With Flying Colors: Top Tips for Acing Your IT Certification Exam

It can be hard to get ahead without the right credentials in the IT world. You need a resume that offers the right balance of college education, industry certification and work experience. Most people get their credentials through certification examinations (even if other methods do exist). This guide looks into the best practices to take up for the preparation process when you study for an IT certification exam.

Being diligent

The need to work hard to succeed is a given in any course of study. In IT, though, studying smart is just as important. You need to understand what works for you and make sure that you power through, practicing that method. To most people, smart study involves concentrating and keeping distractions away. This can be especially important for IT study because it often involves the need for a good bit of memorization.

Whether you need to memorize commands or specifications, you need to go about it with peace of mind to retain what you learn. Quiet study time is especially important to those trying to study for an IT certification.

Being restricted to a study table for long hours can quickly get you tired. After a few hours at your desk, you may not be able to take it anymore. One of the most important advantages to quiet, undistracted and focused study is that you get more done before you tire out.

Don’t restrict yourself to one authority

While every major book that you get your material from is likely to be by an authority, it’s important to not trust any one source completely.  Not only can every authority make mistakes from time to time, they can leave out important information, too. The IT subject area tends to not be entirely fact-based. A good bit of the material that you get tends to be opinion-based. It’s always a good idea to hedge your bets and get your information from multiple sources.

Study-at-home books: Getting IT Bibles from a number of publishers – O’Reilly, Pearson, McGraw-Hill and others – can help you gain and retain far more information than you would if you just studied the material that your class gave you. With books written in an easy-to-understand tone, you can probably find answers to every question that you have in mind explained to you in a way that you can understand.

Computer-based training: Computer-based courses – either lessons delivered online or ones delivered through discs – tend to be much more expensive than books. It isn’t a good idea to depend on these as your primary source of information, though. Most courses aren’t able to cram all the information needed into a set of discs.

A live class:  There can be no substitute for a real-life teacher conducting a live class. If you can afford the time and money for an in-person class, you need to find the best instructors in your area and sign up. You can start by considering well-respected names like Countrywide Training.

Try to get as much hands-on experience as possible

You need to keep in mind that the IT field is a creative one. You need to do more than to simply learn to answer questions. Instead, you need to come up with your own insights and ideas. One of the best ways to gain a enough understanding for this is to try to get as much hands-on experience as you can. It doesn’t cost much to set up your own home computer lab. One of the greatest advantages to having your own test equipment at home is that you get to try out everything that you read about. There’s no better way to remember facts and think up new ideas that to try things out on your own.

Use the best practice exams that you can find

Practice exams aren’t supposed to be about simply learning the kind of questions that you’re likely to get asked. They are supposed to help you learn your concepts as deeply as you can. If you game the system by simply aiming your learning at the exam, your employers will find out quickly. You’ll never get far in a computer-related career this way. You need to keep trying the best exams and quizzes that you can find, not letting up until you get all your questions correct.

When you’re at the exam, you need to practice smart exam-taking

Many candidates use the wrong approach taking their IT exams. They don’t plan pacing themselves, they get nervous and neglect to read their questions properly. They may even let fear take over their minds. To ace an exam situation, you need to psychologically feel in control.

Travis Adams is an experienced IT professional. He enjoys writing about training and career advancement.

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