How difficult is this exam?>

MJK9550

Looking to take my Linux+ soon, was wondering if someone who has it could rate the difficulty for me? I wouldn't consider myself and avid Linux user but I do practice it at home, I have virtual labs set up and home and use Linux for a few things. Mainly Kali-Linux to practice pentesting but I'm decently familiar with the way it works and using its CLI.

Any feedback would be much appreciated, thanks!

EnderWiggin

They have fill-in-the-blank questions, so you have to be on point for those. The multiple choice questions weren't all that difficult, but if you don't do well with the fill-in-the-blanks, you'll have to get the majority of the multiple choice correct.

Overall, I'd say it was easy, but I've been using Linux without a GUI as my personal machine for years, so..... Take my rating with a grain of salt.

evopilot

been wondering this myself tbh still unsure to do this course

ccboy85

EnderWiggin wrote: »

They have fill-in-the-blank questions, so you have to be on point for those. The multiple choice questions weren't all that difficult, but if you don't do well with the fill-in-the-blanks, you'll have to get the majority of the multiple choice correct.

Overall, I'd say it was easy, but I've been using Linux without a GUI as my personal machine for years, so..... Take my rating with a grain of salt.

Thanks for the info. Do you mind giving us an example of what type of fill in the blank questions they ask?

Is it this:
1) ________ Concatenates and print the content of files. // cat would be the answer

or

2) _______ appends to the file called "test" // something like echo "hello" >> test would be the answer

EnderWiggin

ccboy85 wrote: »

Thanks for the info. Do you mind giving us an example of what type of fill in the blank questions they ask?

Is it this:
1) ________ Concatenates and print the content of files. // cat would be the answer

or

2) _______ appends to the file called "test" // something like echo "hello" >> test would be the answer

Those would be on the easier end of the spectrum, but you've got the right idea.

jacknifetoaswan

I took my Linux+ about three years ago, and passed both exams within 90 minutes, from start to finish. The multiple choice questions were very simple, for the most part, and if you read and know the official study guide, you'll be fine. The fill-in-the-blank questions can get super esoteric, and in many cases, wanted information that a 'normal' Linux admin would not know, simply because it's not worth knowing, IMHO. The material is in the study guide, but it's usually not really worth committing the time to remembering.

That said, prior to taking the exam, I had been a Solaris and RHEL admin/engineer for about seven years, and was considered the RHEL SME for my security testing team.

JR

Chinook

OP

The first exam (I believe it's 103 now) focuses heavily on Linux commands. The concept is to get you to master them which is instrumental in BASH scripting. There are no surprise style questions on this exam.

The key to passing is repetition and knowing the commands. Pay close attention to what is where, logs, all things /etc, networking, etc. Know your way around the Linux file system. I would recommend you setup a spare computer box and SSH into it versus using Linux with a GUI. And do learn VI even if you intend on using Nano.

Do be prepared to learn some really bizarre commands. I learned one that I can't ever remember using ONCE in my life. And I started using Linux in like 1996. The great part about Linux is once you learn the commands you will never forget them.

hal9k2

Does anyone was using CertMaster for LX0-103 for preparation? If so how would you describe its usefulness?


Currently I am preparing for that exam with CertMaster and CBT Nuggets/Pluralsight courses. Not sure if this is enough.

T-RAV

Well since i took the test today, I have it pretty fresh in my mind how tough it is. I failed it getting a 480 and needed a 500. Bummer . Thats gotta be 2 questions I missed it by, or one fill in the blank. But I did go into this with zero and I mean ZERO linux experience. So for me getting that close being a total newb, you might be fine.

Chinook is right when he says the key is knowing the commands, but I would expand saying know the flags for the commands. They seem to focus on the flags more than the commands themselves. for example "using this command, what flag will accomplish this task?"

I would also say make sure you know Vi editor. I know nano is popular, but if you use it, STOP and use Vi while you study. One last thing is knowing the filesystem and the locations of particular config files and logs/messages. A lot of times they didn't make me put the full path but they asked for the name of the file within a directory.

Just FYI I used CBTnuggets and a couple other sources from my college. CBTnuggets doesn't go into enough deep detail to help too much. it is a good baseline but be sure to supplement it with other sources.

Conquererspledge

Just out of curiosity, why is nano more popular than vi? I work as a sysadmin in a mixed environment and I've never used nano. It may be because I've never needed anything except vi/vim but I'm generally curious as to why nano is more popular.

hal9k2

I think he wanted to say that nano is much simpler to use than vi for a newb Linux/Unix user.

si20

T-RAV wrote: »

Well since i took the test today, I have it pretty fresh in my mind how tough it is. I failed it getting a 480 and needed a 500. Bummer . Thats gotta be 2 questions I missed it by, or one fill in the blank. But I did go into this with zero and I mean ZERO linux experience. So for me getting that close being a total newb, you might be fine.

Chinook is right when he says the key is knowing the commands, but I would expand saying know the flags for the commands. They seem to focus on the flags more than the commands themselves. for example "using this command, what flag will accomplish this task?"

I would also say make sure you know Vi editor. I know nano is popular, but if you use it, STOP and use Vi while you study. One last thing is knowing the filesystem and the locations of particular config files and logs/messages. A lot of times they didn't make me put the full path but they asked for the name of the file within a directory.

Just FYI I used CBTnuggets and a couple other sources from my college. CBTnuggets doesn't go into enough deep detail to help too much. it is a good baseline but be sure to supplement it with other sources.

Thanks for the info. I've got my exam (LX-103) at the end of the month and i've barely found any motivation to work on it. I think it's because there aren't ANY linux-related jobs in my area and the cert was really a bonus for me, having Linux as a hobby. I hope I can just pass it, even if I get a borderline pass. I'll take your advice and learn more about Vi. I've always avoided using it because although it's "powerful", I just personally find it takes a long time to accomplish a task that I can do in nano or another editor and have never bothered to learn it.

T-RAV

Conquererspledge wrote: »

Just out of curiosity, why is nano more popular than vi? I work as a sysadmin in a mixed environment and I've never used nano. It may be because I've never needed anything except vi/vim but I'm generally curious as to why nano is more popular.

To be honest I dont know why it is more popular. I like VI okay. Im not a linux guy per say but that is what I use when I do rarely ply around with linux. I just see nano a lot in discussions and training videos.

si20

I'm not a Linux sys admin and most likely will never be one... but I feel as if vi is the most hyped up thing for no reason. I have heard that people who have "mastered" vi can jump around and quickly edit files and since most linux config files are actually text files, it makes sense to know how to use a CLI text editor.

But why I use nano is because nano is just....easier. I don't know why you'd want to learn all the commands of vi when you can jump into nano and just use it with little difficulty. I think if i'm 100% honest (i know i'll get shot down for this) but with Linux, there is a lot of snobbery. Linux elitism is quite off-putting to the geeks amongst us, nevermind the average computer user.

For example, when I was doing my master's degree, they insisted we use the CLI because the GUI was "inferior" - and it's this kind of backwards thinking that puts people off Linux. I worked as a security analyst for 2 years. Using a CLI for security analyst work isn't possible. It's not theoretically or practically possible. Your multi-million dollar company would close overnight if you even attempted such a thing.

And I think a lot of old-skool Linux users are the same. They say 'vi' and 'CLI' is best, when a GUI is extremely important for productivity. At the end of the day, it comes down to what you prefer. I prefer nano and i'd use nano. If you prefer vi, use vi. For the Linux+ - learn both.