Our newbie InDesignSecrets contributor, James “The Intern” Fritz, sent a gleeful e-mail to David and I a few days ago about his results from the InDesign CS4 ACE Recertification exam:
I just took the test and got 100%.
I think it was a great test. I really enjoyed it.
Hmm. I looked at the date of the e-mail: Nope, not April 1st. (April Fool’s Day, for our international readers … the day to play practical jokes on each other. Wondering … does “practical jokes” translate?)
As you may have read in earlier posts or heard in our podcasts, David and I managed the development of this test, all the questions and answers, for both the full certification exam and the CS4-focused recertification exam, which InDesign geeks who’ve passed the previous version’s full test must pass to remain certified.
I clearly remember when Adobe returned the exams to us for a final check, after we hadn’t looked at it for a month. I read over the questions and my heart clutched. Were we insane? These were tough questions! All were fair and accurate, no nitpicky things, but … still. I called David and he had the same reaction. When this test was released, were we going endure the wrath of thousands?
Fortunately, Adobe decided you only needed to answer 69% of the questions correctly to pass the test. That is a fair assessment. And anyone who scores above 85% has to be a stone-cold InDesign genius, we’re certain of it.
Then we received Fritz’s e-mail. I had to pick my jaw up off the floor. David wrote him:
No way. 100%? That is beyond incredible. I want a photo of you holding your certificate with the percentage. We should post pictures of anyone who gets 100%. I’m serious that I think anyone over 75% is truly “expert” and I honestly don’t think I would get 100%, even after having seen and edited all the questions.
So, Fritz complied. He’s our first entry in our InDesign ACE Exam 100% Guru Club:
Are you as cynical as I am? ;-) Of course I had to zoom in to really see that score. Here’s a close-up, with a small amount of sharpening:
Fritz, once again, congratulations! Incredible. And if anyone else gets 100% on the InDesign CS4 ACE exam, please by all means send in a photo!
This article was last modified on December 19, 2021
This article was first published on March 23, 2009
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