David,

>
>How can their identity be verified? How can their answers be trusted to have come from their brains and not their cheat sheets?
>
>Unless there is a controlled environment the certification can't be trusted. Even a password-protected login does not prove that a person took the test and didn't just login a friend to take it for them.
>

It can't. I personally worked on the CBT versions and exams were serialized
and sent to specific doctors. Results were encrypted and sent in to be scored.
Results were accessed via serialization number.

I have never taken a M$ exam so let me plead ignorance if I make a dumb
comment but how does M$ verify. I would hope at very least it is a State
picture ID requirement but isn't that pretty easy to get around if you really want something.

Even if you can prove you are the individual that is supposed to take the
test arn't there other ways around not really having the knowledge your
score indicates?

In the end I believe a certain level of professional trust is assumed and any certification is just an attempt to differentiate one professional from another.

Talk to you later.