Expert: LizaL - 4/16/2005

Question
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Followup To
Question - Mam...couple of days back i visited the adobe site and found that for the preparation of ACE one of the books that can help is CLASSROOM IN BOOK, the ADOBE SERIES. i have tried to enquire with the concerned.. person in the adobe Inc that does the question paper in the ACE exam has objectives as it is given in the end of the chapter of this CLASSROOM IN BOOK. he said that the question paper has objectives but i may or may not be as it is given in the... book.
Recently... i downloaded..the demo version of the PHOTOSHOP ACE EXAM AID and it had 7 practise questions which had a very high level.. as compared to the... CLASSROOM IN BOOK. i mean.. the book which i have has only the introdcution of tools and.. the options that are in the... photoshop menus.
kindly help me.. as where else.. can i find.. other than.. purchasing the EXAM AID. i know its the last choice.. but if u could suggest anything good other than this.
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Followup To
Question - thank u madam for ur help...but the adobe link which u gave me says that the 50% off  is till december 2004. is there any other way to get that discount...
and as far as the exam aid is concerned...will that be really helpful i mean...after shelling 2000 odd rupees on the material...in indian currency...does it have the objective questions in exam point of view.
Regards
Abhilash
madam..

i want to appear for the certification of the photoshop.i have enquired with the adobe inc in my country...india but i was unable to get the way for the preparation. many of the sites which are there in the about.com for the guidance of ACE are paid.is there any site where i can log on and give my practise tests for free. is there any book which has the objective questions as they come in the ACE exam.
kindly guide.
Regards
Answer -
Hi Abhilash,

I really don't think you can do this for free. I've done quite a bit of research on this, and I've never found any place that will give you practice material without charging for it.

The cheapest place I found for a study aid is Exam Aids:
http://www.examaids.com/prog_ps.html

The guy who wrote the material is really sharp, and for $49, this might not be a bad thing to do.

Here are some links from the Adobe site that might help you get some more information from their point of view:
http://www.adobe.com/education/educators/ace_program.html

http://www.adobe.com/education/educators/ace_program.html


But honestly, even the "cheat sites" (which I wouldn't advise using) charge you a fee for their material. I can't find anywhere you can do the practice tests for free; sorry.

And likewise the book -- I know you can find the tests and the book at cheat sites, but again, it's not free.

If I were you I'd take the plunge and invest in a proven, accredited exam aid, like the one written by Shangara Singh, that I mentioned above. That would probably be the best way to study for your ACE accreditation.


Lisa
Answer -
Hi again --

I'll be honest with you, I have no idea what the exam aid contains. I've never studied for or taken the ACE. All I can do is research the situation and tell you what I've come up with.

So if I were you, I'd send an email to the author of the Photoshop Exam Aid book; here's the address:
enquiries@examaids.com

Ask about getting an excerpt from the book, to see if it will contain what you think you need. I'm sure he'll oblige you by giving you a hint of what the aid is all about.

And as for the Adobe offer, I'm sorry it's not valid anymore! I didn't know that.

However, on the Adobe site is a link to a free sample course that might give you some insight into what the ACE will contain:
http://adobe.elementk.com/educate/adobe/home/trycourse.asp

If that's not enough information, I would contact Adobe and ask them if the discount can be extended in any way, since you plan to take the certification. You never know sometimes unless you try.

Here's the link for support at Adobe if you're doing the sample courses:
http://adobe.elementk.com/ContactUs/contact.asp

And here's the main contact page for Adobe:
http://www.adobe.com/misc/comments.html


Now in the meantime I'll keep looking for any pertinent books that would be possible for you to buy in preparation for the exam, and I'll certainly post back if I'm able to find anything.

Good luck, and I hope this helps you --

Lisa


Answer
Hello again Abhilash,

I've used four clustering search engines over the course of an hour, and I still come up with the inevitable: Very few, if any, people who have taken the exam, and who have purchased the study guides beforehand, are going to just give this information away.

I can understand this, too -- having taught college for 10 years, I can tell you, I did NOT teach for free, and I wouldn't just give away my course material, either. So I do understand the reasoning behind the cost of the study guides, and I'm sure you do too.

It does look like you'll have to pay something in order to prepare for the exam. What you're able and willing to pay, of course, is up to you. And finding the level and quality of information is also something which you need to determine. Everyone learns in a different manner.

I can understand that one study guide might seem harder than another, and the level of questioning might be different. But I would think that the more in-depth a study guide would be, the better the training for the actual exam.


That said, I'll list below all the links I found that look like they might help you.

1. This guy admits that he's stolen heavily from the Adobe site in preparing this study guide. I'd use it at your own risk, and some of the navigation links at the bottom of the page are broken. But the author claims that it's very close to the ACE.
http://www.whilo.com/courses/pshop2/


2. The Exam Aids site keeps coming up as the best choice for prepping for the exam:
http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00AzBH


3. This site offers cheaper study guides, and also links to free study material. I didn't check out the free stuff, but you might want to.
http://www.exact-exams.com/index.cfm


4. This company is an authorized Adobe reseller, so I'm sure their material is planned in accordance with the exam. But of course, it's not free.
http://www.boson.com/tests/adb.htm


5. Test King says they have free questions, but it doesn't look to me like they have free material from the ACE. But you might explore the site anyway, and see if you can come up with anything. You might also email them with your questions about wanting free exam preparation.
http://www.testking.org/guideprice_adobe.html


6. You can register for free at Certification Magazine online, and get access to a lot of information on study guides, taking certification exams, etc.
http://www.certmag.com/articles/templates/cmag_department_lt.asp?articleid=746&z


7. I even checked eBay, but only found a Photoshop 5 Exam Cram book, for less than $5.00:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=378&item=4518904263&rd=1&



I hope this helps -- this is the best I can find. I can assure you, it's going to be very hard, if not impossible, to find free study information. So I'd follow some of the links above, and possibly send out emails to some of those companies and ask their advice as well.


Lisa