Accreditation Exam FAQs

Becoming Accredited

How do I become CA Accredited?

To become CA Accredited you must successfully complete, with passing scores, all exams required for the desired CA Accreditation. You may take the exam at a CA learning center or online in your home or office.

Back to top

If I have previously received CA Certified status, is it still valid? Do CA Certifications count towards compliance benefits?

If you have previously or recently achieved CA Certified status, you can be assured that all certification credit remains valid and continues to count towards compliance benefits. CA Partner program benefits, such as certain rebates and rewards, are dependent on specific targets being met, as well as on successful coursework and exam completions. Such programs differ by world regions. Details and contacts can be found on the CA Partner Program page.

Back to top

Planning Your Accreditation

Where can I find available training?

Please refer to the CA course catalog for details:

• Partners and Customers, please visit the course catalog
• Employees, please visit canet.ca.com/learning/login

Training may be available in one or more modalities, and depending on the program, may include Web Based Training, Virtual Instructor-Led Training and classroom-based Instructor-Led Training.

Back to top

Can I test out of a course, or do I have to take training before an exam?

Attending prerequisite training is highly recommended but is not a requirement. You have two attempts to pass an exam. If you are not successful, then you must take required training.

Back to top

Do I have to complete exams in an Accreditation path in a specific order?

• In order to take a next level course, you must have successfully completed previous-level courseware or the previous-level exam.
• If you are a CA employee, the exam IS a requirement after each level of training.
• If you are a partner or customer, the exam is NOT a requirement after each level of training. However, exam completion may be a requirement for Partner company compliance, for access to specific benefits or to meet a performance requirement.
• Additional details about learning paths can be found on CA Product Accreditations

NOTE: The above are the standard prerequisites; there may be other course-specific prerequisites requiring other related courses and requiring a priori knowledge and experience.

Back to top

Do I need to complete all exams in an Accreditation path within a set period of time?

No, Accreditation paths do not need to be completed within a set period of time.

Back to top

Do I have to take an accreditation exam after I complete a CA Education course?

If you are a partner or customer, the choice is yours. Be aware, however, that important CA Accreditation benefits for your company may be at stake, and these benefits may not be available unless the accreditation exam is successfully passed. If you are a CA employee, yes, you are required to take the exam.

Back to top

Partner Accreditation

Is there an accreditation associated with the Partner Technical Readiness program?

Yes. A brand new professional accreditation program has been launched with the enhanced Partner Technical Readiness program. In addition to new technical training, accreditations are available in each CA Business practice area. All accreditation exams are available on our online testing site. Read on for further information and for links.

Back to top

How do credits transfer when I leave my company?

Your former company will have 90 days (three months) grace period for another employee to successfully complete the affected exams in order to continue to benefit, uninterrupted, from any CA Accreditation rewards.

Your new company may begin to benefit from your credits 30 days after you join. Be sure and inform your CA Channel account manager of your career move in order to ensure correct transfer of learning credits.

Back to top

Getting Ready for Testing

How do I prepare for my exam?

The CA Accreditation exam assesses your knowledge of a CA product. Students who complete the associated CA Education courses achieve higher scores on CA Accreditation Exams.

Back to top

What do I need to have ready when I take the exam?

CA Accreditation exams are delivered online and are open book. You should test your Internet connection ahead of time, and you may refer to any course materials that you have on hand.

Back to top

What is the format of an Accreditation exam?

CA Accreditation exams are timed exams consisting of multiple choice questions.

Back to top

What does a typical exam question look like?

1. Example Question: Which protocols does Single Logout support?
   
2. SAML 1.0
3. SAML 2.0
4. SAML 1.1
5. Liberty V1.x
6. Web Services Federation (WS-Federation)
   1. 1, 2, and 3
   2. 2, 3, and 4
   3. 2, 4, and 5
   4. 3, 4, and 5
7. Example Question: Which component of CA SiteMinder installs SAML authentication schemes?
   
8. Affiliate AgentA
9. Application Agent
10. Web Agent Option Pack
11. Policy Server Option Pack
12. Example Question: What is the MOST appropriate step to perform when initialization fails following installation of eTrust Federation components?
    
13. Check the configuration environment.
14. Uninstall and reconfigure all components.
15. Compare all library files installed to identify the failure reason.
16. Ensure installed products are version compatible with one another.

Back to top

Registering for and Taking the Exam

How do I register for an Exam?

Customer, partner and employee exams are hosted online in the CA Education Portal. To take an accreditation exam, follow these steps:

Customer Registration

1. Go to the CA Education Portal.
2. In the Keywords field, enter the product name followed by "exam". You can also search for your exam by entering the course code.
3. To register for an exam, click the Add to Cart button. At that point, you will be prompted to log in, or register for the first time, before you can continue.
4. Upon completing your registration and enrollment, review your selections and click the Finish button. You can then view your selection in the Training to Do List under the My Learning tab.
5. When you are ready to take the exam, select "Go to Content." PLEASE DO NOT CLICK "Go to Content" TO LAUNCH THE EXAM UNTIL YOU ARE READY TO COMPLETE IT; OTHERWISE IT COUNTS AS AN ATTEMPT. UPON LAUNCHING EXAM, DO NOT EXIT OR CLOSE PRIOR TO SUBMITTING IT FOR GRADING. If the exam is proctored in class, enter the case-sensitive proctor code and proctor name precisely as it is provided.
6. After you have passed the exam, you may print your CA Accreditation certificate. In the CA Education Portal, go to My Learning, then Training Completed.
7. You may refer to course materials during the exam unless otherwise instructed. Please take the exam by yourself upon logging into the exam site. Answer all the questions in one sitting. You may skip questions and go back to answer them. The typical exam time is 75 minutes, and the typical passing score is 80%. Upon completing the exam, be sure to click "Grade Exam" to submit it.

Difficulty accessing the exam?

Back to top

Partner Registration

1. Go to the CA Education Portal for Partners
2. In the Course Search tab, enter the product name followed by "exam" in the Keywords field. You can also search for your exam by entering the course code. If you are unable to find what you are looking for you may need to be logged in to see Partner specific exams (please refer to instruction #3 below).
3. To register for an exam, click the Add to Cart button.
4. You will be prompted to log in, or register for the first time, before you can continue.
   
   NEW PARTNER: To access the CA Education Portal for the first time:
5. Click the "register" link located in the top-right corner as a new CA user.
6. Please create your account and login details, and be sure to scroll down and select "CA Education".
OR

RETURNING PARTNER:
1. Click the "login" link located in the top-right corner.
2. Enter your email address and password.

For login assistance, visit CA Support Online and click on the "You can report registration or login issues" link. You may also use the Forgot your Password feature.

For all other CA Education Portal assistance and support, including verification of Partner status, send an email with your first and last name, company affiliation, email address and phone number, to: education_helpdesk@ca.com.

7. Upon completing your registration and enrollment, review your selections and click the Finish button. You can then view your selections in the My Learning Tab under the Training to Do List.
8. When you are ready to take the exam, select "Go to Content." PLEASE DO NOT CLICK "Go to Content" TO LAUNCH THE EXAM UNTIL YOU ARE READY TO COMPLETE IT; OTHERWISE IT COUNTS AS AN ATTEMPT. UPON LAUNCHING EXAM, DO NOT EXIT OR CLOSE PRIOR TO SUBMITTING IT FOR GRADING. If the exam is proctored in class, enter the case-sensitive proctor code and proctor name precisely as it is provided.
9. After you have passed the exam, you may print your CA Accreditation certificate. In the CA Education Portal, go to My Learning, then Training Completed.
10. You may refer to course materials during the exam unless otherwise instructed. Please take the exam by yourself upon logging into the exam site. Answer all the questions in one sitting. You may skip questions and go back to answer them. The typical exam time is 75 minutes, and the typical passing score is 80%. Upon completing the exam, be sure to click "Grade Exam" to submit it.

Difficulty accessing the exam?

Additional Information for Partners

Partners accessing CA Education resources through the CA Education Portal are eligible* to receive:

• All Sales and Technical Level 100 courses available at no cost
• 20% discount off fee-based courses (200 levels and above)
• Accreditation exams at no cost

For assistance with accessing these benefits, please send an email to: Education_Helpdesk@ca.com.

* Partner must be an active CA partner.

Please note that if you do not see the course or exam that you are looking for, it is necessary to first log in to the CA Education Portal, and a complete list will be available.

Back to top

Employee Registration

1. Go to the CA Employee Education Portal
2. If you are logging in via the network or VPN, then you will land in "My Homepage"; If you are outside the network, then enter your user ID (PMF key), network password and domain (tant-a01), then log in on the top right of the screen.
3. In the search field (top, right), enter the product name followed by "exam" to perform a search for all titles containing these words; a search results window will open; seek out the correct exam. Early adopters who attend Pilot courses will be directed to the ExamBuilder server for exams. Please refer to these instructions to sit a Pilot exam.
4. When you are ready to take the exam, select "Go to Content." PLEASE DO NOT CLICK "Go to Content" TO LAUNCH THE EXAM UNTIL YOU ARE READY TO COMPLETE IT; OTHERWISE IT COUNTS AS AN ATTEMPT. UPON LAUNCHING EXAM, DO NOT EXIT OR CLOSE PRIOR TO SUBMITTING IT FOR GRADING. If the exam is proctored in class, enter the case-sensitive proctor code and proctor name precisely as it is provided.
5. You may refer to course materials during the exam unless otherwise instructed. Please take the test by yourself upon logging into the exam site. Answer all the questions in one sitting. You may skip questions and go back to answer them. The typical exam time is 75 minutes. 80% is the typical passing score. Upon completing the exam, be sure to click "Grade Exam" to submit it.

Difficulty accessing the exam?

Back to top

Pilot Exam Registration

Students are sometimes invited to take pilot exams by a CA Education instructor, usually while attending a Beta/pilot course. Only follow these instructions if advised by your instructor, otherwise see above for Customer-, Partner-, and Employee registration instructions.

1. If you already have an ExamBuilder account, log in here: http://testing.exambuilder.com/index.cfm
2. First-time users, please register at http://testing.exambuilder.com/ca
   Successful account creation will result in an on-screen message letting you know that a password has been emailed to you. You will also see a link to the login screen. Note your ID and password from the email, and then go to the login screen: http://testing.exambuilder.com/index.cfm.
3. In the field labeled "Your Email", enter your company email address.
4. In the field labeled "Site Code", enter case-sensitive "QJZP".
5. Complete the remaining fields and click "REGISTER".
6. All available exams will appear. To find your exam, hold down the Control key on your keyboard, and then press the F key (Ctrl+F). In the Find window type your keyword, and click "Find Next".
7. You may refer to course materials during the exam unless otherwise instructed. Please take the test by yourself upon logging into the exam site. You may skip questions and go back to answer them.
8. Answer all the questions in one sitting. If you log off, the timer continues until the time limit has been reached, at which point you will only be able to submit the questions you have already answered. The typical exam time is 75 minutes and 80% is the typical passing score.
9. You must submit your exam (complete or not) to get a second attempt, if necessary.

Back to top

Difficulty accessing the exam?

We recommend that you use a reliable connection to sit for the exam. If you lose network connectivity while writing the exam or if you prematurely exit the exam and can no longer access it, take the appropriate corrective action:

For Customers and Partners:

Please contact Technical Support. After you select your location, you will receive the phone number for Education Portal Support for your local area. Note the exam code, and let the Support personnel know that you require an exam reset due to network connectivity causing a lock-out.

For CA Employees:

Open a ServiceDesk issue to request Exam User Reset:

1. Select Create a New Request (Top right of screen)
2. If prompted to search knowledge base, select Cancel
3. In the Applications section, look under E for Education Portal, and then Education Portal Support
4. Be sure and provide the exam code

As an optional additional step, once a ServiceDesk CR# is assigned, send an email to Education_Helpdesk@ca.com with the following subject line: "Urgent EXAM User Reset: CR#xxxxxxxx." The Education Helpdesk will resolve the issue promptly so you can attempt the exam again.

Back to top

Where do I go to take an Accreditation exam?

You can take an Accreditation exam at a CA Training Center, in your home, or at your office. For your convenience, all Accreditation exams are available through the CA Education Portal. Learn more about registering for and taking exams.

Back to top

What is the exam passing score? Does it change?

CA makes best efforts to maintain passing scores of 80%. The difficulty level of each accreditation exam is adjusted by a team of internal and third-party experts to allow specific passing and fail rate thresholds. Exceptions to the 80% score occur during Beta testing of new exams, when the passing score may be lowered temporarily (for Beta test takers and early-adopter test takers) while the optimal difficulty level is being established. All of these efforts are aimed at establishing and maintaining the fairness, validity and reliability of CA exams.

Back to top

Can I retake the exam if I fail?

If you fail an exam you may take the exam again immediately or at your convenience. You have two attempts at exams. If you are not successful, then you must take available training, which may be offered in several modalities: Web Based Training, Virtual Instructor-Led Training and classroom-based Instructor-Led Training.

Back to top

After the Exam

How do I print my Accreditation certificate?

After you have passed the exam, you may print your CA Accreditation certificate. In the CA Education Portal, go to My Learning, then Training Completed.

For learning path completion diplomas, please contact accreditations@ca.com indicating the specific role-based path, and we will email the diploma to you in about three business days. If you do not receive your diploma within two weeks of successful learning path completion, please email us and we will be glad to email you a new one. Be sure and add accreditations@ca.com to your allowed sender list.

Back to top

How do I obtain a copy of my score report?

Log into your student account in the CA Education Portal, and select My Learning, then Training Completed, to see a list of your completed exams and scores.

Back to top

Why can't I see all of my exam records in the CA Education Portal?

Exams taken prior to January 19th, 2010, will be updated in your Training Completed transcript

Back to top

How long is my accreditation valid? Does it expire?

CA Accreditations do not expire. Your accreditation will always be valid for the product release for which you were accredited. Additional exams will be required for accreditation on future product releases.

Back to top

How can a third party verify my accreditation status?

Your CA Accredited diploma can be used to verify your accreditation status. If a third party has any concerns they may contact accreditations@ca.com.

Back to top

Learn More

• Accreditation Overview
• Product Accreditations
• Learning Paths

Back to top