Online and Digitally Proctored Exam

The exams are delivered on the world's most rigorous test-delivery standards and follow the Question and Test Interoperability (QTI) norms that also conform to Portable Custom Interaction Best Practices. Registered candidates can take DASCA certification exams anytime, anywhere across 180+ countries. Special testing arrangements can also be made for employees in organizations or students of universities if requested for the facility in advance.

Candidates book and schedule their certification exams directly from their myDASCA dashboard, and then take their exam on the ExamStrong™ exam platform. For all DASCA certifications except PDS™, candidates get 6 months to prepare for exams. PDS™ candidates get 1 year to do so.

No separate fee for exams is to be paid anywhere for any DASCA certification, unless a candidate is taking a re-test, or is re-scheduling after canceling a pre-scheduled exam or because of no-show in an exam for any reason.

DASCA exams for analytics, engineering, and data scientist certifications carry multiple-choice, single-answer questions carrying equal marks, with no penal scoring for wrong answers. A typical DASCA certification exam carries a mix of questions that seek to test the accuracy of knowledge of principles and concepts; understanding of techniques and processes; and the skills to apply tools and techniques of programming and analysis in solving real data problems.

For the Principal Data Scientist (PDS™) certification, however, evaluation is also done of the leadership capability and potential of candidates through their career progress, accomplishments, and contribution track record. The PDS™ assessment policy therefore also includes three other non-exam, submission-based components to be completed directly on the myDASCA dashboard.

The exams of Associate and Senior level for both, big data analytics and big data engineering certifications differ in the number of questions asked from the respective knowledge areas. This is in accordance to the proportional weights assigned to various topics in the DASCA knowledge framework for the two levels. The degree of difficulty of questions in Associate and Senior level exams differ in terms of what is being tested: in Associate level exams, the focus is on testing the accuracy of knowledge and understanding of the core principles, programming techniques, and tools; the Senior level exam questions seek to test the ability to deploy knowledge of core principles, programming techniques, and tools in various application contexts and use-cases.

The SDS™ and PDS™ exam questions differ discernably in their testing focus too. While accuracy and breadth of understanding and knowledge of core data science and analytics aspects are tested in both the exams, the PDS™ exam questions seek to test more the ability of candidates to make choices of approaches and steps in analyzing problems and defining and executing solutions in the organizational context.

DASCA certification exams are designed and developed by industry experts through a rigorous process to assure the credibility and reliability of the exam content by adhering to international certification testing and professional skills evaluation standards. The exam delivery, management, security standards, and content are periodically updated by diverse groups of subject matter experts (SMEs) and exam technologists using a multi-method approach to maintain the exams current, valid, and free from bias.