My Certification Study System

During my time at Montreat, I had the excellent opportunity to obtain a variety of certifications. Montreat gives students two opportunities that make obtaining tech certifications especially attractive.

First , they give students, on average, one free certificate voucher per semester. This may be any certificate the student asks for, so long as it is industry recognized. Occasionally, if there are more left-over funds, you can snag two vouchers!

Second , Montreat allows students to transfer in select certifications as classes. At the time of writing, below are the certificate-course equivalencies for Montreat College.

• CYBR 1115: CompTIA ITF+
• CYBR 1131: This is computer literacy course. It can be easily tested out of at Montreat. It costs $100 to take Montreat's exam, just make sure you brush up on Excel.
• CYBR 2211: PCEP (Certified Entry-Level Python Programmer) or PCAP (Certified Associate Python Programmer)
• CYBR 2121: CompTIA Network+
• CYBR 2122: CompTIA Linux+
• CYBR 2222: CompTIA CySA+
• CYBR 2311: CompTIA Security+
• CYBR 2323: CompTIA Server+
• CYBR 4531 (Cyber Elective): CompTIA Cloud+, AWS Cloud Certified Practitioner (CLF-C02), or Microsoft Azure Fundamentals (AZ-900). The latter should be easier than the CompTIA Cloud+
• CYBR 4541: CompTIA Pentest+
• CYBR 4544: EC Council CEH

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Please double-check with your cyber academic advisor as to the accuracy of this list before making any decisions.

The System

With these opportunities available at Montreat, I couldn't help but use them to my advantage. Over the course of prepping for some of these certifications I developed quite an effective system for studying. I will not relate too general of tips, as those can be readily found on Reddit. I highly suggest doing a web search for "Practice resources for [exam name] reddit" or "How I passed my [exam name] reddit". Either of those searches will deliver tips and tricks for passing any exam. Instead, I will deliver my personal study system that I found worked best for me.

Pocket Prep

I used used Pocket Prep not only for its practice questions, but also tool to identify concepts I didn't know well. Below is how I used the app:

1. I attempted all questions for the respective test at least once. While there were often times over 1000 questions, this step went by surprisingly fast.
2. Gain an average of 90% or above accuracy (relatively easy if using "level-up" sets). This allowed me to receive three months of free premium if I fail the test. Please note that you must have a subscription for over three months to be eligible for Pocket Prep's Pass Guarantee.
3. Use "level-up" practice sets to focus on specific categories. I would switch between subjects regularly as the questions slowly get harder the more levels you complete.
4. Most Important Step: While going through Pocket Prep's questions, I would write down any concepts or technologies that I struggled to understand. These concepts were as broad as "GRC" and as specific as "common ISCSi commands".

Concept Studying

Unfortunately, reviewing practice questions is not nearly enough for CompTIA exams. I learned this the hard way when I failed my first attempt of the Pentest+. Pocket Prep is great at practice questions, but not at giving you the broad industry knowledge necessary to pass an exam. To obtain the broad industry knowledge necessary, I would study the list of concepts and technologies I wrote down in step 4 of Pocket Prep. Depending on how far out I was from my exam date, I would change my study method.

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Please note that I would do concept study while I was still going through Pocket Prep questions. Often, I would do 30 minutes Pocket Prep and then 30 minutes Concept Study. To only do Pocket Prep for the first half and then only do Concept Study for the second half is setting yourself up for complete failure.

1. If I had more than 2 weeks from when I intended to take my exam, I would read a few blog/documentation pages about a concept I didn't understand. Then, I would write a mock blog post explaining that concept. Some of these mock blog posts can be found on this website, but most of them are simply kept in my personal notes. By forcing myself to explain the concept thoroughly, I ended up understanding it at far deeper level.
2. If I had less than 2 weeks from my exam date, I would use Gemini Notebooks. While method 1 is far better at helping you understand something deeply, it sacrifices breadth and speed. By the time I was done with Pocket Prep, I often had 40+ concepts, far too many to study them all in depth. Here is how I set up and used Gemini Notebooks to study them faster.
   1. I would set up a Notebook in Gemini for a specific exam. Gemini Notebooks allow you to save certain documents, webpages, or raw text as context and then spawn new chats. This allowed me to regularly spawn fresh chats to learn new concepts while still maintaining the original context.
   2. I would add the CompTIA webpage for the respective exam, that way the Notebook has the exam objectives. I would also add instructions explaining how I wanted Gemini to behave.
   3. Finally, I would copy-paste a concept and ask Gemini to explain it to me. I would try to engage in discussion so as to help me understand it more deeply. When the context got full and Gemini started acting stupid, I would simply create a new chat.

General Notes

• Schedule your exam weeks ahead of time, that way you have a hard deadline to hold yourself too.
• Pocket Prep Offers a 20% referral discount. Find someone who is already using the app (online or in-person) and get their referral link.
• It is generally easier to go to a testing facility than to do it online. The online testing requirements are very strict and you will not be able to simply use your dorm room.
• I found that 7-8 hours of study per week for about a month seemed to be a good balance for me. I have known others who studied 2 hours a day for two weeks and that seemed to work good for them.
• Consistency beats quantity every time! Study a bit every day, even if it's only 15 minutes.
• Don't prioritize Pocket Prep flashcards over concept studying. If you are short on time, ignore getting 90% accuracy and completing all of the subjects. It's far better for you to learn the concepts that you are struggling with than to blindly go through practice questions.
• Stay confident and don't let it burn you out. Pace yourself and make sure you have breaks every now and then.
• It's OK if you fail! Worst case scenario you have to take another semester which, news flash, is not the end of the world. It will help you get better at failure, something which is very necessary for any meaningful success in life.