You couldn’t wipe the smile off my face with a belt sander. I just took the first half of my A+ certification exam today and passed it by a relatively wide margin! Once I take the specialization exam on Friday, I’ll be an A+ certified Remote Support Technician. That is of course if I pass that one, which I’m gonna do damnit.
Almost half of my class failed, which had me worried, because some of them have been in IT a long time. The test is designed to make you fail though, so I guess it isn’t that surprising. If you select an incorrect answer, the system will give you more questions on that topic than you would have gotten if you’d answered it right. Very nasty, almost like the test can smell your fear or something.
In the grand scheme of IT certifications, this one is relatively minor, but I plan for this to be my first of a few different certs. It’s going to be great once I have run across and solved a plethora of different system problems, that can only add to my background knowledge.
I’m giddy at the moment and needed to write it down. Maybe that will help me stop doing this :D:D:D, I might pull a muscle or something.
But the little criminal mind in me can’t help wondering… if you wait for a question on a topic you know really well, and intentionally answer it incorrectly, will that guarantee you a load of further questions on that topic?
Hehe, there was much debate about that in the hours leading up to the exam, the consensus was that after you’d answered a couple of the adaptive questions, the system would revert to the original format. One of the guys said “Try to get every question right the first time” As obvious as that sounds, I found it far less stressful focusing on the answers to the questions without worrying about how the test was plotting against me. The mind games that occur when you’re taking a test that is trying to exploit your weaknesses are quite an experience. I thought I was kicking ass after I was halfway through or so, then at the end when I was reviewing the questions I had doubts on, I was convinced that I had failed.