By understanding some basic principles of the brain, you can be able to maximize your studying and become more successful on the exam day. But before we get to the best lifehacks for your successful exam preparation, let’s know why the certification tests are so special.

What are the differences between IT certification exams and other tests?

The IT certification exams, unlike others, are designed to measure one’s skills needed at work. These skills are not only learnt for the test. Actually, there is a very big difference between IT and college exams.

First of all, you need to have hands-on experience for most IT certification exams. You may be required to input commands into the virtual command line, or drag and drop the network components around the virtual network. The IT tests come with a ton of information that the students should memorize and be able to use in practice. For instance, there are a lot of channels, commands, ports, and so on, that you should explore and remember. There are also several hands-on components for some of them. But we can’t say the same about the high school or college exams. Finally, the questions in the IT tests are highly technical and can be misleading, especially if you don’t understand how network and system components operate together.

What tips can help you excel in any IT certification exam?

So, the following tips and tricks are your best assistants during the exam preparation process. Let’s look at them in detail.

1. Get familiar with the exam details.

This should come first. Before you start, you should learn everything about the certification test. Most accredited examination bodies provide the candidates with blueprints that openly lay out the exam topics and all their sections. It will help in guiding your study approach. Besides, understanding question formats, quantity of questions, and the amount of time you will have can help you get prepared for your test in a better way.

2. Make a good start.

Before you begin your study, you should create a schedule. Be sure not to wait until the last minute because you won’t be able to learn everything within a short time. Instead, dedicate a minimum of 30 minutes for studying per day for several weeks. Alternatively, you can spend a few hours every weekend. You should never try to learn so much within a short period of time because your brain can only absorb a certain amount of information in a given period of time.

3. Determine your perfect learning style.

When studying for an IT exam, you should determine how you learn best. Doing so can help you align your preparation process with the inclinations of your brain. Some of the most common learning styles include auditory, visual, and kinesthetic/tactile learning. In case you are a visual student, you will study best by watching videos. But if you are an auditory learner, you are probably better at absorbing the info by reading the text out loud or by going through the concepts out loud. If you are a tactile or physical one, you will learn best through practical exercises or tutorials, which are hands-on learning. Ideally, the individuals should rely on all these three styles of learning.

4. Take mock tests and use simulators.

At the early stages of your training, you should take a mock test to get a general idea of what areas you need to focus on. It will help you determine problem areas and develop a strategic study plan that will enable you to minimize any knowledge gaps. You can evaluate yourself by taking full-length practice tests so that you can get to know how things will be on the real exam. If you are preparing for a network test, such as Cisco certification exams, you should use a network emulator or simulator. This preparation tool can help you find out your strong and weak areas.

5. Feel yourself comfortable.

When studying for your certification exam, ensure that you are comfortable with your study space and that you are able to focus on what you are studying. Most likely, you will absorb more information easily if there are no distractions, such as a poorly-lit room, uncomfortable chair, noise, and so on. Determine whether you will learn better in silence or while listening to music. The main point here is that your entire study space should be a pleasant place where you can concentrate to the maximum and learn effectively.

It’s important that you stick to the habits that you are accustomed to even on the exam day. For instance, if you had a good night’s sleep throughout your study period or you drank your favourite drink immediately before you begin studying, it’s important that you do the same on the exam day and just before the certification test, respectively.

6. Be ready on the exam day.

You should check all the requirements and rules for your certification exam and ensure that you adhere to all of them. Find out where the test center is and plan which route you will use to get there. Ensure that you are adding extra travel time in case you are caught up in traffic or if you get lost on your way there. The last thing you want this day is to arrive late for your exam. In such a case, the candidate, as a rule, don’t allow taking the test after a specified time of delay. You should also not feel rushed as this may interfere with your general exam performance. Ensure that you have everything you will require for your certification test a day before. Be sure to eat healthily and have enough sleep. Being hungry and feeling tired when taking the exam can negatively affect your concentration.

Summary

At first glance, preparing for any IT certification test can sound and seem daunting or even impossible. Of course, the certification exams are rarely a cakewalk, and the candidates need to learn a lot in order to succeed. However, incremental and consistent progress will help you get closer to your goal and achieve good results.

Hello Spring! Nice to meet you. It’s not a secret that spring is the best time for changes and upgrades. The IT world also falls under the spring “perestroika” (changeover). The globally recognized IT vendors withdraw or replace old certificates and exams, and launch new ones. These changes are always good because they test, confirm, improve, and broaden the knowledge and skills of current or future IT professionals.

Today, in this article you will know about updates related to the global organization EXIN, its retiring certifications and exams. Let’s start.

Some Words about EXIN

EXIN is a world independent certificate institute for ICT professionals. It never stands still, the institution permanently innovates via developing exams to improve its portfolio and widen the scope of the proposed tests. The main goal of EXIN is to provide digital transformation of organizations and professionals by evolving and testing digital competencies. It is committed to becoming a leader in digital transformation. And this institute has every reason to achieve it. After all, EXIN is 30 years of experience, about 2 million ICT professionals, 1000 accredited partners. The good reason to be a reliable and leading authority in the ICT market.

The most significant EXIN credentials are PRINCE2®, ITIL®, and ISPL. Nowadays, the institute focuses on responding to market trends with certifications, such as Information Security, Agile Scrum, DevOps, and SIAM.

Retiring Examinations

EXIN made a spring-cleaning thereby the following 6 certification exams will be no longer available, and won’t meet spring:

1. ITIL-Foundation offers a general understanding of the candidate for core terminology, concepts, and elements used in the ITIL® service life cycle, including links between used processes, life cycle stages, and their contribution to service management practices.
2. MOPF verifies that the individual has sufficient understanding and knowledge to work as an informed member of the Portfolio Office or in a number of portfolio management roles.
3. MORF confirms that the candidate has sufficient knowledge and understanding to help identify, assess and control risks in any organizational perspective.
4. MOVF verifies the individual’s knowledge and expertise in making an efficient contribution to MoV activities led by other.
5. MSPF is the first step to become a registered practitioner. It provides the candidate with information about the knowledge in program management.
6. PR2F measures the applicant’s ability to operate as an informed member of a project management team using the PRINCE2 technique in a project environment that supports PRINCE2.

EXIN Guarantees

Today, companies want to obtain generalized knowledge in related fields. By studying different areas in their general context, ICT professionals obtain a better understanding of their relationship. To meet the growing demand for experts, EXIN has developed the Certified Integrator: an integrated approach to business practices, new technological developments, and IT methodologies. When you receive three Foundation credentials, you will attain the EXIN Certified Integrator certification automatically and for free.

EXIN guarantees:

• EXIN Certified Integrator certificate
• EXIN Certified Integrator Secure Cloud Services certificate = Service Management + Cloud Computing + Information Security (you will receive it, in case you have EXIN Information Security Foundation, EXIN Cloud Computing Foundation and EXIN IT Service Management Foundation or ITIL Foundation)

Don’t forget about a thorough exam preparation, as it is the best way to earn one of the significant EXIN certifications. As usual, ExamCollection will provide you with all necessary information related to these examinations.

Well, well, well, our article is again devoted to the exam retirement. This time on the bench is the Selling Business Outcomes (810-403) exam. This certification test will be available only until December 29, 2017. Thus, to prepare for the exam and earn the Cisco Business Value Analyst Specialist or Cisco Business Value Specialist certifications, you should have a fundamental preparatory base. After all, for 90 minutes of the exam, you’ll have to show your knowledge and skills related to selling technology services and solutions with a business outcome focus. Candidates can prepare for the 810-403 test by taking the Selling Business Outcomes course or visiting ExamCollection database with Cisco braindumps. To make your exam preparation more effective, we provide you with the detailed exam topics.

End 2017 as a Cisco certified specialist!

Wow! Oracle doesn’t cease to please us with novelties. We have already written about its four newcomers, and this time we’ll tell you about three new exams from this American IT company. Welcome the 1Z0-628, 1Z0-951 and 1Z0-952 exams! We have prepared a detailed overview for a close acquaintance with new Oracle tests. Here it is:

As for exam preparation, you can also have a look at ExamCollection database for FREE Oracle braindumps containing real exams, which will be a tremendous help in preparing for your Oracle tests.

We can say with confidence that these new exams will be a perfect opportunity to become Oracle certified specialist. It depends only on you, how soon it will happen.

The Applying Cisco Specialized Business Value Analysis Skills (BTASBVA) exam (820-424) is rather popular among IT specialists. It tests a candidate’s knowledge and basic skills to successfully execute solutions- and outcome-based selling. And, on December 29, 2017, this exam will be no longer available. All those who would like to become Cisco certified specialist via the 820-424 exam, you still have a chance to fulfill your desire.

The 820-424 exam is a 90-minute test with 65–75 question assessment associated with the Cisco Business Value Specialist certification.

The exam covers the following topics:

• Business Outcomes Selling Concepts
• Business Context and Requirements
• Customer Requirements and Desired Outcomes
• Outcomes and Solution Recommendations
• Business Case
• Implementation Roadmap
• Realizing Business Value

Candidates can prepare for this exam by taking the Applying Cisco Specialized Business Value Analysis Skills course (BTASBVA), version 3 or later. You can also join our IT community for free Cisco exam preparation materials.

Don’t forget to include the 820-424 exam in to-do-list before the end of this year!

December, 31 will become not only the last day of the year but also the farewell tour for several Microsoft exams. Thereby, the following certification tests won’t meet the New Year 2018

1. Monitoring and Operating a Private Cloud
2. Configuring and Deploying a Private Cloud
3. Architecting Microsoft Azure Solutions
4. Managing Programs and Projects with Project Server 2013

Our overview will help you learn the peculiar features of these retiring tests as well as prepare for it. A good exam preparation is a half the battle. We hope our article will help you win the struggle. Let’s start!

The Monitoring and Operating a Private Cloud (70-246) exam measures an individual’s ability to configure data center process automation, deploy resource monitoring, monitor resources, configure and maintain service management and manage configuration and protection.

Candidates for this exam should have basic Microsoft SQL Server, Windows PowerShell knowledge, Windows Server, System Center 2012, security, high-availability, fault tolerance, and networking experience in an enterprise environment.

The 70-246 exam is associated with the MCP, MCSE certifications.

Preparation options:

• Instructor-led training: 20246D: Monitoring and Operating a Private Cloud
• Video: Microsoft Certification PREP Talk: Exam 246
• Book: Exam Ref 70-246: Monitoring and Operating a Private Cloud
• ExamCollection Practice Test
• Practice test

The Configuring and Deploying a Private Cloud (70-247) exam measures an individual’s ability to design and deploy System Center, configure System Center infrastructure, System Center integration, the fabric, configure and deploy virtual machines and services.

Candidates for this exam should have basic Microsoft SQL Server, Windows PowerShell knowledge, Windows Server, System Center 2012, security, high-availability, fault tolerance, and networking experience in an enterprise environment.

The 70-247 exam is associated with the MCP, MCSE certifications.

Preparation options:

• Instructor-led training: 20247D: Configuring and Deploying a Private Cloud
• Video: Microsoft Certification PREP Talk: Exam 247
• Book: Exam Ref 70-247: Configuring and Deploying a Private Cloud
• ExamCollection Practice Test
• Practice test

The Architecting Microsoft Azure Solutions (70-534) exam measures an individual’s ability to design Azure Resource Manager networking, an application storage and data access strategy, Azure Web and Mobile Apps, a management, monitoring, and business continuity strategy, secure resources, and architect an Azure Compute infrastructure.

Candidates for this exam should know the features and capabilities of Azure services to be able to identify tradeoffs and make decisions for designing public and hybrid cloud solutions.

The 70-534 exam is associated with the MCP, MCSA, MCSE and MCSD certifications.

Preparation options:

• Instructor-led training: 40442: MOC Workshop: Architecting Microsoft Azure Solutions
• Online training
• ExamCollection Practice Test
• Practice test

IMPORTANT: The 70-534 exam will be replaced with a new exam (proposed exam number 535) that covers the new (but related) objective domain. This new exam will be available on November 30, 2017.

The Managing Programs and Projects with Project Server 2013 (74-344) exam measures an individual’s ability to create enterprise projects and portfolios, plan enterprise projects and resources, track and collaborate on an enterprise project, and manage configurable enterprise objects.

Candidates for this exam should have a solid understanding of key project management concepts and terminology, extensive hands-on experience using Microsoft Project Professional 2013 and Project Web App 2013, including managing enterprise custom fields, views, and portfolio objects.

The 74-344 exam is associated with the MCP certification.

Preparation options:

• ExamCollection Practice Test

Make yourself the best New Year gift – become a Microsoft Certified Specialist with these certification exams!

Effective October 1, 2017, the JN0-347 and JN0-647 exams will remain live and will become the only exams associated with the Enterprise Routing and Switching, Specialist (JNCIS-ENT) and Enterprise Routing and Switching, Professional (JNCIP-ENT) certifications respectively.

As for exam preparation, another useful JN0-347 and JN0-647 preparation options will be real exam practice tests from ExamCollection website, which can be downloaded for FREE and are verified by the community of certified professionals.

NOTE: The last date available to take these exams is September 30, 2017.

As you can see from the title of the article, today we will discuss the next retirement of IBM exams. The C2090-625 and C2090-642 tests will be withdrawn on September 30, 2017.  These exams end their activity in order to give way to new and promising ones. But while C2090-625 and C2090-642 are still available, we want to give you an overview and preparation options concerning these two certification exams.

C2090-625: IBM Cognos 10 BI Data Warehouse Developer

Overview

The IBM Cognos 10 BI Data Warehouse Developer exam covers key concepts, technologies, and functionality of the Cognos products.

• Number of questions: 84
• Duration: 90
• Passing score: 78%
• Language: English

Related Certifications

• IBM Certified Developer – Cognos 10 BI Data Warehouses
• IBM Certified Advanced Developer – Risk Information Governance for BI
• IBM Certified Solution Expert – Cognos BI

Objectives

• Data Manager and Data Warehousing
• Catalogs and Data Source Connections
• Dimensions and Basic Hierarchies
• Basic Dimension Builds and Fact Builds
• Derivations and Derived Dimensions
• Conformed Dimensions
• Hierarchies and Lookups
• Dimensional History and Late Arriving Data
• Data Delivery and Data Processing
• User-Defined Functions (UDFs) and Variables
• Troubleshooting and Tuning

Test Preparation

1. classroom course: IBM Cognos Data Manager: Build Data Marts with Enterprise Data (V10.2)
2. self-paced virtual classroom: IBM Cognos Data Manager: Build Data Marts with Enterprise Data (V10.2) SPVC
3. product documentation
4. sample test for Test C2090-625
5. ExamCollection practice test

C2090-642: IBM Cognos 10 BI Scorecard Developer

Overview

The IBM Cognos 10 BI Scorecard Developer exam covers key concepts, technologies, and functionality of the Cognos products.

• Number of questions: 75
• Duration: 90
• Passing score: 66%
• Language: English

Related Certifications

• IBM Certified Developer – Cognos 10 BI Scorecards
• IBM Certified Advanced Developer – Risk Information Governance for BI
• IBM Certified Solution Expert – Cognos BI

Objectives

• Plan the Scorecard Application
• Monitor Performance with Metrics
• Define the Application Environment
• Load Data into the Scorecard Application
• Load Data Using IBM Cognos Metric Designer
• Load Data Using Flat Files and SQL Server Scripts
• Refine the Scorecard Application
• Secure the Scorecard Application
• Maintain the Scorecard Application

Test Preparation

1. product documentation (Metric Studio User Guide; Metric Designer User Guide; IBM Cognos Business Intelligence Installation and Configuration Guide 10.1.0; IBM Cognos Business Intelligence Administration and Security Guide 10.1.0)
2. sample test for Test C2090-642
3. ExamCollection practice test

We hope our article will help you to pass these retiring exams.

Attention! Attention! Breaking News! CompTIA planned a grandiose retirement. Both exams and certifications will be withdrawn. But don’t get upset, because the end is always the beginning of something new. Who knows, maybe after some time we will publish an article called “CompTIA Great Novelties”.

Today our task is to cover the following questions: Which? (Which exam or certification will be withdrawn?) When? (The date of the retirement) What? (What is this exam or cert about?)

CompTIA certifications and exams are one of the most essential IT credentials for establishing an IT career. If you’re new to the IT industry, they will help you put your best foot forward. And if you’re already an IT professional, the CompTIA certifications validates your skills and can boost your career. So carefully study this article, maybe you will find a suitable option for your future or already prosperous career.

The list of CompTIA retiring certs and tests:

FC0-Z51 exam – July 31, 2017.

PK0-003 exam – September 30, 2017.

CompTIA CDIA+ certification – December 1, 2017.

CompTIA Mobility+ certification – December 15, 2017.

Pay due attention to the following preparation options: CertMaster (CompTIA’s intelligent online learning tool), training materials, classroom training and ExamCollection website.

CompTIA credentials are needed in almost every field and can separate you from the rest of the workforce.

IBM is in the news bulletin again. This time it will be about 2 exams that will be withdrawn and replaced by new and promising certification tests.

The last day of June will delete the C9060-100 and C9060-518 exams from the IBM certification exam list. But the C9060-110 and C9060-528 tests will become their worthy replacement.

C9060-100 –> C9060-110

The C9060-100: Fundamentals of Applying Spectrum Storage Family Solutions V4 Exam is an hour and a half long certification test with 63 question assessment.

The C9060-100 exam is associated with the IBM Certified Solution Advisor – Spectrum Storage Family Solutions V4 certification.

An IBM Certified Solution Advisor – Spectrum Family Storage V4 is a person who identifies opportunities and influences direction for IBM Spectrum storage solutions within the customer environment.

Key Areas of Competency and Prerequisite Knowledge for this certification can be found here.

Sample Test / Assessment Test and the ExamCollection website with free IBM exam preparation materials will be your best assistance during the preparation process.

Note: The C9060-100 test will be withdrawn on June 30, 2017. The replacement test is:

The C9060-110: Foundations of IBM Spectrum Software Defined Infrastructure Solutions V5 Exam consists of 65 questions and lasts 90 minutes.

This certification exam covers four main sections: Customer Requirements and Infrastructure, IBM Spectrum Product Capabilities, IBM Spectrum Product Value Propositions, Benefits and Use Cases of IBM Spectrum Products.

The C9060-110 exam is associated with the IBM Certified Solution Advisor – Spectrum Software Defined Infrastructure V5 certification.

An IBM Certified Solution Advisor – Spectrum Software Defined Infrastructure Solutions V5 is a person who identifies opportunities and influences direction for IBM Spectrum Software Defined Infrastructure storage solutions within the customer environment and is responsible for educating and influencing key decision makers.

Recommended prerequisite knowledge:

• Knowledge of big data file systems (HADOOP, IBM Spectrum Scale), object storage offerings (IBM Cloud Object Storage, IBM Bluemix, OpenStack Swift, Amazon S3, Amazon Glacier, Google, Microsoft Azure), IT storage standards (government and civil), regulations, and certifications.
• Familiarity with Rocket Device Adapter for IBM Spectrum Protect Snapshot, aspects of key IBM products (WebSphere, DB2, and Tivoli Common Reporting).
• Skills with the aspects of network, storage, SAN hardware, SAN fundamentals and cloud, networking environments, SAN environments, operating systems, and relational databases.
• Ability to create a business case justification for an IT project.
• Experience defining proof of concepts and associated success criteria.

The preparation options that guarantee your successful exam passing: Web resource, Sample Test/Assessment Test and ExamCollection free exam preparation materials.

C9060-518 –> C9060-528

The C9060-518: IBM Tivoli Storage Manager V7.1.1 Administration Exam is an hour and a half long certification test with 70 question assessment.

The C9060-518 exam is associated with the IBM Certified Administrator – Tivoli Storage Manager V7.1.1 certification.

The IBM Certified Storage Administrator is an experienced storage administrator for the IBM Tivoli Storage Manager V7.1.1 product, who can perform the intermediate and advanced tasks related to daily management, operations, security, performance, installation and configuration of enhancements, settings and/or problem determination.

Key Areas of Competency and Prerequisite Knowledge for this certification can be found here.

During the preparation process, we recommend passing Sample Test / Assessment Test or real exam Practice Test from ExamCollection website.

Note: The C9060-518 test will be withdrawn on June 30, 2017. The replacement test is:

The C9060-528: IBM Spectrum Protect V8.1 Administration Exam consists of 66 questions and lasts 90 minutes.

This certification exam covers five main sections: IBM Spectrum Protect V8.1 Concepts, IBM Spectrum Protect V8.1 Daily Operations, IBM Spectrum Protect V8.1 Server Management, IBM Spectrum Protect V8.1 Performance and Problem Determination and IBM Spectrum Protect V8.1 Client Management.

The C9060-528 exam is associated with the IBM Certified Administrator – Spectrum Protect V8.1 certification.

The IBM Certified Administrator is an experienced storage administrator for the IBM Spectrum Protect V8.1 product. This individual has extensive knowledge, training, and experience of storage management, specifically of the features and functionality of IBM Spectrum Protect V8.1.

Recommended prerequisite skills are requirements for success:

• Backup methodologies (incremental, selective, image, progressive, on-site, off-site, etc.).
• Basic storage device knowledge (disk, tape, containers, NAS, etc.).
• Basic hardware knowledge (server, CPU, memory, etc.).
• Basic operating systems knowledge including virtual environments.
• Basic networking knowledge (LAN, SAN, WAN).
• Basic knowledge of DB2 and cloud architecture.

Classroom Course,  Sample Test/Assessment Test and Free IBM Exam Preparation Materials are the exam preparation tips that will help candidates to become IBM specialists.

Choose your exam that will make you a certified specialist and lead you to the IT Olympus.