:(

After I spent a stressful 45 minutes going through 98 questions, I manage to get by with a 780. I don't care if these only go up to 900, this is the first sub-800 score I got

I can only describe this exam as the black void that spawns the nightmares which haunt your dreams.

I would rather do a 500 question version of 291 than take this one again. Some of the questions were ridiculously easy. Such as,

What's edible:
a. A tennis ball
b. Pizza
c. A garbage truck
d. A brick

But the vague wording will even make you second-guess yourself on simple questions like that. I mean, I could probably eat a tennis ball if I had to. Doesn't that make it edible? Argh!

There were only two questions on the exam that I felt were good questions. Questions that gave me a little information and asked me to choose the best course of action based on that. I made my way through a great deal of this with educated guesses; this really seemed beyond an entry-level exam. I've never been so happy to get a question regarding port numbers before. Finally, something I was certain of!

If you want to do well on this, know all the commands and a majority of their options, know the inner workings of the all config files, know where all the config files and executables are located, and other obscure things like the specific names of drivers for hardware. Give me a break...

Some of these suggestions probably seem kind of obvious, but I'll give you an example along the lines of something I got in Transcender. If you had a command that took a user as an option, would the flag be -u, -U, -usr, or -user. A decent number of the exam questions were just as bad; stuff like that can be extremely difficult to recall off the top of your head! The hardest thing for me was there is little consistency between the commands. Sometimes -e is erase (uninstall), sometimes it's edit, -f can be force, file, or flush, etc. You really have to take a lot of time to pound this stuff into your head.

This is absolutely a test in memorization. It doesn't matter how well you understand the technology. If you can't differentiate between extremely similar options, you're going to do poorly.

I used the McGraw-Hill CompTIA Linux+ Certification guide, Transcender, and various Linux VMs, although I spent most of my time in Fedora. If anyone wants that book (it's heavily highlighted), speak up. First poster (US only, sorry) gets it.

This experience definitely has me nervous about going after the RHCE. Though, I think I'll enjoy the hands-on aspect much more than memorizing command options. As long as you know something's possible, a quick glance at the man will help you get on your way quickly.

Oh well, I'm glad it's behind me. Quick celebration then it's back to it...

Find more posts tagged with

Comments

scheistermeister

dynamik wrote:

I can only describe this exam as the black void that spawns the nightmares which haunt your dreams.

But the vague wording will even make you second-guess yourself on simple questions like that. I mean, I could probably eat a tennis ball if I had to. Doesn't that make it edible? Argh!

Exactly how I felt on it.

dynamik wrote:

the specific names of drivers for hardware. Give me a break...

You had that question too huh? I remembered it only because I saw it somewhere and was like, "Why are they telling me the specific driver?"

dynamik wrote:

This is absolutely a test in memorization. It doesn't matter how well you understand the technology. If you can't differentiate between extremely similar options, you're going to do poorly.

I don't agree with that. I do not feel I did great on it, but passed it on the first try with only studying for it for 3 days because I have used linux for years and truly knew the commands. Now if you are new to linux then yeah, the whole test will be memorization for you.

astorrs

Oh don't feel so bad 780 in Microsoft score land would be 866, so if you think of it like that you're still in the game.

Congrats!

dynamik

I think my Security+ was higher than 866

Scheister, maybe I didn't explain that well. I'm not sure what the Cisco tests are like, but with the MS tests, you are given a scenario and you have to decide how to best apply the technology. You have to think critically. I felt like I could have passed this by simply going through flashcards and memorizing the commands and switches while skipping a lot of the underlying concepts and theory. I think this was more a test of memorization instead of real-world capabilities, if that makes sense. I am a Linux noob though

scheistermeister

dynamik wrote:

Scheister, maybe I didn't explain that well. I'm not sure what the Cisco tests are like, but with the MS tests, you are given a scenario and you have to decide how to best apply the technology. You have to think critically. I felt like I could have passed this by simply going through flashcards and memorizing the commands and switches while skipping a lot of the underlying concepts and theory. I think this was more a test of memorization instead of real-world capabilities, if that makes sense. I'm am a Linux noob though

Yeah, I do see how they don't really allow you to work your way through it on the linux+. It is a much more you know it or you don't type test.

bertieb

Congrats on the pass Dynamik! I seem to be saying that a lot to you recently

I'm now fairly convinced you are part machine.............

Good luck on the next ones!

certifyme

congratulation on the pass

shednik

Congrats on the pass and quit whining about your score there's nothing wrong with it

Mishra

Good job! Nice to see you attacking certs right after you got done with your MCSE.

Your score looks great. I wouldn't expect so much out of yourself. It's what you learn, not what you score.

What's edible:
a. A tennis ball
b. Pizza
c. A garbage truck
d. A brick

Oh you had that question too?

The hardest thing for me was there is little consistency between the commands.

This is a pretty annoying thing in the linux world I think. There are actually quite a few inconsistencies in Linux period that get under my skin. But the commands just start to get memorized the more you work with Linux. That does make it easier since you type it many many times.

I win

nel

Congrats on the pass...also thanks for putting me off the L+

I wanted to do this before maybe going for a solaris cert but i never use linux so i dont know if it will be worth going that far.

BeaverC32

Congrats on the pass! Are you going after LPIC-1 before the RHCE?

Slowhand

Congrats on the Linux+ pass. I know it's a beast of a test, considering it's a distro-neutral exam on software that is, essentially, cobbled together with tools and daemons that weren't designed with the others in mind. I had the most trouble with command-line options for various tools, where something like -r can mean a gamut of different things depending on the command you're running. Since you're going for the Red Hat cert, you'll be spared some of that in the future, as Red Hat went a long way to make their Enterprise products a proprietary suite that comprises the entire OS, (the way Microsoft does with Windows). Still, you'll come across a lot of the same open source logic when it comes to how things work and the corresponding questions on the RHCE questions and lab-work.

Congrats again. Don't feel bad about the score, if you haven't been using Unix/Linux for at least a few years prior to the exam, you're showing extraordinary retention capability in passing. A lot of the memorization aspects, (just like with the LPI exams,) have a lot to do with the "muscle memory" of having used sh and bash as naturally as most people use DOS and the Windows GUI interface and "just knowing" these tools and their weird options. Good luck on your RHCE studies, you'll definitely get more out of the hands-on approach that Red Hat takes, from the sounds of it.

sprkymrk

Nice job dynamik!

undomiel

Congratulations on your pass! I was about to argue that the tennis ball could possibly be edible as well.

On towards the RHCE!

dynamik

Thanks everyone.

Also, if you guys haven't seen this post (might want to consider making this a sticky Mark), check out this practice test: http://techexams.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=35375

Unfortunately, I didn't have enough time to go through the entire thing (I probably would have broken 800 if I had

), but it's really well done.

I was planning on doing the LPIC exams, but time and finances have taken those off the table for now. I'll definitely be reading the O'Reilly LPIC book as I progress through the RHCE.

If anyone is interested in that study group, let me know. I think we're planning on starting with the Jang book and doing one chapter a week for four weeks, taking one week off, and repeating until we get through all sixteen chapters. Then it's heavy lab/exercise time for four-six weeks. It's a little more realistic than what we were originally thinking. We're starting that the week of August 3rd, so let me know if you're interested.

Also, the book has been spoken for.

(I bet you would, Undomiel. I think a tennis ball would sort of be on par with your extremely rigid diet.)

snadam

allow me to give you at least a 'pity congrats'

vCole

I'll take the book!

damn, too late!

Congrats on passing though!

adam_hartling@hotmail

Congrats on passing man. I won't be offended that you are upset with getting the same mark I did

certifyme

Thanks for the book.

Everlife

dynamik wrote:

Thanks everyone.

Also, if you guys haven't seen this post (might want to consider making this a sticky Mark), check out this practice test: http://techexams.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=35375

Unfortunately, I didn't have enough time to go through the entire thing (I probably would have broken 800 if I had ), but it's really well done.

I was planning on doing the LPIC exams, but time and finances have taken those off the table for now. I'll definitely be reading the O'Reilly LPIC book as I progress through the RHCE.

If anyone is interested in that study group, let me know. I think we're planning on starting with the Jang book and doing one chapter a week for four weeks, taking one week off, and repeating until we get through all sixteen chapters. Then it's heavy lab/exercise time for four-six weeks. It's a little more realistic than what we were originally thinking. We're starting that the week of August 3rd, so let me know if you're interested.

Also, the book has been spoken for.

(I bet you would, Undomiel. I think a tennis ball would sort of be on par with your extremely rigid diet.)

Let me know about your impression on the LPIC exams Dynamik. I've been thinking about trying for that cert later this year or early next year. Grats on your pass!

dynamik

Everlife wrote:

Let me know about your impression on the LPIC exams Dynamik. I've been thinking about trying for that cert later this year or early next year. Grats on your pass!

Thanks!

You should follow Beaver's progress though. He'll probably get through them sooner than me. I'll definitely talk about them if I ever get around to them, but I have a lot of other things to do first.

BeaverC32

@Dynamik -- I should be sitting the 102 exam within a couple of weeks. Work has been hectic so study time has been hard to come by, but I think I'll have an "I passed" post with some good insight in a few weeks.

djmaya

Good job, and good luck on your future tests. I plan to take the test soon. I just spent 18 months attaining my UNIX cert from the local college. I guess I will do fine since I have a lot of the commands memorized, and I have worked with most of the configuration files. I will keep you posted.

mamono

Congrats on the pass. I can understand your gripe. I felt the same about some of the CompTIA test questions in the past. I am considering Linux certifications because I've been told by people in the networking field that many network devices that they have to work with in conjunction with Cisco and Juniper are Linux based. (i.e. Network General / NetScout, BlueCat, etc etc, and various open source network analysis utilities) Knowing Linux would only add to your appeal to the hiring manager.