It's been a while since I've posted anything, but techexams is always home for me...
I took the exam yesterday in Columbus, OH. I left the room feeling pretty good about it, which is kind of scary considering other colleagues of mine who pass did not, and many who have failed, has
. I didn't think the exam was TOO difficult except for those questions that asks for MOST, or BEST...those were a little tricky.
I finished with about 45 minutes to spare, so I went back to check the questions I had marked for review. There were about 65 of them, so after doing the math, I figured the worse I could do is about 61 percent, granted the questions are weighted different (I heard), my math was out of 250, assuming I got the questions I didn't mark correct, and hoping all 25 questions that don't count were in that set of 60 questions
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Definitely a different experience as the proctors were like hawks. You look up, and they are already making eye contact to assist you. I did about 50 questions at a time, then transferred questions to answer sheet. Had to raise hand each time to go to the back of the room for a drink of Mt. Dew. Didn't get much sleep the night before at the hotel
. It also didn't help I that I got lost and came a few minutes late and had to sit in the front row. I called the proctor's number that was listed on the admission letter before 0830 to let him know I was having issues finding the location and he guided me in. I went to other places with the same name and it took those personnel way too long to figure out where I was supposed to go. Lesson learned: Just call the source
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After review of the 65 marked questions, I changed maybe 5 of them. I had a headache, didn't eat a real good breakfast, and the morning didn't start off right being late and worried about not being allowed to sit for the exam. Lesson learned: do a location reconnaissance the day before and let the GPS navigate finish, instead of seeing the name of the facility and assuming it's the correct one, LOL. GPS by address and not just the name...
My study plan wasn't really structured. It included taking about 3 months to read thorugh the Shon Harris AIO 5th editiion off and on, then a month out, really cracking down to finish it. I had a lot of distractions and I read slow/wonder off to la-la land. The last week, I did all practice questions from Shon Harris CD included with book and scored at least a 65% on all of them. I did not repeat any as I was in cram mode. Lowest score was 65%, but a few domains I scored over 90%. I also used a Review Seminar book a colleague had from his training a couple of months to go to try those questions. I averaged about 4-5 questions wrong on those. Those questions didn't offer explanation to the answers, but I learned more by going through the chapters in that book to figure out why I got something wrong, or just figured it out on my own after re-reading the question and knowing what the correct answer was. Friday, day before exam, I just read through Quick Tips in AIO 5th and looked up some concepts that I couldn't remember or explain to myself.
A lot of the questions made the exam fun. There were a few answers that were VERY comical, or it could just be my sense humor. Many of the technical domains seemed easy to me based on previous certification preparation and experience, but this seemed like a beast to study for. I just could not remember EVERYTHING. I also didn't recognize any domains sticking out more than others...it all looked like a bunch of random questions between the 10 domains. I'm hoping that's a good sign as I've read it means you were having issues with a particular domain.
I actually enjoyed studying for the exam and have learned and reinforced a LOT! Studying actually has me interested in cyberlaw, so I'm looking at possible part time law school opportunities. Only downside is having to study for another MONSTER test called the LSAT!!
Good luck to all who are still waiting on results and currently preparing for this exam!
