Recommendation for IT Certificate.

[Zardoz]

they are used to cheat on the exams.

[...[

One could also posit, however, that it is the certifications themselves that are cheating employers and employees, because it's not testing true ability, but rather memorisation talents. When a rote-memorisation test is required for employment in an industry, it can leave out those who are intelligent problem-solvers, and include instead those who lack critical-thinking but can talk the talk. 

[...]

Many IT certification exams do require intelligent problem-solving, but your point still stands. They are mainly testing for test-taking ability, which is mostly rote memorization and general problem solving (logic, critical thinking, and fluid intelligence). 
Very rarely do they test for the sort of actual, in-depth domain knowledge that you would only be able to gain through years of actual experience. 

Even certification exams that are considered very difficult do not test for this. 

To wit- I remember several years ago, the company I was working for at the time put me through a 1 week training course to prep for SAP MM consultant certification. Then I had two more weeks to cram for the exam after work hours. It was several thousand pages worth of material, and I had barely any experience working with SAP. 

Long story short: I passed the test. But what does that really mean? They certainly can't have been testing for experience or practical domain knowledge, because I didn't have any. And that test wasn't considered easy- I was told after having passed the test that there was a job retraining scheme for university graduates who were paid to receive 1 year of full-time training and preparation for this test, and less than 50% of the participants passed. That really blew my mind.

So they were basically just testing for IQ and the ability/motivation to study hard. Mostly the latter, I would say.