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Nov 12, 2022 (Evertise Digital via COMTEX) -- A SharePoint certification is advantageous to both you and your potential or current employers in terms of your technical expert career. There are many levels of certification, starting with fundamental and moving up to associate and expert levels, depending on your expertise and career path. With the help of these certifications, you may demonstrate your skills and knowledge and gain a competitive edge for job growth. Employers profit from improved reputations boosted output and Microsoft partnership status.

The MarketWatch News Department was not involved in the creation of this content.

ISA offers a variety of resources to help you prepare for the Certified Automation Professional (CAP^®) exam.

Primary Textbook

A Guide to the Automation Body of Knowledge is the primary text resource for the CAP exam and provides a complete overview of all technical topics. Order the Guide to the Automation Body of Knowledge.

Study Guide

The CAP Study Guide is a comprehensive self-study resource that contains a list of the CAP domains and tasks, 75 review mock test complete with justifications. References that were used for each study guide question are also provided with the question. The Study Guide also includes a recommended list of publications that you can use to do further study on specific domains. Order the CAP Study Guide.

Review Courses

A CAP review course is available in several formats as preparation for taking the certification exam. This course is offered by ISA and can also be offered at your location.

ISA also has a variety of training courses that would be helpful in preparing for CAP. Visit the Automation Professional Training page for a complete list.

Additional Resources

Exam Topics

1. Basic Continuous Control: Process Instrumentation, Analytical Instrumentation, Continuous Control, Control Valves, Analog Communications, Control System Documentation, Control Equipment
2. Basic Discrete, Sequencing, and Manufacturing Control: Discrete Input & Output Devices and General Manufacturing Measurements, Discrete and Sequencing Control, Motor and Drive Control, Motion Control
3. Advanced Control Topics: Process Modeling, Advanced Process Control, Control of Batch Processes, Environmental, Environmental Monitoring, Building Automation
4. Reliability, Safety, and Electrical: Alarm Management, Reliability, Process Safety and Safety Instrumented Systems, Electrical Installations, Safe Use and Application of Electrical Apparatus
5. Integration and Software: Digital Communications, Industrial Networks, Manufacturing Execution Systems and Business Integration, System and Network Security, Operator Interface, Data Management, Software, Custom Software
6. Deployment and Maintenance: Operator Training, Checkout, System Testing, and Startup, Troubleshooting, Maintenance, Long-Term Support and System Management
7. Work Structure: Automation Benefits and Project Justifications, Project Management and Execution, Interpersonal Skills

CAP sample Questions

Questions on the exam were derived from the actual practice of automation professionals as outlined in the CAP Role Delineation Study and job task analysis. Using interviews, surveys, observation, and group discussions, ISA worked with automation professionals to delineate critical job components to develop exam specifications to determine the number of questions related to each domain and task tested. This rigorous program development and ongoing maintenance process ensures that CAP certification accurately reflects the skills and knowledge needed to excel as an automation professional.

The following six questions were taken from the CAP exam question item bank and serve as examples of the question type and question content found on the CAP exam.

1. The method by which the tasks and hazards associated with a machine or process are analyzed is known as:
   • A. Risk assessment.
   • B. Machine assessment.
   • C. Risk reduction.
   • D. Risk abatement.
2. To test controller tuning or prototype new control strategies offline, the model should be a(an):
   • A. Tie-back (loopback) simulation.
   • B. Artificial neural network.
   • C. Dynamic process simulation.
   • D. Steady state process simulation.
3. The temperature measurement with the BEST repeatability and resolution is the:
   • A. Thermocouple.
   • B. Resistance temperature detector (RTD).
   • C. Dial thermometer.
   • D. Capillary system.
4. Which of the following is NOT a variable speed drive setup parameter?
   • A. Acceleration rate.
   • B. Motor winding type.
   • C. Output frequency.
   • D. Maximum speed.
5. A complete test plan for system integration testing MUST include:
   • A. Comments for the application programmer.
   • B. Multiple test cases for each mode of operation.
   • C. At least five test cases for each test.
   • D. Expected results for each test case.
6. Frequency of maintenance should be determined by:
   • A. Failure rates of components.
   • B. Availability of personnel and parts.
   • C. Management targets for efficiency and productivity.
   • D. Effectiveness of maintenance personnel.

Sample Questions Answer Key

• Database technology is crucial in multiple applications and computing tasks, and certifications help demonstrate job readiness and core competencies. 
• Before pursuing a database platform certification, you should have a solid background in relational database management systems and the SQL language. 
• Valuable certifications are typically tied to specific technology companies and their platforms, such as IBM, Microsoft, Oracle and SAP.
• This article is for IT professionals considering database certifications to further their careers. 

While database platforms have come and gone through the decades, database technology is still critical for multiple applications and computing tasks. IT professionals often seek database certifications to demonstrate their knowledge and expertise as they navigate their career paths and pursue professional growth. 

While database certifications may not be as bleeding edge as Google cloud certifications, cybersecurity certifications, storage certifications or digital forensics certifications, database professionals at all levels possess in-demand career skills — and a plethora of database-related jobs are waiting to be filled.

We’ll look at some of the most in-demand certifications for database administrators, database developers and anyone else who works with databases.

What to know about database roles and certifications

To get a better grasp of available database certifications, it’s helpful to group these certs around job responsibilities. This reflects the maturity of database technology and its integration into most aspects of commercial, scientific and academic computing. As you read about the various database certification programs, keep these job roles in mind: 

• Database administrator (DBA). A DBA is responsible for installing, configuring and maintaining a database management system (DBMS). The job is often tied to a specific platform, such as Oracle, MySQL, DB2 or SQL Server.
• Database developer. A database developer works with generic and proprietary application programming interfaces (APIs) to build applications that interact with a DBMS. Like DBA roles, database developer positions are also often platform-specific.
• Database designer or database architect. A database designer or architect researches data requirements for specific applications or users and designs database structures and application capabilities to match.
• Data analyst or data scientist. A data analyst or scientist is responsible for analyzing data from multiple disparate sources to discover previously hidden insights, determine the meaning behind data, and make business-specific recommendations.
• Data mining or business intelligence (BI) specialist. A data mining or BI specialist focuses on dissecting, analyzing and reporting important data streams, such as customer, supply chain and transaction data and histories.
• Data warehousing specialist. A data warehousing specialist assembles and analyzes data from multiple operational systems (such as orders, transactions, supply chain information and customer data) to establish data history, analyze trends, generate reports and forecasts, and support general ad hoc queries. 

These database job roles highlight two critical issues to consider if you want to be a database professional:

1. You need a solid general background. First, a background in relational database management systems, including an understanding of Structured Query Language (SQL), is a fundamental prerequisite for database professionals of all stripes. 
2. There’s a focus on proprietary technologies. Second, although various efforts to standardize database technology exist, much of the whiz-bang capability that databases and database applications deliver comes from proprietary, vendor-specific technologies. Serious, heavy-duty database skills and knowledge are tied to specific platforms, including various Oracle products (such as the open-source MySQL environment and Oracle itself,) Microsoft SQL Server and IBM DB2. Most of these certifications relate directly to those enormously popular platforms. 

Did you know? NoSQL databases — called “not only SQL” or “non-relational” databases — are increasingly used in big data applications associated with some of the best big data certifications for data scientists, data mining and warehousing, and business intelligence.

Best database certifications

Here are details on our five best database certification picks for 2022.

1. IBM Certified Database Administrator — DB2 12

IBM is one of the leaders in the worldwide database market by any objective measure. The company’s database portfolio includes industry-standard DB2, as well as the following:

• IBM Compose
• Information Management System (IMS)
• Informix
• Cloudant
• IBM Open Platform with Apache Hadoop

IBM also has a long-standing and well-populated IT certification program that has been around for more than 30 years and encompasses hundreds of individual credentials. 

After redesigning its certification programs and categories, IBM now has a primary data-centric certification category called IBM Data and AI. It includes a range of database credentials: 

• Database Associate
• Database Administrator
• System Administrator
• Application Developer 

IBM’s is a big and complex certification space, but one where particular platform allegiances are likely to guide readers toward the handful of items most relevant to their interests and needs. 

Database professionals who support DB2 (or aspire to) on IBM’s z/OS should check out the IBM Associate Certified DBA — Db2 12 certification. It’s an entry-level exam that addresses routine planning, working with SQL and XML, security, operations, data concurrency, application design, and concepts around database objects.

This certification requires candidates to pass one exam. Pre-exam training and familiarity with concepts, or hands-on experience, are recommended but not required. 

IBM Certified Database Administrator — DB2 facts and figures

Did you know? IBM’s certification offerings are among the best system administrator certifications IT professionals can achieve.

2. Microsoft Azure

Microsoft Azure offers a broad range of tools and add-ons for business intelligence. Azure is a cloud computing platform for application management and Microsoft-managed data centers. Microsoft certifications include various Azure offerings based on job role and experience level.

Microsoft’s certification program is role-centric, centered on the skills you need to succeed in specific technology jobs. Because Azure has such a broad scope, Azure certifications span multiple job roles. However, specific certifications exist for the following positions:

• Data Analysts
• Data Engineers
• Data Scientists
• Database Administrators 

There are also certifications for learners at different experience levels. 

For those looking to take their Azure knowledge to the next level, the Microsoft Certified: Azure Data Fundamentals certification is the perfect place to start. This certification is for beginner database administrators interested in using Azure and mastering data in the cloud. It offers foundational knowledge of core concepts while reinforcing concepts for later use in other Azure role-based certifications, such as those listed below: 

• Azure Database Administrator Associate
• Azure Data Engineer Associate
• Data Analyst Associate 

Azure Data Fundamentals certification facts and figures

3. Oracle Certified Professional, MySQL 5.7 Database Administrator 

Oracle runs its certifications under the auspices of Oracle University. The Oracle Database Certifications page lists separate tracks depending on job role and product. MySQL is perhaps the leading open-source relational database management system (RDBMS). Since acquiring Sun Microsystems in 2010 (which had previously acquired MySQL AB), Oracle has rolled out a paid version of MySQL and developed certifications to support the product. 

If you’re interested in pursuing an Oracle MySQL certification, you can choose between MySQL Database Administration and MySQL Developer. 

The Oracle Certified Professional, MySQL 5.7 Database Administrator (OCP) credential recognizes professionals who can accomplish the following tasks:

• Install, optimize and monitor MySQL Server.
• Configure replication.
• Apply security.
• Schedule and validate database backups. 

The certification requires candidates to pass a single exam (the same exam can be taken to upgrade a prior certification). Oracle recommends training and on-the-job experience before taking the exam.

Oracle Certified Professional, MySQL 5.7 Database Administrator facts and figures

Did you know? According to Oracle, approximately 1.8 million Oracle Certified professionals globally hold certifications to advance their networking careers and professions to validate their IT expertise. 

4. Oracle Database SQL Certified Associate Certification

For individuals interested in working in the Oracle environment who have the necessary experience to become a database administrator, Oracle’s Database SQL Certified Associate Certification is another top Oracle certification and an excellent starting point. This exam encompasses an understanding of fundamental SQL concepts that individuals must grasp for database projects. 

By earning the certification, individuals demonstrate that they have a range of knowledge in core SQL concepts:

• Familiarity with queries, data modeling, and normalization
• Strong base understanding of the underlying SQL language
• An ability to create and manipulate Oracle Database tables 

This certification also requires candidates to pass a single exam. While Oracle does not specify any prerequisites, the company does state candidates should have familiarity working with the command line. 

Oracle Database SQL Certified Associate Certification facts and figures

5. SAP HANA: SAP Certified Technology Associate — SAP HANA 2.0 SPS05

SAP SE has an extensive portfolio of business applications and analytics software, including cloud infrastructure, applications and storage. The SAP HANA platform’s foundation is an enterprise-grade relational database management system that can be run as an appliance on-premises or in the cloud. The cloud platform lets customers build and run applications and services based on SAP HANA. 

SAP offers a comprehensive certification program built to support its various platforms and products. We’re featuring the SAP Certified Technology Associate — SAP HANA cert because it aligns closely with other certifications we’ve highlighted and is in high demand among employers, according to job board surveys. 

This certification ensures database professionals can install, manage, monitor, migrate and troubleshoot SAP HANA systems. It covers the following skills:

• Managing users and authorizations
• Applying security
• Ensuring high availability 
• Effective disaster-recovery techniques 

SAP recommends that certification candidates get hands-on practice through formal training or on-the-job experience before attempting this exam. The SAP Learning Hub is a subscription service that gives certification candidates access to a library of learning materials, including e-learning courses and course handbooks. 

The annual subscription rate for individual users on the Professional certification track is $2,760. This online training program is designed for those who run, support, or implement SAP software solutions. Though this may seem like a steep price for online training, you will likely be able to pass any SAP certification exams you put your mind to by leveraging all the learning resources available to SAP Learning Hub Professional subscribers. 

Typically, SAP certifications achieved on one of the two most recent SAP solutions are considered current and valid. SAP contacts professionals whose certifications are nearing end-of-life status and provides information on maintaining their credentials.

SAP Certified Technology Associate facts and figures

Tip: To broaden your skill set, consider pursuing the best sales certifications to better sell and implement various IT solutions, including databases.

Beyond the top 5 database certifications

Additional database certification programs can further the careers of IT professionals who work with database management systems. 

While most colleges with computer science programs offer database tracks at the undergraduate, master and Ph.D. levels, well-known vendor-neutral database certifications exist, including the following: 

• ICCP certifications. The Institute for the Certification of Computing Professionals (ICCP) offers its unique Certified Data Professional and Certified Data Scientist credentials. Learn more about ICCP certifications from the ICCP website.
• Enterprise DB certifications. EnterpriseDB administers a small but effective certification program with two primary certs: the EDB Certified Associate and the EDB Certified Professional. 

These are some additional certifications: 

These credentials represent opportunities for database professionals to expand their skill sets — and salaries. However, such niches in the database certification arena are generally only worth pursuing if you already work with these platforms or plan to work for an organization that uses them.

Key takeaway: Pursuing additional database certifications can be helpful for professional development if you already work with these platforms or plan to work with them in the future. 

Job board search results

Before pursuing certifications, consider their popularity with employers to gain a helpful perspective on current database certification demand. Here’s a job board snapshot to deliver you an idea of what’s trending.

If the sheer number of available database-related positions isn’t enough motivation to pursue a certification, consider average salaries for database administrators. SimplyHired reports $91,949 as the national average in the U.S., ranging from $64,171 to over $131,753. Glassdoor’s reported average is somewhat lower at $84,161, with a top rung for experienced senior DBAs right around $134,000.

Choosing the right certification

Choosing the best IT certifications to enhance your skills and boost your career can be overwhelming, especially as many available certifications are for proprietary technologies. While picking a database certification can feel like locking yourself into a single technology family, it is worth remembering that many database skills are transferable. Additionally, pursuing any certification shows your willingness to learn and demonstrates competence to current and future employers. 

Ultimately, choosing which certification to pursue depends on the technologies you use at work or would like to use at a future employer.

Jeremy Bender contributed to the reporting and writing in this article. 

Bill really didn't want to fail.

A Midwestern tech worker who had risen to become a vice president of IT at a big bank, Bill was set to take a Microsoft certification test to prove his proficiency with the company's Azure platform. Passing the exam would help boost his career, adding another technical certification to his résumé that he could parlay into a raise, or maybe even a higher-paying job.

But after spending several hundred dollars to register for the test and studying for weeks, he didn't want to leave anything to chance. 

So he decided to cheat. 

It wasn't hard. With a little searching online, Bill — whose real identity Insider is concealing to avoid professional repercussions — was able to find the exact test he was going to take, along with the answers. He set aside a few hours, learned them all by heart, and aced the test. 

It was one in a long line of tech certifications that Bill freely acknowledges he earned, at least in part, by cheating. And he's far from alone: In the tech industry, it's an open secret that there are thousands, if not millions, of cheaters just like Bill. By combing through "exam dumps" or "brain dumps" — online repositories of certification tests, answers included — fraudsters can rack up professional credentials without knowing anything about what they're being tested on. And the companies issuing the specialized certifications, from Microsoft and Amazon to Google and Salesforce, have been virtually powerless to stop the cheating, even on the major platforms that they own. 

The rise of exam dumps for tech certifications could have devastating consequences. Tech insiders familiar with the practice say unqualified candidates are using copies of exams for major tech systems and software to land jobs handling sensitive data and mission-critical infrastructure that affect employers and consumers alike. 

"If you step on a plane to Phoenix from San Francisco, imagine how you would feel if you found out your pilot cheated on all the exams and memorized all the answers," said Humphrey Cheung, an engineer with more than two decades of experience in the tech industry who has seen exam dumps used countless times. "That would kind of suck, right?" 

A problem for companies, customers, and workers

Underneath every modern business, from grocery stores to missile manufacturers, lies a complex web of servers, databases, and other technology that is maintained by an army of IT and tech workers. In today's increasingly digitized economy, this critical infrastructure is as essential as electricity and water. Companies rely on tech to do everything from tracking sales and paying vendors to keeping their employees connected via Slack.

But with so many different platforms and systems to manage, companies need a quick way to ensure that IT employees and job candidates are proficient with the tools they're expected to work with. That's where third-party certifications come in. Like plumbers or electricians, IT workers earn independent certifications to confirm they understand leading systems and can install and repair them on the fly. Need to prove you can connect a Cisco router, or deploy a Salesforce instance, or secure a dataset in Google Cloud? Just get certified. 

The popularity of certification tests has exploded in recent years. The research firm IDC estimates that the US market for IT education and training that includes certification tests is now worth $1.4 billion a year. That's in part because third-party certification offers workers a quick route into the tech industry without an expensive college degree, and in part because tech vendors have discovered that they can outsource the work of maintaining the systems they sell to third-party IT companies staffed up with certified technicians instead of having giant, cumbersome customer-service departments of their own.

Imagine how you would feel if you found out your pilot cheated on all the exams and memorized all the answers.

But the high stakes have also led to what many in the industry acknowledge privately is an epidemic of cheating. It's impossible to put a reliable number on the amount of cheating happening, but Cheung and several other industry veterans said that based on how often they've spoken to people who admit to using exam dumps and seen them circulate in professional networks, they'd guess that nearly half of all certifications worldwide are obtained by test-takers who crib the answers from exam dumps.

These fraudulently obtained certifications are not just prevalent but also dangerous, certifications experts who track the use of these exam dumps say. It can be hard to pin direct customer harm on exam dump usage, these experts said, in part because companies are reluctant to admit to that sort of harm — if an employee screws something up, companies are much more likely to just fire them, not launch an investigation into their professional qualifications. But the cheating is clearly having a corrosive effect on the tech industry, particularly the hiring process.

"Maybe the person themselves doesn't deliver the value that they're supposed to have delivered," Randy Russell, the director of certification at Red Hat, an open source solutions provider, said. He added that fraudulently obtained certifications can also damage the reputation of the certification issuer, making the credentials they issue more suspect in the eyes of recruiters and hiring managers.

And for those recruiters and companies, they're forced to eat up more of their time weeding out candidates who may be cheaters. "The hiring managers and companies are also harmed, because they now have to devote more time and resources to vetting who is and isn't actually qualified," Tim Woodruff, a developer and consultant who specializes in the IT tool ServiceNow and has tracked the use of exam dumps in the industry, said. But the biggest losers in the whole debacle, Woodruff said, are the aspirant tech workers who are taking the certifications legitimately, only to see the value of these tests degrade. "The people trying to launch or grow their career are probably the ones who are harmed most of all," he said.

Given how high-tech the industry is, the wave of cheating is surprisingly a low-tech scam. Many of the questions on major technical certification tests are reused for months or even years, so unscrupulous test-takers simply jot down or memorize the exam, type them up afterward, and then post the mock test online. Prospective test-takers then pay for access to the completed test and breeze through their own exam. It's the same kind of scam college students run, just transferred to the world of IT testing.

The people trying to launch or grow their career are probably the ones who are harmed most of all

Exam dumps have been around for years. In 2002, a man in Vancouver, Washington, pleaded guilty to theft of trade secrets after compiling answers to the Microsoft exams for system engineers and solution developers and selling them online. But two decades later, such cheating is so ubiquitous that people are no longer being charged for the theft. Cheat sheets are available through countless channels online, from group chats and social-media ads to the websites of hundreds of companies — with names like CertKillers.net and ExamTopics.com and DumpsGate.com — that openly sell the answers to certification exams. Some of the sites feature threads and forums where users praise the dumps for helping them cheat, helpfully correct mistakes in the posted tests, and request the answers for other certification exams.

"Exam dumps are an industry now, is the sad truth," Michael Paul, a data-protection consultant in the United Kingdom, said. "You get this attitude from some people of, 'Oh, I just need to get the exam passed.' They don't care that they're diminishing the entire value of that certification." 

In an ironic twist, major tech companies host lively marketplaces for exam dumps on their own platforms. On the messaging app Telegram, group chats with impressive-sounding names like "Salesforce Support" connect thousands of users looking to buy and sell exam dumps. Cheaters say that WhatsApp, the messaging app owned by Facebook's parent company, Meta, is a popular venue for finding dumps, and sellers advertise their wares on Instagram, YouTube, and Amazon's Marketplace. You can buy the answers to major tech certifications — including Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services — for as little $10, complete with reviews attesting to their reliability. 

Even LinkedIn, the job-networking site owned by Microsoft, has become a place where users offer exam dumps for sale — despite the fact that Microsoft's own tools are affected by the cheating. The answers to "LinkedIn Skill Assessments," a set of free in-house exams that LinkedIn offers to enable users to certify their proficiency with dozens of tech tools, from Adobe Illustrator to Google Analytics, are all freely available on GitHub, which is also owned by Microsoft. Gleeful TikTok users have been quick to make videos highlighting this flaw in LinkedIn's tests.

The reasons for cheating

Cheung, the developer based in Singapore, was working for a networking company a few years ago when he received a résumé from a job applicant who had recently obtained his certification as a Cisco Certified Network Professional.

Cheung noticed some potential red flags in the application, so he invited the candidate to sit down with a Cisco router and run through a few problems. The candidate was stumped. Cheung then asked him to change some basic configurations. The candidate still couldn't do it — even after Cheung told him he could use Google for help.

"People get nervous in an interview, and I'm OK with that," Cheung said. "So I gave him every chance, and he couldn't do it." 

Ultimately, it became clear to Cheung that despite the candidate's "certification" in Cisco systems, he had no clue what he was doing. So Cheung asked the candidate if he had used an exam dump to pass his certification. The defeated-looking candidate said yes.

For some, using exam dumps is driven by nothing more than a desire to climb the corporate ladder by any means necessary. They aren't worried about getting caught — they're worried about whether or not the cheat sheets are right. Because exam dumps are crowd-sourced by people who previously took the tests, there's no ensure that the dump-makers copied out the questions correctly — or that they actually knew which of the multiple-choice options were the right answers. "When I started looking for the questions, there's a lot of wrong answers, so I didn't trust it," said an IT consultant in Italy who used an exam dump this summer. 

But others have more complex reasons for cheating. For some, it's the expense. Certification tests can cost several hundred dollars a pop — or more for higher-level credentials. Sometimes the exam fees are paid for by a worker's employer, but those trying to break into the industry often have to foot the bill themselves. Bill, the IT worker at a Midwestern bank, said that one reason he cheated was the reassurance the exam dump gave him that he wouldn't have to pay to retake the test.

I was quite surprised to see the exam that came up was literally the same questions

For others, it's desperation. The IT consultant in Italy, who asked to remain anonymous, said he studied hard for a certification offered by the cybersecurity firm CyberArk, and thought he knew the subject matter. But he turned out to be a bad test-taker, and he failed the exam — twice. So he found some dumps online, studied the actual questions in advance, and finally passed. He then used the certification to help him land a pay raise. 

There's a perception in the tech industry that exam dumps are particular widespread in emerging market economies, where the relative cost of taking a test — and the potential payoff for achieving a certification — is much higher. "Broadly speaking, we do find that there tends to be more issues around exam security in those markets, India being one in particular where we see a fair amount of it," said Russell, the Red Hat director. "Getting certified in that market can actually be absolutely transformative to one's income prospects and livelihood."

An engineer from Pakistan said when he was starting his career, he used dumps to get his first Salesforce certification. Taking the exam cost him the equivalent of half his monthly salary — he simply couldn't afford to fail and pay to retake it. After memorizing some exam dumps he found, he aced the test. 

"I was quite surprised to see the exam that came up was literally the same questions," he recalled. "They didn't have a big bank of questions." He now works for a major tech firm in the United States and said he only obtains certifications through legitimate means now.

But the perception that workers from poorer countries are more likely to be cheaters can also fuel racism against foreign-born tech workers. "People from India are often looked upon with a disproportionate level of suspicion," Woodruff, the ServiceNow developer, said. "Companies and hiring managers are much more likely to assume that an Indian person obtained their certifications by fraudulent means, even if that biased expectation is subconscious and due to their recent experiences in hiring."

Companies are trying, and failing, to fight back

Given the onslaught of cheating, companies that offer certifications are taking a variety of countermeasures to try to combat cheaters. Some periodically refresh the exams with new questions; others monitor test-takers to see if anyone is answering the exams suspiciously fast. A Google spokesperson said the company asks exam-dump sites to take down the questions — an approach that seems unlikely to stem the tide of cheating. ServiceNow said it employs data analytics to identify when clusters of exam-takers all answer questions similarly, indicating that they likely used the same exam dump.

Red Hat, the cybersecurity firm, eschews multiple-choice questions altogether, opting instead for hands-on exams that require the test-taker to demonstrate actual proficiency with its tools. Many companies incorporate a hands-on component in their most senior certifications, but the increased costs of supervising and assessing such tests make them too expensive for many entry-level certifications.

But certification companies acknowledge that they are far from eradicating the problem. The more people cheat, the more others feel obligated to utilize underhanded methods to keep up with the cheaters they're competing against. And in many cases, the cheating appears to be condoned — and even encouraged — by employers. Vendors often deliver consulting and technical-support companies better deals on their products if the firms have more certified workers on staff. Multiple tech workers told Insider that it's common for unscrupulous employers to push their workers to use illicit dumps to earn extra credentials — either to make the company more attractive to potential clients or to earn it a discount on IT products.

One said his company provided him with copious exam dumps when he asked them if they had any legitimate training resources for an upcoming exam he was due to take. It made him suspect the expertise of his colleagues, and paranoid that if his employer's actions ever emerged, he might also be falsely accused of using dumps and stripped of his legitimately acquired certifications.

Fed up with the lack of progress at cracking down on cheaters, some workers in the tech industry are taking matters into their own hands. Woodruff spent the summer infiltrating multiple Telegram groups — some of which have thousands of members — that are dedicated to sharing the company's exams. Over time, he gained the trust of the group's administrators, ultimately convincing them to appoint him as a fellow administrator to help oversee the groups. 

He immediately disbanded the groups and banned all their members, disrupting — if only temporarily — one small part of the exam-dump trade.

Rob Price is a correspondent at Insider, based in San Francisco.

Got a tip? Contact Rob by phone or Signal at +1 650-636-6268, email at rprice@insider.com, or on Twitter at @robaeprice. Confidentiality offered.

Correction: November 14, 2022 — An earlier version of this story misstated the scope of Red Hat's business, it is an open source solutions provider not solely a security software provider.

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When browsing online, it can be easy to get distracted and lose focus on the task at hand. With the rise of short-form media, staying focused on work online is becoming a greater challenge.

Opening the new tab page is great for when fresh ideas come to mind. But with Microsoft Edge's My Feed news display, the new tab page can quickly become a hub of distractions. While there are some useful strategies for limiting news intake in general, this tip will cleanse your browsing experience into a news-free and stress-free environment.

The My Feed news feature displays by default when opening new tabs. However, this can be easily turned off. To disable the feature:

1. Click on the gear icon at the top-right of the page.
2. Scroll down to the Content section.
3. From the dropdown menu, select Content Off.

This will stop the news feed from showing when opening new tabs.

Microsoft Edge allows you to customize the amount of news displayed on the new tab page if you'd still like to access the news feed when opening new tabs. Using the same menu as above, the following options are available:

• Headings only
• Content partially visible
• Content visible

The final two options display some news cards, whereas Headings Only displays just the top banner of the news feed, as demonstrated below. All options and their relevant news distributions apply every time you open a new tab.

Reducing news content available to you is an effective way of limiting workplace distractions and prevents you from going on any unintentional tangents while working—a trap that's easy to fall for.

3. Use Tab Groups

With more everyday life activities transitioning online, whether it be online shopping, catching up with friends, or doing work-related tasks, it's not difficult to become overwhelmed by your tabs bar.

Microsoft Edge offers a resolution to this problem with its tab groups feature. To use this feature, you'll need to know how to select multiple tabs in Microsoft Edge. There are two ways of going about this:

• Use Ctrl + left-click to select individual tabs.
• Use Shift + left-click to select a range of tabs that fall next to one another.

After selecting the tabs to group, right-click on any of the selected tabs to view the option Add tabs to group from the dropdown menu.

Here, you can either create a new group, giving it a title and an assigned color, or select an existing group to add your tabs. To open and close a group, simply click its title.

Using tab groups allows you to categorize the mesh of ideas on your browser display into dedicated regions to help you focus on one thing at a time. This minimal workflow strategy has recently been proven effective, with many studies highlighting the cognitive costs of multitasking.

4. Try Out Vertical Tabs

Whether you're studying for an exam or working remotely from home, dealing with an overflow of open tabs is not uncommon. Microsoft Edge's Vertical Tabs feature offers a useful solution to this problem.

There are many plus sides to utilizing vertical tabs. More tabs can fit on display—with vertical tabs enabled; all tabs are presented in a neat vertical list to the left of the browser window. You may also find it easier to use the tab groups feature from a vertical viewpoint.

To enable vertical tabs, right-click on the title window and select Turn on vertical tabs. Alternatively, you can use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Shift + , to easily switch between views.

Enabling this option gives you a list of your tabs with their names displayed in the side pane. You can adjust the size of the pane by clicking and dragging the edge of the pane. However, if you'd like to completely remove the tab names, you can use the Collapse Pane tool.

To enable this view, click the small arrow shown below:

This reduces tabs to icons only, giving you a minimal view of your tabs while increasing browser space.

You can easily switch back to the former view by hovering over the minimized pane and clicking the pin icon shown below:

5. Install Websites as Applications

What's better than trying to reduce distracting browser features while working? Eliminating them altogether. With Microsoft Edge's web apps feature, you can install websites to function as separate applications without any external browser features. To install a website as an application:

1. Click the three dots in the upper right to access the settings menu.
2. Navigate to Apps and select Install this site as an app.

Here, you'll also find a list of your installed applications.

As a unique feature, Microsoft Edge allows you to customize the title and app icon before installing. You'll also receive prompts on installing to pin the app to your desktop taskbar or start menu, as you would with an ordinary application.

Opening an application will load the website in a new window. With only the webpage accessible (and no tabs bar, favorites bar, or even address bar), you can enjoy a fully minimal browsing experience without the temptation of clicking away.

Adopt These Habits for a Minimal Browsing Experience

Applying minimalism to your browsing experience is simple in Microsoft Edge. Use these methods to help isolate your time at work from your downtime and switch off from the chaos of the online world.

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GCSE examinations in 2023 will mainly return to pre-pandemic arrangements, after several years of disruption due to Covid-19.

Dr Jo Saxton from Ofqual said "I can confirm that, in 2023, we will return to pre-pandemic grading as the next step in getting back to normal.

"But giving the 2023 cohort some protection against any impact of COVID-19 disruption is the right thing to do.

"Students in the 2023 cohort have not experienced national school and college closures during their 2-year courses of study, but we know they have experienced some disruption.

"That’s why we’re putting in place some protection for this cohort."

Return to full curriculum

Grade boundaries for 2023 examinations will be guided by the grades achieved by cohorts of students in pre-pandemic years, alongside prior attainment data. Dr Saxton said this "means the 2023 cohort will be protected in grading terms if their exam performance is a little lower than before the pandemic."

In May the Department for Education confirmed that there would be a return to full curriculum coverage in examinations for all GCSE subjects.

Advance information of exam content will no longer be provided, but students taking GCSE maths, physics and combined science will have formulae and equation sheets.