Even More Ways to Study Effectively for a Certification Exam
On May 12, my old friend, colleague and occasional collaborator Aaron Axline posted here at GoCertify with some tips and pointers on the subject of effective study techniques for certification exams. It's a terrific piece in its own right, and makes some excellent points, but I couldn't help but chuckle when I read the first two sentences therein:
It would take more than a single article to go over every aspect of studying for a certification exam. This subject could fill a small book, and not a very exciting one at that.
That chuckle, of course, came with a certain amount of rue, because I HAVE written a book on that very topic, one that's been through four or five editions in print, and is now available as a free e-book in the form of a collection of articles at PearsonITCertification.com. That book was entitled IT Certification Success, and enjoyed two editions while Coriolis had the Exam Cram imprint, and another two or three when Exam Cram was (and still is) a Pearson Publishing property. Here's a snap of the 2003 cover for that title, in fact:
If you poke around at PearsonITCertification.com, you'll come across a collection of articles there entitled "Ed Tittel's IT Certification Success." It's a series of 29 articles that recites most of what appeared in the original print editions, with a fair amount of newer original material added — and now also updated at least yearly — for online consumption. Here's a table of contents for this e-book, with links to the individual articles it includes:
General Certification Information: Programs, Benefits, Pros and Cons
Why Vendors Like Certification Programs
Why Organizations and Professional Societies Build Cert Programs
Why Employers Like Cert Programs
General Certification Program Characteristics
What's Not To Like About IT Cert Programs
Ranking Certifications, Part 1: One Method for Rating Certifications
Ranking Certifications, Part 2: The Ratings
Ranking Certifications (2014 Edition)
IT Certification Planning, Preparation, and Training
Overall Certification Preparation Overview
Certification and Career Self-Assessment: Can and Should You Do It?
Crafting a Personal Certification Plan
Understanding IT Certification Ladders
Build Your Own Customized IT Certification Ladder
Pros and Cons of Classroom and Online Training for Certification Prep
Using Practice Exams for Study and Preparation
Establishing a Certification Support System
IT Certifications, Employment, and Career Planning and Development
Working with Professional Associations and Societies
Working with a Personal Network
Working with Technical Recruiters
IT Job Roles and Related Certifications of Interest
When Ideal IT Job Candidates Meet Real Job Requirements
An Ideal Network Administrator
An Ideal IT Internetworking Professional
The Ideal Security Professional
I hope that you'll consider poking around herein, Aaron's observation about the possible nature of such a book's "excitement quotient" notwithstanding. There's actually some pretty good stuff in there, and a great deal of useful input and advice from myself and my most recent co-author on that material, Mary Kyle (my earlier co-conspirator, Kim Lindros, still works with me regularly but has passed that project over to Mary for the past three years or so).
One more item I might recommend along with the book is a downloadable white paper from training company PluralSight that I put together for them back in April 2013. It's somewhat ambitiously called The Ultimate Guide to Preparing for IT Certification Exams and you need to send an e-mail to marketing@pluralsight.com to request a copy. Major topic headings in this 12-page opus include how to pick materials and tools, tips for effective study, how to asses exam readiness, and what to expect during the exam itself. Enjoy!
Ed Tittel is a 30-plus-year computer industry veteran who's worked as a software developer, technical marketer, consultant, author, and researcher. Author of many books and articles, Ed also writes on certification topics for Tech Target, ComputerWorld and Win10.Guru. Check out his website at www.edtittel.com, where he also blogs daily on Windows 10 and 11 topics.
