Just passed LX0 101 but ...

Flemeth

I toke my Linux + LX0 101 exam today and passed with 690 but i have a question. From what i read on the web before you start the exam proper you ware asked if you want to sent the results to LPI as well etc and upon selecting that you ware asked for the LPI ID.

At the start of the exam i was asked if i want to sent the results to LPI etc but no one asked be about my LPI ID , not even at the end of the exam . I m wondering if this is the new procedure etc or ? If it was a problem somehow is there a way to fix this by finding another way to let LPI know my id and results ?


About the exam per say i was expecting it to be harder but fill the gaps is a pain . At the exam i was scratching my head about whats the correct form dmseg or dmesg and alike, those kind of small issues that are so easy to solve at a console.

Roguetadhg

1) So it was a practical exam? or just Multiple Choice
2) What did you use to study?
3) What was the hardest topic - Not asking for question/answer. Just to try to pinpoint if I really need to memorize ALL of the options for every command. Srsly, wtf.

log32

Don't worry about memorizing every little thing, the options make sense 90% of the time, it isn't that hard to remember.

lsud00d

You won't have an LPI ID until you finish the second test as I recall.

If you want to check this out, I started a thread on this when I did my Linux+ last year--

http://www.techexams.net/forums/linux/69044-important-news-regarding-linux-lpic-certs.html

It will probably answer other questions you have about the process as well.

Flemeth

I will include all the info i find relevant in case someone stumble in the dark here...

Info about exam :

Score can be between 200 and 800 and 500 or more is required to pass(aka half). You have a number of learning objectives for both exams , everyone of those has a weight point between 1 and 4 , this is equivalent to the number of questions you will see at the exam related or covering that particular learning objective.If you are wise you will read/learn everything including the topics with just 1 question in the whole exam (like shared libraries and quota) . Also remember that the learning objectives have been updated last year and no book atm covers the new changes from my knowledge.To be fair not alote has changed but there are some areas (LILO has been axed , grub2 and systemd , upstart and a new minor things added ) In the grand scheme not alote has changed so you can learn from the 2009 Linux+/LPIC1 books and have no problem )

The exam has 1-2 select 2+ answers questions (trust me those are some of the hardest format ) and about 7-9 fill the blanks questions. In general fill the blanks covered in my case some commands , some option to commands ,configuration files names and location aka nothing show stopper. I found the questions to be quite varied in dificulty from simple stuff to complex commands with alote of options etc (sed /split etc ) . One thing i did not expect was the + 30 min exam time for non native english speakers like me , that gives 2h exam time which is more then enough for anyone. Realistically i finished in 40 min and spend another 30 reviewing questions .


Info about material for self-study:

I can say for sure that self-study here is not an issue at all even if your a complete linux noob , as long as you put the time and effort you will be ok.

From my knowledge you have 2 main options :

CompTIA Linux+ Complete Study Guide: Exams LX0-101 and LX0-102 by Smith Roderick - my choice

Probably the best book available for LPIC1/Linux+ but it has some issues as well(through remember that the new version of this book is available Ianuary 17 2013 if i remember correctly) :

1.The book has a decent number of command typos or wrong commands but usually only at "niche" stuff

2.The questions at the end of each chapter do not include fill the blank questions(about 7-9 i think at exam) and most of them are easier then the ones at exam.

3.Some areas are a bit rushed , for example the section with tar and cpio was very shallow

4. Alote of information but very little practical exercises and scenarios (this seems to be the problem with all books in this area)


If your a complete noob at the linux command line (you know less then 10 commands) this might not be the best starting point for you as things are not explained in great detail but the information is structured in a decent way aka no freaking 800 page books etc.Also some people dont like the way the learning objectives are divided in the chapters but i find it optimal.



LPIC-1/CompTIA Linux+ Certification All-in-One Exam Guide by Robb Tracy

I only read first 5 chapters of this one and then decided to go for book by Smith because i find that one better ( mostly because this one is not divided in 101 and 102 exam , information structured more efficiently ) . In my opinion it s much better then Smith's if you are just starting Linux command line etc as everything is explained in more detail and more clear but its also bigger and misses some important options for commands.The chapter questions are even easier then Smith's book so they are kina useless.

Other resources : Learn Linux, 101: A roadmap for LPIC-1

Also i found some practice exams and sample questions to validate your knowledge and see how ready for exam you are. I m not sure if it s ok to post here the links to the practice exams but i will post the sample questions from LPI , Comptia has some as well (and you should know both exams are identical LPI/Linux+)

Exam 101: Sample Questions / LPIC-1 / The LPIC Program / Certification / Home - LPI -
I can say that those questions reflect the average dificulty of the exam questions, as it happens i even got one at the actual exam )

An top of all this remember that as soon as you learned a learning objective you should read it(LPIC1 Wiki) and see if you know all the things they want from you there and understand well (inc how to use and most important options) all the commands listed there.


Personal impressions :

I started about 2.5 months ago with very limited knowledge on Linux (used it with 10 most basic commands in command line) and some gui hands on experience , all in all a noob. First thing i did was to ax my windows and go ubuntu at home (not that you learn linux in the gui but it gives you a degree of confidence when you spend all your time at the pc in linux) Also decided that i needed to start low and aim for the low hanging fruits or else i hit the knowledge gap wall. So i decided to start with Linux Essentials by Roderick W. Smith (Linux Essentials is also a beginner step exam from LPI ) and spent the next 2 weeks reading it 2 times i think to get an general knowledge base and some confidence going forword. Then started with Robb Tracy book (and i m happy with how it turned out as it helped alote with the clear and detailed explications over that i learned in CompTIA Linux+ Complete Study Guide: Exams LX0-101 and LX0-102) but at some point i started to look over to Smiths book and compare the chapters and swiched full on it soon after. Some thing i recommand as a must do:

1. Try everything on the cli , reading something even 10 times is not the same thing with reading and trying it as well.
2. This is general learning but the best way to learn is not read sometimes 20 times and then move on and never come back , i think the best way to learn and actually remember stuff long term (apart from using the knowledge in practice) is to read something today , re-read it tomorrow and then a week after that .
3. I m kina stating the obvious here but remember that your goal should be to learn linux and not to pass the certification so dont try to cram stuff or just memorise , i find it helps me alote if i read stuff slowly and never go over something until i think i understand that i m reading even if that means losing half an hour on a single page.

Flemeth

Roguetadhg hope that helps , if you have more questions about the exam i can talk to you via skipe in more detail if your up for it

Roguetadhg

You have a good detailed, lengthy post (Rep), but also I agree with everything except for killing Windows off

I have three monitors, and I don't have the nVidia 6xx that'll support three monitors in one card - yet. I already looked up dual-vga card support and I found that I'd need separate xservers to do this - not the same.

That and I gotta deal with making windows things work too.

I've got the rob tracy book. I've been hammering my OneNote every day with notes and examples. Each chapter has "Chapter Notes, Workbook (Examples + Solutions), Commands" Each workbook in the chapter is re-written to make me think about the commands:


It's not polished, but I've been putting all my free time that I can muster up into taking notes and reviewing them! ><

log32

one note is a great thing for a follow up and something you can always return to incase you forget things.I use keepnote though.this is how it looked like when I studied for LPIC-1 and RHCSA

Roguetadhg

Im going to need to re-write my notes.