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+--- Thread: I.C. Test-Drive & Review [kinda long] (/Thread-I-C-Test-Drive-Review-kinda-long)
I.C. Test-Drive & Review [kinda long] - grauwulf - 09-20-2010
Me:
First a little background about me. I am employed full time and a part time student, like so many of the rest of you. I am also taking two online classes from UMUC and have been heavily pursuing industry certifications: CEH, CHFI, Sec+, Linux+, Cert. Info. & Network Security [UMBC] all in the last 4 months. Somewhere in there I have managed to not get a divorce and still find time to play with my motorcycle :-P
I mention all of this to give you an idea of what my obligations and available time is like these days, to say my study time is at best a bit limited is a fair statement. I, as they say, am in the same boat as the rest of you.
Me & dsst:
Earlier this year when I enrolled in UMUC (from a junior college) I needed few classes for prerequisites and was advised that with my experience MIS & Intro to computing would be an easy pick up. With a little basic review/study I sat those tests and passed with 458 and 475 respectively. Now that the end of the year is upon me I noticed that almost all of my remaining requirements are electives, so why not see how far dsst can take me?
Instant Cert Challenge:
I signed up for the Instant Cert web site and decided to put them to the test. I chose Business Ethics & Society because it is a topic I have a general knowledge of, but only very general. The challenge was to study, really study, the I.C. materials, but only the I.C. materials. For my $20 a month I could buy 1 study guide and really study for one test, or with I.C. I could take 2 or 3 tests (in theory) and get a great value. Today I passed my exam, so on that front they passed too
How did I study?
I went though the flash cards twice and then made a trimmed-down study sheet of the flash card material. I then organized it by topic as related to the exam and filled in any gaps that it felt like were missing with, literally, about 30minutes of web searching. Reviewed it a few times, let it stew in my brain over a few days, gave it one last review and the went for it.
Review of the Business Ethics & Society Flash Cards:
The flashcards provide good information but the score is based on how well you remember the specific answers, not if you 'know' the material. Don't be discouraged by the I.C. Flash Card "Score'. I recommend reading through all of the cards once, beginning to end, then study the material as a whole. I had no intention of using any other study resources but had to look up a few details that are alluded to but not clarified in the flash cards. For example: (not using the real question because I don't remember I.C. policy)
"[...] often includes using _[publicity]_ -- one of the four ingredients of the [.MIX.]"
And the other ingredients are.... rice, chicken, and paprika? The other ingredients are never mentioned in the rest of the cards! Then it turns out that the [.MIX.] in question doesn't use "publicity" but rather "promotion". Obviously somebody is confused. It felt like everything was there, but it was just a bit sloppy.
After the test:
The study material/flash cards definitely helped, even if you take it as 1 test a month you are most certainly getting your money worth. Do the flash cards cover all the material on the exam? Nope. They cover most of it, but I will do a little bit more outside study for my next test.
Final Review:
Instant Cert is a good resource, but not the final solution to your study quandaries. I went in with the expectation that all of the material I was expected to know would be covered by the I.C. flash cards. I didn't expect, nor want, a brain-dump. And it wasn't. In retrospect: after I had compiled all of my notes from the flash cards I feel that I had an OK-to-Pretty_Good set of study notes. For me the material is good-enough as I intend to do some more outside study. The real benefit for me is that with access to all the study materials I can hyper-focus my study time. My final score of 447 was much better than I expected. I intend to keep using Instant Cert for next 3-4 tests.
That's what I've got. I don't know if that is helpful or not, but it fairly accurately review my experience with the Instant Cert flash cards...
"but don't take my word for it...." [cue the Reading Rainbow music]
I.C. Test-Drive & Review [kinda long] - MISin08 - 09-20-2010
Nice review. Did you find the specific exam feedback useful? I don't see a mention. I found it especially good for knowing how far to go beyond the cards for the level of score I am targeting.
Phillip
I.C. Test-Drive & Review [kinda long] - grauwulf - 09-20-2010
Hi Phillip,
MISin08 Wrote:... specific exam feedback useful? I don't see a mention...
I'm not exactly sure what you are referring to. Do you mean 'exam specific' feedback from the forums? Perhaps there is a study feature that I'm missing?
In reference to the forums, "eh" *shrug* the information available is so scattered and, to be honest, of such varying quality that it's hard to say. When I looked up the Business Ethics and Society exam most of what I got back was "I passed/failed" or "Taking it tomorrow" kinds of info.
Maybe the Exam Fact Sheet from getcollegecredit.com(the dsst website)? Those are quite useful, yes. In fact my personal study guide contained about 15ish pages of notes from the flash cards, 1 page of personal additions, and the fact sheet.
If I'm missing something please let me know! I'd hate to be missing out on a valuable study resource.
I.C. Test-Drive & Review [kinda long] - MISin08 - 09-20-2010
I meant the forum. Interesting that it wasn't all that for you.
Phillip
I.C. Test-Drive & Review [kinda long] - rmroberts - 09-20-2010
If you are signed in, on the main degree forum page, the Specific Exam Feedback section is the last category. Under General, Big 3, and Military. It is extremely helpful! Often more so than the flashcards imho.
I.C. Test-Drive & Review [kinda long] - grauwulf - 09-20-2010
ahhhhhhh I see it now. I searched the site before I joined IC so today is my first time actually looking through the forum as a 'member'.
Phillip, I just looked over the Business Ethics and Society topic and it does look like good information. I will certainly be using those for my future tests. Thanks for the heads-up!