Studying and How to do it Better!

Introduction

This document records some of the ways I have learned to study, partly for myself (as I forget how to) and partly because I think some of the study skills I have picked up could be useful. I have a bit of examination experience, having taken the Comp TIA A+ and N+, Microsoft MCP Windows XP (I am old) and MCP Windows Server 2003, Cisco CCNA V2 and V3, and the Red Hat Certified Systems Administrator. I've just used it to pass the AWS Certified Cloud Practioner exam. It does seem to work.

This document does not blow the lid on anything! It's common sense, and I am hopeful it will be useful, but not breaking any rules, so to that end, 

Exam Dumps: Stupid and Pointless

Firstly, my view on Exam Dumps: I don't use them, and you shouldn't either. I want to look at why in this section. Before anything else, ask yourself: why is your certification useful? I think it's for the following reasons:

• It demonstrates a you have a practical skill (if the exam is a hands on exam)
  
• it demonstrates you understand concepts/techniques/ideas and can apply them in a given sent of scenarios (questions or hands on exam)
  
• it demonstrates you have commitment to self-improvement and learning
  
• It demonstrates that you were able to perform under pressure
• You've been bench-marked and shown you meet criteria in a predictable way
• Most importantly: you have demonstrable value
  

My view of exam dumps is this: their use makes the exam others worked hard at easier, less valuable (because more people have it) and above all pointless. When you use exam dumps, instead of learning the subject, the following becomes true:

• You waste time, first and foremost: when you should have been learning a subject you can apply in the real world, you learned a pattern of letters that you cannot transfer anywhere else
• You didn't learn a useful skill, you've blagged your way into a situation you're not equipped for.
• You're skirting a useful validation system
  
• IT is an industry that is primarily about problem solving. Sometimes you're working on a project, sometimes you're working under fire. If you have not learned about a subject, how do you expect to be able to understand it and fix it, when it breaks?
• and are not helped when you try and use the skills you pretend to have, because under fire, you are utterly useless.
  
• you learn nothing and look foolish in a job interview, when asked something (super basic) like "how many hosts in a /26 subnet"
  
• you devalue the exam you're working towards - not just now, but for ever and for everybody: other engineers, employers, recruiters. The less respect an engineer has the less chance he has of getting a job. Like it or not, a credible certification does show expertise. If the exam secrecy has been blown, the exam loses value.
  
• Most importantly, you shame yourself, because you're a cheat.
  

Motivation - why do the test at all?

Why are you studying for this exam? For me it's some or all of the the followin

• To pass the exam (the exam looks nice on Linkedin because I look more capable and because it's a bench mark of skills, which will help me a get a new job)
• It's a good way to learn a lot of stuff about a new topic in a structured way, and if the topics are exciting, I know I will get a buzz out of doing it
  
• It's fun/Interesting and yes, a bit addictive

Exams types

Different exam types need different strategies. 

• 100% practical exams, like the RHCSA (This point is well documented! I am not telling you anything secret: The RHCSA is completely hands on, and hence the most fun)
  
• Semi practical exams - Cisco CCNA: part lab (making changes, solving problems etc) and part question
• Multiple choice exams - sadly many of these have been devalues because of stupid people who dump, but they are still good as a way to jam concepts forcefully into one's brain). This type is my least favorite. I enjoy terminals.
  

Study Strategies

General

You have one and only one goal (beyond getting the certification and using your skills on the real world): you want to increase familiarity in your chosen subject.

• Know how your books are structured
• Know how chapters are structured
• Write things out, make notes, throw the notes away, be scrappy, be crappy, nothing matters, don't be like Rimmer on Red Dwarf! Don't spend ages on the time table and not enough time on the study.

Each exam strategy has the following topics:

• me and my knowledge (i.e. what I knew before I started to study the subject)
• resources
• process
• tips
  

 

RHCSA 7 

100% Practical exam

Me and my knowledge

I had been using RHEL/CentOS 6 and 7 for several years before I thought hard about doing the exam, however I think my process still has mileage. I had built some servers, I had some networking experience, and a bit of security knowledge.

I studied about 15 - 20 hours a week for roughly 18 months. There were times when I could not get my head into study mode at all, but mostly, the study was good fun. Lots of it I knew, lots of it I didn't. I was working as a junior systems administrator at the time and that boosted by motivation too.

Resources

• Book and videos by Sander Van Vugt were both superb. I highly recommend him https://www.sandervanvugt.com/
• Book by Jang was also wonderful: https://www.amazon.co.uk/RHCSA-Linux-Certification-Study-Seventh-ebook/dp/B01DB3H8AM
  

Process

• Round 1
• Read through Jang once
• Did all the labs, based on my current skills and man pages: many of them were very hard, but that's ok
• Did the chapter tests
  
• Made a study plan based on the scores of the chapter tests
  
• Watched about half of Sander's videos
  
• Round 2
• Read over Jang starting with the hardest chapters (for me SELinux, authentication) based on round 1 chapter tests
  
• Did the labs a second time round, reread the chapters, made notes
  
• Resat the chapter tests
  
• Did the labs again, reread the chapters, and made notes
• Ploughed through SVV's videos
  
• Round 3
• Very similar to round 2, however hopefully using man pages much more than before
• watched SVVs videos
• Round 4
• Practice Tests, from Jang's book
• Figure out what I stunk at
• Go back, tedo the labs for those topics
• Built an LDAP server
  

The point is to figure out where you're terrible and focus on that.

Tips:

• Make VMs over and over and don't get too wedded to them
  
• use the man pages over and over and over. Don't just learn them, but learn what to search for. They are so useful, and better than info (in my opinion)
  
• Delete your VMs and do them over and over (yes, I am repeating myself, but KVM is a wonderful technology)
  
• Make notes, but be prepared to trash them, and redo them
• Use git to monitor you /etc/ folder https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/preview/1201487505817119206/3053962330267496482
• Get fast. Be able to do stuff without realising your fingers are dancing on their own!
  

AWS Certified Cloud Practioner

100% Theory Based.

Me and my knowledge

I had used RHEL, load balancers, KVM and VMWare. I knew some networking, and I know what "/26" means, however I know almost nothing about Amazon AWS.

I studied about four hours a day for a month, however some of that time was spent using bad resources. The resources I ended up using are below.

Resources:

• Sybex AWS CCP Study guide, which, while wordy has turned out the be the best resource.
• I bought some videos (naming no names) but they didn't help
  

Process

• Round 1
• I read through the whole book, with a highligher pen and highlighted the bits I thought were useful. I regret that, and have decided that marking the book made me miss things on the first reading. I do not recommend it.
• I took all the end of chapter tests to figure out where I fell down in prep for the second reading
  
• Round 2
• I read the whole book, and made notes
• I did the chapter tests again, looking for improvement and failure
  
• Round 3
• Much the same as round 2, but this time, I also took the tests in the Sybex book. One test I passed, one I flunked, so ended up going through the book a fourth time.
  

Tips

• Do the labs: labs provide context for what is actually quite a theoretical exam. Context is vital: the certification is useful, and the labb will teach you basic skills you'll need in the outside world.
• Writing out a chapter
• As yourself: what is the chapter actually about? Sounds silly and basic, but it's vital to have a frameword to hang ideas off. The introduction and the exam essentials is a good indication. Get three pens (red,blue  and black) and a highlighter, and write with them. Once again, you want to breed familiarity with the text: the more familiar you are, the more you will actually learn. There are no shortcuts.

• I think I passed this test because I did the exam in 45 minutes and then went back and rechecked everything. I mean EVERYTHING.