 All right, I think we're live. We're trying to figure this out. Um, so welcome. I'm here. I'm Chris Kaplus I'm Eva Ponte. Welcome to this live event. And what we're gonna do is talk through the CFX some of the details Why you should take it what it means and just try to answer all your questions So I'm gonna switch over to showing some slides There we go Okay, so the outline for today, I'll give you a quick welcome and overview April will talk about some of the structure of the CFX and give you the dates. We'll both talk about the preparation We've prepared some additional slides problems and things that you can do to hopefully that'll make it a little easier for you Especially those of you who have finished your courses a while ago I know some of you have finished your se4x a year ago and you're thinking about taking this one So we wanted to make it a little easier for you guys to prepare and remember all the things that you learned We'll talk about what happens after the CFX and then we'll answer any questions that you have so Okay, um to do this the way we're gonna interact with you is with Slido So please go to Slido comm www.sli.do and the code is CFX if you enter that in you'll see a couple things One is you'll be able to answer our polling questions. We have one open now But also you'll be able to ask questions And so I highly encourage you to enter in and ask your questions now Don't wait till 10 minutes before it's done because then we won't get to them So we'll try to answer all those questions as they come in you can also Vote on whether you like a question or not we'll tend to go down from the one that has the highest votes down so if there's a question already on there that you really like and want to hear answered up vote it and then we'll hit those ones first and So here's the first poll that's out there If you can vote you can see the results and it looks like we have a number of you coming in now And I encourage you to go through an answer We just want to know are you planning on taking the CFX and I give you four or five actually there's yeah Just four possible answers. Yes. I'm definitely yes. I thinking I might know I probably won't and absolutely no We just want to get a sense of who we're talking to here Whether you're definitely going to take it if you're thinking of Postponing because as you know, we offer this twice a year. This one is in August. It's a little different from the other ones We've done this will be our third one. That's right Yeah, and so our third one and it's only virtual and we'll talk more about that in a second But as the responses come in it looks like the majority 80% or more are definitely taking the CFX which is great excellent. All right, so let's go in and just talk about MicroMasters first what you're joining so we've had almost a quarter of a million learners enrolled across the world 196 countries We've had 15,000 learners who have verified and over 20,000 certificates issued and the big number is a 1062 Credentials MicroMasters full credentials have been awarded which is the most MicroMasters credentials awarded anywhere in any program and a number that isn't on here is I want to say 40. How many Mike? How many blended students graduated from MIT? 39 so everyone who came into the MIT as supply chain management blended program in January 2018 Graduated in early June 2018 and they graduate with their master's degree from MIT Which you can only come into that program if you have the MicroMasters credential So you're joining a big program and hopefully you want to come and finish the whole thing And that's why you're here today Okay, so like I said 190 countries and what I wanted to ask you for the next question Let me just turn that on what country are you coming from because as you see like I said over 190 countries the US is still the top But it's only about a fifth of the total learners India and Brazil are the next to biggest countries But again, we come from many many different countries and so I'm just curious Where you guys are coming from and as you enter things in you'll be able to see a word cloud of what's coming in and as I look at the results It looks like it's actually Coming in pretty interesting. It's not just all the United States and in fact, we're hitting all the continents India is dominating right now, but Spain is really close. It's really close I want to add some statistic. I went through the lease of a legible yesterday 30% of the legible for the DC effects are from the United States But the next country is Spain 5% are from Spain. Then we have India and we have Brazil Germany and Mexico according to the the number of a legible Let's see for that attending. Yeah, it's coming in. We have about 30 of you 30 to 40 of you on the call now more coming in Looks like usa is starting to pick back up again But again, we're coming from all over which is a nice thing to do. We are a global program This is not a us specific program supply chains are global operations and so just like for our master's program. We tend to have 50 50 from the us and international We're finding the blended is more slanted towards international than domestic which makes sense. It's a big world A lot of people want to learn this Okay, so then next slide and you can keep entering this in I won't change the poll for a second So you all know the courses that we have and just so how we view them and you've probably heard this before but just to reiterate Zero one and two x supply chain analytics fundamentals and design are our more quantitative Courses and that's what exam one of the cfx will focus on sc three x and sc four x as well as the second half of sc two x really is more Qualitative and those are kind of the bigger picture pieces of supply chain We will test both of these during the cfx Exam one is for the first two and a half and exam two is for the second two and a half Now it all builds on each other And so you might have to use some of the concepts from sc one x during the second exam But we're really focusing on those larger issues And so this is how it all fits together Completing all five of these courses earns you the micro masters assuming you finish the cfx So what's the value proposition? The big thing is individual career development We were finding more and more people do this to enhance their career Whether it's advancing within their company they are now or using this as a jumping point to go to another company another career The nice thing is that this can be used as a pivot and so you're in you might be in accounting You take a course like this you get it on your your resume and you might be able to qualify for a job Now that takes you into supply chain that also leverages your previous experience So this can be used as a pivot We're finding more and more a lot of the work that avid does with some of our other people here at the center Is work with companies so we're finding more companies are using these courses to advance their own Employees this is great for you guys because if you're joining a company They already recognize the value of the micro masters and so companies ranging from general electric The railroads here in the us Some grocers global grocers others are getting more interested in this so that's also helping And then the other reason a big one is a pathway to a master's degree whether mit or somewhere else So let's go to that slide Because we've talked about mit's program where if you have the micro masters you can apply for our five month master's degree And you'd come in january and graduate in june And you'd be blending in with the other 40 students here for the 10 month degree And you graduate in june with a master's of applied science in supply chain or a master's of engineering in supply chain management It depends on whether you want to do a capstone project or a thesis But you can it gives you a with a micro masters entry Into this master's program But there are other programs that you can pick from and let me just turn on the poll here We have two others in our mit Consortium the the scale consortium supply chain and logistics excellence. We have five centers internationally across the world Zaragoza spain luxembourg vogue ta colombia Qualimpore malaysia and ningbo china and so they all have master's programs two of them are offering blended or accelerated master's programs One is in missy in malaysia and the others in zaragoza spain Now for those two and you'll hear about this if you finish the micro masters and pass Is that they are looking for people who will want to start this january Or this fall to graduate in 2019 mit is closed for 2019 you'd be applying to come in the january of 2020 to graduate in june of 2020 But some of these programs have different admission schedules And so in addition to mit we have the two scale centers one in malaysia one in zaragoza spain And then there's a number of other universities and you can see them all listed here And I sent a poll down to see which ones you're interested in and so of all these schools you can pick more than one if you want As many as you're interested in and if you graduate if you finish the micro masters We'll send you more information about these other programs because they're very interested in getting these these students They've recognized that completing the micro masters shows not just excellence in academics But that a willingness to work hard over an extended period of time That grit is something that companies as well as other universities find very attractive And as we study the differences between the blended students who came in with the micro masters And the traditional students who came in without them for our first program We're finding that one they're indistinguishable because they're both really good students But we're finding that they the blended ones do a little better in terms of grades. They're a little more A rigorous they're a little more. They're they're geared for the rigor that we have here at mit So it's kind of interesting to see those results So a number of different universities Anything you want to say about this? Yes, we can share with you a news from mit mit news that published I think last week An article comparing these two cohorts of the blended the student versus the cms student I think it's an interesting reading. So we will share after this life event to you So just to recap some of the survey results The it looks like the majority 70 percent are interested in the blended here at mit But the next highest one is there goes. So that's great And then a couple want to go talk about missy perdue, which has a great supply chain program But interesting a quarter of the people said they're not interested in going on They just want the credential Which is great because we want to make sure the credential is not just something as a stepping stone to a masters It stands on its own and we we put a lot of time into that So i'm glad that a number of you are really just interested interested in the credential in the credential by itself Yeah, all right Other thing that we talked about this companies are very interested in this They are using this for training. They're using this for other things And so the value here is not just seen at other universities It's also seen here by other companies, which is great And also there are companies that are now offering jobs positions for micro masters holders g is one example There is a brazilian company that is also doing that I think that more and more companies are going to offer these positions for micro master holders And we are posting all of this position in the micro master portal So if you are interested in that have a look in the portal The other benefit of completing the micro masters and we're still adding to this Not only is it a way a pathway into a graduate degree It's being recognized by companies You also join a community of like-minded individuals across the world And so what I'm showing here are two things The first is on the left are different Community discussions. These are on the the discussion forum at odl.mit.edu And then you also have this professional network So networking as once you get above a certain level the network is all that matters And so you're entering a new network here of just micro masters of people who've also completed this And so what I what I ask you in the Survey is how many fellow micro master students have you met face to face not not virtually Because that's what we're trying to encourage. And so what you see on the right is some people having meet-ups I've I've attended some in Singapore whenever I travel somewhere. I try to see if anyone's there To wants to meet up Ningbo China in Malaysia In Europe wherever I go. I'll try to announce it and we'll see if people want to come together um so Let's say the survey is coming in And so the majority have not met anyone physically yet So that's that's that will change I think as we do more and have more of these smaller meet-ups Except 26 percent say none one to four is about 16 percent And there's a handle that a couple that say 20 or more So it really is looking for the city that you're in and if you have any ideas or questions about how we can Encourage meet-ups like that. Let's let us know All right. And so the last thing I have is just some these are some Quotes from people like you who've completed the courses and they talk about different things Where it had value for them where they offered them a new opportunity within their company Where they gave them an opportunity for a new company a doubling in pay things like that Let me stress again. This is a professional course. We are here to help your career Not so much to find yourself But to help a career path whether it's a new path for you or to strengthen that you're already established career path So as we get more of these kind of quotes, we'll share these with you because you these are things you can think about And these are the reasons why we're created this course and created the whole credential All right, so now I think we're going to talk about the cfx structure and the key dates Yes, we are going to do that. So Let's have a look a close look or deeper dive into the cfx What is the cfx is the comprehensive final exam? And this is the final requirement for the mitx micro master credential in supply chain management So why we are doing this a final and proctor final exam? We are doing that because we really want to ensure the value and the quality of this program because of As chris mentioned companies are recognizing the micro master credential Other universities are recognizing this credential mitx recognizing this credential So we need to be sure that the person that is taking the exam is the person that said that is taking the exam And also this is the person that has the knowledge. That's why we we are doing that in terms of the cfx Includes two exam exam one. This is a two hours 120 minutes exam You can take a break after taking exam one But you need to take exam two after that So exam two is again another proctor exam two hours 120 minutes Within the two exams you have 12 hours So you need to take both exams in less than 12 hours I recommend you to take a break in between one exam and the other Then Not very much late take please the exam two because you need to complete complete both exams in order to complete the comprehensive final Both exams are virtually proctor. What does this means? This means that you need to download the proctoring software and you need to go through certain steps We have prepared for you this year a cfx tutorial With all of these steps You need to scan the room. You need to Verify your identity Do all of this interview process before starting with the exam And you need to do that for both exams for exam one and for exam two Once you complete exam one you need to close End your proctor session take a break and then do exactly the same for exam two Let me make a comment there before you switch slides So we had a question and I want to answer because it makes sense here Andrea asks in regards to exam length of the two hours of each exam generous Or we need to rush in order to complete all the questions or problems. So For the finals for each of the courses you take sc zero one two three and four We give you four hours to take an exam. We think we'll take two And usually people finish it within that time frame We geared these ones to definitely be done in two usually within an hour and so to two hours I'd have to check the statistics. What percentage actually take the full amount I think it's a mix most take most of the time But it's not something like you won't finish And so it's a lot there's a lot of test taking Skills and we talk about this during the cfx prep As you go through you should always look and see what the questions are So you allocate your time accordingly and don't spend an hour on one question But we try to make it and we put a lot of time to make sure if you know the material You should have plenty of time But people usually use most of the time I'd be hard pressed to think about them running out of time. Yeah in exam one Definitely most of our students use the whole time But because they have enough time to complete it, but they also go and double check their calculations So you you will have this time to double check your calculations exam two typically people ends Before the two hours. Yeah. Yeah. All right So let's continue. So for this run of the cfx we have 1100 a little bit more than 1100 people that are eligible. What does being eligible mean? This means that you meet all the requirements to be part of the cfx This means that you have passed as a verified learner the five scx courses Um, if you are eligible to take these cfx by now, you should be enrolled in this run of the cfx However, if you want to take the exam, you need to verify it So you need to to make the decision about if you want to take or not this run of the cfx um If you really want to take it I encourage you to verify as soon as possible and no later than august 9th So in order to verify you need to as always to to pay the fee the fee is 200 dollars This is less than one third of the original price. The first time we offered that was 600 dollars 650 wasn't it? Yeah, it was it was 100. Yeah. Yeah, it was high and now it's 200 dollars You need to I uh go through the ID verification and be sure that the ID verification is up to date for two Uh main reasons the first reason is if you are not ID verify you do not have access to the exam You cannot open the exam and the second thing is if you are not ID verify when we are going to issue the certificate We cannot send the certificate to you. So for these two reasons you need to be ID verify That means that you need to go through the process the webcam Um, um have a picture of your ID card with your picture and your name your name need to be exactly the same name That you have on edX platform um Yes, just double double check that you are up to date with that um as we mentioned In both exams are virtually proctor and in this run of the cfx We are only offering virtual proctor exam We are not offering the option to come to MIT or any other center to take it physically Um, the verification deadline as I mentioned is august 9th So as soon as possible, please go through this process because always Or sometimes there are some issues with the payment with the ID verification So please try to complete this as soon as possible in terms of the eligible This uh cohort is from 98 countries This is the the map with the representation of of people from from this cohort Um, as I mentioned before 30 percent from usa 5 percent from spain 5 percent from india brazil germany and mexico these are the Top countries. Let me um say one thing about this why we are Pre-registering you. Um, so you should have got an email with a pre enrolled Everyone to this. Yeah the reason why the first time we ran the cfx anyone could sign up For it like they treated it like a regular scx course So we had hundreds of people signed up who were not qualified Some people who hadn't taken a single course were signing up for it and that just got really confusing So to make it easier for you guys we pre enrolled everyone who's verified everyone who's excuse me qualified and eligible And you don't have if you don't want to take it just don't do anything Just just let it go But if you want to do it you have to opt in so we're doing this as a courtesy to you And it makes it a lot easier so we don't have a lot of random people coming in like a regular scx course Only those who are verified Eligible and id are able to be invited to this so we pre do that to make it easier for all of us Yeah, and if you do not take any action nothing is going to happen If you want to an enroll you can't enroll and we we already share the instructions to an enroll And if you are if you think that you qualify and you did not receive the email from us Please send an email to us to to me directly if you want Or to the cfx help at mit.edu and we will take care of these specific cases But most of you should have received by now the communication So key dates Verification deadline august 9 the cfx will open on august 24 and will close on august 27 You will have 72 hours to complete both exams exam 1 and exam 2 So from from now the course is open You have access to to some Preparation material that I'm going through that in a minute But I just want to cover the verification process and is exactly the same as always in all of the courses So by now you you should know it's just to upgrade your status to pay for the $200 And then go through the iB verification process in this case as I mentioned is critical to be iB verify And if you have any issue with the verification process or the payment process Contact directly to edX because edX is the one that is managing this thing and the the email account is info at edX.org Perfect. So in terms of the cfx Preparation this time we have prepared for you some videos and some new material We really want to help you to be prepared for the cfx We have prepared a welcome video. You will find in the cfx prep session Is a section in the in the course and this is open by now Now you can have access to that You will have a five a wrap up videos These are a wrap up videos per each of the cfx courses And what we did here, Chris record the three first courses. I did the two last courses What we did is just to go through the main key Concepts of each course However, you need to go to each course and I highly encourage you to go through the course and to review all of the Videos and and the the materials that we provide through the course I also think it's a good idea to go through the practice problem and solve some of these great assignments that you have in your archive courses These videos is just a way to try to help you to Or to point you to these main concepts in each of the cfx courses It's meant to be refreshing your ideas not learning first time because you've already seen them But just reminding you of what all is in there. Yeah, okay In terms of the practice proctor test it is open now So you have the opportunity now to go through the practice proctor test. This is a trial and I recommend you to do that because this is a way to solve real Cfx problems We pick some of the problems that we we use for the previous runs of the cfx It's also a way to reproduce the cfx environment It's a way to download the proctor software and to go through the all of the steps that you need to complete in order to pass and complete the cfx so There are four problems in this practice proctor test Once you complete the interview process when you complete the scan of the room when you complete the id verification You have access to four problems. We give you two hours So it's going to be a practice exam But it's going to be time because we really want to reproduce The environment of these cfx and just to give you a flavor of how the cfx is going to have It's going to be however It's not exactly the same as you know, the cfx include two exams more problems But at least it's a I think it's a good way to be familiar with that before taking the actual cfx Yeah, so what it replicates is the environment because as opposed to all your exams This one you're being filmed your screen is being filmed. You're allowed one sheet of blank paper You have to look at the key concept document that we give you online So it's a little bit different. So you get used to the environment that that you're doing It's not the same length of time for the two in the two Our exams, but it's very similar environment that you're taking You are going to be kind of proctor But this video is not going to send to the proctoring company. It's just a test You can take as many times as you want. You can take 10 times if you want to do that And at least you need to take once in order to have access to the solution of the problems So what we did the cfx team what we have done is to prepare The How to solve this problem and again, this is just a way to show to show you how we we will solve the problem There are maybe other approaches to the problem But you will have access to the solution and you will have a series solving one of the problem And the team solving other problems. Yeah, so let's talk about that for a second One of the biggest challenges I think people have is how to think about solving problems sometimes And so what we did is we filmed them in in this room Um, and so we each of us took one of the exams. It's me you surgio and ima Each of us took a problem and we solved it in real time And so we kind of talked through how what we're thinking about and we show you how how we solve it Using only the things that you have available, which is the key concept document you pull from online You have to use the one that we give you An excel spreadsheet or Libre office and then also the exam itself And I just show how I think about it and there are little pictures in the bottom But it's just one way to think about solving it and how to use the spreadsheets and how to use The paper that you have so hopefully you'll find that useful in just Making a little easier to think about how you'll solve the problem Yeah, but to have access to the solution at least to you need to go through the problems once um, yeah, so In terms of the dates, um, we will close the practice proctor test on august 23 Just to avoid any confusion and in august 24 We are going to open the actual cfx will be open during 72 hours The pass bar is 60 percent are as in all of our scx courses And the final grades and the certificates will be available within one month So after the cfx We You have many different options. We really encourage you to take the cfx and go through the whole process Um, then you can apply for a master degree or you can use for apply for a job or whatever you want to use This a credential as we mentioned and we really encourage you to be in in touch with us The micro master portal is a great space to be in touch with the scx A community of learners. So we are going to post here job openings we are going to post news and Events from ctl. So if you want to be in touch with us and also with your peers This is a great space to to do that And with that from my scientists, um, just be open if you have any questions I highly encourage you to read the instructions and the FAQ document because I think this cover Most of the questions that you might have But in any case if you have any additional or specific questions send an email to the cfx Help at mit.edu. The staff is working on this email account. We have teaching assistant working on that course leads so Contact us with any feedback or any additional questions that you might have And please read the instructions the cfx tutorial video I think is going to help you to go through the process But the instructions are much more detailed Um, yeah, best of luck for the cfx. Okay. Go forward. Yeah So here's the team and we'll leave this on the screen for a second And i'll start going through the uh the questions that we have. Yeah. All right. So let me flip to here Right. All right. Yes. So, uh rey has the most popular question and so he I assume he asked the question Will the problems on the cfx be similar in depth and complexity to the individual course midterm and final exams? I think so. Yeah, um pretty much. Um, we try to make them more bulletproof These are being tested and qaid a lot and beta tested because we want to have no confusion But these are every cfx are new problems. And so the ones that we put on the practice We're actually from this most recent one in february most recent and one probably was from the first round Yeah, so see the first exam cfx one is like I said is more quantitative It'll be more similar to the questions you got in zero one and two Um exam two for cfx two more of the questions from three and four and some in two Um, so yes, there there'll be very similar and one more thing we designed this taking into consideration that you can only use excel Or livery office. So we are not going to ask for you to use any other software because we know that it's not allowed So this leads into the next question pierre asked this question Actually pierre, I think you asked it two or three times Um, is it necessary to know how to solve the mixed energy linear programming? Programs with excel, uh, please be aware of the solver bugs as it happened to me during a proctor ga sas would be so much better Whatever I don't agree with you for that for we've had many bugs with with sass as well We had that it remember when the server went down during a proctored exam once So we tried to make it so yourself contained and you're not relying on any third party software that is also in the cloud Because I love the cloud. It's not always reliable and it tends to break when you need it the most So we made it so it's self reliant now What we want to make sure you understand for mixed energy linear programs in particular Is what it means and what you're doing We're not going to have you solve an exceptionally difficult, you know formulation problem We want to make sure you understand the formulation understand what it's doing. That's the key thing you need to know from that Yeah, one more thing is a remember that you can only open a blank Spreadsheet you cannot open any pre-populated or pre-filled Spreadsheet. Yeah, we get asked this all the time and people say something like Well, I've spent the last year and a half creating these spreadsheets. I want to use those It's like, yeah, but we can't do that because as soon as someone has that killer spreadsheet Everyone will use it and it's it defeats the whole purpose Um, so we're not gonna just think about from our shoes what we're trying to do We're trying to certify and say yes, this person understands this not yes This person knows how to enter numbers into a magic spreadsheet. They press a button to So we have to make it so it's a blank spreadsheet We want to see your thought process and go through the practice problems that we filmed and you'll see how we think about it Because solving it with a spreadsheet is a little different from if I give you an in-person exam We're using paper For the spreadsheet one you can use that to help your thought process and it actually makes it a lot easier If you think about it how to structure your problem But no, you can't use pre-filled ones. You got to go from a blank spreadsheet That's the only way we can guarantee It's your own work. It's the only way we know how to do it Yeah, and and the cfx isn't turning to to assess main concept It's just to to evaluate that you understand these main concepts And you come make decisions based on this main question another question from Andrea Is the key concept document? Provided with the exam the same one we're using for studying or is it somehow different? It depends. I don't know which one you're using to study. It's evolved The key concept document didn't exist until January 2015 And that's when we started introducing it the first time we didn't have anything there And the number one complaint was where's the book and so we created a book Now the key concept document we try to keep it steady state because every course has been run at least twice now But we'll give you the one that you're allowed to use We do that because we want to be fair to everyone Now some of you might have taken the courses a while ago and some of the courses have changed a little bit And we've rearranged some of the content The key concept document covers everything we've ever taught in any course Okay, but we will only put in the cfx those things that are constant in every course Every possible run that you've taken We won't teach you something brand new that we just introduced Because that wouldn't be fair to the people who took it in a previous run So the cfx is comprehensive Um, and so you should look through that We will give you the one that you will use and this will eventually be the stabilized Final version that will release for every course going forward. Yeah And currently in the platform in the cfx course is available the The version that we are going to provide through the platform This version includes all of the concepts that you are going to have when you are going to take this run of the cfx However, you can only open the one that we are providing through the exam because we will We will make sure that this is the the copy that you have and we will include some Formatting changes in terms of contents is exactly the same that you already have through the cfx this run of the cfx Okay, um mhd had a question. I don't quite understand it if we lose connectivity during the cdx exam I think you're asking what happens if i'm taking the cfx exam and suddenly my internet stops So, um, this is tricky. So my recommendation is you know from now that between 24 and 27 of august You need to take this exam You need to book at least for six hours that you are sure that your computer is up to date Is is needed all the requirements and the internet connectivity need to be working because this is an online course So you need a laptop or computer and internet connectivity. So try to Book for a reserve for a space that You can almost guarantee that this internet connectivity is going to happen If anything happened then you need to end your proctor session You need to end your time exam session and you need to send right away an email to cfx help at mit.edu We are going to be 24 seven hours monitoring this email account My recommendation is try to book in advance to plan in advance and to make sure that you meet all of the requirements Because this is if this happened is really bad Is is is a bad bad thing that can happen here? So and then notify to us as soon as possible provide all the details that you can provide about the issue And we will deal case by case with we'll work with you individually on this We spend a lot of time like ava said we have a full-time staff here 24 seven during those 72 hours So if you let us know right away, we'll work with you right away And so that's very important, but we will let us know don't wait until the last hour and say hey I lost connectivity two days ago. Let us know right away and we'll work with you We haven't had a problem thus far a problem that we haven't been able to remedy Okay, so don't don't worry about that All right next question from page as I review the archive courses and solve the graded assignments If I have a specific question regarding methodology, who can I contact? What is that process? What do you think cfx help just send something to that? Yeah, any question related to the cfx a contact to us? Do we have a discussion forum on the cfx we have a discussion forum open now It's going to close just before the exam. Oh, I would use that. Yeah. Yeah, there is there is a discussion forum Yeah, you you can use the discussion forum for so we'll be monitoring that the the ta and the course lead We'll be monitoring that and so that's probably the best way to do it Um, that way you can help each other too start going that network together and you're allowed to talk about this Practice cfx stuff. Um, you're not going to be quiet on this one So after you take one you can talk to each other about it Or if you have a specific problem with one of the previous ones go ahead and talk about it Yeah, so and during the 72 hours one once we open the exam We do not allow any comment any any reference to the exam at all Through the forum through whatsapp group any by any other So please be respectful with your peers because they are taking the exam during these 72 hours So we do do not allow any any comment related to the cfx. Okay, uh, Gustavo asked a question What about machine learning in sequel? Is it going to be all about the concepts? Yes. Yes And so you need to understand that um Machine learning you need to understand the the basic concepts there and and for sequel You need to understand how to use it how to use uh when to apply these techniques When that makes sense for which kind of problems pros and cons of using one technique versus others these kind of things Um, David asked will the material change between cfx exams if I finish the course earlier this year and plan to take it next year Um, the the the will the information test would be the same. Yes We try to keep it core the same We're stabilized now. So I I think um, I don't see too many big changes Uh to zero one two or three 4x is weird because new technology comes and goes and so that new stuff will come on But honestly when we test on on for sc 4x, it's more of the strategy kind of the bigger issues Uh, so it it's not necessarily on specific We won't ask you something on what's the future of autonomous vehicles and have a true false question It's more getting you thinking beyond a bigger picture. Yeah And the key concept document will be updated based on the latest contents that we are going to provide Um for this round, uh, as we mentioned is a backwards compatible If in the future we are going to add any of these new contents We will be sure that everyone knows that this is in the key concept documents So you will have at least Reference material for these uh concepts So, um, Alan asks when you complete the practice exam, will it tell you what you got right and what you got wrong? Previews at practice exams did not no it won't We give you the answers afterwards. That's part of the experience and I should have said this earlier When you take the cfx, we don't give you the happy check or the the x of uh despair You know if you got it wrong, we give you I don't even think we'll be a blue dot anymore Yeah, it's saying we we got your answer. We'll let you know But that's why we gave you the videos afterwards and you can look through those and that will say what the answers were Um, but yeah, it's a little bit different from your online tests And that we don't give you that instant gratification. We do that for a bunch of reasons one is Uh, we we we're really serious about making this accurate and making sure we want to minimize the amount or the ability to cheat So we randomize things everyone has a slightly different And set numbers and things like that But also we want to make sure that you don't know what you got right if anyone shares with someone else So you just know that you put an answer in And so and we're debating to be honest whether to incorporate that for all of the midterms and finals Where we don't tell you if you got it right or not You guys hate that But we have to do it in the cfx to make sure that we're we're credible. Yeah Um The final grades will be available after we we close and we issue the certificates So you are not going to have access to your Progress report student progress report or any any grades and the final grades will be available at the very end of the process So pierre asked another question. What would you recommend for preparation? What quantity of the courses is not in the key concept document and hence to know by heart as I said earlier Nothing on the test is not in the key concept documents In other words the key concept document if you draw a Venn diagram is this big and the exam is within that Nothing that we ask in the zam in the exam is not in the key concept document The flip is not true. There might be something in the key concept document that we will not address in the cfx So I recommend that you retake your practice problems retake your grade assignments Just get comfortable with the concepts So you get a sense with it that way memorizing things by heart That's why we give you the key concept document I don't want you to memorize and get tattoos of the eoq and different of these equations because sometimes they're really involved I don't expect you to memorize them. I expect you to know where to go When you when you look for that so if you see a problem and you say oh This is an inventory problem. You know where to go. I'm not expecting you to memorize everything Just be familiar with just like in practice when someone hits you with a problem You shouldn't have everything memorized but you should know where to look for a resource And that's what the key concept documents all about if you watch the problem solving videos that we prepare for you You will see that we were using the key concept document to See the look for the formula or the inco terms turn or whichever we were looking for Yeah, so pranav asked a question Do we have two trials to mark the answer and we get to know if we made the mistake and can reap and put the answer No, so you ask two questions. The first one is do you have two trials? The answer is yes You have to two attempts and you have to make sure you submit the answer not just save it You have to submit it and one important thing here is you are going to be graded Based on your latest attempt Yeah So you submit your first attempt if you are okay with that It's okay. If you double check your solution for any reason you change your mind You want to include another different solution? You can do that. You have a second attempt Then you will be graded based on the second attempt not based on the first one Just keep this in mind. But the second part of your questions Uh, do we know if we made a mistake in re-input? No, we're not giving you the x or the check It's just a dot. No saying we got your answer No, you need to solve your problem And then if you have time go again double check your inputs your outputs your calculations If for any reason you change your mind, you can Have another opportunity if not keep it assist Next question shivered out there asked what will the questions be like? I think we've kind of answered that by now They'll be very similar to the midterm and final questions. You've you've answered before in previous courses More concepts of mathematical see the first one is more the uh the concepts The math and zero through two the second one is more conceptual like sc3 s and sc4x I'm having say but having said that we combine new medical problems with multiple choice in in exam one and also in exam two so so um Good question here from i don't know if i'm pronouncing this right casinko c e s i n c o I may have missed this point earlier But does one need to pass both halves of the exam or is the 60 bar cumulative bar over both exams both exams? So you know you need to have 60 in both exams. You don't need to pass one cumulative So it's not 60 in each. It's a cumulative So you might get a 50 in one and 70 in the other you have a 60 average Does that make hopefully that makes sense to you? Yeah, because People don't do as well. It's usually someone does much better in one versus the other. Um, we usually see that. Yeah Okay, um Let me just say that okay next one on the cdx dcx I don't know what that is Exams were constituted of four problems. What about the cfx as we said earlier The cfx is geared to be solved easily within two hours the exams in your other courses are usually geared We give you four hours because we know it'll it'll probably take you the full two Um, and so we gear but we give you extra time. We're gearing it to be done within the time that we allocate Um, someone asks on the other exams. There were four problems. What about the cfx? The number It's irrelevant. We focus it to the time Because a lot of like multiple choices can be done a lot faster than a very involved single question Again, we try to make it so that it can be done easily Within two hours. Yeah, and the practice proctor test is just to give you a flavor of the cfx It's not exactly the cfx. It's just okay. Alex asks my current id verification is affecting till 8 21 2018 currently there's no option to re-verify before expiration This will affect will this affect the cfx exam So then 8 21 you should update your id verification. Yeah, make sure you do it at that date Make sure we include this in your calendar right now and do on 8 21. Just make sure it's done before Yes, in any case. Yes. I I know about that. I will try with edX And see if they can allow you to do in advance I don't think they they are allowing you them to do in advance which would be great and I know But in any case in this case, you know Including your calendar august 21. Please update your id verification. Yeah, I wish we could control this And we're trying to work with edX. Yeah on changing some of these things But right now it's a pretty rigid system But we'll try to check for that make sure Check it on the thursday before it opens. Yes, and what is my date of id verification? Yeah, and so just make sure you get that done. I wish there was an easier way Uh So Cinco asked presumably presumably the key concept document is a pdf file Can we download it and open in our favorite pdf viewer rather than use it strictly online? Yeah, I think this is allowed. That's okay. You can open it in adobe or something You need to open this document the document that you have in the first section of the sun. Yeah, but yeah, you can do that Yeah, um, what if my system crashed for any reason? Can I take the exam again again? You have a problem? Let us know right away and we'll work with you case by case case by case, but As I mentioned and I mentioned this a lot in the cfx tutorial Now, you know, and we are doing a great effort to to Share with you all of the instruction requirements. So Try to be sure that you meet all of this requirement because anything that happened you Is 72 hours is a very limited time Things like that You need to end the exam. You need to close the process session Send an email right away But the best thing is to Plung in advance and try to avoid any of these things because this can jeopardize the cfx set yourself up for success If your internet connection at work is better, we do this so it's a mix over work day and a weekend Work with your manager that you can have a conference room that you can use for that time on a saturday Make sure the connection is there don't think about it the day before you go and go to a starbucks Because it won't work So you got you need to plan ahead and we'll work with you as much as possible because stuff happens We've lost Amazon's web services went up during an exam and we are here to help So if anything happened right away all of the details and these things We will deal as we mentioned That is yeah, and so we want we want you to be successful But we we're working within the parameters of the same system All right, so Enrique asked can I use a computer with two monitors for the exam? No, no no no no it's very clear in the instructions You can only use your laptop or the computer, but not additional devices. No an extra monitor No, this is not allowed read the instructions. This is very clear in the instructions And if you have any other question, let us know but this is very clear There's some other things that you can't use like surface pros, which I love them We recorded most of our videos on a surface pro can't use them because they have a forward facing camera It doesn't go back and film film you So you need to make sure that you're set up that you can be filmed and you can be proctored Set yourself up for success check these things out beforehand. Yeah, unfortunately surface pro is not allowed Linux is not allowed So taking to consider any of these things and one important thing if you are taking your using your Work laptop or work computer Double checking advance because most of the companies does not allow to install the proctoring software So this is something that definitely you need to in this case It's kind of mandatory for you to go through the practice proctor test and downloading advance the software Because with the computer the work computer sometimes we have some Problems with the firewalls and these kind of things Okay, so a couple people have asked both Kevin Kumar and Maria asked What was the average grade in the ss courses and the cfx exam for people admitted to the blended program? I honestly don't know for the blended. Yeah to get you get admitted to this last one in the cfx in particular Cfx on average. We are in the 75 For people who got got in taking to consideration the whole performance of the micro master not only in the cfx So and we take into account Your video statement your proposal for sure. So it's a whole holistic review But I don't know what the answers are. I'm sure that's something they're releasing though, didn't they? We'll find out and we'll we'll give the average. I don't know those at the top of my mind But in general the average is around 75 80 percent on average for the for coming in. No for coming in That's not what they're asking for. Yeah. Yeah, so I'm talking about the cfx in general. Yeah No, I do not have this on the top of my head. Okay So Someone's making fun of my comment about getting a tattoo I said that as a joke before. Hopefully you didn't get an eoq tattoo anyone But if you have it, you're not allowed to look at it during the cfx. How's that? What's the question they they were saying something about I said Joked in a previous one that you should get an eoq tattooed because you should know it so well You should know the eoq equation by heart. You probably don't need the key concept doctor, but anyway Don't use that. Don't use that. We are money. We are monitoring your behavior Someone wants to get the normal loss function tattooed that one would be an interesting tattoo Pierre asked yet another question. I think this is your eighth question now Pierre What's the success rate of the last cfx? Do you know what the pass rate was the pass rate for the cfx? Was it 80 percent around 80 around it. It's not 100 percent but about 80 percent just was around 80 Yep All right, um, we have a couple questions left In some regions in the world. We have power supply problems. So losing connectivity is a sure thing That's mhd. I don't know what you want us to do I mean, honestly, we try to if you have a problem, let us know right away Um, if you think you're in an area that you think try to go to the most stable area you can for these Six hours. That's all we're asking to do find six hours where you think you'll have a constant supply If you do have a problem, let us know immediately I'm open for any other suggestions of what you think we can do to make it better I understand power supply internet connectivity can be issues at different places Um, so if you've completed all five courses somehow you found a way to be connected for over 80 to 100 hours All we're asking you to do is find six of them now where you're really confident Where you've been the most confident and give it a shot if you have a problem We're here but Try to again own your success try to make set yourself up to be successful Don't try to do it On a bus somewhere with a wi-fi that you're barely connecting to go to the place that you have the most confidence in For that period of time. That's all we're saying All right Will there be an opportunity from jonathan? Will there be an opportunity to take the cfx at nationally or internationally recognized exam center? Such as places where we do driving tests No, and so let me explain why we looked at whether we could do this at uh, like piercin piercing view and other testing centers The cheating rates were way too high. Also, we would be required to use a different platform We couldn't use the edx platform We chose not to do that because we didn't want to introduce a second learning curve to people Um, usually in our past cfx's we've let you come to one of the six Scale centers that we have here at mit For this one. We've announced the august is purely virtual It's it's much more difficult to do the physical proctor when we found the less than 5 to 10 percent actually do that So this one's all virtual I wish we could find a way to make it easier for people to go to other things We're working on that But one of the reasons why we were able to reduce the cost by two thirds is that we went predominantly virtual And didn't have to pay a third party provider to provide the testing because that gets very expensive And that's why our first one Costs up to six hundred dollars because we didn't know how that cost would be allocated But that's why we can keep the cost low All right, if you pass the cfx, can you still receive or buy? Uh the mitx hat the first uh round the cfx's I don't think so because I think we are still sending for the first cohort some of the unboxies Yeah, it's a global program. We have a student from all over the world And it's really an extra cost Not only the cost is the effort in order to reach you and we are still trying to reach people from the first cohort. So it's a 100% online program. You will receive your online certificate. And this is the thing that has the real value. So Um, okay, uh, not a question before you wrap up my thanks to all the lecturers and tas for an excellent course Thank you casinco. Thank you for that Thank you. And thank you for the team. We have the team here. Yeah, there we go Kevin tumar asked out of the 40 students accepted the blender program in 2018 What percentage of the students are international? I want to say it's 70 percent Um 60 or 70 percent how many were international? It is not 50 50. It was more more international close to 70 percent Yeah, honestly that makes sense to me because only 20 of the scx learners are from the united states only one fifth So 80 percent are from outside anyway. Yeah um So diego asked, uh, I still haven't finished all the courses. Is there a problem if I finished this year Uh, all the remaining courses and take the cfx next year. Um, yeah, that's your only choice If you if you haven't finished all the courses by right now You cannot take this cfx you have to you can only take it if you finish all the courses ahead of time Is mandatory. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah Okay, last question again from pierre. It's only fitting. I think this is your 10th question now, but that's okay Um, and it's not a question. He sees thank you to the scx team for these great courses top quality. Um, thank you very much Thank you. Um, all the other questions. We will answer those some of people have been answering questions that are right on our website And I'll let uh, you will direct you to those. Um, but I hope you enjoy the prep Give us feedback. Let us know what's going on. I'll start watching the discussion forum and replying back You guys are the cream of the crop. You're the people who finished all the five courses and you're ready to take the micro masters I want you to get that credential because we're going to do more and more things that are only for micro masters Uh credential holders. So the more you do the more we'll do for you Yeah, so best of luck with the cfx. We encourage you to take the cfx as soon as possible. Um, yep Enjoy the summer. Thank you. All right. Take care