Just to give my two small cents in.  I'm not accusing anyone of anything or of the exam being horrible.  But why don't the creators of the exam (this is just a suggestion) take it themselves in a similar setting as everyone else and see how they do on it.  That way they can assess how the exam is administered and possibly make it better. Or if not get guinea pigs (in our profession I'm sure some of us don't mind being guinea pigs) and make it better for those who are interested 
in making it better.  Nothing is perfect in life but we can definitely try and make it better.

Ambika Sankaran

---- Original message ----
>Date: Tue, 8 Aug 2006 09:19:27 -0400
>From: "Pullen, Sharon" <[log in to unmask]>  
>Subject: Re: CA Exam  
>To: [log in to unmask]
>
>Bill,
>   I never accused anyone, least of all recent graduates of anything.
>My post was in reply to one by Susan Hamson, who is not one of those who
>took the most recent ACA exam.   If you had read the thread with
>more care, you might have realized that.
>    I usually take care NOT to post extreme messages to this listserv
>because I wish to avoid the conflicts of personality that discussions of
>these 'professional' issues often engender.   When I have an extreme
>reaction to a post, I usually email the sender directly, rather than
>posting to the listserv.
>   Regarding the posts by those who sat for the most recent exam, many
>of their observations were legitimate and should be considered by both
>ACA and SAA in future plans.
>   I also believe that if you read the posts by myself and Ms. Hamson,
>although they may not be cordial, at no time did they descend to
>personal name calling.
>
>
>Sharon A. Pullen, C.A.
>Archivist
>Office of the County Clerk
>Historic Documents Library
>310 Center Drive
>Riverhead, NY 11901-3392
>Email: [log in to unmask]
>Phone: (631) 852-2000 extn. 700
>Fax: (631) 852-2004
> 
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Bill Landis [mailto:[log in to unmask]] 
>Sent: Monday, August 07, 2006 9:59 PM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: CA Exam
>
>Yikes, Sharon Pullen's post is a bit draconian, IMHO! It is one thing to
>honestly state your opinion, but to accuse recent grads of endangering th
>e
>profession because they try to generate a healthy debate about an issue,
>like archival certification, about which reasonable people might disagree
>?
>Lighten up! I think having a certification exam that recent graduate prog
>ram
>graduates  don't see the value of having studied for and sat through is *
>at
>least* as dangerous to the profession as airing reasonable negative
>commentary on the exam.
>
>Certification works for some and not for others (myself included among th
>e
>latter, in the interests of fair disclosure), but it surely won't make on
>e a
>better archivist and in my experience has never even remotely been a fact
>or
>in  applying for and interviewing for archival positions.
>
>Just my $0.02, 
>
>Bill Landis
>Metadata Coordinator
>(not currently working as an archivist, but using my uncertified archival
>
>knowledge, graduate degree, training, and experience on a daily basis in 
>my job)
>California Digital Library
>University of California Office of the President
>Oakland, CA
>
>A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List sponsored by the
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>A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List sponsored by the Society of American Archivists, www.archivists.org.
>For the terms of participation, please refer to http://www.archivists.org/listservs/arch_listserv_terms.asp.
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A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List sponsored by the Society of American Archivists, www.archivists.org.
For the terms of participation, please refer to http://www.archivists.org/listservs/arch_listserv_terms.asp.

To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to [log in to unmask]
      In body of message:  SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname
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Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
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Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <[log in to unmask]>