I have secured my fourth CompTIA certification. This one was tough for a few different reasons but I succeeded…..finally.
Network+ is the latest certification that I have earned. This is one that I had planned to take much earlier in the year but scheduling had pushed it back several months.
The college that I went to provides boot camps that once completed, will provide a voucher to take the actual exam. All that is required is that you pass the required class related to the subject matter. I took the network class several years ago. It was one of the first classes I took when I started going back to school.
I had taken the Network+ boot camp once before while still taking classes and did not give this exam the attention that it deserved. After securing Security+ and A+ (Yes, I realize I did these out of the traditional order) I finally began to prepare for Network+. The instructor for this boot camp did things a bit different than the other two boot camps for the previous certifications.
For Security+, all I had to do was pass the exam in the boot camp by the end date in the course. It was one day in the middle of June. I passed it and earned the voucher, then I began to study on my own. For security+, I bought Jason Dion’s course and practice exams on Udemy, and I watched Professor Messer’s video course on YouTube and I also purchased his practice exams.
I was going to do this with Network+ as well so my initial goal was to get my voucher before I began to prepare on my own. The downside to this was that this instructor made you show up to his class and take the exam on campus.
This date would often get pushed back as well. I would prepare for several weeks so I felt comfortable passing his exam, then the date would be changed. This was a bit frustrating to say the least. So after spending so much time preparing for his exam, I realized this was taking away from me studying for the actual exam.
You may be wondering why this was a bad thing. Studying for a test that should be based on the same material as the exam. That is true with the caveat that the boot camp exam content was out of date. These were questions from old exams for prior versions of the test.
I decided that I would forego the boot camp and just pay for the exam on my own so I could study for the actual current material that was on the exam. The lady that handles these vouchers reached out to me and said she had one available that I could have if I wanted it. I scheduled my exam for August 14 and I began to study.
I had planned to follow the same formula for the prior two certifications. I had purchased Jason Dion’s course and practice exams from Udemy and since Professor Messer does not offer exams for Network+. I was just going to watch his videos and take notes and study the content that I needed to.
If you remember from my past post that I got CySA+ and I talked about Linux+ briefly. Well in the middle of studying for Network+, The testing center reached out and asked me if I was interested in taking Linux+ and CySA+. These were free vouchers that had to be used soon because they were expiring.
I took CySA+ two days after getting this call and miraculously passed. No studying for this exam whatsoever.
I did study for Linux+. I took a class on Storm Winds that is a program offered by my employer. After completing that I once again took Jason Dion’s Linux+ course on Udemy. Keep in mind that I had Network+ scheduled as well.
I prepared for Linux+ but I did not give this information the attention that it needed. I did not pass Linux+ but I was not far off.
After that exam, I went back to finish Network+ because it was just a few weeks away. I finished the course but I did not have enough time to go through the practice tests. I did take the one practice test that is available at the end of the course.
The next day I went and took the Network+ exam. I did not pass. This was the first time for one of these exams that I ran out of time. There were four performance based questions and they were very intense. I also had 66 multiple choice questions. The testing center had an additional voucher that was going to be wasted if I did not want to use it. So after failing the first time. I went back and took the exam the next day and passed!
This exam had a completely different selection of questions. The exception of the PBQ questions, three of them were the same from the previous days exam. I improved by almost 80 points on the second days exam.
When I got home after the first exam, I brain dumped into ChatGPT to help me prepare for the exam the next day. The second exam had more questions related to network knowledge and less of the scenario questions. Working in IT, I may not do things the same way that CompTIA expects me to do for the exam. They want things to be done by THEIR seven step method for troubleshooting and that can trip you up if you already work in the field.
Regardless, I passed the exam the second time that I took it. This is reassuring to me because I feel like when I take Linux+ again, I will get a better selection of questions. I will pass the next time.
For now, I am going to enjoy earning the trifecta.
I am happy that as I am writing this, I do not have to be doing any more studying immediately.
It is time to start some of the fun projects with my old computer.
Proxmox coming soon!
Until next time.