How to Study for Exams

mzx380

Hey forum
I've been exposed to a number of technologies in my career but have never certified in anything and I feel all of my knowledge is surface level hence the reason for my decision to begin certification. I've designed a track of certs that I would like to have completed by this time next year:

1) VCP5-DCV (Stanly course coming soon)
2) CCNA R&S (Was studying for that but put it on hold for VM)
3) Linux +
4) At the very least 1 of the MCSA 2012 exams

I would love advice on teaching a not too old dog new tricks on how to generally prepare. I already have a fairly powerful PC to use for lab simulation. For books, I like to write key points in a notebook and later type it in order to help with the repetition/retention. I don't know if this has been working since I've started & stopped several times over the years.

Any advice would be great
Thank you

DoubleNNs

If possible, use a Linux computer as your daily driver during the VCP and CCNA studies. Or at the very least a Mac and use terminal at every opportunity (but even then it's not nearly the same).

For certs I find it best to go thru videos or some type of broad review prior to initial study. I watch training videos at 2x speed taking notes. Then when I crack open the book, the concepts and terms are all familiar to me and I just need to fill in the details. It's worked for me and I suggest it frequently.

If you have a lot of "wait" time throughout your week, try to fit some studying time there. You can read on your phone/tablet when in the doctor's waiting room or DMV. You can listen to podcasts during your morning drive (Packet Pushers would be a good podcast tailored to your current goals). You could make flash cards during study time and then take 2 mins every hour or every other hour at work to review them --would barely get in the way of your normal duties.

Edit: I don't know if the typing of your notes is the best idea. Handwriting them should be enough. I would probably get bored at that point too. Instead, put more emphasis on blabbing and playing round with things. Break things, try to figure out how to fix them, and Google to see how similar could happen in "the real world."
Try to find the points that contain the most friction in your current study method that causes you to stop. Take that part out and replace it with something more enjoyable.

JoJoCal19

DoubleNNs has good suggestions. You'll see some people say to watch videos first, then reading, some say the other way. I think it depends on the person studying, and also how detailed the videos are. Generally I prefer:

1. Read book (Quick pass, unless I'm using 2 books then I'll do a slow read through)
2. Watch videos
3. Read book (If it's the same book as the first time I do a slow pass and take handwritten notes. If it's a different book I do a slow pass, no notes)
4. Lab
5. Practice exam (If no legitimate practice exams are available either from the vendor or a 3rd party, I'll create electronic flashcards)

Depending on how the practice exam goes (If one is available), I'll repeat some of the steps 1-4 depending on how far I am from feeling confident in passing.

Also note that these steps may differ dramatically depending on the type of cert exam. If it's a more practical exam where you have to know how to actually do the stuff (CCNA, MCSA/E, VCP) then usually I'll only use 1 book and watch videos while labbing. If it's a more memorization or knowledge based exam (CISSP, CISM) then I focus more on reading and try to use 2 sources.

impelse

There is one option that help a lot, it is study by domains.

For domain A, watch the video on that domain, read the book in that domain and lab (if there is any) and exam simulation in that domain. Then move on to the next domain. Then comeback to the weakest domain, and go on, sometimes do a full review using the x2 for full videos.

At the end depend how is your learning way.

mzx380

These are all great tips, than you so far. I am doing a video course on ITIL while waiting for my VM Stanly course to start. Once I'm finished with the video I will go through the book I purchased.

Any other advice from you guys or others is always welcome, keep it coming.

thughesj

The CISSP exam is a total scam - they write it so that candidates fail the exam the first couple of times - beside I want to make a comment about these so called certified security experts - I have been in the field for over 28 years, and I have never worked with so many stupid people that claim to be certified CISSPs but they sweep security findings under the rug, their ethics suck they do not stand up for what is right, instead they do whatever it takes to protect their job and ass. As far as I am concern CISSPs are liars, cheats and total assholes the certification means nothing. Many are stupid they dont even follow the processes and procedures nevertheless the concepts taught in the CISSP course. They think they are Gods but they are trash. Look at the statistics for 2012 there were over 740 fortune 1000 companies that got hacked. Now you might ask yourself well how can that be these companies hire CISSP, well most of these so called security experts do not properly patch nevertheless harden their customer's systems. They are lazy MF that only care about the money. CISSP sucks **** in my opinion

thughesj

I should mention that there were roughly 2 dozen federal agencies that were hacking in 2012 as well so where are all of the security experts? AAFES hasnt harden their system in 3 to 4 years and they process credit cards for our military putting them at risk, VISA wow if you only knew what they do with their firewall grib you wouldnt use a VISA card. They people cry when their credit card or identity gets stolen.

thughesj

If you want a great tip go look at SAN certifications or one of the other vendors

thughesj

Security isnt about getting a stupid certification experience comes with working on the job. 99% of what they teach in these cert programs do not pertain to the job, its just a money scheme