No motivation to study

Hi

I have a mini problem. In my mind, I keep telling myself that I must get the A+ certificate or Network+ certificate. I open the textbook and read a few pages and suddenly I close the book and place it back onto my bookshelf. I don't know how am I going to read the 1000 page book when I'm not fully motivated.

For example, I'm currently in University and I can read 700 pages within 3-4 weeks. When the professors announce that there is a huge upcoming test, I would sit for hours or even days reading the textbook with my mind into the readings.

So I dont know what to do.....i want the certificate but i end up closing the book!

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Comments

royal

My motivation works in a similar fashion. When I have a client upcoming, I'll read an exorbitant amount of information to make sure I am know as much as possible before going into a client. If I don't have a client coming up, I'll usually slack. But to keep myself busy if I am on the bench at work (consulting), I'll take what I learned from my last client, read to fill in the gaps, and go certify. Usually keeps me busy.

coffeeking

laptop wrote:

Hi

I have a mini problem. In my mind, I keep telling myself that I must get the A+ certificate or Network+ certificate. I open the textbook and read a few pages and suddenly I close the book and place it back onto my bookshelf. I don't know how am I going to read the 1000 page book when I'm not fully motivated.

For example, I'm currently in University and I can read 700 pages within 3-4 weeks. When the professors announce that there is a huge upcoming test, I would sit for hours or even days reading the textbook with my mind into the readings.

So I dont know what to do.....i want the certificate but i end up closing the book!

I hear you man, did the same thing for months. I even tried reading books on different certifications, hoping that I will get started on at least one of them, but it didn't happen until after I started working and realized that I actually need to know all that stuff to move up in work place. Even though my employer doesn't require me to have certain certs but I need to earn them for my knowledge and once they know that I am certified in a certain area, then it gives them a reason to give me more responsibilities and that is the ladder to move up.

I started out with Security+, took the exam and couldn't clear it. After I got on the job, I realized that I need CCNA more than Security+, and now I am working on CCNA and then get back to Security+.

You need to find a reason to motivate yourself, just look at it as a ladder to move up, you can move an extra step on the ladder with your certs compared to someone who don't have any.

Good luck.

Mishra

Before I chose my career path I made it a point to try and be excited about what I was going to learn and accomplish as I started my path to a great career.

So #1, I have to be excited to want to read and learn the material presented to me. I don't want to learn about chemistry but I do want to know what voltages power supplies provide for the computer and what temperatures are acceptable. I want to know the information for the fun of it!

#2 I have to focus on learning as I read. I don't read just to look at words and try to memorize. I read to try and understand every thing the writer is trying to teach. A lot of the time I am analyzing what I just read which keeps me interested and makes me feel good when I figure something out. "Okay so an operating system is basically the interface between a user and the computer. It has to talk with the hardware and make it do what it wants. Okay so there must be a bunch of things that were created to interface with that hardware which in this chapter they called that the HAL. So if I wanted to write my own operating system then I would probably need to start with the Kernel/HAL." Just thoughts like that the entire time I'm reading.

#3 I have to have goals in mind. I am already excited to read and learn the material. And I can achieve my MCSE and have a great bargaining chip for future jobs! Cool.

So in my opinion it is all in the state of mind. I have a problem with motivation so I have had to FORCE myself to LOVE IT crap. If you just can't get yourself to love it then it might be time to think about another career. I totally understand where the problem of actually reading the material may come from. This isn't my dream career but it is a good start to life.

undomiel

Problems reading? Then try application. Application will discover your gaps in your knowledge so then you'll go and read the pertinent areas. I look at the big study books and tell myself that there is just too much crap there. So I take a look at the chapters and pick the ones that are pertinent to what I want to know, the ones that will fill in huge gaps in my knowledge. Then I'll just skim the other chapters to make sure there aren't any areas that I may have missed. If something jumps out at me I'll go a bit more carefully over that section. But otherwise I'll just hang out in my lab and have fun breaking things there. Come night before the test and day of I'll be going through that book like crazy though to make sure I haven't missed anything and understand everything. It probably isn't the best study method by far and it certainly won't be getting you an A+ on the tests but it works well enough for me.

Tyrant1919

What I would say motivates anybody to study, is when they have booked the test. Buy a voucher, schedule the test 8 weeks out. I bet you'd start studying more. 8 weeks for A+ or Net+ is doable.

Inc

Mishra wrote:

I have to be excited to want to read and learn the material presented to me.

+1

I would continue this sentence with: "(..) and to be able to retain the knowledge gained."

leefdaddy

Tyrant1919 wrote:

What I would say motivates anybody to study, is when they have booked the test. Buy a voucher, schedule the test 8 weeks out. I bet you'd start studying more. 8 weeks for A+ or Net+ is doable.

this is what I was going to say, book the test, put up the cash to take it.. maybe that will get your ass in gear to pass.

stlsmoore

Maybe you should schedule the test ahead of time that way it'll force you to study the material just like the college exams.

rjbarlow

Are You interested in the making Your future job the networking? Or it just is fascinating You?

learningtofly22

Tyrant1919 wrote:

What I would say motivates anybody to study, is when they have booked the test. Buy a voucher, schedule the test 8 weeks out. I bet you'd start studying more. 8 weeks for A+ or Net+ is doable.

+1 to that. I was losing motivation to study, so I scheduled the test for July 3rd, and have been back in the books since! The motivation not to fail is greater than the motivation not to study for me!

brad-

Once you have your study materials, set a test date for yourself, say 2 months away.

Give yourself 3 weeks to go through each book (6 of your 8 weeks).

With each book, determine how much you need to do a day to finish in 3 weeks.

Once done with both books, buy your voucher and schedule the test for 2 weeks away.

Now you're in a corner. You are familiar with the material and have to take the test soon...so you'll force yourself to cram unless you like wasting $232.00

Keep your goals small, they'll add up quickly.

Aldur

brad- wrote:

Once you have your study materials, set a test date for yourself, say 2 months away.

This is great advice for getting you butt in gear to take a test. I did that exact thing for my JNCIS-M test and within two months I had it passed. This was a huge relief since I had put it off for about 4 months. Now I'm doing the same for my JNCIP-M which is scheduled for July 9th. Seems to be once you set a date it becomes very real and that brings the motivation.

earweed

I've scheduled my 70-643 test for Sept 7. It hasn't helped my motivation as I've hardly picked up the 643 book this week. I'm just getting started on the IIS area and instead of being excited about learning the new technology I'm just kind of "blah" about it. It could have to do with my work hours lately.

Bl8ckr0uter

Sometimes it can be hard to get it in gear when you feel like the benefits aren't there. For an example, I am studying for the S+ and LPIC-1 even though I don't do that much linux support. It would make sense (if I were looking at the short term) for me to abandon the cert. However I am thinking about the long term benefit. That's the way you need to look at it. Always think of the long term.

za3bour

earweed wrote: »

I've scheduled my 70-643 test for Sept 7. It hasn't helped my motivation as I've hardly picked up the 643 book this week. I'm just getting started on the IIS area and instead of being excited about learning the new technology I'm just kind of "blah" about it. It could have to do with my work hours lately.

I think the exam itself plays part, i havn't take this exam but I can tell it's a boring one. I enjoyed studying for 680 and 642 didn't thought enjoy the 640 that much.

I've tried doing the A+ 4 years ago but I just didn't like the book it was too big and filled of unnecessary information.

For me the key to motivation is thinking of the future, if you really want to work in this industry then certifications matter at least to get you an interview so you should keep this in mind, try to change were you study and how your study, put on some nice lite music.

I love to study in Cafe's early in the morning, it worked for me so give it a try and the most important thing is to be practical as possible if you can have your lab it would really benefit you.

stuh84

I'm quite surprised at how many people just read books and don't make any notes, and expect it to pass through their brain somehow.

If you make notes, and paraphrase/make paragraphs into your own words, then you have to understand whats in the book to then rewrite it in your own words.

I've never been able to pick anything up by just reading, so I'd suggest making notes.

My method is make the notes as I go through the book the first time, get notes on the subject, but not necessarily picking up every single letter along the way (i.e. I dont expect to retain everything just yet). Then I go and lab out everything that is possible to lab out in as many ways as possible. Once I'm confident with the practical side, I book the exam, then I make notes of my own notes, to pass them through my brain a second time, rewording everything, and making them condensed enough to read over time and time again as I'm heading to the exam date.

It can be quite laborious, but it gives you a goal to work towards, as you know how many chapters are there to finish off.

tomahawkeer

Taking notes through study, is probably my biggest weakness. Granted, im currently working through CIW Associates, and A+, and its more of a sharpening experience, than a learning experience for me. Maybe once I get into some more difficult subjects, will I find it necessary to take out the notebook, or notepad, which ever would be easier. Ive just always found it easier to learning something, by performing or applying it a few times, as opposed to writing it down.

earweed

I take notes. I even double space them so I can revise them when reading another resource. I've been busywith work and just plain tired.
I'm not sure if it's just the subject area or what. I'm just starting on IIS and I can't sit there and study for more than 20 minutes without either nodding off or getting distracted.
I think I just need to get a better nights sleep or something.

za3bour

earweed wrote: »

I think I just need to get a better nights sleep or something.

Or take a break for one day and do something fun you enjoy doing for the whole day and maybe you will be back with a fresh mind and more motivation.

Taking notes is very essential of course this has been my way since school then college.

2ndchance

stuh84 wrote: »

I'm quite surprised at how many people just read books and don't make any notes, and expect it to pass through their brain somehow.

I'm amazed how I could unlearn one of the most important lessons I learned from college. In the past I've always taken down notes just in the days before I take a test. Last night, however, I wrote down notes as I went through some command line utilities with reference to my current exam. I woke up this morning and found that I could remember the syntax down to the letter!

Another thing that other people have pointed out is to do the labs. When I took the CCNA exam, I spent a lot of time building my own networks in my routing sim. Build your own networks or your own AD infrastructure to fully synthesize your knowledge. Don't just do the DNS exercises in a few VMs. Set up everything!

earweed

I actually think that for IIS it may help my enthusiasm level to learn the material to go ahead and do the rinky dink lab in the MS Press book now instead of after trying to digest all the material. I also do the suggested practices and then just create new ways to play with the configs. Labbing always helps me to stay interested.
IIS in the 70-643 MS Press book has so much new material for me to learn (a lot of CLI) and very little labbing. I like labbing stuff more than reasding about it.
I spent so much time labbing storage, high availability, and Hyper-V that area of the book took me 2 weeks to do. I just completed building my new comp so I could use Hyper-V and have it set up with 4 HD's and have Server 2008-R2 with Hyper-V as my main system on it. I've settled with software RAID 5 as my storage on the 3 extra HD's and using the main HD just for the system and Apps. I did all of the different failover types and expeimented with a lot of different configs.
I also spent a lot of time reading different sections of the Hyper-V Resource Kit and the Terminal Services Resource Kit. On top of that I've been reading ahead in one of my 647 books, the Darril Gibson book. Guess I'm kind of burnt out.
I have 5 weeks before I test on 70-643 so I have plenty of time to regroup and get back in the groove. September 7th is D-Day.

Selfmade

I'm in the same situation as you, i think I might schedule my CCNA composite exam and just cram for it, I have all the hands on, but I hate how I feel like I have to remember every single detail

ask me to configure something for you and I can do it without looking at notes or reference material.

ASk me a written question and I might draw a blank

Devilsbane

laptop wrote: »

Hi

I have a mini problem. In my mind, I keep telling myself that I must get the A+ certificate or Network+ certificate. I open the textbook and read a few pages and suddenly I close the book and place it back onto my bookshelf. I don't know how am I going to read the 1000 page book when I'm not fully motivated.

For example, I'm currently in University and I can read 700 pages within 3-4 weeks. When the professors announce that there is a huge upcoming test, I would sit for hours or even days reading the textbook with my mind into the readings.

So I dont know what to do.....i want the certificate but i end up closing the book!

I do this all the time. Often 3-4 days will go by that I read a combined total of 15 pages. Other times, 3-4 days go by and I read 200 pages. I take the good with the bad and keep moving forward.

The one thing I caution you against is forcing yourself to pick the book up. Those are the times I find little reading gets done. If you miss 2 days and make a pact with yourself on the 3rd day to read 200 pages, you will be lucky if you read 2. Find a good book, pick it up, and just start reading. Whenever you get bored sit it down. If you can never get going, then you lack the passion and are in the wrong field, or it is just the wrong time for you.

undomiel

I can't bring myself to take notes, it is such a waste of notepad.exe for me. Rather I read up on a subject then go find myself some practical experience, if applicable. It's really more about a compatible learning style. Take notes is effective for some people possibly even lots of people, but not everyone. One definitely can't overemphasize the importance of doing labs though. There's so many gotchas out there that you need the experience of it to really understand what's going on and how to fix it.

N2IT

Don't feel bad I think the majority of people are like that. I know I am for one. I have 40+ certification books and have 2 certs lol. Hopefully 3 after this weekend. No worries man just do what you do. If you don't feel like it why force it. You can learn network and PC's/Laptops from experience, you don't need books. Some people are meant for certs, I've kind of gotten a little obsessed lately, but I usually burn out like most fads.

enjoy life pick up the book and maybe just focus on one concept. Maybe troubleshooting OS's or Printers. Whatever just learn a little and see where that takes you.

N2IT

Devilsbane wrote: »

I do this all the time. Often 3-4 days will go by that I read a combined total of 15 pages. Other times, 3-4 days go by and I read 200 pages. I take the good with the bad and keep moving forward.

The one thing I caution you against is forcing yourself to pick the book up. Those are the times I find little reading gets done. If you miss 2 days and make a pact with yourself on the 3rd day to read 200 pages, you will be lucky if you read 2. Find a good book, pick it up, and just start reading. Whenever you get bored sit it down. If you can never get going, then you lack the passion and are in the wrong field, or it is just the wrong time for you.

Lacking the passion for certifications and lacking the passion for IT is two completely different things.

Some of us our lucky enough to be in a position we love and there is no point to get any certifications. I have a friend who does international business / IT training in central and south America. That guy is consistently on the go and makes damn good coin. But the last thing he is going to do is get a cert. I don't think he has the time. And personally I don't think the ROI is there for him. A lot of people are like that.

redline5th

Hey, it happens to everyone!

School is rough and doing certifications at the same time makes it all the more harder.

Maybe you should take a break from it? Just not too long of a break!!!

Nobylspoon

N2IT wrote: »

Don't feel bad I think the majority of people are like that. I know I am for one. I have 40+ certification books and have 2 certs lol. Hopefully 3 after this weekend.

lol, you sound like me. My problem is my ADD kicks in while I am studying for one cert and all I can think about is a different one so I end up stopping halfway to start studying for a different cert. Because of this I have a collection of cert books but only one cert. Hopefully I will finish the three CompTIA ones by the end of the year before they change the renewal policy.

mikedisd2

Selfmade wrote: »

ask me to configure something for you and I can do it without looking at notes or reference material.

ASk me a written question and I might draw a blank

Me too. I have real trouble selling my technical skillset during interviews. And interviews are hard enough to come by.