How should I study with CertBlaster practice tests?

Because “practice makes perfect” the CertBlaster learning method rests on an iterative model. That means that you work in a feedback loop.

What do I do first?

You take CertBlaster Exam 1 (your first practice test) in Assessment Mode. In this mode you will not see any answers nor explanations ensuring that whatever your answer is, it’s yours, which of course is the main prerequisite to any sound assessment of knowledge.

However the Assessment Mode will provide you with a lot of feedback and so start the feedback loop alluded to above.
After viewing your grades (overall and per exam objective) clicking “Next” will generate this pop-up:

Click “Yes” and CertBlaster will generate a list of all the questions you answered incorrectly with the correct answer. Below is an example of what that looks like, this example is from A+ but the format is the same no matter which exam it’s applied to.

You can print this list in order to check it off as you study Drills in Study Mode. After printing your list (or just taking a screenshot) click “Next” again and you will be presented with your custom “Personal Testing Plan” – PTP. That is your course outline based on how you did on the Exam. It lists the areas you need to improve on in order to be ready for the actual exam. Below is an example of what a PTP looks like.

In this case the student has seven sub-objectives to work on. Yours can be more (especially on your first try) or less depending on how far along you are in your studies and/or your level of experience. Here again this is something you will want to print (or if it’s short, just take a screenshot) in order to work down that list.
While we are at the PTP page you here have the ability by clicking the “Options” button

to have CertBlaster offer you to create a custom CertBlaster practice test for you based exclusively on all the questions you missed in the Exam (or Drill).

You have now completed the first step of the first feedback loop!

Next you go to the Drills. These are by definition in Study Mode so here you will see answers and explanations when applicable. There is one Drill for each CompTIA main domain (exam objective) applying to the exam you are preparing for.

When you have checked off all the entries in the PTP and taken care of all the questions you missed in the Exam 1 assessment  it will be time to go back and do Exam 2 in Assessment Mode. This time your PTP should be shorter, go with that to the relevant Drill(s) and repeat.

When do I know I am done?

When you can consistently score 95% and better in Certification Mode. There is one caveat though, no rote memorization! You have to get into these questions and make sure you know exactly why you get them correct when you do. That starts by understanding why you got any of them wrong in the first place.
When you get all the “whys” and you obtain, based on that, a grade of 95% and better consistently, then you are ready for the exam.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Make sure that at some point you do all the questions in each Drill. The exams are pulled from the Drills so these are your total question bank in the CertBlaster practice tests. Because there are more questions in the Drills (you may have up to 200 questions in the Drills that don’t make it to the exams) you want to make sure you go through them all as extra insurance.

Before you go, checkout the “Ten Commandments of IT Cert Prep” users like you are telling us those tips in combination with CertBlaster exam simulations have helped them succeed at the exam.

So who writes the questions?

All the people that have written questions for the CertBlaster you are working on are 1) professionals in the field that not only understand the exam but also have the skills these exams aims to test you for, and 2) they all have passed the latest version of the exams before contributing. This means they all have passed the very exam version you are preparing for. As a consequence the CertBlaster test questions are on point both in terms of content and question formats. The team that built CertBlaster and manages it today include current or past:

– Founding members of CompTIA’s very first certification track back in 1993
– CompTIA certification judges that adjudicate candidate appeals
– Executive committee members for A+, Network+, Security+ and more certifications
– CompTIA volunteer Subject Matter Experts

You can rest assured that provided you put in your best efforts while studying, on exam day you will have what you need to succeed. Good luck on your quest for certification!

Some Screen Shots of Performance Based Questions