How difficult is it to get pro tools certifications?

[joe_04_04]

Obviously I'm not talking about the expert cert, I know I prob would need to practice and study my ass off for that, im mostly talking about the basic "pro tools user" cert.

[G_amador]

How many "ticks" in one count ?
If you know the answer you might pass... If not. Study... I took the test while in school failed the first time. Some of the wordings got to me.. I think I got 37/50. Then I went over my wrong answers. And they made sense once I knew what the question was asking. Gonna take the test again soon... Some weird q's in there.
And I do believe you have to pay. Unless its given to you for free In a college course Thats how I took mine The college must be recognized by avid.

[joe_04_04]

Originally Posted by G_amador

How many "ticks" in one count ?
If you know the answer you might pass... If not. Study... I took the test while in school failed the first time. Some of the wordings got to me.. I think I got 37/50. Then I went over my wrong answers. And they made sense once I knew what the question was asking. Gonna take the test again soon... Some weird q's in there.
And I do believe you have to pay. Unless its given to you for free In a college course Thats how I took mine The college must be recognized by avid.

Damn, I'll be honest, I dont know. Ticks vs samples. Ticks is when the region is "glued" to the metronome, meaning when tempo changes, the regions stretch/compress, but I honestly don't know how many ticks there are in one count. Any other examples of tricky questions? Not asking for a direct question from the test, I wouldn't ask that, but an example of one of the questions.

[joe_04_04]

I will most def need to read up on the math portion of the test.

[G_amador]

960 ticks in one count..
They're will be relatively easy questions on there that you WILL know. Just based on your experience. But another thing that got me was YES i know my way around protools When I can see it. but they use sentences no pictures etc so it was kinda tricky to remember where specific things were located in which tabs. Etc. But there are questions similar to the one I asked you.. and the test changes not one person will take the same test. It picks 50 questions at random.

[G_amador]

Originally Posted by joe_04_04

I will most def need to read up on the math portion of the test.

There's no math. That was just something in the book I guess. I must have missed it.

[joe_04_04]

What really stinks is no one really cares how dithering works or truncation or any of the technical questions that could be on one of those tests. I would think they would test you on how to run pro tools, not on how pro tools runs... But I guess it's all relevant in some way. I like learning the little details in pro tools so it should be a "fun" study.

[joe_04_04]

Originally Posted by G_amador

There's no math. That was just something in the book I guess. I must have missed it.

Well I meant like numbers and whatnot. I read someone had a question similar to the one you asked, but asked how many ticks were in an 1/4 note count.. So there would be a slight bit of math.. Mainly dividing that 960 by 4 I'm assuming. But yeah I didn't mean like calculus math lol.

[joe_04_04]

Originally Posted by G_amador

There's no math. That was just something in the book I guess. I must have missed it.

Which books did the user cert cover?

[G_amador]

We used the pro tools 9 101 book. But this upcoming semester they will be using to the pro tools 10 book
According to my teacher...

[crying1986]

It would be very hard...if not impossible for the average user of PT to just take the test out of the blue and pass it. If you read the books and study then it can be done relatively easily.

[joe_04_04]

Originally Posted by crying1986

It would be very hard...if not impossible for the average user of PT to just take the test out of the blue and pass it. If you read the books and study then it can be done relatively easily.

Ive read a lot of the 101 book, not straight thru, and not recently, but I did read a bit of it. I know a lot of the the superfluous stuff, but I know I don't know all of it because I learn new things all the time. I read blogs of experts who claim to learn things every day.

But is it really that tough? I wish I could find a sampler test or something to quiz my existing knowledge.

[crying1986]

Here are some flashcards with some questions that may be on the most basic of Pro Tools tests...after this test they start to get rather insane.


Flashcards Table on Pro Tools 101

[G_amador]

Originally Posted by crying1986

Here are some flashcards with some questions that may be on the most basic of Pro Tools tests...after this test they start to get rather insane.


Flashcards Table on Pro Tools 101

That's awesome

[joe_04_04]

Originally Posted by crying1986

Here are some flashcards with some questions that may be on the most basic of Pro Tools tests...after this test they start to get rather insane.


Flashcards Table on Pro Tools 101

I went thru all of these and had a bit of trouble. Some were missed bc it was referring to an older system that I don't remember specs on, some were missed bc it was vague, and most were missed because they are key commands I never use. But I did get quite a few right... But it was more difficult than I thought. Thanks for the awesome link.

[mattjew24]

I am "Tier 3 Pro Tools Certified"

My tests were not written, I had a time limit in which to perform various editing, mixing, routing tricks. In the higher tiers they had students spotting sounds to movie clips and things like that.

It's really not too hard

[G_amador]

Originally Posted by mattjew24

I am "Tier 3 Pro Tools Certified"

My tests were not written, I had a time limit in which to perform various editing, mixing, routing tricks. In the higher tiers they had students spotting sounds to movie clips and things like that.

It's really not too hard

Mine was not like that at all. It was computer generated questions. And timed. Basically fill in the bubble.
I wish mine was hands on!!! That test sounds fun.

[Howie J]

That's the thing I never understand about these cert's. The point of some of the questions. I was starting on a Final Cut Pro Level 1 cert since I was in the running to teach film editing at our school and they probably liked it more if I had the official paper. Same format.

When I did my audio degree, they didn't teach to the Pro Tools certification test. They always said..."We'll teach you more than the test anyway". And they did.

I understand that knowing the navigation of the software is helpful, but NOBODY, on a daily basis, uses all the ways to start a new track, or open something, etc. We find quick keys and a workflow and use that. How many menus in the top toolbar?? Who cares? Do you remember which command you have to find when your external pre isn't locking while musicians are staring at you?

Knowledge is great, but practical application of these commands is more worthwhile than just spitting out how many tracks PT can handle, or especially listing the whole line of M-Audio interfaces. Really? Training to be a Sweetwater sales engineer??

Don't get me wrong...I'm all about certifications/proving knowledge. I have an Associates degree, Bachelor's degree, State teaching license, and was recently accepted to a grad school program. I've passed more written, practical, and performance tests than most people.

However, in our hands on industry, being able to spit out commands doesn't do much if you don't know why or where to use them to make good edits/mixes or what the command is actually doing with the audio.

Sorry for the hijack rant....

[joe_04_04]

Originally Posted by Howie J

That's the thing I never understand about these cert's. The point of some of the questions. I was starting on a Final Cut Pro Level 1 cert since I was in the running to teach film editing at our school and they probably liked it more if I had the official paper. Same format.

When I did my audio degree, they didn't teach to the Pro Tools certification test. They always said..."We'll teach you more than the test anyway". And they did.

I understand that knowing the navigation of the software is helpful, but NOBODY, on a daily basis, uses all the ways to start a new track, or open something, etc. We find quick keys and a workflow and use that. How many menus in the top toolbar?? Who cares? Do you remember which command you have to find when your external pre isn't locking while musicians are staring at you?

Knowledge is great, but practical application of these commands is more worthwhile than just spitting out how many tracks PT can handle, or especially listing the whole line of M-Audio interfaces. Really? Training to be a Sweetwater sales engineer??

Don't get me wrong...I'm all about certifications/proving knowledge. I have an Associates degree, Bachelor's degree, State teaching license, and was recently accepted to a grad school program. I've passed more written, practical, and performance tests than most people.

However, in our hands on industry, being able to spit out commands doesn't do much if you don't know why or where to use them to make good edits/mixes or what the command is actually doing with the audio.

Sorry for the hijack rant....

This is how I'm starting to feel. I would like to get at least one cert. but I hate the questions that I don't know that are completely useless like "what menu yadayada..." I learned how to open beat detective by command to AVOID menus.. That should make me a better user.

[joe_04_04]

Also, for anyone who took the courses outside of schooling, how badly did they put you in the red?