HOW TO PASS ANY IT CERTIFICATION EXAM (3 Phase Approach)
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- Äas pĆidĂĄn 9. 07. 2024
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How to quickly (and legitimately) pass any IT certification, whether it's any of the CompTIA certificates (such as A+, Network+, Security+, etc), Cisco, Azure, CISSP, or AWS. I have used this method for all of my certifications, as well as for both my bachelor's degree (5 months) and master's degree.
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Intro
Today Iâm going to tell you how to quickly (and legitimately) pass any IT certification, whether itâs any of the Comptia certificates (such as A+, Network+, Security+, etc), Cisco, Azure, or AWS. I have used this method for all of my certifications, as well as for both my bachelorâs degree (5 months) and masterâs degree.
This method is broken down into three phases.
Phase 1) Priming
Phase 2) Learning
Phase 3) Polishing
Phase 1 (Priming)
During phase one, youâll initially expose yourself to the new material. What you need to do, is locate the best possible video series you can, that covers all the exam topics and objectives. For example, if I wanted to pass CompTIA Security+, I might go to reddit to see what video series other people have used to pass the exam.
When you start watching the videos, donât put too much emphasis on trying to MEMORIZE anything during this phase. Just watch and put emphasis on trying to understand the material at that time. Memorization efforts will come later.
Phase 2 (Learning)
During phase two, youâll begin connecting the dots to the fragments of knowledge you gained in the first phase.
Youâll need a few things for this phase:
Practice Questions with good explanations. Use the same method you used to find the video series to find your practice questions. For CompTIA, Professor Messer is pretty good, but do a search for your specific exam.
In addition to the practice questions, youâre also going to need a free spaced-repetition flashcard program called Anki. I could make a whole video on this (there are many, check them out). Anki is a type of spaced repetition flashcard software that optimizes your learning by showing you âharderâ cards more often (harder being determined by your previous answer).
I just want to note that Iâve used Anki with this study method Iâm about to describe to obtain both my bachelors and masters degree and about 13-14 certifications. Iâve also used Anki to teach myself Japanese!
Once you have your practice questions and Anki, Itâs time to get to work. Open your practice questions and Anki together. What we are going to do is, start going through your practice questions, and for any question you donât completely understand or that we get wrong, we are going to add that question into Anki, as well as any relevant supporting information that we want to learn.
Itâs really important that you be honest with yourself and ensure that you fully understand all the topics in the question. If you fully understand the question and all of its components, donât add it to anki. If you got the question correct, but donât understand one component of the question or answers, add that component to anki.
Go through ALL of your practice questions, all the while making entries in Anki. Once you have done this, I would also recommend searching out some user-created questions on Quizlet and do the same thing. Be careful though, because some user-created questions might be low quality. Add another couple hundred questions from Quizlet, or until you are satisfied.
Depending on the exam, I would recommend going through at least 1000 practice questions and adding the content to Anki.
Continued: joshmadakor.com/how-to-pass-a...
0:00 Start
0:24 Phase 1 - Priming (Videos)
1:52 Phase 2a - Practice Exams
2:37 Phase 2b - Anki
5:02 Phase 2b - How to Create Anki Cards
9:15 Phase 2c - Quizlet and User Create Questions
10:04 Phase 3 - Polishing
11:10 Outro
DISCLAIMER: This video description has some affiliate links and I may receive a small commission. I only share stuff that I use and believe in. Thanks so much for your support đ„ș
đ„ Break into IT in ~3 Months with my Hands-On Practical Course! đ„
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Had to come back to this video to say THANK YOU!!!! I passed A+, Net+, Sec+, ITIL, and LPI Linux Essentials; all on the first attempt with this strategy. Taking a ton of notes didn't do it for me, it made studying take 3x longer and I didn't retain the information as well.
Anki is the way to go, nothing works better for me. It really helped drill down my problem areas. I have shared this video with everyone I know that is studying for certs. Thank you for sharing, Josh!
Daaang thank you for this, so much! I'm really glad to hear you had so much success with this method. It has done wonders for me as well haha. Big thanks for coming back and saying thanks đ
Just passed both CompTIA A+ Core 1 & 2! Your advise was critical Josh. Keep up the good work, you are changing lives!
Sheeeesh, glad to hear it! Congrats! Glad the content was useful :)
Which questions did you use? đ
I have taken Core 1 but have heard that 2 is crazy hard. What were your thoughts @Ichaplin7?
How many days did you study before taking ur exam?
Iâve been out of school for some years and I got pretty burned out from studying and trying to memorize each videos contents. Now it feels a whole lot less daunting. Thank you so much!
Super! I'm really glad to hear that. that was my goal in making this video haha. Certs and stuff is not so bad if you have a good approach :)
i wish i have seen this a month ago before i started studying for A+
Youâre amazing! Youâve truly made a video about what I was searching for in help for studying my first exam for the A+. I will definitely be saving this video and implementing your excellent strategy.
Thanks a lot Josh! Just finished watching two of your videos.
thank you so much for putting this video out. I've been so burnt out trying to look for jobs and preparing at the same time, i feel like this will help me so much
Thanks Josh Really appreciate your channel and the great advice/tips you give đđ»đ Youâve helped me a lot Iâm well otw to getting my computer science degree from WGU
I do not have enough words to sing your praises. I hope you are aware of the positive impact you are having on the lives of your fellow humans. Many blessings to you and your whole family brother! You are making it so much more simpler for the rest of us. ArigatĆ đ
Love it! Thx teach! đđœ
haha! very good and informative! i apply the same method and it's nice to see someone with authority on the internet (on learning technical stuff) does the same and even better. I gained a lot of insights with your video, thank you!!
I appreciate you and grateful for your videos helping in my journey.
Thank you for introducing me to Anki, beautiful concept!
Great vid Josh thanks for this
I sorta fell into this sort of flow for my CompTIA A+ prep, although if I had stumbled onto this video sooner I might have saved myself some time, so thanks for having it out there to put the flow into words so others can put it into easy action! One thing people need to keep in mind with these certification exams is that the question pools are protected by non-disclosure agreements, so your practice test questions WILL differ from exam questions; using Josh's examples to expand knowledge by adding cards (such as with the "wrong answer" port numbers in the one card) is a great example of how to overcome this limitation imposed upon our preparation!
Dude, seriously, you are a friggin beast! I very much enjoy your content!
Very thorough and easy on the ears! You are clearly at the top of the game!
Fred, thanks so much! I enjoy that you enjoy it, hahaha.
Thanks so much for watching!!!
What a great streamlined process for learning and retention. Not only is this useful for deeper learning you have an awesome delivery on your channel that is easy to follow. Keep it up, really dig the content.
Thanks so much, really appreciate it. Glad the content is easy to digest lol
Bro you are a life saver! All I needed was a little direction for my CompTIA A+ Cert. There so much information out there...a little too much. But this is concise, organized and interactive. I'm a tactile learner, so just memorizing videos feels sluggish. Thank you!
This is fantastic content. Thank you!!!!!!
Absolutely saving this.
GOODđŠ
Thank you so much for making this video, it helps a lot! I shared this video with friends and family. :)
Thank you so much for watching and sharing. Much appreciated! I'm glad it was useful :)
I really enjoy your channel, so much info in a great organizational way thank you!!
You are so welcome! Appreciate you watchin! Glad it has been helpful :)
Passed yesterday. Thank you đđŸ
Thanks Josh, keep on doing this kind of creative and very useful content. God bless!
Thanks Eco! Will do!
Hi Josh,
Thank you so much!!!
This video helped me a lot. đ
Dope! I'm glad it helped
Solid! You should have way more subscribers! Your channel is gold!
That was cool. Iâve never thought of learning this way. Great stuff Iâll apply this method for my exams.
Hey again Cyber Oni, glad you liked it! It's my fav way to learn. Learned language this way too, super effective ^^
Ty Ty Ty Josh, I was looking for a memory retention strategy and this method is on the money
Hey Carlos, glad you found it useful! Anki has definitely served me well over the years :P
Understand the concepts is the key and then eliminate answers from what you feel is confident
very nice
thank you for sharing your knowledge
I could seriosuly listen to you teach anything, Josh. I love your channel!
You're too kind T_T, thank you
@@JoshMadakor do you have to take all the IT test?!
@@cyberrock9018 Do I have to take all of them? Lol, just the ones I flashed at the beginning and the ones on my LinkedIn :D
@@JoshMadakor omg Iâm sorry for the question Iâm just saying for the cyber secuirty bachelors assurance cert tests. Do you have to take all of the 15 certs test ??? Or can you pick and choose? Thank you so much
japanese wow!
Excellent! Starting this strategy now
Super super! Thanks for watching :)
This was more needed than I thought. It's easy to say "Oh I need to study for so and so exam." But if you don't already have a study technique in place, it's daunting to even get started. I will definitely take some tips from this video! Much appreciated. Glad I stumbled across your channel, I always look forward to new videos. Keep up the good work! : D
Hey PJ, glad you stumbled on the channel too! Definitely helps to have a solid plan that targets weak areas. GL with your exams :)
Love you man!
Love you too chief! đ
Alright... this is a great approach! Taking this into consideration next exam!!! thank you
Great! Lemme know how it goes :)
This is awesome đ I love the vids!!!
No thank YOU for watching! I hope to post more soon once I get some time :)
Thanks for this!
Of course! Thanks for watching and thanks for saying thanks, haha!
This video is GOLD!!!
ArigatĆgozaimashita đđœ
Was stationed in Japan for a year and half so I know a little bit of the language đ .
Glad you liked it! Sore wa yokatta ne! lol. That's so dope you got to stay in Japan. I feel it's one of the best places as long as you're allowed to go off base haha. Thanks for watching :)
thanks, now i found a new way to study and reach my goals!
Super! Glad it was helpful. I honestly use this whenever I have to learn a BUNCH of stuff (certs, college exam, etc hehe)
Thank you for sharing!
Thanks for watching!
Gathering all the info I can, so anxious to start my bachelor, Thanks for this amazing content Josh!
No problem and best of luck with your BS!
@@JoshMadakor thanks so much, and thanks for the reply
Awesome advice Josh! I downloaded Anki while still listening to your video. I just passed my initial Azure Cert and I plan on getting a Bachelors and Masters in Cybersecurity from WGA!!. Where were you 10 yrs ago dude? I could be CTO at Prudential now! LOL
This video is such a blessing thanks alot and God bless
No problem Andrea, best of luck with whatever cert you are going to do :)
Wow mind blown! Liked and subscribed!
Wow thanks!! super appreciated!
I follow more Professor Messer recommendations, study guide book, video series, and practice test. Iâm currently studying for the CISSP almost done with Mike Chapple book, next is his CISSP LinkedIn video course.
Hello Josh, this video helped me in passing a certification. I always look forward to watching your video and content. Thanks for all you do. Cheers!
I'm so glad to hear it! What cert did you get? (thanks for watching btw! )
@@JoshMadakor CompTia A+ 1001 Core 1. I'll be using this same strategy to tackle Core 2 as well. You're welcome
Excellent. I was looking for a way to put everything together... and I found this video. Great job bro!
Awesome, thank you! Glad it was useful. I think this was my first first video where I was actually trying to produce content so it came out a bit awkward lol.
@@JoshMadakor Glad you made it. I'm currently working on the CISSP now and I had all these different resources (Books, Vids, Anki, etc..) and your video was the glue to how to use them.
Coming back to this video to say it helped me pass the Comptia A+. Thanks Josh!
Great to hear! and super congrats. Thanks for the good news!
Passed Security+ and AZ-900 this month. Just commenting to show appreciation again.
Thanks!!!
Just want to say i liked and subscribed to the channel man, gotta pass A+ this next time or pay $300. i go to wgu and i want to be successful and kill this exam!! thank you man so much
OMG! Thank you!
Thanks for watching :>
Very helpful! I will use this Anki app to expedite and streamline my studies. I find myself spending excessive time on the priming stage, slogging through too many videos before really engaging with the material via study Qs
I feel you, haha. I try to get to the learning phase as soon as I can. When I'm doing the practice questions, I find that a lot of the ideas and concepts that seemed random, finally start connecting and making sense. Good luck!
Anki is nice. Some added features that would be cool are 1) serve questions in rounds of related questions, 2.1) be able to select answers, 2.2) not show correct answers until round is over, 3) a refresh button that letâs you refresh your memory over easier questions, 4) answer questions in the selection format of Sure, Not Sure, and I donât know. Sound familiar??? Then youâve probably taken a class that required PearsonVUE and you used their proprietary Dynamic Study Modules
thank you! this a+ kicked my behind but i will not fail a 2nd time... much appreciated encouragement sir. Thank you
Glad it helped!
What a good video!
I learned a new tactic to study âșïž thanks!!
No problems, glad it was useful. Thank ya for watching :)
Bro. I wish I would have found this video 3 weeks ago. Created 656 anki cards for Professor Messer videos. Took me 75 hours to learn a 15 hour video series (while playing on 2x-3.5x).
Didn't even think of priming then using the practice tests to anki. I tested the practice tests after doing all that work. @_@ Work smarter, not harder! Got it!
Congrats on the new job, btw!
Shoot, you did a great job anyway using anki and passing. That is a well above average effort/method haha. Thank you for the congrats, congrats to yourself on the pass!
0:59 thatâs so hard to do though especially when youâre so used to memorizing answers for tests itâs like physics all over again when we had to conceptualize the material and that was tough for me to do because no one can make you understand something
Good video! I was looking for a good way to study.
:D
Thanks for the video Josh! Iâm studying for my sec+ right now, Iâve literally gone through 2 video series and Iâm still not grasping some concepts. I think that Anki deck is gonna help a lot!
Great! I hope it does! I find that when watching/reading stuff, a lot of it is kind of just bits of knowledge floating around in my head that doesn't make sense without much context. But when I start doing practice questions, a lot of the pieces really come together and start making more sense. Hopefully you'll experience something like this! GL with Sec+, I really enjoyed that one
Did you pass?
@@yasservillalobos8476 yep!
I discovered ANKI 1 year into the pandemic when I finally decided to lear Japanese and realized the potential it had to help learn other stuff in IT too. I am now sure that people who study in knowledge heavy fields like law or medicine have been using similar techniques to succeed in their fields. CISSP is definitely next for me.
You are really right about that. Medicine too! Anki is SO good, check out this video: czcams.com/video/CeEZJPJO474/video.html
Great tips! It's so hard for me to study and resist the urge to take notes of every detail in the polishing phase. Also, where does do labs come in here?
ANKI is great. I have used it to pass certification tests for Check Point firewall and the CISSP. I'm with you on the number of cards I had to make on the CISSP material, I was pushing 3000 in my polishing phase.
It is really good. And good work on the CISSP efforts. Some people don't understand just how much you should be studying for that exam. THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS of questions/cards. I was motivated to not waste my (at that time) $600 exam fee lol
Thanks!
Thank you so much!! I'm sorry I missed this omg!
I studied for CISSP and passed in 4 weeks. Basically using your method but Anki. I used Videos (Kelly's) then I read the summarize of the Sybex book to familiarized myself with the topic. Then the whole chapter. I used Boson to measure my performance once a week and next week, focus on the weak areas.
Oh nice, I've always wondered how Boson was for CISSP. must be p good. Also 4 weeks is really damn fast for CISSP, congrats :)
Did you make the Boson questions as Anki cards?
Thanks
Hey Josh can you export and share the flash cards you built? Thanks!
Wao, amazing and super simple way to tackle a cert. I havenât try it yet, also I donât have any cert, but this video kind of light the fire đ„ in me. Wish me luck !!!
Hey Ubaldo! Best of luck! Glad it was useful! I've used this strategy quite a bit. For CISSP and to learn Japanese as well. It's quite good :P. GL if you decide to get one!
@@JoshMadakor I appreciate your response! Much love and my best wishes to you and your family.
Hey Josh, commenting on a old but good vid. How do you take notes for certs? or do you take any at all and just stick with Anki and Quizlet to enforce the knowledge?
Today I learned about anki, I will try it, thanks. Great content btw
Hey Paco! Thanks very much! Anki is a great tool and I've used it for so much. A lot of med students use it too for the vast amount of info they have to digest.
@@JoshMadakor you got me đł when you said 4k questions but then I remembered mine are about 400-600 for sec+ đ
Hi Josh, Great video! where can I download your CISSP and Security+ desks?
Awesome!! Like and suscribe, this is super useful!
Hey Josh thank you so much for this video I discovered now, it's really helpful I will be writing Comptia A+ in April
I really want to follow your methods.
Do you think it will be hard for me to pass? And do you think I can also take the same advice for Network +
Security+ 601 Anki deck build begins!
Awesome! The sec+ is really fun and I really enjoyed studying for it. Good luck đ
So do we take notes during the Priming phase or just sit through the video series?
Thanks for the video and quick question. In phase 1, I understand you don't need to memorize things but get an understanding of them. Does this mean in phase 2 you will need to rewatch all content and start memorizing things?
Currently learning comptiaA+ core 1 I donât what my tutor is talking about half the time mentions a lot about the system itself motherboards etc so hard to process this info
What's your opinion on also adding a book in the polish phase? I tend to do so for a bit more detailed description or possibly missing info from both the video course and quizzes. As a downside, cert books take a while to read.
Sounds good to me! As long as you are cool with the time, it can't hurt. When I was doing CISSP, I read "CISSP 11th Hour" during my polish phase. I don't always do this, but I didn't want to waste $600 by failing CISSP lmao.
What are some good study method and note taking methods?
waouh thanks
Excellent information, thank you! I've been binge-watching IT/Cybersecurity videos (mostly yours) for a while, and all the helpful info I'm gaining got me eager to start my IT/Cybersecurity journey. I'm over here like, "đŁput me in the game coach!" Lol...I'll be taking your IT course soon, and afterward get a few certs out the way starting with CompTIA. Knock out all transferable courses for WGU through both the Sophia and Study websites, then enroll at WGU
Hello Josh .
Thanks for this amazing vid base on your recommendation form our last discussion you refer me to this video in other to prep me towards my IT career and trust me I find this video insightfully and helpful thanks bro . My question is since you make references to comptia A+ as the base line certification which particular comptia A+ will you recommend. Please I need this information in other to start preparing for the certification as soon as possible your video is a boost to my moral going into the IT career...
Thank you bro God blessed you.
I want ask are you from NIGERIA ( Eastern part of Nigeria because your last name sounds like you are from IGBO part of Nigeria just me curious stay blessed bro I will love you to be my mentor let me know how much it will costđ
Aw Thanks so much, you're too kind lol. My Dad is Igbo, but I've never been . Also my actual first name is Nnamdi and middle name is Josh, haha. For the A+, you need both CompTIA A+ 220-1001 and 220-1002 to get certified. Here are the videos from Professer Messer:
www.professormesser.com/free-a-plus-training/a-plus-videos/220-1001-training-course/
www.professormesser.com/free-a-plus-training/a-plus-videos/220-1002-training-course/
Hope this helps, and thanks so much for watching my stuff :)
Coming back to rewatch all videos until a new one is up đ€Ł
Lol thank you I don't deserve it, but I'm glad you find them useful haha. I'm ALMOST finished with my BS in CS, and I'm about to quit my job at the same time, so I'll post a bunch of new stuff at that time :p. Thanks again!
@@JoshMadakor your channel has been a great help! I wish you all the best! Stay awesomeđ
hahahaha the end of the video is really funny đ
Lmao, thank you for noticing it :p
Do you happen to have that Anki CISSP Deck Handy?
When watching videos like Professor Messor, do you recommend to not focus on taking notes and pausing, unpausing to write notes and instead just pay attention and soak it in? This is my struggle point that feels like it takes forever for me to get through videos.
Do you always renew all your certs and pay annual fee for some of your certs? I also have a lot of certs and it is expensive to pay all the maintenance fee. Thanks
I'm considering doing the CompTIA Security +. I read that its advisable to first do the A+ and Networking+ before doing Security+. What are your views on this?
How can I use Anki with Az-104 exam questions with Use Case descriptions that has like 5 questions for it?
Is there a way to share decks with people? Or get decks others made for certain certs?
I'm definitely using this app. That's how I got through high school, but physical card making sucks.
So when you say (in description) that you used this method for your degrees, do you mean like in order to pass your exams in the courses flr esch degree?
Should you make all the flash cards available on Anki? Or Should you limit the daily card limit?
Hey Josh! Big fan. Do you happen to have the links, sites, or sheets to the test problem questions/test generator that you used?
Hey Ali! I'm actually building a deck with over 1000 CompTIA A+ Practice questions in it right now. I will probably release the video either next week or the week after!
@@JoshMadakor Awesome! Thank you. If you happen to drop some for other certifications, please let me know. You're awesome
Do you have a link to these flash cards to help us save time on building our deck?
Hey, I only have a CISSP deck but it's really old and probably not that useful. When you build your own deck, you can tailor it for the stuff that YOU care about. Hope this helps :( Sorry that I don't have any decks :(
Hey Josh, I am curious how you configure your Anki settings when you are preparing for a test. Do you let cards mature?
Nah, it will take forever for that, in most cases anyway. I guess the only time I was studying long enough for maturity was when I was studying for CISSP! Other than that, I just remove tge daily limit and go at it. Hope this helps :)
Damn. I normally prime and after, pick up another resource (reading instead of watching) then the refresh my memory and knowledge... and then I will go through the learn phase.
Hey Josh or anyone else who may know the answer to this question. Do employers care if a certification you got expired? I can understand if them carring if it expired like a decade ago but do they care if it expired say a few months ago or a year?
Do you take notes during the video series in the first phase? Or are you just watching and trying to understand everything in your head?
During the priming phase, would it be ok to use 2-3 video courses?
Do you take notes during the video courses or just utilize Anki for flash card notes?
Great video!
You sure can! It will just take a bit more time of course. It's up to you whether or not you wanna take notes during priming. I honestly used to do that, but eventually I found that I'd rather just chill and try to understand the material at that point, then take notes when I was doing the practice exams--but I'm weird. It's up to you though how you adopt the strategy. Maybe just try things out and see what you like best :)
@@JoshMadakor Thanks for the reply! Iâve watched another CZcamsr state to watch a video all the way through first for understanding and then watch it again but this time taking notes. Iâm trying to understand the material and not cram for a certification exam. I like your approach to this process and will be giving it a go!
Subscribed as well! Keep it up!
thanks for asking about notes, I had the exact same question. I found I was spending 3x longer on the videos though so gonna give this method a try instead.
Very underated channel
You're too kind lol
@@JoshMadakor noproblem lol, could you maybe do some more tuts on C#?
@@nexuz4258 Yeah I may! I'm probably going to do some Ransomware videos in the future that will use C#. Maybe PowerShell though, still thinking!
@@JoshMadakor I have a working botnet lel, maybe you could do something on DDoS attacks. Like DNS Amp, or spoofed SYN etc etc