Nervous before exams!!!!

I am ALWAYS nervous before taking an exam but after about 10 min or after i feel i've aswered a few questions correct,i calm down and relax,it only the last few seconds before the program is scoring my answers that my heart rate starts pumping like crazy,just recently i took my mcp 70-270 exam on 4/25/08 and passed with a score of 826.

I don't have any "professional" experience" as i never worked for a company or held a job in the IT field,all my experience has been me teaching myself and learning from hands on and the internet and trial and error.

I attribute my passing of Network+,security+ and mcp from all the years i've been tinkering with pc's and operating systems and my home network.

I see many posters on this site speak about how important experience is when taking exams but i feel you don't need to be working in the IT field persay to pass most IT exams by compita or microsoft,sure it does'nt hurt but to say you "NEED" to be working in a job's IT Dept to be able to understand and pass a exam,i don't agree with that,because when it comes down to it,its all about if your familar with the technology that your studying and also part of it is memorizing the questions and answers.

I am attending a technical institute,this semister is A+ and i would like to know what resouces will i need other than the book that my school gave me(Comptia A+ Guide to managing & Maintaining Your PC sixth edition by Jean andrews) along with 2 TestOut software CD's i will need to prepare for the exam.

Thank you in advance friends ^_^

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Comments

jscimeca715

Real world experience may not be important to you, seeing that it hasn't been crucial to you passing the exams. I think what most people on this site like to point out is that having all of these certifications are nice, but when you go into a job interview with nothing but certs and no "experience," you may get passed over by someone who has the same certs, maybe less, but has worked in a production environment for a couple of years.

As for your question about what resources to use. Jean Andrews is pretty long winded if you ask me. A lot of the material can be used as reference after you pass the test, meaning that there are a lot of sections in her guide that don't match up to any objectives. I used the Sybex Study Guide and that worked fine. Good luck to you!

NetAdmin2436

Sure, you don't necessarily need experience to pass these tests....but it really helps. Also, as jscimeca715 pointed out, if you actually want to put your knowledge to work and get a job, experience is key and is necessary. Look in your job ads, the high paying jobs want experience. I do think both certs and experience are important and will give you the best shot at a good job over the other guy. So by all means, don't slow down on your certs, keep going.

I use preplogic audio CD's and practice exams. Free study guides from cramsession (made by preplogic) and the technotes on this site.....oh yeah, and my job Experience!

morpheous

I have no choice in the situation,i have no "on site experience"only experience on my PC,network,hardware and other clients that i've picked up over the years.

I am indeed looking for an entry level position as to gain experience,could anyone suggest a position that would help me get some exposure to the IT environment? maybe my local cable company "cablevision" work within their helpdesk or network support Dept. perhaps?

I know i will get passed over for somone with experience,that just goes with the profession and it makes perfect sense,i know its not personal,but i have to start somwhere in the field.

How can i get experience if nobody wants to give me a shot and show me the way to become a seasoned IT verteran?

I also am worry about the IT Profession as a whole,jobs are becoming out sourced,wages for the IT feild are going down,the demand for IT Professionals are not what they were 10 years ago and certs are being dumbed down with people that don't love IT work but only get into it becasue its the in thing to do but once they get into a IT position,they have to be taught from the ground up how to use a pc other than emailing and chatting online,just becasue you get a cert does'nt mean you know how to impliment the technology that certification entails.

I am rambling so i'll stop,please give feedback,i am lost in the sauce to some extent as i don't know which way in IT i want to go,i have a grasp of networking,windows xp pro and pc hardware and security,i'm not sure where i wanna go at this point,i guess i have to just do a little of everything and see what makes me comfortable.

Thank you fellas,please respond with your advice ^_^

wheely

I know exactly how you feel. I went straight from high school to college and graduated and still can't seem to find a job because of lack of experience. I have experience with family and friends, but apparently that doesn't count. I have gotten all of my certs from self study and am currently studying for the MCSA/E 2003. So trust me, you are not the only one with this predicament. Maybe someone will give me a chance.

morpheous

I want to know if there is any hope for us!

AlanJames

How can i get experience if nobody wants to give me a shot and show me the way to become a seasoned IT verteran?

we've all been in the same situation. There are many ways of getting work experience. Have you ever thought about working for a company non paid?
This is common, I did it when i was younger

morpheous

you mean an internship? i'm 35 and this is going to be my last career,so i need money! it sounds good but i really need the money.

jscimeca715

I think the best thing to do is search the job sites for a basic position like help desk and work up from within. Besides, Help Desk I've learned is a very vague description and you'll usually be working with all types of OS's and stuff so you'll get some experience. Start from the bottom and work your way up, it requires a lot of patience, but it's something that will pay off in the long run.

morpheous

sounds good to me,my local cable company "cablevison" would be a perfect starting point for me to get experience.

I'll email my resume to them after this semister which is A+ the institute i attend claims they won't be offering a cert for windows vista and Help desk which pisses me off,why have me go through both of those cources and not have me take an exam at the end? seems like a waste of my time and money i am paying them($23.000)they only required security+ for graduation but too many people in my class failed the security+ exam,only 2 people passed,1 being me and another student,so they changed it from security+ to mcp,so i passed that just recently 4/25/2008 just last week,so i'm gonna graduate but i want all the certs i can get from this technical school,i attend night classes from 6:00 pm to 10:00 pm

its so weird how they do things,Network+ was'nt required to Graduate but they told us if we wanted to take the exam for the cert,they'd pay for it,so only 2 of us wanted to do it,me being 1 and another student but he chickened out and i took it by myself,1 out of 10 students

I passed it,so i ran away with a cert i would'nt have had i not pursued,i am thinking i will just bug them about it and have them pay for my last 2 exams just like they did was network+

The director told me that there is no cert for vista and Help desk,which i believe is bull ****,i saw a vista and help desk cert on this site,so i think they just don't want to pay for the certs,so he was lieing to me about it.

ima persisit until i get them to pay for all of the courses,thats why i'm paying them,to get my certs,not to study vista and help desk just to not take a exam at the end and get no chance at a certification!!!