Continuing on my theme that we can "make our own luck" to a certain extent, I want to touch on one of my main weaknesses when it comes to taking any type of standardized test including Microsoft exams. I am a big victim of second guessing. I look at a question, I get a gut instinct answer and I should be happy. I'm not. I look at it. I read more into it. I assume that they might have meant something different than I originally thought.
Thankfully, I don't do that anymore. I am constantly fighting those urges though. I think it is human nature to be unsure of what we think we know. Even the most confident among us will sometimes wonder if they are doing the right thing. When you are dealing with an exam that you may have all kinds of preconceptions built up in your head, well it is easy to see how they could "get you".
So how do I fight these urges? It is simple. If you read my post on time management, you saw that I tend to go through each exam twice (as best I can) so that I can answer the ones that I think are easier first. Well, rule number one, unless I see something in the exam further on, that shows me that I am ABSOLUTELY wrong with an answer, I will not look at those again under any circumstances.
With the other questions, I do almost the same thing. I go back to the ones I have marked, answer them as best as I can and just move one without looking back. It seems like a dumb suggestion. I am sure that a lot of people think this is obvious. Well, if you feel that way, I am not talking to you (just kidding, I am talking to everyone, it's just that sometimes what I say doesn't help you). For those of us who are constant second guessers, leave the second guessing at the door to the exam room. It will save you a lot of grief.
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Ron got his start with computing way back when he first started programming on his Atari 800 computer back in 1980. He decided right then that he computers woukld be his career. He has been working in the IT field for 18 years. For the last 12 he has been an MCT at New Horizons in New York City where he has taught over 500 classes to more than 3000 students. He is also an MCSE and an MCSD.
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Second-Guessing Yourself when Cisco only gives you one guess
My normal approach to exams is to go through once quickly and answer the things I know or that look easy, and then to go through again for the harder questions or the ones I'm less confident about it. Unfortunately, when I took the CCNA exams, they're structured for a one-pass approach - it made time management a lot harder, because I couldn't budget for per-question time until I was about halfway through and had some guess about what fraction of questions were easy/hard/fast/slow. Very frustrating, and that's of course not how the real world works.
Second Guessing Cisco
I guess that is why I haven't taken any Cisco exams. I can't imagine not being able to go back at all.
Thanks for reading and responding.
Ron