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In this lesson, we're going to cover some exam tips.

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Now, before we dive into the content

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for the CompTIA Network+ Certification exam in this course,

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I think it's important for us to quickly discuss

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some exam tips and tricks that you should know.

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Now, this is going to help you better study for the exam

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as you're going through our course.

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It'll help you focus your study efforts

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to get the most out of the material.

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Now, the most important thing to remember

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when you're taking the exam

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is that there is not any trick questions on exam day.

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Now, every question is precisely worded

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to match the material you're going to be studying

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if you need to, take the time to read each question

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multiple times to ensure that you understand

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exactly what the question is asking you

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and that you're answering the question

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that's actually being asked of you.

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Now, as you read the questions and answers,

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you should always be on the lookout

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for any distractors or red herrings.

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Now, generally, there's at least

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one of the four answer choices listed

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that are written to try and distract you

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from the correct answer.

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If you could identify which one that is

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and eliminate it as a possibility,

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you're exponentially going to increase your chances

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of guessing the correct answer from the remaining options.

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Now, another thing to remember is that if you see a word

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in a question with bold, italics,

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or written in all uppercase,

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you need to pay very close attention to that word

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because the testers decide those key words

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were extremely important for you to consider

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when answering that question.

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It's also important to remember that you must answer

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every question on the exam

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based on your CompTIA Network+ knowledge and studies

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from this course or the official CompTIA Network+

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student textbook,

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not from your personal workplace experience.

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This is because your workplace may use different terminology

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for things in your network,

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or they may refer to things a little bit wrong

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based on the way you deal with it in the real world

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versus what you're going to deal with on exam day.

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Now, for this reason, you should always

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select the book answer

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when you're trying to answer a question

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on your certification exam,

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because that's what the test writers were using

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when they wrote those exam questions too.

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Now, on exam day, you want to select the best answer.

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Now, each question may have several right answers,

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but only one is actually going to be the most right answer

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because it is true most often, or in the most cases.

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In the world of networking and cybersecurity,

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there are rarely 100% correct answers in the real world

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because everything becomes situational.

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But for the exam, you have to try and select

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just one answer.

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So if you're in doubt, choose the answer to this correct

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for the highest number of situations.

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This will help you eliminate some of that doubt

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you're having when you're reading those questions

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and possible answer choices.

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Now, when you're taking the practice exam

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or the real certification exam,

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I want you to try and not fight the exam

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or the test questions.

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Now, instead, I want you to try to understand

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what is the key concept that the test writer

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is asking you about in that question.

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This way, when you're reading a question,

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you can really figure out what is the key concept,

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and then by knowing that you'll be able

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to pick the right answer

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or eliminate some of the wrong answers.

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This will help increase your score, I guarantee it.

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Now, as we go through the course,

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there are going to be times

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where I'm going to give you study hints

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or things that you should definitely remember.

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For example, anytime you hear the word confidentiality,

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I want you to think about encryption.

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Anytime you hear the word integrity,

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I want you to think about hashing.

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Anytime you hear the word availability,

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I want you to think about redundancy and resiliency.

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Now, don't worry too much about these just yet,

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I promise we're going to cover them again

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as we go through the course.

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But I want to give you some examples

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of this keyword association

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that you need to be doing as you're going through the course

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and then keeping notes of those.

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Now, when it comes to the certification exam,

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remember you don't have to memorize terms from this course

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or the textbook word for word.

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Instead, you have to be able to simply recognize them

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from the answer choices given in the questions.

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Now, there are no fill in the blank questions

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on this exam either,

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so it's all going to be either multiple choice

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or multiple selection, plus a few PBQS

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or performance based questions.

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Now for the exam, you are not expected to know

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how a specific tool or piece of software is going to work.

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Everything in this exam is going to be

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vendor neutral and generic.

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So if they ask you to perform an action

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like configuring a firewall

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or troubleshooting a network device,

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you're going to be doing this in a more generic environment,

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not a specific Cisco, Juniper, Brocade

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or other network providers equipment.

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So if you're asked about a tool,

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you really only need to know what that tool is used for

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most of the time and not really the syntax

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or how to actually operate that specific tool.

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Basically, if you can define the tool

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and what it's used for,

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you're going to have about the right level of knowledge

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for 99% of the questions you'll get on the exam

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about tools and software and things like that.

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So for example, if you're asked about NMAP,

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yes, you should be able to pick the right answer

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knowing that NMAP is the network mapping tool

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and that it's used to find open ports and protocols

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running on different systems on your network.

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But you should not have to know the specific command

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to issue in order to perform a SYN scan across your subnet

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because you don't need to know how to enter the command

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nmap-SS-T5 192.168.1.0/26 or something like that.

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Now remember, during your certification exam,

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you're going to be choosing your answers

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from multiple choice style questions,

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not a fill in the blank or essay style question.

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Now, this is a big difference in this certification testing

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and the test you may have taken

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back in high school or college.

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In the certification world,

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you just need to be able to recognize

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and not regurgitate the information

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you're going to learn in this course.

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So if you can remember these tips,

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it's really going to help you get a higher score on the exam.

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It will lead to a lot less frustration on your part

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as you're preparing for the exam by watching the videos,

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taking the quizzes and using our practice exams

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as you're studying for the certification.

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Now, one last thing before we finish up.

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I want you to set a target date

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for you to earn your certification by.

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Do you want to be certified in the next 30 days,

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60 days, or 90 days?

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I don't recommend going further than about 90 days out,

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and I'd recommend that you look at the calendar today

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and choose a date that you plan

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to earn your certification by

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then, you can work backwards on the calendar

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and plan out how many lessons or sections

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you need to complete each day to stay on target.

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For example, I know that if I want to take my exam

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in 30 days from today,

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I can see that there are 28 sections in the course

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with the different lessons I need to finish.

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Plus, I'm going to need some time

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to go through the practice exams too.

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So if I plan to do two sections every day,

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that tells me that over the next two weeks

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I will have learned all the material I need for the exam.

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Now I can spend the next week taking practice exams,

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and that still leaves me a few days for final review

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and final preparations before I take my exam

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and get certified in the next 30 days.

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Now, most of my students who have a lot of free time

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or more experience will complete this course

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and the certification in 30 days or less.

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Others who have less free time or less experience

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will need about 60 days to complete the course

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and the certification exam.

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Basically though, if you can dedicate

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one to two hours per day to studying,

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you can get certified in the next 30 days.

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If you can only dedicate

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30 to 60 minutes per day to studying,

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then you can expect to be certified in the next 60 days.

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In lesson than two of this course,

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I provided you with both a 30 day and 60 day study plan.

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You can download as a PDF.

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I recommend you choose the one that's going to work for you,

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set your goal date, and then do some backward planning

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to ensure you hit your target date

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and start checking off those items in your study plan

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until you are fully certified.

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I can tell you from my experience with other students,

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that people who used our study plans

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will pass their certification exams

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at a much faster rate, at a much higher rate

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than those who try to study without a plan.

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Now, I know it can seem daunting

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because there are so many lessons, but you can do this.

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Basically, you're going to be studying for about 40 hours

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to be ready to pass your exam,

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and the more concentrated your studying is,

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the faster you're going to get certified.

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Now, don't make the mistake of trying to study for this exam

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over a six to 12 month period either.

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I've seen people do it and it doesn't work

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because you'll start to forget the information

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that you learn from the earlier lessons

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by the time you get to the end of your lessons.

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So instead, try to carve out an hour or two per day

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over the next few weeks and let's get you certified.