Passed Storage+ (2nd attempt) on last possible day, phew!

scottishkiwi · January 2016

So yesterday (the 14th) I sat my Storage+ and failed with a 700 mark (720 being the pass). Very frustrating as you can imagine, more so since it was the last slot available for me to sit the exam without having to travel to another country... yes, Pearson Vue actually advised me if I wanted to sit the exam on the 15th that the closest available exam centre to me was 1400 miles away in Sydney, Australia.. like, why even suggest this!?! Anyhow, after explaining to the exam centre I visited on the 14th the scenario with the Storage+ being retired on the 15th they (the exam centre not PV) were nice enough to open up an extra slot for me to sit it again today.. and I am so happy they did since I walked out today with a pass!

It is a shame that it has been retired since I would easily have recommended it to others, I found the information I had to learn very interesting and was very glad I went ahead with the study and sitting the exam. Due to previous exam and the holiday period I left myself with very little time to do the study for this and really I needed it since I had very little background in Storage.. I suppose this showed with my failure first time round. I really thought I had a grip on it all the first time and just think I was unlucky with some of the questions and the wording of questions on my first exam since I only had 4hrs to go over the objectives that I failed in the first time round before sitting the exam again today and I really don't think I gained anything from it.. yet, I managed to pass this second time around with a score of 828 so much more respectable than my 700 from the day previous.

I know it wont be of any use to anyone now that the exam is just about retired (I'm in NZ so ahead of everyone in regards to time zones so I suppose US/Canada will just be ticking over to the 15th as I write this) however should it be of any interest I used the below materials for learning the content for the exam:

Plurasight Storage+ videos by Nigel Poulton
CBT Nuggets Storage+ by Anthony Sequeira
Data Storage Networking : Real World Skills by Nigel Poulton

I watched the Pluralsight videos first then the CBT Nuggets and felt the CBT Nuggets had much more content along with more hands on examples. I then read through Nigel Poultons Data Storage Networking book which had loads of detail however due to my time constraints I didn't read it from cover to cover choosing only areas I thought I needed to go over although wish I had read it all first time round after coming out of exam #1! When I only had 4hrs left to study before exam #2 I decided to go back to the Pluralsight video instead of the CBT Nuggets.. by now I had a good understanding of the content and felt I just needed to refresh on a few areas so chose the chapters that my exam results had highlighted that I needed work on and went over those.. and at the same time I found the Pluralsight feature of playing videos at 1.25-1.5x speed, that extra speed really helped with my cramming btw, I wouldn't have been able to fit as much in as I did without this feature! And for those that haven't seen this feature I must say check it out and no it doesn't make the voices sound like the Chipmunk cartoon!

and before I get onto my next lot of study I have to thank Dakinggamer87 and everyone else on the techexams forums for their advice and support related to this Storage+ exam, thank you!