Its GO time! Test @ 4pm today. Questions on what to expect.

Well its put up or shut up time. Ive been studying sporatically since around December, I have almost 5 years of IT experience with 2 years networking. I most recently just started studying seriously, have been for about 3 weeks now, using Myers Network+ book, Network+ Passport a little bit, technotes, proprofs guides and most recently I found out through work that we have access to the complete SkillSoft library of cert material and exams so I have been using the practice exam and also taking the practice exam from Learnkey and practice exam from proprofs and techexams.

Since I have now done practice exams from techexams, proprofs, learnkey and skillsoft, I am wondering how close the actual exam is to any of these practice tests? I mean I do fairly good on the tech exams, learnkey and my skillsoft getting in the upper 70 to 80% range but I did get burnt by the proprofs exam which I have heard is tremendously hard and more difficult than the actual Net+ exam.

So anyone else out there have input on how the practice exams (legit) stack up to the real Net+ exam (without breaking NDA) ?

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Plantwiz

JoJoCal19 wrote: »

....... I am wondering how close the actual exam is to any of these practice tests? .....

So anyone else out there have input on how the practice exams (legit) stack up to the real Net+ exam (without breaking NDA) ?

Ah, no...not a way to really do that without breaking NDA.
(or you may visit CompTIA's website and review their FAQ and other notes about the exams)

*******

personally, I do not support the use of practice tests as a means to prepare for the exam.

You should use:
1. The objectives - to narrow down the topics to be discussed.
2. Have experience - which you state you have
3. a couple books - such as Meyers and Sybex
4. For NET+ the PDF guide from this site.

If you still need further assistance or just due to learning style, then consider products from:
Train Signal - Computer Training Videos - Windows 2008, Cisco, Office 2007, VMware & more!
CBT Nuggets: Training for Cisco CCNA SQL MCSE VB.NET A+ Linux PMP & Many More IT Certification Exams!

Both have good products but with different a focus.

If you must use a practice test the above mentioned books and video study provide some, but I strongly recommend it is NOT used as a means of study but as a way to measure your current knowledge (before you 'begin' your actual exam prep) and just before you 'THINK" you are now ready to schedule your exam. NEVER as a means to 'consistently' score a certain percentage.

When going for a 'consistent' certain percentage, all the candidate has done is successfully memorized questions and answers.

JoJoCal19

Hey Plantwiz, I know youre feelings on practice tests and I apologize if I gave the wrong impression in my post. I want to know basically if the real exam is harder/easier than the practice tests because if I am getting in the 80 percentile range on the practice I have no idea if that is good or bad. If the real exam is much harder then that is bad and I need to know that. If the real exam is similar in difficulty then Im doing ok.

Just to make it clear, I am not memorizing info on the practice tests. I have been studying hard for the past 3 weeks and just took a practice test, from several different places to guage how I am doing on the information and I have received a different score on each and have noticed that each test is really different with one being extremely hard and one being extremely easy and the other two in between. So I have no clue whether my scores indicate that I know enough to pass the real exam or not.

Also I disagree with you that practice tests are not a means to prepare for an exam. I do think that reading should obviously come first and I dont agree with just taking practice exams to memorize all the info. However there is alot of information on the Net+ in particular that is solely memorization work. Therefore its no different reading it in a chart in the book or on a practice exam.

And no, from what I have heard, stating whether its easier/harder is not breaking the NDA. I did not in any way, shape or form ask what is on the test or what it covers or in depth info about it. I simply want to know how it compares, easier/harder/similar. Nothing wrong with stating that.

skrpune

As for what is the best representation of the real exam...that's hit or miss. Everyone's exam experience is different, and with as many different exam questions as there are, one person will say practice exam X is harder while another person says it's easier. I've had some "debates" with other folks as to what topics are even covered on the Network+ exam, if that gives you an idea of how varied the exams can be.

I happened to have what I feel was a relatively hard Network+ exam, and I honestly couldn't say that I took one practice exam that was comparable to the exam content that I saw (some stuff I expected, but some made me actually say "WHA..?" during my exam!

)...but then again, I'm not a huge fan of practice exams so I didn't take that many. I just took two on ProProfs, did the practice questions here, and review questions in my study books. My humble opine is that if you used all those sources you listed and are feeling comfortable with the objectives, then you've got a good shot at doing well.

Good luck, and go kill that thing!

JoJoCal19

Thanks skprune. Yea I have done a lot of reading of various material and once I was done reading. I went in for a round of tests. I went back and studied what I scored low on and re-tested again and did much better. I feel confident and I think I shall do good. Of course I was very confident going into my last college algebra test and that didnt end up as well as I was thinking it would lol.

sidsanders

i yelled at my friend who took the sec+ last week to relax, since he studied quite a bit and was worrying. he did fine. try and relax, do some review of the objectives to make sure you feel ok...

Plantwiz

JoJoCal19 wrote: »

..... Therefore its no different reading it in a chart in the book or on a practice exam.

JoJoCal19 wrote: »

And no, from what I have heard, stating whether its easier/harder is not breaking the NDA. I did not in any way, shape or form ask what is on the test or what it covers or in depth info about it. I simply want to know how it compares, easier/harder/similar. Nothing wrong with stating that.

Very well then, one would be a bloody idiot if they were unable to pass the NET+ after only reading 1 book, because the exam is easy.

Seriously:
And no, there wasn't anything 'wrong' with you asking the question, but no one can answer it as it is impossible to measure what you understand verse what another person understands.

Consider this:
A+ and NET+ are geared toward candidates with the least about of IT experience. Compared to CISCO exams or MS exams (beyond basic OS exams) which recommend far more experience...A+ and NET+ are simple. Yet people fail all the time...so explain this?

As I previously stated this is what is typically recommend to prep:

You should use:
1. The objectives - to narrow down the topics to be discussed.
2. Have experience - which you state you have
3. a couple books - such as Meyers and Sybex
4. For NET+ the PDF guide from this site.

If you still need further assistance or just due to learning style, then consider products from:
Train Signal - Computer Training Videos - Windows 2008, Cisco, Office 2007, VMware & more!
CBT Nuggets: Training for Cisco CCNA SQL MCSE VB.NET A+ Linux PMP & Many More IT Certification Exams!

Both have good products but with different a focus.

However, it sounds like you are ready and you want us to tell you that you are ready, correct?

If you understand the objectives, set a date and schedule the exam. Its the best way to measure what you do understand. Many people do very well.

JoJoCal19

Plantwiz wrote: »

However, it sounds like you are ready and you want us to tell you that you are ready, correct?

No plantwiz, had you really paid attention to what I was asking, and even re-iterated in my second responce, you would have seen that I was just curious on peoples opinion on whether they felt the real test was harder/easier/similar than practice tests. Simple as that.

JoJoCal19

sidsanders wrote: »

i yelled at my friend who took the sec+ last week to relax, since he studied quite a bit and was worrying. he did fine. try and relax, do some review of the objectives to make sure you feel ok...

Thanks sid, youre right. Good thing I dont suffer from any form of test anxiety that distracts me when taking tests. I feel really confident based on my studying and experience so I should do fine. Ive seen firsthand what worrying and nervousness during testing can do to a person. My friend who is one of the people that get super nervous during tests, was taking his Series 7 and he did excellent on practice tests that were much harder than the real thing and he knew the material very well. Well when he was taking the test he started panicking and since they get a break in the middle of the test he called me and was freaking out. It messed him up and he failed miserably because he was just second guessing and changing everything and freaking out during the test and couldnt concentrate.