This post has been republished via RSS; it originally appeared at: New blog articles in Microsoft Tech Community.
Microsoft is committed to ensuring that all of our learners can take a certification exam whenever they’re ready. Today, I’m happy to announce that we are rolling out process improvements and updates to the requirements for requesting exam accommodations.
What is accommodation?
Before I get into the details, let me define “accommodations” for the global audience because I know this word can be confusing to many. An exam accommodation is any modification made to the delivery of the exam. We often approve accommodations for:
- extra time for physical disabilities, learning disabilities, ADHD, PTSD, or anxiety
- use of assistive technology
- a personal care assistant during the exam
- moving around or standing during the exam
- the need to look away from the monitor often to rest your eyes or focus your attention
- limited ability to rearrange your home test environment to meet security standards.
Process improvement details
Now, the details… just what are we changing?
Starting on July 1, many of the accommodations that we provide will no longer require documentation. In fact, only requests for extra time and anything not listed in our standard list of accommodations will require documentation in test centers; a few more accommodations will require documentation with online deliveries, but the key change is that documentation will not be required for many of the available accommodations. We are only requiring documentation for those accommodations that would give someone an unfair advantage or to prevent security risks. Providing documentation is a bit inconvenient, but we're committed to a fair and valid exam experience for everyone.
Updates to documentation requirements
For accommodations that do require documentation, we are expanding the types of documentation that are acceptable and removing the requirement that the documentation must be less than a year old.
Acceptable documentation includes but is not limited to:
- Professional evaluations (e.g., Letter or written recommendation from your health professional; results of psycho-educational or other professional evaluation)
- Proof of past accommodations (e.g., Previous testing or training accommodations; workplace accommodations related to the request)
- School/education related accommodation records (e.g., note from an educator or school administrator on school letterhead describing accommodations provided to you in school)
- Proof of other accommodations (e.g., accommodations provided by government or public entities (e.g., access to public transportation for a physical disability)
OR
- Other documentation. If you have something not listed here that demonstrates your need for the requested accommodation, please provide it.
You only need to provide one of these types of documents.
How to request an accommodation
Keep in mind that all accommodations, even those that do not require documentation, must be requested before scheduling your exam. Once approved, you will receive an email from Pearson VUE with details on how to schedule. This allows them to coordinate the accommodations with the proctors and/or test centers depending on where you choose to take your exam. Finally, we’ve created a support team that is dedicated to helping learners who encounter challenges at any point during the process.
To learn more about these changes or how to request an accommodation, visit: accommodations webpages. (Oh, and we updated these pages based on feedback from learners. The process and what to expect should be much easier to understand… but let me know if you have thoughts on other improvements that could help.)