I Passed!!!

I passed the test with a score of 749. I needed at least 675, so I guess there was a small cushion there.

I'm very relieved to be done with that. Now to finish writing about the whole process and look further forward.

A Real Simulation

This practice test environment has a 'certification mode' in which the actual test conditions are simulated.  There's not a lot of difference between this and the other ways I've taken the test, but I figured I'd give it a try.

It took me 23 minutes, according to the after test report, and I scored 94%.  Yay.

I acheived:

95% in operational procedures

94% in laptops

91% in networking

91% in PC hardware

90% in printers

A couple observations from this simulation:

I'm a little surprised that I missed at least one question in each section of the test.

I'm not surprised I did miss some questions.  There are some things, like class A, B, C or D IP addresses which I have missed previously, reviewed many times, and still don't have memorized.  I hope there are none, or very few of these questions on the test.

That question about the order in which I'd clean a laser printer continues to haunt me.  I think, if I ever need to clean a laser printer, I'll just toss it and buy a new one.

Time to take the real test.  I have it scheduled for this Friday, May 30.  Check back soon after that if you want to see how it goes.

76%

In my last three attempts, I missed 21 questions.  Going through those 21 questions, I scored 76%, not quite passing.

In detail, I scored:
100% in printers
100% in operational procedures
73% in PC hardware
71% in networking

Networking and PC hardware have  been among the lowest scoring areas on every version of the test I've taken.  I know that much of it has to do with just not memorizing things like which port a particular protocol uses.  Or how many pins a particular type of interface has.  These are things I don't think I necessarily need to know.  I long ago stopped depending on memorization because I don't have a very  good memory for it and because in previous work, depending on memory was only good for ensuring mistakes would be made.  Even when I knew what oil filter fit a Ford V-8, I always double checked, both for the customer's and for my piece of mind.  (It was a Fram PH8A, by the way.)  Eventually Ford engineered things differently and there was another part number.  It was good that I kept looking up the proper part number or customers would have started getting the wrong part from me.

For the purposes of this test, I'll work on memorizing what I need to, then I'll forget it again and look it up when I need to.  I'm off to try to memorize some things.  We'll see how it goes after that.

Yet Another Round

For this attempt, after a few days of not studying, or taking test, or really doing anything related, I took the 45 questions I have not seen in my two previous attempts at the test.  So, over the last three attempts, I've again seen all 245 questions available in this test bank.

This time I scored 87% overall, including:
80% in networking
90% in PC hardware

I think this is, overall, a good thing.  Having essentially not reinforced anything to do with this test for the past several days, I received a passing score.  This was a limited cross-section of questions, but I'll see the bright side instead of the negative.

Next will be another review of the questions I've missed lately.

Another Round

This time, I scored 91%.

I got:

100 % in printers

100% in operational procedures

90% in PC hardware

88% in networking

I set the test up to see only questions I had not seen on the previous test, but I don't think that happened.  Or maybe I've just seen all the test questions too many times.  I'll keep taking the test and reviewing, but I think I might have learned as much as I can learn from this process.  I guess that leaves only taking the test for real.  Tentatively, I'll plan to do that this coming weekend.  Meanwhile, I'll continue to post any updates I have here.

A Passing Score

This time, I took the test using a mix of 100 questions and scored 94%.  I think that is good, but since I've seen all the questions at least once and reviewed everything I missed the first time I saw them and subsequently answered all except one of those correctly, I don't think it's spectacular.

The details:

100% in laptops

100% in networking (had been a weakness the first couple rounds)

95% in operational procedures

90% in printers

88% in PC hardware

I imagine I'll score similarly when I take another 100 questions in my next attempt.  Of course, I'll post the details here.

The Final 19

I've now discovered that the test practice test environment will not allow me to take all the questions I've missed through all my iterations of the test.  By choosing missed questions it only allows me to retake the 19 I still have not answered successfully to this point.  I did exactly that and missed one question.

The only one I have not answered correctly to this point involves a nine step process for cleaning a thermal printer.  I haven't put them in the correct order, based on my own common sense interpretation of how I'd do it.  I also have not properly memorized their version of how it is supposed to be done.  I think the steps that are confusing me involve accessing the print head after releasing the print head.  If this ends up being the only one on the real test that I miss, I'll be more than happy with that.

I do wonder how many of these actual questions might be on the real test.  If it is none, I might be in trouble, since this practice testing is teaching me to answer its own questions correctly, but not necessarily anything else that might be asked.  Another thing to discover at a later time.

Next, I think I'll take a test involving a random sample of 100 questions, closely simulating the real thing, except that I've now seen every question in advance, and I've answered almost every one of them correctly at least once.  I hope the real world treats me as well.

All the Missed Questions

Sixty seven questions.  Nineteen missed.  That was a slight improvement over my last attempt and I've definitely learned from my previous mistakes.

Overall, I've answered 226 of the 245 questions correctly, or 92 percent.  If I'd done that all at once, the first time, I would have been quite happy to move onto the real test immediately I believe.  As it is, I will probably take another test including missed questions.  As I reviewed the 19 I missed this last time, I saw a few areas where I just don't know the answers and must guess, even after reviewing my previous mistakes.  There are others, such as the components on a motherboard, that I missed one item multiple times.  I believe I now know all the components well, so I'll be able to answer all the diagram questions correctly going forward.  We shall soon see if my confidence is well-founded.

Third Try

I probably should have waited until I was less distracted and feeling better, but I didn't.  I took the remaining 45 questions and took about 20 minutes to do so.

I scored a 58% overall including:

53% on PC hardware

and

62% on networking

I'm encouraged by the PC hardware score, oddly enough, because there were four or five questions which showed me an image of a motherboard and had me label many of the parts.  I got the wrong one or two components incorrect on all of them.  Now I know, for sure, which bits are which.  What I will worry about on the test is the quality of the images.  On a couple of them, I just couldn't see enough detail of the items highlighted to know what they were.

On the networking side, I missed several questions about port numbers.  That is one thing I knew very little about going in, so I know I need to study those.

I've now completed 245 questions and missed 67.  Not great, but I now know more than I did a couple days ago.  Stay tuned.  Next, I'll take another 100 question test and include everything  I missed so far.  It should be challenging and show me what I've been able to retain from my reviews of missed questions.

Second Test Attempt

I thought I might do better this second time around.  I was disappointed, but not by much.

I scored 75% overall, down two points.

As for my individual scores:
50% in printers
75% in operational procedures
75% in networking
76% in PC hardware

This was relatively consistent, but not good enough.

Again, reading the test questions correctly is vital.  There were two questions that specified how many answers to choose and I didn't choose the correct number of answers, guaranteeing a wrong answer.  There were a couple questions that, even upon review, didn't quite make sense to me.  There were also a couple that only became clear once the desired answer was explained.  I think becoming more familiar with the way the questions are presented will be very valuable for me when I take the real test.

A good thing about taking this practice test within the system it is presented in is the ability to configure the test differently.  For this round, I opted to see only questions I had not seen previously.  As a result, anything I learned from my review of the first test did not come into play.  According to the site, there are still 54 (if I'm remembering correctly?) questions I have not seen.

For my next try, I'll answer the remaining questions I have not seen.  After reviewing these, I'll be ready to retake the test and see if I've learned anything along the way.  Wish me luck.

Week 7

As promised, I went ahead and took the practice test.  I needed 80% to pass, and will on the actual test.  I scored 77%.  Missed it by .....that much.

From worst to best, I scored:
68% on networking
69% on laptops
77% on PC hardware
80% on printers
90% on operational procedures

A review of my misses shows me that, of the 13 questions I missed, there were only a couple that I had no clue about.  On most of them, there were two answers I liked and I chose the wrong one of the two.  There were a couple in there that, upon review, were incredibly obvious had I read the question and answers better.

I'm allowed unlimited access to the practice test for the next month, so I now have an idea of what I'll need to review.  I'm planning to take a break from the computer for now and then I'll probably try again, specifying that I only get questions I haven't seen before.  If I end up with the same areas of weakness, I'll probably re-read the book on those subjects.

I'll update again after my next try.

Week 6

I've changed strategies a little bit this week.  I've purchased my exam voucher, along with a practice test and a retake voucher.  I'm hoping I won't need to retake the test, but the combo was a good deal compared to the regular price and even compared to the regular price of just the practice test and the regular test voucher.

What I'll do is take the practice test and study, if needed, based on my results there.  I feel I haven't been learning as much as I should be considering how much material is in the book I'm reading.  I'd estimate I know 75% or more of what's in the book already.  Of the other 25%, I imagine I'll retain a relatively small piece of that after reading the whole book.  I feel the net result is not worth the amount of time I'm putting into the book.

I'll be taking the practice test this week and I'll report the results here.  Wish me luck.  Or wish me a result equal to my knowledge of the subject, at least.