I wanted to share with you the content of an email I sent to a group of students I had the pleasure of teaching last week, as I drove forward the idea of not being afraid to take the CompTIA Security+ certification exam. While content knowledge is important, my experience is students stand a better chance of success if they are relaxed during the exam, adopting an approach that includes both time management and "intelligent guessing" as detailed in a posting on my blog. Here is the email content:
SUBJECT: Comparison: Certification Exams and Eating Dinner
When you go to a good restaurant and look at the menu, you are basically planning for the next 90 minutes. A quality meal will have an appetizer, main course, and a dessert. All this, if you so desire, can be followed up with an after-dinner drink. How about, based upon the information provided below, you approach your exam in the same manner?
The appetizer is that first pass through the questions. Those performance-based questions are more challenging to digest so they will be part of the main course and will be skipped. Eat only those questions that are your favorites, leaving the less tasteful for dinner (your second pass). Where you sense that an item is could either be an appetizer or could be eaten with the main course (you are reasonably sure you know the correct answer but might change your mind), don't be afraid to give it a bite (answer the question), but be sure to keep it at the table (mark it) because you might want to eat it later.
On to the main course. Here you are relaxed, cruising through the meal. It is where, with the exception of the PBQs which should be saved for dessert, you answer those questions that you have not answered.
Dessert is a pleasure. Pleasure starts with those tasteful and satisfying PBQs. Make sure that you have plenty of time for the PBQs. That will only happen if you have moved through the appetizer and main course in a fairly rapid manner. Take as much time as is available for the PBQs, not rushing but savoring their taste.
When you are done it is time to consider having an after-dinner drink. Me, I don't drink so it is time to signal that I'm done and get up from the table. Some of you may choose to drink, and that's OK as long as you remember at the end of the meal, blood flow is directed away from your brain and distributed to your digestive system to deal with what you've eaten. So be careful changing your mind (and answers to questions).
That's pretty much it. Enjoy the meal and remember, if you don't know an answer, guess intelligently.
SUBJECT: Comparison: Certification Exams and Eating Dinner
When you go to a good restaurant and look at the menu, you are basically planning for the next 90 minutes. A quality meal will have an appetizer, main course, and a dessert. All this, if you so desire, can be followed up with an after-dinner drink. How about, based upon the information provided below, you approach your exam in the same manner?
The appetizer is that first pass through the questions. Those performance-based questions are more challenging to digest so they will be part of the main course and will be skipped. Eat only those questions that are your favorites, leaving the less tasteful for dinner (your second pass). Where you sense that an item is could either be an appetizer or could be eaten with the main course (you are reasonably sure you know the correct answer but might change your mind), don't be afraid to give it a bite (answer the question), but be sure to keep it at the table (mark it) because you might want to eat it later.
On to the main course. Here you are relaxed, cruising through the meal. It is where, with the exception of the PBQs which should be saved for dessert, you answer those questions that you have not answered.
Dessert is a pleasure. Pleasure starts with those tasteful and satisfying PBQs. Make sure that you have plenty of time for the PBQs. That will only happen if you have moved through the appetizer and main course in a fairly rapid manner. Take as much time as is available for the PBQs, not rushing but savoring their taste.
When you are done it is time to consider having an after-dinner drink. Me, I don't drink so it is time to signal that I'm done and get up from the table. Some of you may choose to drink, and that's OK as long as you remember at the end of the meal, blood flow is directed away from your brain and distributed to your digestive system to deal with what you've eaten. So be careful changing your mind (and answers to questions).
That's pretty much it. Enjoy the meal and remember, if you don't know an answer, guess intelligently.
