While I agree that a practical test is the best way to ascertain someone's prowess for purposes of certification, this doesn't exactly scale. The cost of developing such a test, keeping it updated, and administering it is staggering. To make things even worse, could you imagine what would happen if this were the only way tests were administered, now that the DoD 8570.1 initiative is coming out? The testing industry would collapse under the load; it's estimated that over 100,000 people will need to be certified over the next few years alone, above and beyond those already getting certified. You can't give a practical test to a hundred people at once in a room, and updating it requires more than just swapping out questions. It's not a solution.

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