How do you know when you're ready?

ltgenspecific

So I feel I am at a point where I've studied about all I can to prep for the 70-640... but somehow I just don't feel ready. I do think I know the material, I've gotten good marks on my prep exams and sims, I have mastered about 200 flash cards of basic material.

I just don't feel I am ready. Call it nerves or what you want but I've got a sinking feeling about taking the test.

So... How do you guys know when you're ready? Is there a point you hit with a confidence level? Is there a particular set of practice tests you like that once you pass them you take the real exam?

Any advice or experience is welcome! I'd love to hear from experienced test takers.

stuh84

For me its pretty simple, at least one of three things happens

1) I look at the exam objectives and can state exactly what its asking for
2) I feel like i've waited long enough (call it putting a deadline on yourself, but I have a plan in terms of time and knowledge I want for the next couple of years, so I know in my head when I need to get things done by)
3) I'm starting to tire of the material

If any of the three happen, I go for an exam. If I don't pass it, so be it, at least from that I know what I'm missing and can go and work on them sections specifically, if I do pass it, great!

At the end of the day, its just an exam, it doesn't matter if you don't pass it on your first go

NetworkingStudent

ltgenspecific wrote: »

So I feel I am at a point where I've studied about all I can to prep for the 70-640... but somehow I just don't feel ready. I do think I know the material, I've gotten good marks on my prep exams and sims, I have mastered about 200 flash cards of basic material.

I just don't feel I am ready. Call it nerves or what you want but I've got a sinking feeling about taking the test.

So... How do you guys know when you're ready? Is there a point you hit with a confidence level? Is there a particular set of practice tests you like that once you pass them you take the real exam?

Any advice or experience is welcome! I'd love to hear from experienced test takers.

I haven’t done a Microsoft exam yet, but when I did Comptia Exams I knew I was ready when I could do the following:
 Pass the Comptia practiceExams(Sample Questions ) they had on their site own website( which was 20-30 questions, that was timed) The correct answer was never given.
 Used MeasureUp-Pass More than the required questions.. I would pass 100 questions and then I would do all 224 and my goal was 80-90% 5 or more times on these questions. After I passed all of the 200 plus questions with a score of 80-90% correct, I knew I was ready.
 I would explain what I was studying to someone else. This helped feel more confident and gave me a better understanding of the material.

Good Luck

Cisco Inferno

ha i would always complain to my gf about the topics i would study and how i wanna burn the book. but she would always make me talk to her about what i learned and lecture her about it after each reading. she would never know what i would be talking about but it helps reinforce knowledge and make me more comfortable knowing i learned it well.

BrizoH

Cisco Inferno wrote: »

ha i would always complain to my gf about the topics i would study and how i wanna burn the book. but she would always make me talk to her about what i learned and lecture her about it after each reading. she would never know what i would be talking about but it helps reinforce knowledge and make me more comfortable knowing i learned it well.

No relevance to the topic, but that's the best username I've seen on a tech forum

Priston

You never REALLY know until you try...

Dakinggamer87

Priston wrote: »

You never REALLY know until you try...

I agree!!

jibbajabba

Priston wrote: »

You never REALLY know until you try...

True .. I am having an Exchange exam tomorrow - on one hand I think I am ready - read several books from cover to cover - did CBT Nuggets AND Trainsignal videos on daily basis and run my own Exchange server for all my private mail which I keep breaking and fixing ..

But when I sit and fail with 500 points out of 700 - then I know I wasn't ready

za3bour

Priston wrote: »

You never REALLY know until you try...

I don't agree, you really sense it

I think it's all about preparation, how prepared you are? did you finish reading the books once and twice? are you getting very high marks in the practice tests? (around 90%), did you lab every thing you could?

If you did all these then that is a sign that you're ready. I don't really believe you will fail an exam if you're 100% ready. That has been my rule through out my life and in all the exams that I failed I wasn't really 100% ready.

earweed

I never really feel totally prepared. One of the things that helps to improve my confidence in knowing I'm ready is when doing practice exams and finding that I can explain the correct answers in better ways than the explanation that they give when reviewing the test.

Priston

za3bour wrote: »

I don't agree, you really sense it

I think it's all about preparation, how prepared you are? did you finish reading the books once and twice? are you getting very high marks in the practice tests? (around 90%), did you lab every thing you could?

If you did all these then that is a sign that you're ready. I don't really believe you will fail an exam if you're 100% ready. That has been my rule through out my life and in all the exams that I failed I wasn't really 100% ready.

We'll yes, if your studing to make a perfect score. Once you get to the point where you think you could make that perfect score, but not 100% sure your going to get that perfect score, your also 100% positive you won't fail.

Plantwiz

ltgenspecific wrote: »

So I feel I am at a point where I've studied about all I can to prep for the 70-640... but somehow I just don't feel ready. I do think I know the material, I've gotten good marks on my prep exams and sims, I have mastered about 200 flash cards of basic material.

I just don't feel I am ready. Call it nerves or what you want but I've got a sinking feeling about taking the test.

So... How do you guys know when you're ready? Is there a point you hit with a confidence level? Is there a particular set of practice tests you like that once you pass them you take the real exam?

Any advice or experience is welcome! I'd love to hear from experienced test takers.

How much experience do you have working with and using the skills being tested?

If you are reading practice tests only, than you may or may not be 'ready' or proficient. You might pass the exam, but the goal is to have learned the material and make you more compentant in the work place. If your skills have improved and/or you find yourself able to easily handle the tasks being measure, you are likely ready for the exam.

Stop taking practice exams. IF and only IF you 'need' to take a practice test, take the test before you study the text and than one just prior to your exam to see how much you have gained. However, only studying tests or 'mostly' studying tests...you may have gained some memorized typical responses and not necessarily mastered the material (which is causing your uncertainty).

FWIW

RobertKaucher

Cisco Inferno wrote: »

ha i would always complain to my gf about the topics i would study and how i wanna burn the book. but she would always make me talk to her about what i learned and lecture her about it after each reading. she would never know what i would be talking about but it helps reinforce knowledge and make me more comfortable knowing i learned it well.

I would have a precious part of my anatomy violently removed if I tried this on my wife.

pert

Well I read the book cover to cover taking notes. Then I re-read the sections that were more in-depth. Then I check the internet to find out if there are objectives the book I'm reading doesn't cover in depth. I will look those up and take notes. I'll repeat that last part until I feel there are no missing objectives. I will re-read my notes several times. I'll re-do my notes with specific things I feel need to actually be memorized for the test. I'll memorize that entire list. Then I take practice exams. Normally these will find somethings I didnt study enough or at all. I'll do a bunch of exams then restudy the problem areas, then re-memorize that data. This is when I'm starting to loathe the process. I keep taking practice exams/flash cards for the last day. Then on the drive to testing center (70 miles) I'll try to recall all of my notes by memory.

Ahriakin

Anytime you approach a majorly new track, or new vendor path treat your first attempt as simple recon. Take enough time to read the suggested source material (and do not limit yourself to just the study guides) until it all make sense and then jump...You are just as likely to over study and waste time until you have an idea of how a vendor's stated blueprint is represented in their actual exams, the only way to get that is to sit one.