CDH and HDP Certification FAQ

Why is the program ending?

Going forward the Cloudera certification program will focus on Cloudera Data Platform (CDP).  A series of role-based, multiple choice exams testing technical proficiency with CDP will be the cornerstone of the Cloudera certification strategy.  CDP is the latest iteration of Cloudera software, while the CDH and HDP platforms are reaching end of life.  CDP certification will be the standard measure of knowledge and skills in the Cloudera marketplace.

Will my existing CDH and HDP certifications still be valid?

CCA certification will be valid and recognized for 2 years from achievement date, while the CCP certification will be valid for 3 years from the achievement date.

What are my options if I am unable to take my exam before the discontinuation date?

We encourage you to take your CDH and HDP exams before the discontinuation date of October 31, 2021.  If you are unable to do so, please contact Cloudera Certification at certification@cloudera.com to discuss the options for exchanging your CCA or CCP eligibility for a CDP exam.

If I exchange my CDH or HDP exam eligibility for a CDP exam, how long do I have to take the exam?

If you choose to exchange your CDH opr HDP exam eligibility for a CDP exam, your eligibility will be valid for the same term as your CDH or HDP exam plus an additional 3 months.

Can I get a refund for any unused eligibility?

If you are unable to take your CDH and HDP exams by the discontinuation date, we will exchange your eligibility for a CDP exam.

What can I do if I cannot find a convenient open time slot to take my exam?

If you are unable to schedule your exam because you cannot find an open time slot in your time zone, please contact Cloudera Certification at certification@cloudera.com and we will work with our exam proctors to find a convenient date and time.

If I fail my certification less than 30 days before October 31, can I retake the exam?

The CCA and CCP exam retake policy states that candidates who fail an exam must wait a period of thirty (30) calendar days before reattempting the exam.  If you take and fail the exam 30 days or less from the discontinuation date, you will not be able to retake your exam.

How do I check the expiration date of my certification?

You can find your expiration date and time by accessing your Learner Dashboard at https://education.cloudera.com/dashboard.

I am a Cloudera partner.  How do I retain my partner status?

Your Cloudera partner contract sets out a minimum number of certified staff to retain your status.  This level must be maintained, and can comprise of CDH, HDP, and CDP certifications.

Can my certification be converted to CDP?

Your CDH and HDP certifications are not transferable to CDP.  CDP certification can only be achieved by taking and passing the CDP certification exams.

When can I take a CDP exam?

The CDP Certified Generalist exam will be available in August, 2021, and the CDP Private Cloud Base Administrator exam will be available in October 2021.  Other role-based exams will follow.  Please refer to the CDP Certification page for details and up-to-date information.

How do I Register and Schedule my Cloudera exam?

Follow the link on each exam page to the registration form. Once you complete your registration on university.cloudera.com, you will receive an email with instructions asking you to create an account at examslocal.com in order to schedule your exam.

Do I need to reregister my Cloudera account?

Cloudera has recently merged its Registration and Payment platform into a Single Sign On (SSO) system. If you have purchased an exam in the past, you may be asked to create a new SSO account. Use the same email address that you have been using for your past Cloudera certification exams and your new SSO account will be merged with your existing account.

Steps to schedule your exam

1. Create an account at www.examslocal.com. You MUST use the exact same email you used to register on university.cloudera.com.
2. Select the exam you purchased from the drop-down list (type Cloudera to find our exams).
3. Choose a date and time you would like to take your exam. You must schedule a minimum of 24 hours in advance.
4. Select an available time slot for your exam. Time slots are first come, first serve.
5. Pass the compatibility tool and install the screen sharing Chrome Extension

Why can't I see the time slot I want?

PSI offers time slots 24 hours a day, every day. Time slots are first come, first serve. If you do not see the time slot that you want, then no proctor is available at that time. At times of peak usage, all available slots for a day may be taken. Schedule early to guarantee that you can take the exam when you want.

How do I reschedule an Exam Reservation?
If you need to reschedule your exam, please sign in at https://www.examslocal.com, click on “My Exams,” click on your scheduled exam and use the reschedule option. Email PSI at examsupport@examslocal.com, or call +1-888-504-9178, +1-312-612-1049 for additional support.

What is your exam cancellation policy?
If you wish to reschedule your exam, you must contact Innovative Exams at least 24 hours prior to your scheduled appointment. Rescheduling less than 24 hours prior to your appointment results in a forfeiture of your exam fees. All exams are non-refundable and non-transferable. All exam purchases are valid for one year from date of purchase.

Are there prerequisites? Do I need to take training to take a certification test?
There are no prerequisites. Anyone can take a Cloudera certification test at anytime.

Where do I take Cloudera certification exams?
Anywhere. All you need is a computer, a webcam, Chrome or Chromium browser, and an internet connection. For a full set of requirements, visit https://www.examslocal.com/ScheduleExam/Home/CompatibilityCheck

Can I take the exam at a test center?
Cloudera does not offer or approve of the delivery of our exams in test centers.

What is the confidentiality agreement I must agree to in order to test?
All content, specifically questions, answers, and exhibits of the certification exams are the proprietary and confidential property of Cloudera. They may not be copied, reproduced, modified, published, uploaded, posted, transmitted, shared, or distributed in any way without the express written authorization of Cloudera. Candidates who sit for Cloudera exams must agree they have read and will abide by the terms and conditions of the Cloudera Certifications and Confidentiality Agreement before beginning the certification exam. The agreement applies to all exams. Agreeing and adhering to this agreement is required to be officially certified and to maintain valid certification. Candidates must first accept the terms and conditions of the Cloudera Certification and Confidentiality Agreement prior to testing. Failure to accept the terms of this Agreement will result in a terminated exam and forfeiture of the entire exam fee.

If Cloudera determines, in its sole discretion, that a candidate has shared any content of an exam and is in violation of the Cloudera Certifications and Confidentiality Agreement, it reserves the right to take action up to and including, but not limited to, decertification of an individual and a permanent ban of the individual from Cloudera Certification programs, revocation of all previous Cloudera Certifications, notification to the candidate's employer, and notification to law enforcement agencies. Candidates found in violation of the Cloudera Certifications and Confidentiality Agreement forfeit all fees previously paid to Cloudera or to Cloudera's authorized vendors and may be required to pay additional fees for services rendered.

Fraudulent Activity Policy
Cloudera reserves the right to take action against any individual involved in fraudulent activities, including, but not limited to, fraudulent use of vouchers or promotional codes, reselling exam discounts and vouchers, cheating on an exam (including, but not limited to, creating, using, or distributing test dumps), alteration of score reports, alteration of completion certificates, violation of exam retake policies, registering multiple training accounts, or other activities deemed fraudulent by Cloudera.

If Cloudera determines, in its sole discretion, that fraudulent activity has taken place, it reserves the right to take action up to and including, but not limited to, decertification of an individual either temporarily until remediation occurs or as a permanent ban from Cloudera Certification programs, revocation of all previous Cloudera Certifications, notification to a candidate's employer, and notification to law enforcement agencies. Candidates found committing fraudulent activities forfeit all fees previously paid to Cloudera or to Cloudera's authorized vendors and may be required to pay additional fees for services rendered.

Taking the exam FAQ

How do I launch my exam?
To start your exam, login at https://www.examslocal.com, click “My Exams,” and follow the instructions after selecting the exam that you want to start.

What are the rules for taking the exam?

• Your desk and surrounding area must be free of all materials. You may not take notes outside of the exam environment
• You must be alone
• There is no talking during the exam
• You may not wear headphones or earbuds and there is no use of phones or other electronic devices
• Your face must be clearly visible to the proctor at all times. You may not sit in front of a bright light, that is you must not be backlit.
• You may not chew gum, eat, or drink during the exam
• You may not launch any other application on your computer during the exam
• You may not take screenshots of the exam environment
• You may not take a break or leave the webcam view for any reason during your exam. There is an exception for CCP exams lasting longer than 2 hours.

Any violation of these rules may be considered fraud and can immediately end your exam.

What is the proctor’s job during the exam?
The proctor is attending your session by webcam merely to enforce the rules and protect the integrity of the exam. They will verify that you are the correct person, that you have the correct identification documentation, that there are no other people in the room, that you are not using notes, etc. The proctor knows nothing of Hadoop or clusters and has never seen the contents of the exam. They are not there to aid you with any technical issues. You must follow all instructions given by the proctor. You must treat the proctor and all employees with respect.

What am I responsible for during the exam? 
These are practical exams. During the exam you will be asked to evaluate a scenario and implement a solution. You are responsible for everything necessary to generate that solution, such as writing code, configuring tools, and debugging any issues. You may use any approach or tools on the cluster that will produce your solution. Only the results will be graded.

Can I use wifi or a mobile hotspot for taking the exam?

Cloudera does recommend a wired, stable connection to the Internet, instead of using wifi. We do not allow candidates to take the test through a mobile hotspot though, as the phone network would not have enough bandwidth to support the remote desktop.

What external websites will I have access to while taking the exam?
The exam gateway has a firewall that restricts your access to external resources. You will have whitelisted access to the Apache and Cloudera websites. Other sites we determine to be necessary and appropriate for a given exam may also be made available. Websites like Google, StackOverflow etc. and other search functionality will not be accessible. Downloading external code or packages is not permitted.

How can I retrieve my forgotten password?
To retrieve a forgotten password, please visit: https://www.examslocal.com/Account/LostPassword

What is my recourse if technical problems prevent my environment from being ready at exam time?

Cloudera monitors exam delivery status and, in the unfortunate event that a technical problem occurs preventing you from being able to take the exam at the scheduled time, we will reset your eligibility and notify you as such as soon as possible. At that time you will be able to reschedule your exam.

Please mind, your exam environment is provisioned on a just-in-time basis, automatically brought online, and initialized a short period of time before your scheduled exam time and made accessible to you via the proctoring portal. A number of complex systems are in place to support your exam delivery. As such, unforeseen technical problems may occur that can prevent the successful launch and availability of the exam environment. In the unlikely event that this occurs, we are unfortunately unable to re-provision the environment in real-time. A reset of your eligibility by Cloudera is required, and a new exam time must be scheduled.

What if I lose internet connectivity during the exam?
It is the sole responsibility of the test taker to maintain connectivity throughout the exam session. If connectivity is lost, for any reason, it is the responsibility of the test taker to reconnect and finish the exam within the scheduled time slot. No refunds or retakes will be given. Unfinished or abandoned exam sessions will be scored as a fail. If you are disconnected, reconnect and follow the proctor’s instructions (including resharing your desktop).

How can I handle lag?
You are making a remote connection to a cluster. Furthermore, you are running a remote desktop through that connection. It is recommended for best performance that you use the command-line tools as opposed to running a GUI tool, such as HUE. Use a connected machine instead of wifi, if possible.

What happens if I don't show up for my exam?
You are marked as a no-show for the exam and you forfeit any fees you paid for the exam.

Does the exam proctor have access to my computer or its contents?
No. PSI (the proctor) does not install any software on your computer. The only access the proctor has to your computer is the webcam and desktop sharing facilitated by your web browser. Please note that PSI provides a virtual lockdown browser system that utilizes secure communications and encryption using the temporary Chrome extension. Upon the completion of the exam, the proctor’s view-only access is automatically removed.

How can I calculate my score?
Cloudera reports Pass/Fail for the exam and for each problem. For each problem that you have failed, you will be told which output requirement you did not complete. Longer or harder problems may be worth more points towards your score. Partial credit is possible so that a pass on a problem does not guarantee 100% and a fail does not guarantee 0%. A numeric score is not provided. Cloudera determines in its sole discretion whether a person has achieved a passing score.

Can I review my test or specific test questions and answers?
Cloudera certification tests adhere to the industry standard for high-stakes certification tests, which includes the protection of all test content. As a certifying body, we go to great lengths to protect the integrity of the items in our item pool. Cloudera does not provide exam items in any other format than a proctored environment.

Why did I fail this problem?
Cloudera must protect the integrity of the exams and does not discuss solutions to any scenarios. Your score report will give you a general reason for any failures.

• No Solution Table (or File) - The answer provided does not have a table (or file) named “solution” placed in the correct database (or directory).  You have named your answer incorrectly or placed in the wrong location.

• Incorrect Schema - The table definition was incorrect.  This includes column names, column datatypes, file format/serdes, delimiters, location, or compression type errors.

• Incorrect Number of Records - A solution was found but does not have the same number of rows as the key.  This could include an incorrect filter or placing your answer in a subdirectory (solution directory present but no records in the required output directory).

• Records Contain Incorrect Data - A solution was found, but records did not match the key.  This could include a field that was transformed incorrectly or a file with the wrong delimiters between records.

• Incorrect solution SQL - An SQL file was found, but it did not generate any output when run. This could include a lack of database references for the tables.
• Incorrect configuration - The required setting, value, or process was not defined correctly. This may refer to Cloudera Manager settings, command-line parameters, or a required service that is in bad health.
  
• Stale configuration - The service configuration settings have been changed in Cloudera Manager or via a command-line tool, but the changes have not been propagated to the cluster.
• Service not installed - A service that should have been installed as part of the solution is absent.
  
• Cluster left in non-functioning state - The cluster was non-operational at the end of the test. This is considered to be an automatic failure of the entire test. 

No further details will be provided for why you missed a scenario on the exam.

What is Cloudera’s retake policy?
Candidates who fail an exam must wait a period of thirty (30) calendar days, beginning the day after the failed attempt, before they may retake the same exam. You may take the exam as many times as you want until you pass, however, you must pay for each attempt; Cloudera offers no discounts for retake exams. Retakes are not allowed after the successful completion of a test.

Does my certification expire?
CCA certifications are valid for two years. CCP certifications are valid for three years.

I passed, but I'd like to take the test again to improve my score. Can I do that?
Retakes are not allowed after the successful completion of a test. A test result found to be in violation of the retake policy will not be processed, which will result in no credit awarded for the test taken. Repeat violators will be banned from participation in the Cloudera Certification Program.

I failed, but now I can’t repurchase the exam. What do I do?
You must wait thirty (30) days after a failed attempt before you may schedule the exam again. If you are receiving the error ‘You already have an active enrollment’ please email, certification@cloudera.com and your account will be updated by one of our team members.