A few weeks back, I asked readers how they thought I did on the different sections on my Certified Information Professional (CIP) exam. I was curious where people thought my weak points were based on what they knew of my experience, from reading my blog, and other sources. The goal was to see how my experience, shared publically over the years, matched-up with the exam.

Well, the results are in. As I write this, there are 23 votes but as one is from me, I’ll throw it out. Before I break down the voting, let me share the answers.

My Results

When I took the exam, I had one domain that I rocked and one domain that I didn’t. The rest of the domains where all around the same small range in the middle. My most challenging area was Access and Use. This is slightly funny as for the longest time, nobody was guessing that as the answer. Only Lee Dallas accurately picked that answer during the first several days. Other’s joined in later but I think Lee gets the prize for knowing my weaknesses the best.

As for my strongest area, interestingly enough, that was the area more people thought I did the worst in than any other, Capture and Manage. I actually scored a 94% in that section and it was easily the section in which people thought I did the worst.

Poll Details and Thoughts

So here are the results, captured in time…

1. Access and Use 18%
2. Capture and Management 27%
3. Collaboration and Delivery 9%
4. Secure and Preserve 23%
5. Architecture and Systems 5%
6. Plan and Implement 18%

I will say that it was interesting to watch the scores change during the polling period. Some quick observations:

• Capture and Management was almost always the leader. I never figured out why. I’ve been doing Content Management since the 90s, why would people guess this?
• Collaboration and Delivery was a close second early in the voting. I was worried that nobody actually read my blog with that guess but it dropped back after a strong start.
• Secure and Preserve came on strong at the end. I’m not sure why but for a while it was back in the pack. Interesting that it came so close to the front in the end.
• Architecture and Systems being last is a compliment. I must still exude some technical capabilities if people didn’t rank that last. Thank you.

A Further Breakdown

At this point, if you’ve had a similar career path as I have had, you can begin to focus your studying for the CIP. I want to call out a few areas where I missed at least one question and if I had to guess, it was more than one. These are areas that other experienced Information Professionals may want to study.

• 1.1 Enterprise Search
• 1.3 Master Data Management
• 3.2 Social Media
• 3.3 Information Workplace
• 5.5 Websites and Portals

I basically picked those areas that on average cost me 10% of my score for that section. Of course, I could have lost 3% in Social Media and at least 17% in Information Workplace. I don’t have that level of detail for my score.

I hope this helps others with multiple years of experience to focus their study for the CIP. I am curious if others have had challenges in the same sections. It would be good to hear how different people’s experience translated into the CIP.

So please, share your thoughts. We don’t need scores, but letting us what sections in which you did worse, and in which you performed better, will help people to focus their efforts and establish the validity of the measure.