Back on March 6th, 2020, ServiceNow sent out an email about the Orlando Delta Exam window (March 26, 2020 through June 24, 2020). At that time, I marked my calendar down and was ready to tackle the exams again to keep my record of taking the exams on the first day they are made available. 🙂
It's March 26 today, I logged into NOW Learning on a quiet evening, searched for the delta exams, and was happy to find them in the system. At the same time, I got an email from ServiceNow that Orlando Delta Exams Now Available! Since I had experience with taking delta exams, I'm not too worried. If you are interested to learn more about my first experience with taking the delta exams on the NOW Learning Platform, check out How I passed the New York Delta exams and micro exams on the NOW Learning platform.
What has changed since New York Delta?
- You get a landing page before starting the exam. I was quite impressed that ServiceNow took the feedback from the community, and added a landing page before you start the exam. This is extremely helpful so you don't start the exam by accident. It also tells you how many free attempts you can make to pass the delta, and the time allowed for the exam.
- You are now allowed 3 free retakes if you didn't pass the delta on the first try. This is extremely generous of ServiceNow. It's almost a guarantee that everyone will pass.
- A timer is now added to the top right corner of the exam. You no longer need to keep track of how much time you have left separately.
My Knowledge of Orlando
- At my workplace, we recently upgraded our development instance to Orlando. I also have a personal developer instance running on Orlando.
- I've watched the general Orlando Keynote broadcast.
- I've read through the Orlando release notes, specifically the sections on features and changes by product.
- I've read and watched blogs and videos from some of the ServiceNow MVP.
Bugs I discovered
- Inconsistency in the exam duration. It was a bit confusing on exactly how much time was allowed for the delta. From the landing page, I saw 1 hour. The countdown clock was also counting down from the hour. But on the top right of the page, it said 30 minutes. Anyhow, there was plenty of time. I was able to complete the delta exam under 30 minutes.
- Spinning wheel when submitting the exam. When I submitted my answers for the Orlando Delta - Certified System Administrator, I kept seeing the spinning wheel. I waited for a while, and it still didn't go through. I decided to refresh the screen. It brought me back to the landing page. It didn't save my answers, yet the countdown timer was set at when I left off. I simply had to re-answer the questions, and submit. Thankfully, it went through this time.
- I took the exams today (March 26, 2020), yet on my certificate, it says March 27, 2020. Am I living in the future??
Overall, it was a pleasant experience taking the deltas this time. It was an opportunity to learn about cool Orlando features, and I'm excited to put some of these features into use. Whether you are working from home or out of a job in this COVID-19 situation affecting many small businesses, this is a great time to keep your certifications up-to-date and continue learning.
Stay safe and healthy everyone!
