About Certification Courses
Set your goal and make a plan:
- Schedule your certification exam and commit to getting ready by exam day. This is your finish line.
- Plan a study schedule that will complete the course curriculum at least 1 week before exam day.
- Do the course work assignments, practice in the lab, and if you need help ask your questions on the next live Q&A webinar.
- Stick with the study schedule; you made the commitment, so find some self-discipline.
- If you get interrupted or distracted, find make-up time at lunch, between meetings, stay up later at night, or get up earlier in the morning.
- Keep on pace or you'll miss the finish line!
Crunch Time:
- Finish the curriculum at least 1 week before exam day
- Clear your calendar to repeat the chapter and part reviews
- Memorize any necessary information tables; practice writing them down from memory so you can make a reference during the exam (binary/hex/octal conversion tables; subnet mask tables).
- Practice any time-consuming procedures to increase speed and accuracy; this will save time and errors during the exam
- Review your labs to reinforce your "mental muscle memory"
- Get a good night's sleep before exam day; cramming for an exam does more harm than good and do NOT stay up late for a movie, TV, sports or partying.
- Eat a light snack before the exam to avoid hunger distractions
- You're ready! Arrive early at the exam center and check in. You're prepared, rested, and calm.
- Start the test by writing down any information tables you memorized; now you can focus on the questions instead of recalling information.
- Depending on exam rules, you may
- Answer all the easy questions first, then circle back for the harder or longer questions.
- If you're not allowed to backtrack, then do your best to answer the harder questions, but keep your eye on the clock and know when to move on.
- Still stumped? Then use process of elimination to exclude wrong answers and narrow your choices to only the potentially right answers. Your odds of guessing will be improved.
- Ace the exam
- Celebrate!
Cross the Finish Line:
- Remember
- There's a huge difference between passing an exam versus performing a job well under REAL WORLD conditions
- Many other candidates will probably choke under pressure because they took the easy path and studied only for the exam
- YOU will do better in the interview and on the job because you took the hard path to pass the exam AND acquire REAL WORLD skills
- Post your Capstone Project presentation video on Linkedin and polish your profile to share with recruiters and hiring managers
- Take your Capstone Project to your job interview or performance review and confidently engage the audience as a subject matter expert.
- Be confident that your skills will put you ahead of the pack.