[program-java] FW: Susan Stanzel's SCJP exam 12/28/2013

From: "Stanzel, Susan - FSA, Kansas City, MO" <Susan.Stanzel@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "program-java@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <program-java@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 31 Dec 2013 14:59:13 +0000
Good morning Everyone,

This list is far more quiet than I wish it was. I sent a message on Sunday 
about wishing to speak to anyone who had attempted to pass a Java certification 
examination. I wrote to Pearson Vue yesterday. I thought some of you might be 
interested in what I had to say to them. I have already talked with J.R. who is 
happy I am trying to make the road smoother.

Susie Stanzel

From: Stanzel, Susan - FSA, Kansas City, MO
Sent: Monday, December 30, 2013 10:53 AM
To: Accommodations Pearson VUE (AccommodationsPearsonVUE@xxxxxxxxxxx)
Cc: curtischong@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Susan Stanzel's SCJP exam 12/28/2013

Good morning Jill,

I very much appreciated you making yourself available on Saturday. This testing 
experience was a learning experience for everyone involved. I'd like to go 
through some observations from my point of view.

The reader Cynthia was fabulous. She knew the difference between a brace and a 
bracket. She knew how to pronounce almost all of the words. I did not pass this 
examination and when I try again I would like to request that Cynthia be used.

Until Friday afternoon we had not discussed the use and configuration of the 
Focus Braille display. You had assumed it would be plug and play. I am afraid 
there is more involved than that. When you called Freedom Scientific it would 
have been nice if they had explained how to choose the proper driver for the 
display which is their own display. I think they should have talked about how 
to configure it for computer Braille. Also, they have something called tandem 
use of JAWS. This means they could have connected to the laptop and done the 
necessary work to install the Focus display so when I plugged my Focus in it 
would have worked immediately. As it worked out this took about an hour to get 
done. I didn't realize until I started the test that the default setting for 
the Focus Braille display is grade 2 Braille. Naturally, since this is a Java 
test I would want computer Braille. We did talk about this on Saturday when I 
was having problems. You said you would look through JAWS and find the way to 
change the Braille. I never heard from you. Shortly after talking to you I 
asked David to call Curtis Chong who is the President of the National 
Federation of the Blind in Computer Science. I knew he could tell us quickly 
how to make the necessary change to the configuration of the Focus Braille 
display. When David called Curtis he didn't leave a message. Curtis answers 
calls he recognizes. If there had been a message he would have returned the 
call. I asked David to please call again. Curtis did not have another call from 
David.

The Word document I accessed had a problem. It appeared there were unprintable 
characters in the document. These type of characters are pronounced by JAWS as 
"back slash" and showed up in the Braille as a cell containing dots one, two, 
five, and six. This problem was very distracting. Thinking back on it I think 
it routinely happened when there was a "]" in the code. This character is an 
integral part of the Java programming language. I would like to know if you 
could send a question involving code to Curtis Chong so he could evaluate the 
actual codes in the document.

If all this was not enough we hit another snag. When Cynthia was reading the 
agreement the computer became unresponsive because it thought it hadn't been 
touched. David had to find out what to do to get the test set up again. This 
took another 20 minutes. Maybe I could be sent an electronic copy of the 
agreement ahead of time to save time on the test day.

I had arrived at the testing center at 7:20. I wanted to be early rather than 
late. By the time I started the examination it was 9:41. I had been through a 
great deal of stress even before beginning the examination. I was not on a 
level playing field. Due to all these problems I don't think I should have to 
pay any more money. Earlier this year, Curtis Chong talked with someone at 
Pearson Vue and offered to work with Pearson Vue to enhance the organization's 
knowledge of nonvisual access technologies like JAWS for Windows and Braille 
displays. Apparently, no one took him up on his offer of help, which is why we 
found ourselves where we were on Saturday. All of these problems could have 
been avoided if the National Federation of the Blind would have been involved 
in teaching how to accommodate a blind test taker.

Again Jill, I very much appreciate everything you did and know together we can 
give me a much better testing experience when I retake this examination.

Sincerely,

Susan Stanzel





This electronic message contains information generated by the USDA solely for 
the intended recipients. Any unauthorized interception of this message or the 
use or disclosure of the information it contains may violate the law and 
subject the violator to civil or criminal penalties. If you believe you have 
received this message in error, please notify the sender and delete the email 
immediately.
[program-java] FW: Susan Stanzel's SCJP exam 12/28/2013

Other related posts:
