Passed LFCS

chrisone

Got the email this morning that I passed with an 88% score, passing was 74%. This one was difficult and it took me 4 attempts. Luckily you get 1 free retake with each exam purchase. So I only had to buy 1 extra exam attempt/retake as you get 1 exam attempt/retake when you buy the course/exam bundle.

Here is the breakdown. Pass = 74%
First attempt: 37% "yikes! total bomb!"
Second attempt: 65% "ok, saw improvement but still not there. I don't mind buying another exam attempt."
Third attempt: 71% "ah man really?! sigh ok I have one free retake."
Fourth attempt: 88% "saw three new questions, was a little worried but felt confident the pass was there."

I really had to earn this one. Its performance based, no multiple choice, they review your entire configuration when you're done and either you configured what they asked or you didn't.
Really happy I got this one done. Now on to the next one!

Happy New Year!

gkca

Congratulations!

chrisone

gkca wrote: »

Congratulations!

thanks!

Info_Sec_Wannabe

Congrats!

tedjames

Congrats! What's LFCS?

chrisone

tedjames wrote: »

Congrats! What's LFCS?

LFCS = Linux foundation certified sysadmin. Is a Linux performance based certification, no multiple choice questions. It is all configuration based on a live console, they review your configurations (28 configurations) when your done.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y29qZ71Kicg

I did not need this cert but I recently built a Suricata IDS with ELKStack based on Debian/ubuntu for our infrastructure that I am responsible for. So I wanted to be better at managing those systems. Many security tools and distros are in linux, so I figured it was just best to get my linux skill level up to at least LFCS standards.

gkca

That’s a great point and one of the reasons I plan to get some security certs to compliment my RHCE.

tedjames

Thanks for the detailed explanation. Sounds like some solid work on your part.

yoba222

Congrats on this! I know personally I feel like there are still so many Linux things I'm clueless about compared with before I started studying LFCS early last year. I do think that I'm less clueless than if I had gone down the Linux+ route I suppose. I think.

chrisone

Thanks everyone!

yoba222 wrote: »

Congrats on this! I know personally I feel like there are still so many Linux things I'm clueless about compared with before I started studying LFCS early last year. I do think that I'm less clueless than if I had gone down the Linux+ route I suppose. I think.

Thanks yoba!

Yeah I agree there is still a lot left to learn, which much of it is covered in the more advanced LFCE. As much as I would have liked to entertain the 311 course and pass the LFCE, at the end of the day I am not a linux systems admin and probably would never really desire to make that profession. I just wanted to bring my skills up to LFCS status which I feel is a very solid linux foundation to be proud of.

Congrats on your recent pass as well!

kurtkobaindt

chrisone wrote: »

Got the email this morning that I passed with an 88% score, passing was 74%. This one was difficult and it took me 4 attempts. Luckily you get 1 free retake with each exam purchase. So I only had to buy 1 extra exam attempt/retake as you get 1 exam attempt/retake when you buy the course/exam bundle.

Here is the breakdown. Pass = 74%
First attempt: 37% "yikes! total bomb!"
Second attempt: 65% "ok, saw improvement but still not there. I don't mind buying another exam attempt."
Third attempt: 71% "ah man really?! sigh ok I have one free retake."
Fourth attempt: 88% "saw three new questions, was a little worried but felt confident the pass was there."

I really had to earn this one. Its performance based, no multiple choice, they review your entire configuration when you're done and either you configured what they asked or you didn't.
Really happy I got this one done. Now on to the next one!

Happy New Year!

Could you recommend materials for studying? I've attanded LF course but it's boring so I need recommendation for materials that it's not making me bored.

FSF150

Congrats! I bought LFCS Training/Exam last black Friday and haven't gotten around to it - just got the "get in gear" email from the Linux foundation. If I don't fire it up I'll lose it.

It's not necessary for me but knowing Linux sysadmin stuff can't hurt anybody.

LonerVamp

Without getting into spoiler specifics or anything, what caused that low first score and what did you do between it and your second attempt?

Were you new to Linux or ...? Skipped Linux+?

And congrats on the hard work and perseverance!

chrisone

LonerVamp wrote: »

Without getting into spoiler specifics or anything, what caused that low first score and what did you do between it and your second attempt?

I can tell you, I worked hard the first exam attempt. Knew the labs and concepts, practiced like hell and was ready to go! My problem, the exam covers basic entry level tasks. Stuff you find in LINUX 101, stuff in all honesty I did not know, didn't really think it was going to be covered in LFCS exam. So naturally I got some questions from LINUX101 which is free, but I bomb those questions, which are at least 25% of the exam.

Next issue, I got tasks/configuration scenarios not covered in the course. Which was another %25 of the exam. I only found that out from the student forums and confirmed by others. You have to make sure you cover the topics in the syllabus. My fault, but happened to many students.

That being said, the online course was great and covered the majority of the syllabus topic. I lacked elementary skills going into LFCS that were expected to already be mastered. So you can start to see I learned the holes i needed to fill.

One of the hard learning facts about this exam is also NOT being told what you failed , where you failed, how you failed, what are your weak areas, only that you failed. You are left asking...."so what do I work on?"

My answer to that was, try to remember what you werent able to configure during the exam. Work on that, rinse, repeat, until pass. It took 4 attempts.....

yoba222

This was the first exam I ever failed. I passed the second time. I ran out of time on the first one because I was a little uneasy about being on camera and couldn't really be myself, so to speak. When I'm under pressure to configure something, I tend to murmur my way through the problem out loud. Couldn't do that -- I got warned to remain silent. So I had to take the exam like a Buddhist monk, which threw me off a bit.

By the time I got going at full speed, it was impossible to catch up to finish in time. There were a couple of things I didn't know how to do with the exam blueprint being vague at best.

This was also the first exam I'd taken (not counting betas) where there was no single source of comprehensive study materials. At the time the linuxacademy course was an underwhelming disappointment. The Sander Van Vugt course came close, but he focused too much on RedHat scenarios, often completely skipping Debian/OpenSuse scenarios.

chrisone

yoba222 wrote: »

I tend to murmur my way through the problem out loud. Couldn't do that -- I got warned to remain silent. So I had to take the exam like a Buddhist monk, which threw me off a bit.

lol same thing happened with me on my first test. I wasn't nervous but I tend to read to myself, whispering/murmuring silently to myself and next thing I see a stupid message to be silent during test taking. I was like really dude?