Exams Should Be the Hard Part. Not the Platform.
By Elliott Natale, Director, BIT Academy®
After months of study, only a certification exam stands between you and the next step in your career. The first question loads on your desktop. The question seems to be multiple choice, but you can’t be sure. There are no multiple choice options available. There’s no way to answer the question. You try everything you can think of to address the issue. Nothing works.
You contact the testing provider to let them know you can’t take an exam on their platform. Their support team is polite. They tell you they’re aware of the problem. There’s no plan to fix it. Instead, they suggest a workaround: spend hours setting up an unfamiliar, underpowered operating system where they think the exam might work. It’s either that, or put your career on hold.
For most people, the scenario seems ridiculous. For a screen reader user, it’s routine. A student’s time should be spent assessing skills. Stopping an exam to “test the test” is an inefficiency tax.
Recently, one of our students encountered this exact scenario — answer choices that simply did not appear on a practice exam. We confirmed the issue. We reported the blocker to the vendor. The vendor was responsive. They could reproduce it. They even acknowledged it was a known problem on JAWS. Their suggested workaround was to switch to a browser-based screen reader.
The solution is telling.
Nearly all certification testing platforms require a desktop computer to take an exam. Together, JAWS and NVDA hold roughly 80% of the desktop screen reader market.
Making the vast majority of native screen reader users downgrade to a browser-based screen reader for a certification exam is akin to telling a concert pianist they can’t audition on a grand piano, but they can use a kazoo.
Certification is one of the most reliable pathways to employment.
The stakes are real. Professionals with disabilities face unemployment rates significantly higher than peers. A professional certification can be the difference between moving forward in a career, or missing an opportunity. This is why the BIT Academy® provides a 100%-subsidized pathway to employment: training, mentorship, hands-on experience, and yes — professional certifications.
Every AI-powered HR application tracking system screens résumés by weighing professional certifications in its overall applicant score. This is not a special feature. It’s how the software works.
According to a 2025 report from Accredible, 91% of HR hiring managers intentionally look for professional credentials when screening résumés, and 97% of employers consider credentials valuable for making hiring decisions.
Everyone should have an opportunity to prepare for their certification exams, to demonstrate expert knowledge without technical distractions, and to compete on a level playing field.
The exam should be the hard part. Not the platform.
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