test taking strategy and confidence

olmryoung

I have taken the exam once already about a month ago and failed by a pretty big margin. I had gone through the course several times taking my time with it, taken lots of notes and practiced the labs countless times to the point where I could complete them fairly quickly. I had confidence going into the exam. Then in the exam there were requirements I found myself second guessing and having to reference documentation a lot more than I thought I would need to. How could I go from taking this course several times, doing the labs and having confidence to crashing and burning in the exam? Where do I go from here? Im not entirely sure going through the course again and doing the course labs many more times will bridge the gap. I did that already and it didn't work. A bigger question is trying to determine how much more time I need to invest to make a second exam attempt. Im considering not using it at all and just walking away with what I have learned already from the course.

davidmarkclements

some people are better with exam situations than others but it has very little bearing on your actual real world practical abilities. Ultimately only you can make that choice, the reason to stick with it is to get the acknowledgement.

djedje

@olmryoung, i am in the same situation, i felt twice even i was perfectly prepared, see my personal conclusion

****This certification is unrelevant of the knowledge of the candidate. ****
I knew perfectly the full exam's preparation course, was able to realise all the exercices of the course (include all the labs) by memory, means that i was able to re-write the full course examples. But that is not enough to pass this certification. Actually i could solve almost all the questions but i needed time (2h30 would be perfect). This certification is accessible to the candidate who have the FACILITIES to figure out solutions in a short period of time, it does not reflect the knowledge of the candidate. I won t pass it again.

Instead the course was EXCELENT, the way MR David Mark Clements explain things is amazing, i have learned a lot, Thank you Mr. Learning was my objective, i reached it.

davidmarkclements

@djedje I'm glad you got something out of it!