A quick update- we pushed out an updated PMPerfect member chart to the homepage. With so many PMP test prep metrics which can be sliced and diced, its difficult to restrain ourselves from creating a dedicated "community reporting" tab. We simply don't want to clutter up the site too much, and want to keep the focus on PMP practice exams.
At the same time, its very interesting to see the ups and downs of a dynamic PMP exam community. Also interesting is how those taking the PMP exam practice tests rank in each PMBOK knowledge area!
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
AJAX Technology and PMP Practice Exams
One of the primary features that sets the PMPerfect's exam prep service apart from its competitors is the exam simulator offered on the site. For nearly all of the sites we found which offered PMP practice exams, there was a general flaw with the way the actual exam simulator operated once the user signed up.
Many of the exam simulators we saw required a software download, which made us suspicious that some type of adware would be unknowingly installed on our computer. Other sites would present the entire PMP exam in a single browser window, which is not really representative of the true life PMP exam experience. And still others would simply offer a massive PDF file with a digital download of PMP practice questions; which sort of negates the whole PMP exam preparation experience.
So, being the self-proclaimed (ahem) resourceful techies that we are, we set about to develop a completely new PMP exam simulator from the ground up. Since everyone on our team had sat for the PMP exam at a major testing center, we knew exactly what types of functions the real life PMP exam provided for its users. Primarily, the PMP exam environment allows for:
· Back and forth navigation between PMP exam questions
· Marking of PMP exam questions for further review before grading
· A live timer, indicating how long until the PMP exam would be automatically submitted
· The ability to navigate back to any PMP question (marked or otherwise) prior to completing the exam
Once we began the initial specification for PMPerfect's exam simulator, we began to hit a wall. How could we reproduce these standardized exam features without forcing a software download by the user? Enter AJAX!
AJAX is a web technology that works with nearly all modern day browsers, and allows web content to load without a browser refresh. What this means, is that we would be able to control on-screen content (in this case, PMP exam questions) without the need to reload your browser every time a new question gets pulled from the PMPerfect database. After a month of prototyping the new PMP practice exams with our hip new AJAX components, we were very happy with the results. Add some tweaks here, some optimizations there, and what you have now is one of the only exam simulators on the web which works without any plugins or additional software! Thanks to everyone for the positive feedback regarding the PMP practice exam simulator, as well as the suggestions on new ways we can improve the overall experience; we'll be sure to keep everyone updated as new features are added.
Many of the exam simulators we saw required a software download, which made us suspicious that some type of adware would be unknowingly installed on our computer. Other sites would present the entire PMP exam in a single browser window, which is not really representative of the true life PMP exam experience. And still others would simply offer a massive PDF file with a digital download of PMP practice questions; which sort of negates the whole PMP exam preparation experience.
So, being the self-proclaimed (ahem) resourceful techies that we are, we set about to develop a completely new PMP exam simulator from the ground up. Since everyone on our team had sat for the PMP exam at a major testing center, we knew exactly what types of functions the real life PMP exam provided for its users. Primarily, the PMP exam environment allows for:
· Back and forth navigation between PMP exam questions
· Marking of PMP exam questions for further review before grading
· A live timer, indicating how long until the PMP exam would be automatically submitted
· The ability to navigate back to any PMP question (marked or otherwise) prior to completing the exam
Once we began the initial specification for PMPerfect's exam simulator, we began to hit a wall. How could we reproduce these standardized exam features without forcing a software download by the user? Enter AJAX!
AJAX is a web technology that works with nearly all modern day browsers, and allows web content to load without a browser refresh. What this means, is that we would be able to control on-screen content (in this case, PMP exam questions) without the need to reload your browser every time a new question gets pulled from the PMPerfect database. After a month of prototyping the new PMP practice exams with our hip new AJAX components, we were very happy with the results. Add some tweaks here, some optimizations there, and what you have now is one of the only exam simulators on the web which works without any plugins or additional software! Thanks to everyone for the positive feedback regarding the PMP practice exam simulator, as well as the suggestions on new ways we can improve the overall experience; we'll be sure to keep everyone updated as new features are added.
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