Questions about getting ready for your Red Hat remote exam?

[Deanna]

This thread is dedicated to connect you with Red Hat subject matter experts who can help answer your questions regarding Red Hat remote exams. Please see the following resources for Red Hat Remote Exams below:

• Remote Exams Announcement
• Technical Documentation for "Getting ready for your Red Hat remote exam"
• Remote Exams FAQ

For questions on scheduling or redeeming your exams,  please use the Red Hat Certification team comment form here. 

**Our subject matters experts in the Red Hat Learning Community will not be assisting with tasks related to scheduling exams. 

[rozhdestvenskiy]

Fellas, I got a few quick questions. I didn't purchase the exam yet, and I wonder if there is any waiting time between purchasing and scheduling the exam? Also please tell me how can I make sure that I'm scheduling an online exam? I added RHCSA exam to my shopping cart and proceeded till the payment page, but I don't see a way to select the type of exam - online or onsite. Thanks.

[Mostafa1]

You are purchasing an individual exam and during scheduling the exam (after
purchase), you can select either a remote exam or in a testing center.
Once you purchased your exam, it will typically have a validity of one year
and within this year, you should schedule and take the exam, otherwise, it
will expire.

[rozhdestvenskiy]

Thank you! I just purchased it about 30 mins ago. I see it still has a status "pending payment". Now I hope I selected "individual exam" when I added it to my shopping cart. In the order details I don't see a type of format. Also I already found the remote exam FAQ on RH website. It's pretty helpful though it's not clear if I can use a wired headset: https://www.redhat.com/en/resources/certification-remote-exams-FAQ It says this: "You should remove your watch, rings (except for wedding bands and engagement rings), bracelets, earpieces, any type of headphones, headsets, earphones, or earbuds." So I wonder if I'm using a PC which doesn't have a built-in microphone, then can I use a wired headset? I already tested my PC by using RH downloadable iso test image and it indeed requires you to have both speakers and microphone to make sure you can hear sound and communicate with the proctor.

[Mostafa1]

You can chat with the Remote exam support team to confirm your doubts.
Communication with Proctor is via chat only. Microphone is needed for
monitoring only. Speakers are needed only to hear the notification ring
when the proctor contacts you via chat.

[rozhdestvenskiy]

Thank you again!!! If all communication is done via chat only, then it makes sense. I'll try to plug my external speakers and a stand-alone mic then.

[External_Mod102]

Hey I had asked a similar question to yours much earlier in the topic for RHCSA. Just wanted to pass the info along to you or anyone who finds this.

I chatted with live support via the exam USB. Speakers are NOT mandatory to take the exam despite audio output being present in the compatibility test. Alongside the notification noise there is ALSO a popup in the top right of the screen which will tell you when a message has been sent by the proctor. As long as you are sure your mic and webcam works then you can take the exam.

[cmattern]

Just a side note here. I took my exam with no speakers at all and was fine. I was able to see when the Proctor was messaging me and the one time I did not the proctor just paused the exam to get my attention. Speakers are certainly nice to have but I didn't want anyone to run out and spend money thinking they were required.

Another note, my webcam (a Logitec C922), like many other such devices, has a microphone built in. That worked fine for me and I did not need a seperate microphone. Again just hoping to save people money on something they might not need.

[rtlo]

I've followed the instructions, and ran the dd command (again, as instructed) to prepare a usb drive to boot the Live environment - but this just fails with an authentication error (it seems that the iso is encrypted - but there's nothing in the instructions that indicate that I would need a separate password to 'unlock' this...) - is this expected behavior (perhaps I'm too early with a 'compatibility' check at 2 months out?) - or have I done something wrong?

[rtlo]

OK, well it doesn't really look as though I've really done anything wrong - since this works/boots absolutely fine: https://static.redhat.com/downloads/training-certification/rhrexboot-2020-08.iso

Not great. And since ihis is like the 103rd reply in this thread - I'm not betting on any sort of rapid response.  I also wish that I hadn't burned roughly half a day trying to find a solution that's bound to suddenly not work the day of the exam (all my attempts at contacting support through the not very confidence inspiring 'chat' app have ended in disappointment as well).

Red Hat: Please either fix this - or properly respond to the emails I've been sending.

[vishals]

Hi @rtlo ,

I just tried to boot off the newest version and it works. Maybe post a picture of the error message or the command you ran?
The newest version of the ISO is encrypted and *will* prompt for a password when you try to mount it. Creating a bootable USB with it and booting into the image should not prompt for a password.

Regarding chat support(and email responses), you won't have luck reaching them now as it's only manned on weekdays.

Best Regards,