“SnowPro Associate: Platform Certification” — an open-book exam?

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I wrote about this new SnowPro certification — the “SnowPro Associate: Platform Certification” — not long ago.

And then I passed the non-proctored entry-level exam myself. Just to provide an original Udemy course, with practice tests (and a published book). And help people out…

But students keep asking me if they are allowed or not to eventually look for some answers in a separate browser tab…

Unlike any other SnowPro exam, this “SnowPro Associate: Platform Certification” exam is not proctored. This means there is no one watching what you do through a camera. The exam is still hosted and provided by Pearson VUE. But Snowflake did not want to pay the services of a proctor this time.

I asked Kate Windom — the head of all SnowPro exams at Snowflake — about this. But she still has to come up with an answer…

Later Edit (this paragraph and the quote below have been added later): I finally got an answer from Kate, and I will post here only the relevant answer to our question, with no further comment at this time:

“You are correct that it is a…

What puzzles me is that this type of exam is not covered by their SnowPro Certification Exam Terms and Conditions. And I am not aware if and where I signed myself anything else with some specific rules. I’m simply puzzled about what I can tell my students. And they keep asking…

There are some other similar quizzes online today. Like the Neo4j certification exams, that I passed myself and covered for a while. Or all the Azure certifications, that you can renew today for free online, passing some simple quiz.

None of these forbid you to eventually look for answers online, in parallel, when you’re confused with a question. For what is possible, you may also bring let’s say your cousin — with a PhD in that matter — to pass the exam in your place, and nobody will be aware.

This could be cheating, of course, but I simply point out what’s possible here, when you allow people to certify through such unsafe quizzes online. And the concept of “open-book” is not necessarily cheating. There are for instance enough questions in this exam, that you might not have time enough to look for answers online.

Anyway, the question remains: is this “SnowPro Associate: Platform Certification” an open-book exam or not?