Yes, I only took it 4 months ago and the way the questions are written are utterly confusing if not gargle.
To make matters worse, if the question is straight forward then the answers are complete gargle just as well.
I made a post on an unofficial forum about 4 months ago on the same subject and I was surprised to find folk defending the lousy exam format and boorish design of it.
I just graduated from university and spent a total of 2 months prepping for the exam and I used the official Sybex text, and the last two practice exams. Because my focus was in cybersecurity, I had the luxury of reading the sybex text three times.
I think the important thing to highlight for all would be that the practice exams and sybex text questions are only meant to be used as practice and not meant as one-to-one mapping for the real deal as far as exam format goes.
Believe me, I was just as upset to find that the real exam was nearly 98% multiple-choice while the practice exams had other question types.
The conclusion that I came to as to why they made the exam so horrid is because they didn't want people remembering what the exam held---meaning, they didn't want people giving away questions/answers on sites like this.
It's a logical provision but it isn't the best, IMO. I don't think it's fair for experts who have no knowledge of test-design and reading comprehension amongst a wide-audience of varying-level of test-takers to devise an exam that would only make sense to the people who made it.
The argument then becomes that if they made the exam to be a replica of the practice exams, that everyone would pass and therefore diminish the value of the exam/certification.
My argument is that they can keep their lousy formulated question/answer format, but simply change the question types so that it isn't straight MC and self-doubt throughout the entirety of the exam. Have a heart—we're human too. We have limits to how much we can receive the same thing.
I won't say the exam didn't throw me a freebee, 'cause I did get one, but that was one out of 80-something questions that were pure hell.
The exam makers seem like sadistic egoists who solely enjoy the suffering of those to come simply because their previous generation did the same to them.
Break the cycle and reap the benefit of a legacy worth being recognized for.
Simply making the exam as confusing as possible because the LANGUAGE lets you do so doesn't mean your exam is difficult, it means you're cheating by making the properties of the exam difficult. There's a difference.
The first thing I would recommend to the board or whoever manages the exams' development would be to hire people who actually know how to write an exam. I'm tired of seeing people constantly complain about something that obviously cheapens the legitimacy of an unruly expensive exam. 😠
