Following a balanced study diet

By Natalie McGregory

 Look at the exam topic from several perspectives. Combine different study methods while preparing for your exam. Attend training or a hands-on lab, use a book and download the exam objectives.

Understand the exam objectives. Review the objectives and know the emphasis (percentage) for each exam domain. You can download objectives for all CompTIA certification exams. Practice test questions are also available.

Know your learning preferences and select study methods suited to them. Maybe you learn faster by studying alone with a book, or maybe you like the classroom setting and having an instructor. Whichever method you choose for your primary study technique, make sure its the method that works best with your learning style.

Other ways to ensure success:

Study with approved study materials and trainers. CompTIA approves quality courseware and training facilities for its certification programs. To find authorized study materials, visit the CompTIA Authorized Quality Curriculum (CAQC) Web site, or visit the CompTIA Learning Alliance (CLA) site to search approved training facilities.

Make time to study. Though it seems obvious, many people do not take the time to study. Learning the material and mastering the objectives are essential in passing an exam. Set aside a minimum amount of study time everyday and stick to it.

Get a full night of sleep. Staying up the night before and cramming for the exam is not a good idea. Not only will your brain be overwhelmed with information, you will also be tired and it might be hard to concentrate during the exam.

Retaking an exam? If you are retaking an exam, you already have a valuable study tool: your exam score report. Your CompTIA exam score report includes a list of specific subject areas identified as incorrectly marked areas.

Use your score report to identify the areas you had trouble with on the test. This will help you tailor your studying, and you can spend more time on the topics that you struggled with on the exam. Another good way to do this is to compare the objectives you downloaded with the score report.

If you have trouble deciphering your score report, show it to your instructor or a skilled friend. They may see a pattern, or have other study suggestions for you.

Source: Click here.

5 Great Tips To Improve Your Exam Strategy

In order to do well on a exam, you must first have a good knowledge of the information that is being examined. But, aside that, you must have a good strategy for taking the exam. This allows you to show what you know. This exam guide gives you some tips that will help you make a good strategy:

Directions

Test direction are very important, so read them carefully. Ask your teacher to explain any test direction that you do not understand. A good score on the exam is achieved only by following directions. If you don’t follow directions, you won’t be able to demonstrate what you know.

Examine

Examine the entire test in order to see how much you have to do, because, only by knowing it all you can break it down into parts more manageable for you.

Time

Once you are done with the test examination, it’s time for you to decide how much time you will spend on each item. If an item has different points, plan to spend the most time on items that count for the most points. A good planning of your time is especially important for essay test where you have to avoid spending too much time on one item and leave little time for other test items.

Easiest First

Remember to answer the items you find easiest first, because if you get stuck on a more difficult item that comes up early in the test, you may not have enough time to answer items you know.

Review

If you plan you time correctly, you will have time to review your answers and make sure they are as complete and accurate as possible. Also make sure you review the test directions to be certain you have answered all items required.

Using this exam guide will definately help you do better on exams, no matter the field they cover, and get better grades.

5 Things You Need To Know Before Deciding On A Certification Training

The right certification training

By Michael Smoke

Trainings vary a lot when it comes to quality. It’s essential to
choose your certification training provider based on things such as
the quality of materials, trainers’ competence and skills, counseling
facilities, track record etc. A good trainer is essential because you
can learn from his real life’s experience.

Cost

Usually, the cost of the training is a big issue for people,
sometimes even a deciding factor. But the price shouldn’t be your only factor for choosing a certification training or institution. Always
think about the present and future opportunities and not the costs
involved to get there. It’s not wise to save money by choosing an
inferior training. But, remember that not always high cost means high
quality.

Commitment and motivation

Keep in mind that the best instructors in the world or world class
facilities cannot learn for you. You have to be committed to learning.
Lack of commitment is a big problem and usually arises due to lack of motivation. In most of the cases, this will ‘help’ you become one of
those persons that pay the training fee just to collect the
certificate. By becoming one of those persons, you just waste time and money. The certificate won’t help you as much as the knowledge gained during the training through classes and exercises. So, keep in mindthe reasons you are there (this helps you stay motivated) and be prepared to learn and to apply what you have learned.

The right training model

Your skill and motivation level are two important factors that need
to be take into consideration when choosing your certification
training solution. Also consider financial constraints and available
study time. All these factors are used to find the right training
model for you. Instructor-led trainings are considered the most
effective means of acquiring skills and knowledge, because they seem to achieve more for students than any other training options,
especially when it comes to more difficult exercises. However, if you
already have some practical skills and/or you don’t have the time to
attend the instructor-led training, other learning options are
available to you (books, practice tests, computer based training and
even online learning). If you find yourself in this situation, a blend
of learning on your own and classroom learning might be the right
thing for you.

Soft skills

Almost all of the certification trainings focus on the acquisition
of tech skills and knowledge. However. in order to build a career in
IT, there are more things to be taken into consideration that
technical skills and knowledge alone. You need soft skills to become
more valuable. These skills include presentation, communications,
marketing and project management, just to name a few. Tech skills andcertification training decisions are important, but if can’t market
yourself, advancing in your career will be a very difficult task.
Attitude is another important thing in the real world, because
altitude will be determined by your attitude. Also develop your
professional skills and always practice in an ethical manner.

I know that the time and effort involved with training can be
intimidating, but keep in mind that in this constantly changing world
lead by information and communications technologies, investing in your education is the best investment you can ever make.

How to study

By: Hannah Anthon

Every individual is unique and so is his/her style of studying. What works for someone might not work for you, but there are some study strategies and study tips, which if followed whole heartedly can help you improve your studying skills. This article gives you some useful how to study tips.

A Good Study Place: Your study place should be neat and well-organized whenever you want to study and should be free from interruptions. You should make sure that study materials like pencils, paper, books, calculator, etc. are available and there is enough light.

Time management: To study effectively you need to manage your time well. For this need to set your priorities and make your schedule keeping these priorities in mind. Once you have set your schedule it is important that you stick to it and follow it religiously.

Study Materials and Study Guides: The type of study materials and study guides used by you greatly impact the knowledge you acquire during your studying hours. Study guides that you use should be comprehensive and written in a simple language.

Take Notes: Taking notes in the class help you in revision of the topics you have been taught. While taking notes you should try to write as much as you can, as it helps in better understanding of the topic when you read it later. You can increase your notes making speed by using abbreviations frequently.

There are various study websites which are dedicated to help you learn how to study and make most out of your time and talent. These how to study sites provide great study tips and study strategies, that can help you tremendously in learning how to study and how to increase your efficiency. Study sites not only teach you how to study effectively but also provide useful study materials and study guides.

The Guide to Self-Study

I have been inspired to write about a method of studying called self-studying, the reason being is we have new members asking us quite frequently:

“I want to do the MCSE course. I looked at company A and they offering the cd’s,books and material for x thousands of pounds. Oh there is tutor support too and some workshops.”

“I want to do a certification course. No classroom based study; I just get all my material at home and take my time. If I need help I can email the tutor. Practical experience is up to me. Price 4000-5000 pounds.”

Then these poor souls go take loans out for these very large amounts and are stuck with large debts and very often poor results. BUT I’m not here to write about training companies nor am i saying they are all bad. I’m expressing my desire to show you another method. If you feel that no I still can’t self-study then by all means I don’t mind you going to training companies as a lot of people have positive results.

The number one thing people say when they hear self-study is ‘I cant do that’. Why not? That’s what you are going to be doing with certain companies. On your own with the material they sent you. Yes you can! I am living proof. September 2005I was unemployed and with just an in-house A+ certification now i got a job and working towards 2 Microsoft certification and learning Linux – all by myself, with no classroom attendance. I’m not a geek or freak just a normal guy who wants to make it in the tough world of IT the best way I can.

So you asking yourself now – ok great you learning with books you bought and doing all the hands on, BUT what if you get stuck or confused or don’t understand something? Well that’s were *my tutors* come in. Yes I said tutors – not just one I have many maybe hundreds. From Australia to South Africa to the US to the UK -what am I talking about? Forums just like this one, we have been gifted with these and you should use them. If I need help I use them and I use them a lot. Now that I have been helped I feel its my IT duty to help you guys out. Finding forums is easy, just use a search engine like www.google.com and type the technology associated with the word forum and you will see plenty of results! Talking of Google that’s another fantastic resource. Type your problem into Google and you *will* find a solution! So can you can see you too can use these tutors and with time differences you will post and quite often get an answer with a short time! Did I mention they free????

Another question you are asking is where do you buy your books from, well have a look at this thread.

Because this guide is more likely to be read by people starting out with IT certifications I will stick to the more common *entry-level* certifications and tell you what resources and material you will require and how to attain your certification.

Comptia A+ Certification

The books that are recommended for this exam are:
A+ Certification All-in-One Exam Guide, Sixth Edition – £23.09
CompTIA A+ Complete Study Guide, Deluxe Edition – £32.50

These seem to be the two main books used with the first being the most favoured. Its worth noting that the above books are for the A+ Objectives that came out in 2006/2007 and not for the 2003 objectives.

You might then want to get a book to revise from once you ready for the exam – just to solidify information:

A+ Certification Exam Cram (Exams 220-401, 220-402) – £17.78 – It due out June 2007

Another book that will be very useful and is well worth getting is PC Technician Street Smarts: A Real World Guide to CompTIA A+ Skills – £13.19. Oh and this book is actually written by a member here Certforums. (Tripwire)

You might want to get a PC you can take to parts then put together and then use it for you OS exam. This can be picked up from computer fairs or from eBay for less than 100 pounds as you don’t need anything fantastic.

£105.00 for the Core and £105 for the OS. This can be reduced if you can find exam vouchers from places like http://www.getcertify4less.com/ -buy finding bargain exam vouchers.

GRAND TOTAL FOR A+: ~£410 (exams included!)

Comptia Network+ Certification

Books:
Network+ Certification All-in-One Exam Guide, Third Edition – £23.75

Network+ Study Guide – £21.11

Mike Meyers’ Network+ Guide to Managing & Troubleshooting Networks Lab Manual -£14.51

Total for Books: ~£59.37

I am afraid that due to my lack of knowledge about this certification I cant tell you exactly what you will need to do hands-on labs for it. But ill assume you will need £120 and im sorry if this is too little or too much!

Exam: This is very expensive in fact the most expensive part, again from Prometric: £154

GRAND TOTAL: ~£312

Microsoft Certified Desktop Support Technician

Books:

MCDST Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-271) – £27.05

MCDST Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-272) – £27.05

Total for Books: ~£55

You could well do with 2 PC’s that can run Windows XP so about
~£200 for them – maybe less.

Exams: Will be £88 each so thats £176 – again from Prometric

TOTAL: ~£430 (will be alot less if you can find bargin PCs)

There we go. I have tried to break down the costs as best as I can. Prices will change so please take these as approximations. Exam prices are from the Prometric site for UK exams. Prices for the books from Amazon UK. As you can see you can get certified and learn for much cheaper. If I have left anything out please forgive me andI will try update them ASAP and in the future when I learn about other certification from others here add them too. I hope find this guide helpful and eye-opening and I wish you good luck in your quest for certification!

By Zimbo Certforums