Successfully scored a big fat ZERO on RHCSA

Took the RHCSA on Friday in Austin, TX. and just got my results. Got a big, fat ZERO out of 300 points.

Either I forgot or didn't realize that I needed to reboot after making changes to each scenario. I had no issues working thru the scenarios, other then getting the VM setup, which I think the directions are not clear. I waited till the end of the scenarios and the VM did not come back up and I only had 20 minutes left for the exam. Probably not enough time to work thru all scenarios again.

Also there is no feedback on the exam results telling you where you went wrong or what you did right, so this doesn't help either.

I guess I'm going back to Linux Academy and lab again and after each change reboot, and if the VM doesn't successfully reboot then I will know where the issue is, unless others have some advise for taking the exam.

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Comments

DatabaseHead

Oh that sucks man, sorry to hear that.

GSXR750K2

My condolences on a bad start to the week.

We've all overlooked something simple at one time or another on exams. During my first attempt at the CCNA composite exam many years back, I forgot to do a "copy run start" at the end of the first couple of CLI sims in order to save the config. It was pretty aggravating when I realized it and I completed the rest of the exam with very harsh mouse clicks.

Don't sweat it too much, you'll kill it next time 'round. Like I say, there's no such thing as a bad learning experience, even if the lesson learned is hard.

Bodanel

Most likely fstab errors. It's happens. It happened to me also but I removed the line from fstab because I've only had about 5 minutes left. I've been lucky, I passed with about 215. Since then I always do the fstab/boot requirements first so I have time to fix any errors that may prevent the VM from booting.

PCTechLinc

That totally sucks... completely reminds of that movie "The Internship" where Vince Vaughn's character loses the challenge for his entire team because he missed one of the points of the exercise. I've failed exams in similar ways, and beaten myself up over it. Best thing is just knock it out the next time you take it. Best of luck on your next attempt!

NetworkNewb

Zero points??? Ouch, you really must not have studied enough...

Kidding, but I wonder if you told them about this situation that they might be willing give you a discount or free retake? Obviously something went wrong if you scored a zero.

Verities

Reboots are not the most important thing during the test, its making sure you test the changes; I rebooted 1 time on my RHCSA exam and everything worked as intended because I tested each change two times.

JockVSJock

Bodanel wrote: »

Most likely fstab errors.

Anytime when I added info to /etc/fstab I always ran:

mount -a

df -haT

No errors, however going forward, I will always reboot after any change.

I'm disputing the results with Red Hat and will keep everyone updated.

Verities

You were given console access to the system so you can watch the boot up process....were you not watching?

JockVSJock

Verities wrote: »

You were given console access to the system so you can watch the boot up process....were you not watching?

I was set to graphical.target...didn't switch it back to multi-user.target.

shochan

ouch, for $400?? I would get my money back! dispute it on your credit card!

Verities

JockVSJock wrote: »

I was set to graphical.target...didn't switch it back to multi-user.target.

IIRC you can click a console button to get console access to watch boot up. The run level shouldn't matter...although I recommend not using the GUI for any Red Hat exams as time is a factor.

JockVSJock

Verities wrote: »

IIRC you can click a console button to get console access to watch boot up. The run level shouldn't matter...although I recommend not using the GUI for any Red Hat exams as time is a factor.

I don't recall seeing a console button from their testing menu.

IMO, Linux Academy teaches in order to save time, switch to the GUI. There is one scenario where you need to use the GUI (won't disclose the exact one, in order not to violate the NDA).

JockVSJock

shochan wrote: »

ouch, for $400?? I would get my money back! dispute it on your credit card!

Not sure about this...I've contacted Red Hat training/certs department to see what they think.

What really hurts is that I've been studying since Sept 2016 and work with Red Hat day to day...

Verities

JockVSJock wrote: »

I don't recall seeing a console button from their testing menu.

IMO, Linux Academy teaches in order to save time, switch to the GUI. There is one scenario where you need to use the GUI (won't disclose the exact one, in order not to violate the NDA).

If you're booting into the GUI every reboot you're losing valuable time. In any case, it sounds like you made a mistake or Red Hat made a mistake, but you know how to achieve all of the objectives. This means you should be able to determine which task you may have performed incorrectly (if that's the case) especially if you're system did not boot back up. Do not lose hope, it took me two tries to get my RHCE!

Bodanel

From what I know there is 50% discount for retake. First time I took RHCE I've had 2 guys in the classroom who scored 0 due to fstab errors. But if you ran mount -a and it was ok maybe there was something wrong with the exam environment. I'm curious what RH will say.

You've taken the class exam or the Innovative kiosk exam ?

hiddenknight821

JockVSJock wrote: »

I don't recall seeing a console button from their testing menu.

IMO, Linux Academy teaches in order to save time, switch to the GUI. There is one scenario where you need to use the GUI (won't disclose the exact one, in order not to violate the NDA).

I can't imagine the pain to get a zero, but I've flunked many other certification exams in the past. You'll get them next time.

In regard to the GUI, you should do what Jang suggested in his book. Instead of running a full GUI within the guest, just pass the '-X' argument to the ssh command when connecting to the guest. This approach is much quicker, and you should only use this for few commands you cannot memorize. Jang mentioned it would probably be more convenient to use the 'authconfig-gtk' GUI vs. the command-line, 'authconfig' . See the link below:

https://www.server-world.info/en/note?os=CentOS_7&p=ssh&f=10

JockVSJock

Update.

Red Hat reviewed the results, said it was me, not them. Got this generic info via email. No other feedback other then that.

There is no discount for a retake within say 30 day window either. Must pay full price for retake.

I guess I will lab away again and after each or any change, reboot to figure out where the issue is, if any. There was one scenario that I had an issue with, however I don't think a misconfiguration would cause the VM not to reboot. I will screw it up on purpose in my lab, reboot to see what the end result is and go from there. Do this for a few weeks and go test again. I've come to far, not to quit, the finish line is in sight.

Whenever I completed a scenario, I always double checked my work from the CLI by running whatever command to validate. I mean, I know the rules to the game, right?

The only issue is that I had to travel to Austin, stayed in a hotel, paid for food/gas, and time off of work. I don't know if I want to sleep in my car overnight somewhere in Austin to save money, however I want a good night sleep for the exam. I tried to book an AirBNB to save money, but their website crapped out on me when booking and that is another battle that I'm fighting with them right now.

However the next time I will always reboot after each change, however if any of you have any advise, I'm all ears.

thanks

DatabaseHead

Stick with it, it's a good certification

Keep us posted

NetworkNewb

Best of luck on your next attempt!

Bodanel

JockVSJock wrote: »

I've come to far, not to quit, the finish line is in sight.

This is one thing I like about American's; they dont quit easily

ally_uk

Do you have to setup VMS? I thought the machine would already be configured.

Daniel333

I had done RHCSA under the previous version of Redhat. It's no joke, so don't feel bad. Honestly if it were not for the official redhat materials, mapping more directly to the exam than third party there is no way I could have passed with experience and 3rd materials. That said, I had found Damian Tommasino's lab book somewhat helpful. Maybe you will as well.

Hands-on Guide to the Red Hat Exams: RHCSA and RHC

YuckTheFankees

When I took the RHCSA, i made sure to do all partition related questions first...just incase you mess up, you know early on in the exam and you can go ahead and restart the VM.