How to Pass Your IT Cert Exam at the First Attempt?

Everyone who takes a certification exam desires to pass it with ease but, unfortunately, it doesn’t turn out that way for everyone. There are some test takers who have been writing the same exam for over three times and have still not been able to pass it. In some cases, it is not always because they are not brilliant enough or that they are not dedicating enough time to their preparation, but one way or the other, they are missing out on some important techniques.

As you start preparing towards your cert exam, there are some helpful techniques that can play a decisive role in passing your certification test. Many professionals dedicate their time to going through the resource materials months before the exam, but at the end of the day they still fail it. This can be quite disheartening, especially if you consider the investment of time and money into the preparation. Well, the fact is that having the resource tools and going through it is just a fraction of the preparation process and there is still more to it.

Getting an exam certification goes beyond reading books from cover to cover. There is a process to it and if you miss out on any of its details, it is most likely that your preparation will be undermined and you will not gain the relevant information and help from your study process. To help you have a meaningful preparation, we have put together some tips that might be useful for you in preparing for your exam to ensure that you pass with an excellent mark. Below are the detailed steps you need to take while preparing for your certification exam.

Review the exam blueprint

Many professionals just jump straight into resource materials without first understanding what they are expected to know prior to taking the exam. First thing first: you need to get hold of the exam blueprint. Go through the document thoroughly and familiarize yourself with its outline. It is designed to help you understand what the exam is all about and the knowledge that will be tested during the test. With the exam blueprint, you will learn the topics that you need to study according to their importance, especially the topics that carry the highest percentage. You will be able to structure your study plan to focus on those areas during your preparation. So, remember to review the exam blueprint first before you move on to reading books.

Go through the exam references

The next step is to go through the exam references. When you register for your test, you will have access to the exam’s handbook. Go through the test references as detailed in your handbook to gather insight on how the exam questions will be designed and how to approach these questions in order to give the correct answers. Review each of the references to understand the kind of questions you can expect during the exam.

Use the exam resources

It is important to select your resources diligently because this can be the determining factor on whether you will pass or fail the exam. Of course, authors want to get their books into your hands but you don’t really have to get all the books. You don’t need all books written on the subject of your certification exam to prepare for it. You need only the best of the set. One of the most efficient ways to get the best resources is to check the recommended resource tools on the exam cert through the official website of your IT certification vendor. List out all the resource tools on the platform and read the review of other exam takers on each of the materials. Remember, you are not the first to take the exam, other professionals have taken it before you and they have experience to share. So look for this valuable experience shared in the form of reviews on different resource platforms and learn from it. By reading the reviews on the recommended authors, you get to know the ones that are really worth investing your time and money in and the ones that you should not bother about. Choose the resource materials that are clearly useful for your exam preparation and focus on them during your study time.

Take plenty of the exam practice questions

One of the ways to know your level of readiness for the upcoming exam is to take practice questions on what you have studied so far. Practice questions for the certification exam are some of the most important tools that will help you in achieving your desired success. They will help you know how well you have understood what you have read and how much you remember from all that you have read and studied. You will know your weak areas and the ones in which you are confident enough. This will help you focus on your weak points and study more to cover all the bases. You need to take as many of such practice questions as you can during your preparation. Aim for the highest scores while working on these questions so that when you get to the real exam sitting, you can replicate the same scores.

The more you practice, the more you get familiar with the exam question patterns and how to answer them. Do not restrict yourself to answering just the particular exam questions. Take questions from different sources. Use exam simulators, and cert dumps for your exam question practice. There are many online platforms that offer numerous exam dumps for different cert collections that you can take advantage of.

Take a self-assessment test

When you are comfortable with your scores level in the exam practice questions, the next step is to take a self-assessment test. No matter how much you have studied and taken practice questions, there will still be some areas in which you need to invest more time. The best way to identify such areas is to take the self-assessment test. This will enable you to pinpoint your exact weak areas so that you can work on them harder. There are different online platforms that offer self-assessment tests that you can use. Before you purchase any of such tests from an online platform, first take the demo version and be sure that the value of what you are paying for is worth every penny you are spending. A good self-assessment test software will help you track your actual progress in your preparation and let you know when you are ready to write the real exam. It will show you the directions on which you should focus on during your study and the areas where you are doing excellently well. This will definitely help your study and drastically reduce the time spent on it.

Join a study group

This can make a huge impact on your preparation and on your overall success during the certification exam. As a member of a study group, you have an opportunity to share ideas and learn from others. Ensure that everyone in your study group has a common goal which is to pass the certification exam. Everyone in the group should pull together and help each other to prepare for the exam. You can draw up a timetable to study together and review each other’s progress. The goal of a study group is to help each other grow professionally and succeed in the exam.

Learn from those who have passed the exam

This might look a bit unnecessary considering the other, more prevailing tips for the exam preparation. However, you cannot take away the leading role real experience plays in this process. Look for a professional you respect, and who has taken the exam and passed it. You can learn one or two things from them and incorporate that knowledge into your exam preparation. Let them tell you how they studied for the test, the resource materials they used, and everything they did that led to their success. This can go a long way in helping you restructure your study pattern and using the right kind of resource tools in your preparation.

Don’t underestimate the free material sources

Many people believe that if you are not paying for it, then it is not valuable. Well, if you are in this category, then you need to reconsider this. There are many free sources out there that offer genuine and quality information that will help you in your exam preparation. Take advantage of these free and reputable sources and use materials available on their sites.

Conclusion

Of course, it is important to study hard for your certification exam, but don’t forget that you need to rest, so go out regularly and then come back to your study. You can’t spend weeks focusing on your exam without any distraction. This might sound counterproductive but the fact is that you need to balance your study and free time to reach success in your test.