website.

So that is what's on the test. So study those few extra topic areas. Get your practice where you can. And you've got-- it's all right. The new guide is cheaper than the old guide. It's like 78-ish US dollars. I think it's a worthwhile investment.

Q: On the Base exam, do we have to use SAS DATA Steps, or can we use PROC SQL if we're more comfortable?

A: On the Base, we're not grading against your code. We're grading against the answers that your code produced. We're going in and we're looking at your code to make sure that it makes sense as a post-exam activity. You are welcome to use PROC SQL if you think it can solve that specific scenario accurately I would be-- I would recommend everybody be familiar with the specific exam objectives listed in the Exam Content Guide when you go to sit for the exam, because you may run into questions that aren't something that you would want to tackle with PROC SQL.

But we're not going to-- on the Base exam, we're not going to hold it against you if you were to use PROC SQL instead of a DATA Step. The reverse is not true on Advanced. If you're on Advanced and we ask you to use PROC SQL and you do DATA Step, that macro that you run is going to check, and it's not going to return a score-- a value that's going to give you a correct response.

Q: Where and how can we download University Edition, and is that enough to use and practice for Base programming exam?

A: It is enough. And if you're looking at my screen share, I think it's still open. Going to this website called Google. You may have heard of it. And I'm going to stick in SAS University Edition. And the first link you're going to get is right to where you get SAS University Edition. And it's right off our web page. And Windows, OS X, Linux, all these different ways to do University Edition. And it's definitely sufficient for preparing for either exam Base or Advanced.

Q: When is the prep guide for SAS Certified Professional Advanced Programming using SAS 9.4 coming?  

A: Kudos for using the full title. That's excellent. End of October 2019. We're thinking 24th-ish. We're working feverishly to stick to that date.

Here is the link to the Library article on the SAS Community site that provides great tips for taking the BASE Programming Specialist: https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Communities-Library/Tips-and-Strategies-for-the-A00-231-SAS-Base-...

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