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Super
Study Skills
The
Ultimate Guide to Tests and Studying.
You
can pick up a much cheaper 'used' copy of this book at Amazon
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Preparing
for the Exam
-
Focus
your studying for your particular certification. You
may think that you can adopt pretty much the same studying pattern
that you've always had for just about every exam you take -
but you're probably wrong. For example, a practical, hands-on,
exam should be treated differently in approach to say that of
a fixed 50-question multi-choice exam. Sounds logical right?
Yet most of us approach every exam we take in the same fashion,
from essentially the same habits we've developed from childhood.
- The
key to success in any exam you take is to be totally familiar
with the format of the exam, and the requirements or objectives
of the exam before you begin to study for it. Take a few days
just researching what the exam is like, the format of the exam,
the type of questions that you might encounter (not the specific
questions, just the type - like multi-choice or adaptive). That
way you can plan a method-of-attack to get the most of your studying
time, and that study time should be planned to take you to exactly
where you need to be by the time the exam comes around.
- Start
by printing off a list of the exam objectives. Look at each
objective carefully and break it down into smaller bullet points
if need be. Make sure you understand what each objective is
asking of you, and make notes as to reference material that
you can use to study for each topic. If you're unsure of what
an objective might be asking, make sure you find out. A good
way to do that is to take part in discussion groups, or send
an e-mail to the vendor themselves. The better prepared you
are before you start studying, the more effective your studying
time will be.
- Determine
what kind of exam you are preparing for, and what type of questions
you might expect. Most computer certification examinations use
similar methods for testing candidates – multiple choice,
drag and drop, adaptive, and in some cases there are hands-on
simulations. Obviously your studying method should change depending
on the type of exam you will be taking. Make sure that you are
familiar with the requirements of the exam – the type
of questions, the number of questions, and the time allowed
to answer them all.
- Gather
all of the resources that you can that cover all of the exam's
objectives. Hopefully you’ll find lots of good free resources
to help you on this site. I often found it helpful to spend
a week or two just gathering all the information that I could
about an exam, collecting the resources that I needed, and only
then sitting down to do the hard study time.
-
As
you gather information about the exam, keep a text editor handy
to cut and paste information that might be useful later on.
Sometimes it can take weeks or months to study for an exam,
and information that you come across as you study is easily
forgotten. Particularly with newsgroups it's a good idea to
keep a few pages of notes of other people's experiences with
the exam, the type of questions they faced, and the areas where
they felt they let themselves down. You'll often find people
posting such information, and you should keep a journal of such
comments as you come across them. They can really help you focus
on what to study for.
- And
one tip that should be so obvious that it's almost farcical
to suggest it - make sure you know the time of the exam and
where it is. Most exams are conducted by third-party organizations
who should be pretty flexible should you happen to arrive late,
but the last thing you need on the morning of an exam is stress
because you couldn't find the testing centre or a parking space.
Believe me, I've been there, done that.
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