You dont know much about the subject area. You dont have time or you re too lazy to read the books and documentation. U have only one day  for the exam. So you get a braindump like testking or actual test and read the questions and sit for the certification exam.

Do you think u can get through ?

The other unknown is the exam where this is possible. In running this site and participating on other forums, I've read and heard a lot of stories on this topic. As an example, you will hear some people say that the same MS exam where one person had every question match his braindump, a person sitting right next to him in the same testing center had very few. Now of course we know this is because of the practice of pulling from a pool of questions, so no exam is exactly the same. But then there are exams like CISSP where braindumps are known to be way off.

So the question maybe should be something along the lines of how much of a gambling personality do you have? Are you willing to go all in with a 2 and a 7 off-suit or would you rather have big slick or pocket aces going into a flop?

So I answered the question yes, it is possible. But for my money, I'd rather have pocket aces with additional knowledge and experience behind me before entering an exam.

Hope that analogy wasn't too off base.

Don

I think your right, people that exaggerate their skills on their resume and have lots of paper certs usually are found out within the first few weeks of employment. However, in most cases, they still keep their job, while someone who was truthful about their skills gets the shaft. Its very aggravating, but thats what happens when you don't have sr. technical people doing the interviews.

Hi

Thanks for the guys who commented and voted on the poll. The reason why I did post this was my own experience which shocked me.

I didnt think that you could get through a exam using just brain dumps. But few weeks ago I was toled by one of my colleges that two checkpoint certification vouchers he had was expiring next day and he didn't want to use it. I didn't like to go 300 bucks wasted so I registered myself with one voucher and scheduled the exam for the next day. 

I had work with Checkpoint 4.1  until about 1 year ago but as my duties changed I dint have time to play with it after that. I am also certified CCSE 2000. We also upgraded this firewall to NGX but didn't have time to get involved in the implementation. So my knowledge of NGX was not very high. 

With my office/home  work I had only about 2 hours to spare, So I got a brain dump and read it once. I didn't expect to get through the exam but I thought I will at least get a taste of the questions.

I sat for the exam and got though it with a big margin. I just couldn't believe it. If I had prepared for this exam, I would have taken at least 1 month to go though all the documentation.

So thats my story.

And Don was right on target. The voucher was money going to waste anyway. So I dint run any risk even if I had failed. If it was my money, I would have never taken this risk. Now I will have my go at the CCSE in NGX and you can be assured that I will spent at least one month in preparation.

Its a totally new ball game when you are spending your own money . 
 

Yes you can pass, but are you just trying to obtain a Certification or absord the material?

In my case, I try to do as much studying and reading as I can so that I have a firm grasp of the material as well.