LX0-103 Passed

I took and passed it almost a week ago, and I just wanted to mention some things here since I've used this place for a lot of my study ideas. I passed, but with a 570, that's the closest I've ever been to failing a cert exam and I was not confident throughout the test. I was glad to pass, but I was unprepared for it. I read part 1 of the newest Sybex book that should have covered the 103 exam, and watched all of the Skillport videos for 103. I've also used Ubuntu at home as my desktop for a few years now. I went in to the exam feeling extremely confident, I hadn't encountered a lot of new material throughout the book and videos, but I did learn some things.

The exam itself was much more difficult and covered a LOT of things that were never mentioned in the book or videos. Some of it I knew from being a Linux user, some of it I made guesses at and went home to research. There were a couple that made no sense to me, and one or two that seemed to have the wrong syntax in all of the answer choices. I guess I should've listened and taken the older exam series instead of playing with the new one that might not be quality controlled yet.

For those taking it in the next 6 weeks, take 101/102. For those taking 103, get something other than the Sybex book for this one. Usually for exams I get one good book and learn it cover to cover, that didn't cut it this time. If other people have had better experiences and I just didn't know as much as I thought, feel free to verbally abuse me and get me to study more for the 104

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greg9891

Congrats and a pass is a pass.

cablage

Congrats on the pass!
I'm scheduled to take the LX0-103 mid-August. I've been using Linux Academy and ubuntu on a laptop for the past 4 months. I did just purchase the Sybex book last week and have been going through the 1st half to prepare- Did you find the book useful at all in terms of the exam, or am I wasting my time with the book? I've found the book so far to be good and am glad I bought it, but if it isn't worth using for exam preparation, I will focus on other resources-

DAVIS NGUYEN

Congrats!

Dakinggamer87

Congrats!!

BlackBeret

It was useful, but it by no means covered everything the exam does. I'd say use as many resources as possible.

junilinux

BlackBeret wrote: »

I took and passed it almost a week ago, and I just wanted to mention some things here since I've used this place for a lot of my study ideas. I passed, but with a 570, that's the closest I've ever been to failing a cert exam and I was not confident throughout the test. I was glad to pass, but I was unprepared for it. I read part 1 of the newest Sybex book that should have covered the 103 exam, and watched all of the Skillport videos for 103. I've also used Ubuntu at home as my desktop for a few years now. I went in to the exam feeling extremely confident, I hadn't encountered a lot of new material throughout the book and videos, but I did learn some things.

The exam itself was much more difficult and covered a LOT of things that were never mentioned in the book or videos. Some of it I knew from being a Linux user, some of it I made guesses at and went home to research. There were a couple that made no sense to me, and one or two that seemed to have the wrong syntax in all of the answer choices. I guess I should've listened and taken the older exam series instead of playing with the new one that might not be quality controlled yet.

For those taking it in the next 6 weeks, take 101/102. For those taking 103, get something other than the Sybex book for this one. Usually for exams I get one good book and learn it cover to cover, that didn't cut it this time. If other people have had better experiences and I just didn't know as much as I thought, feel free to verbally abuse me and get me to study more for the 104 .

So scared of what you have just told because I am planning to take a LPI for next few months. I have also got the latest Sybex book for Linux+ 103 and 104 but according to what you said, maybe I have to search for my learning resources around out there more than just focus on the book

ccnpninja

Congrats

ypark

I, too, am studying for LX0-103 so what you just said concern me.
I study the way you do. Pick a book, learn it cover to cover then work on weak areas. Could you give us a general topics on the exam that you didn't find in the Sybex book? I know there is the NDA so be broad as you think it needs to be. Thanks!

Out_Sourced

I had the same experience. Used LX0-101 Cybex study material, cbt nuggets, and transcender for study prep in taking the LX0-103. I got a 540 on the test. I knew in the first 5 questions I was in trouble because the questions were not related to what I studied. My background was just 2.5 months of study. Now I'm thinking of taking the LX0-104 early, 50% chance of passing and doing a more concise study if I don't pass. That way I would have a better idea of the difficulty of the questions. Weird but I would have liked some simlets not just multiple choice questions.

cocacolo

I've just started to study for lx0-103 and I have basic knowledges of Linux. What I always wonder is how do you know whether you master or not a specific topic, I mean, you study the theory, practice with the commands, your VMs in your lab, that's fine....but, it's difficult to know when you have a strong knowledge or need to work more!

wogmail

I sit for LX0-103 in 3 hours. I'll let you guys know how it goes. I don't feel that confident. I am taking it through a WGU program. Basically, mentors encouraged me to take LX0-103 since the old exams are being expired 8/31. WGU does not care which versions you take, so you could take LX0-101 and LX0-104 and still pass the classes/graduate - but you wouldn't get the Linux+ cert since they are different test versions. They didn't want me to end up in a situation where I pass the classes but don't get the certs due to the old exam expiring.

The uCertify materials for LX0-103 seem woefully inadequate. After getting 90s across the board on those materials, I requested my voucher and scheduled the exam. After that I went back and did the Skillport LX0-101 material, and got a 48/100. BAM. So I bought the Transcender/Kaplan materials, and have now pretty much mastered that, but again, that is LX0-101. Everyone assures me that using LX0-101 study materials for LX0-103 will be no problem and that the exams basically cover the same materials.

I hope they are right.

Well, I will let you know in a few hours, I plan to pass, as I don't want to have to jump through the hoops WGU makes you do if you fail a CompTIA exam.

wogmail

I failed. 440. I would say 1/3 of the questions I flagged for review because I had no clue. A lot of spelled out flags for CLI commands, when I had memorized the single letter flags. I also got a Windows NT question, I wish I was joking about that. First test I think I ever failed in my entire life, definitely first certification test since I got A+ in 2001. I knew I failed as I took it. I think I relied too heavily on LX0-101 materials to pass LX0-103, and from my anecdotal experience I think there is quite a difference between the two exams. I say this having not sat for 101, but the test was definitely not like the 101 Transcender tests, and Transcender is usually a pretty good one to compare to the real thing or even harder. The uCertify material was easy and did not at all help with the questions I got on the exam.

techfiend

I know I shouldn't have waited to take this one at WGU but my mentor insisted. Labsim was the study material for the 101, it was great for Net+ and Sec+. Does the uCertify material at least cover everything on the test?

wogmail

The labs and practice tests/post-assessment definitely did not. Perhaps if you go through and read everything in all the exercises it does - but there were tons of things that were not even touched in their 120+ practice test questions, 61 labs, and post-assessment. I guess I am about to find out. The practice tests were terrible, typos, just crappy in my opinion.

I now have to go back and do all of the quizzes and exercises to get 2nd voucher, comically I already got a 90 on the post-assessment which supposedly designates mastery of the materials.

Souljacker

Thanks for the info. I was considering doing both tests in my next term (also in WGU) but with the comments here I'm not so confident. Maybe I'll just finish the last few gen-eds and give it another 6 months for updated materials\LPIC to review the test.

If guys who actually use linux day to day are barely scraping together a pass, that doesn't bode well for a self-proclaimed windows fangirl.

BlackBeret

For me it seemed a lot of the questions were too specific. Because the test is vendor neutral as you go through the study material you run in to a LOT of things were there's a difference between systems. Redhat will use the same file located at /x/x and debian will locate it in /x/y. Then on the test you get the question, "where is this file located?" A- /x/x B-/x/y C /y/x D /y/y. Using Linux on a regular basis, if I want to know where I configuration file is I use the locate or find command, because I know that every distro sticks them in different locations.
What does this obscure switch do when paired with this obscure command? I use the man pages..
How many fields are in a properly formatted zzz file? Man pages again, the number of fields depends on what options you want in that file, etc..

No one can memorize every single command, all switches, all file locations, and every field in every file on every distro. I expected some common things to be like that, but the test was asking about some rarely used commands, config files that shouldn't need to be edited directly, etc.

ypark

Being a Windows guy, this Linux+ exam isn't going to be easy.. I ended up purchasing the Sybex book for LX0-103 and 104. I will supplement it with udemy/edx videos and few other free texts I can get from Kindle Owner's Lending Library.
Thanks for sharing your exam experience!

ypark

I guess there seem to be a file system hierarchy standard for Linux. I was doing the free linux course on edx.org and came across this.
Filesystem Hierarchy Standard
It may come in handy for file location type questions. Just wanted to share with those who are studying right now.

stephenjakim

Thanks ypark, I was just actually looking for something like that to see how all the files go to get a better understanding. That is perfect.

sidninja

How long is LX0-103? On pearson vue it says 135 mins but on comptia it says 90 mins? Those who have taken the exam, can you clarify this?

techfiend

90 minutes, so is the LXO-104 but it's plenty of time, no labs, I finished each within 45 minutes. That was with flagging and reviewing 10-15 questions. There's a few answers you can extract from other questions during the test, comptia has a tendency to do that.

sidninja

Thanks for that! I wonder why they put 135 for. Lol.
What do you mean by extracting questions during the test?
How long ago did you take the Lx0-103?

fuz1on

Belated congrats!

techfiend

Here's an example of extracting answers from other questions. "What is the command to show permissions and owners of files in a directory?" another question is "What is the expected output of ls -l?"

These aren't on the test as far as I know. I remember seeing something like it in the udacity study however.

I took the LXO-103 last week, LXO-104 yesterday. May sound very quick but I have years of non-professional bsd, deb and rpm linux experience that ended a few years ago, just needed a refresh. I learned very little, mainly gui related.

momolicious

Well, so much for Linux+ being my next cert. I guess I'll be focusing my attention towards CCNA. I wanted to do Linux+ so bad, but it may be wise to wait a few months for these exams to be revised.

I don't mean to discourage anyone, but I'm definitely not that "Linux" guy.

sidninja

What put you of mono? Just wanted to know your reasoning.

momolicious

I'm not that great with the remembering every command, their flags, and their variants.

Hearing about real Linux users barely passing, gives me the fears.

On a side note, I'm also getting sick of CompTIA exams. Have taken S+ and N+ within the last month (my only two exams) and am pretty annoyed with their poor choice of words. I haven't really had any other type of exam and hope Cisco exams are better about this. I always feel I struggle more with their meaning, rather than whether I know the content or not.

Again, I still plan on doing Linux+ down the line. But perhaps LX0-103/104 are just too new. Meaning, revisions (correcting or easing some of the questions) may be in the works. I know it's wishful thinking, but I can only hope.

sidninja

Ah ok. I did my CCNA and it was very structured. Cisco do well with their exams. So you'll be ok provided you know the stuff.

momolicious

Congrats man.

Yeah, CCNA, in my opinion, has always been the one that got away (or hasn't made its way). It's the one cert you can show off to your gf. I don't have a gf, nor would I really show off a cert if she existed, but if I had to show off a single cert, it would be CCNA.

Hold on, I'm not sure what I'm talking about anymore.

sidninja

haha thats ok i know what you mean !