My Bite Into The Apple

by QA InfoTech

Test Taking Techniques to Help you Get Certified!

Test Taking Techniques to help you get certified!

As always, tests and exams will scare you when you think about getting certified. Remember that you won’t die if you flunk the test and life won’t fall apart either. Relax, prepare and give the test. Here’s how!

Before The Test

What constitutes effective preparation? Most importantly, it doesn’t begin the night before the exam. Pull an all-nighter and your mind may be stuffed with facts, but they will be shrouded in a fatigue- induced fog. When the fog dissipates, the facts are likely to go with it.

The first step is to find out as much as possible about the format and content of the exam. Questions to answer include:

* What will you be expected to know?

* Which question format will be utilized–multiple choice, essay questions, or true-false? Currently most computer certification tests are multiple choice.

* How long will you have to complete the test?

* Will you be able to return to questions later if you skip over them?

* Will points be subtracted for wrong answers?

You should be able to obtain the answers to most of these questions from your certification sponsor, instructor, and/or testing center.

Then review the material that you’ve identified as likely to be on

the test. Try to guess what questions will appear on the test and practice answering them. You can practice by reciting aloud, creating written or recorded self-tests, or using commercially available self-testing software and certification preparation guides. If you belong to a study group, quiz each other and discuss your answers.

Pay special attention to vocabulary and terminology words. Make certain you know exactly what they mean. If you don’t understand a question, you won’t be able to answer it. Develop an overall test strategy, depending on the type of exam. The following advice focuses on multiple-choice exams, the most common format of current certification test questions. These exams, count an unanswered question the same way as an incorrect answer. If you won’t be penalized for wrong answers (as opposed to skipping the question entirely) then it pays to guess when you don’t know the correct answer.

On many exams you will be able to mark questions to return to later. When this is the case, be sure to MARK the questions or you will NOT be able to return to them. Answer the questions you’re certain of first, marking the more challenging ones, and then return to the marked questions when you’ve finished the easy ones. This strategy enables you to answer a larger percentage of the questions and to answer the easiest ones right away.

The night before, do a brief review and remind yourself that you’ve prepared and are as ready as you’re going to be. Don’t stress yourself out pouring over your notes again and

again. Instead, spend the evening in some pleasant, relaxing way, then get a good night’s sleep so you’ll be rested and ready to excel.

The Day Of The Test

Ah! The big day is here! Don’t panic! On the day of the test, allow yourself plenty of time to arrive at the test site. Would you rather arrive at the last minute, adrenaline pumping from the stress of too many red lights, or ten or fifteen minutes early, time you can easily fill with a final review of your note cards or trip to the restroom?

Make certain to bring several forms of identification, including a photo ID, and, of course, if you haven’t already provided it, payment.

If you feel tense or anxious, apply a few relaxation techniques. One of the most basic is breathing. Take a deep breath, filling not just your chest, but every nook and cranny of your insides all the way down to your abdomen. Inhale from your navel, like a baby does. Exhale slowly, and feel your muscles relaxing as you your breath carries the tension out of your body. Repeat the breathing several times.

When the test begins, follow your preplanned strategy.

* If the test format is suitable, remember to go through and answer the easy questions first.

* Pay close attention to instructions. Are you supposed to select just one answer or all answers that apply?

* Read each question carefully, and twice. It’s easy to misread a question and end up with the wrong answer as a result. It’s also a waste and something you can avoid.

* Be alert for modifiers like always, never, not, and except that can radically affect the meaning of the question.

* Mentally answer the question before reading the answer choices. Then look for the choice that most accurately reflects your answer. This can spare you unnecessary confusion created by the test itself.

* If you don’t know the answer, make an educated guess

* If you finish before the time limit, and the software permits it (which isn’t always the case) go back over the test and verify your answers. But don’t change an answer unless you have good reason to believe it’s wrong. Research indicates that when in doubt, our first guess is usually our best.

If other people are taking the exam at the same time, don’t pay any attention to when they finish. Just because others are done before you doesn’t mean that they will end up with a better score. Correspondingly, if you finish first, it doesn’t mean you must have missed something. Take your time, keeping an eye on the exam clock if there’s a time limit, and concentrate on regurgitating what you’ve learned. If you’ve prepared using effective techniques, such as the ones detailed in this chapter, you have nothing to worry about.

Making an Educated Guess

If you find yourself facing a question you just don’t know the answer to, consider guessing. If there are four possible choices, you automatically have a 25 percent chance of randomly selecting the correct answer. Apply some guessing techniques, and the odds shoot upward in your favor.

Successful guessing relies heavily on the process of elimination. For that reason, the first step is to eliminate any choices that are clearly wrong. If you have four answers to choose from, and you can discard two of them as incorrect, you’ve gone from a one in four chance of picking the right answer to a one in two chance.

Unless your exam format allows more than one answer choice for each question “all of the above” is basically equivalent to “more than one of the above.” If “all of the above” is an option, and you can see at least two correct answers, then choose it.

Sometimes you’ll find that, in the course of presenting the question and answers, one test item will provide hints that can help you answer another. Be alert for these and use them when you find them.

Many test-taking experts advise that if you have no idea which choice is correct, and “all of the above” is an option, you should choose “all of the above.” By the same token, if you can’t decide between two similar answers, choose the one that gives the most complete information.

Hope these tips and guidelines will help you prepare for IT certifications with ease and confidence and that you will sail through the test. Happy learning!

About CertMagic.com :

Founded in 2004, CertMagic (http://www.certmagic.com) is one of the global leaders in IT certification preparation and IT skill assessment. Over the last 3 years, it has contributed to the success of over 500,000 IT professionals from over 120 countries. Committed to deliver high quality products and value to its customers, CertMagic (http://www.certmagic.com) offers Unconditional 150% Test Pass Guarantee on all of its IT certification preparation products.

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Late night boat certification test taking.

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by mjpeacecorps

Understanding Broadband Internet

The Internet is all around us. It can be found on phones, on almost every computer, and has an influence over most parts of everyday life. In recent years, the advent of broadband Internet has opened up a world of online gaming, the transfer of large files, and now facilitates watching television or listening to the radio via the web. But what is broadband Internet, exactly? And how fast is fast?

Broadband Internet is simply any Internet connection that can deliver more data more quickly than traditional phone-based modems. In general, this ranges from about 1 mbps to a whopping 1 tbps for some major corporations and universities.

To put this in perspective, dial-up Internet can go no faster than 56kbps, meaning even the slowest broadband connection is over 50 times faster than the best dial-up connection. These speeds are achieved by sending the data down a cable that simply has higher capacity, such as fiber-optic phone lines or cable television lines.

The adoption of broadband Internet has often necessitated laying of these types of advanced cables to connect new areas that were previously only connected by phone lines, something that the Australian Government has recently been pouring millions into to help fund.

People like a faster connection because it makes surfing the Web a more real-time or instantaneous experience; lag time is reduced. As a result, the demand for broadband Internet has caused an explosion of internet service providers. Familiar names include ISPs such as BigPond, Optus, TPA and TransAct. Best of all, since much of this cable is owned by the Government and leased to ISPs, they can offer packages which fit their consumer’s needs, as opposed to being just limited to offering DSL or cable or wireless, as is found in the United States or some European countries.

This also means that the broadband can be sold in either unlimited or limited amounts, enabling users to either buy infinite bandwidth, or to simply only pay for what they actually use.

The first type of broadband Internet is what is known as “DSL”. DSL stands for “digital subscriber line” and is built on top of existing phone infrastructure. It was the first form of broadband Internet developed, and allows for bits and bytes to be transmitted over a phone line at lightning speed by quickly tapping in to the almost infinite bandwidth of modern fibre-optic cables. This service leaves plenty of bandwidth left over for landline phone calls, enabling users to continue using their traditional phones. However, many ISPs offer package deals with digital phone services.

Unfortunately, the last leg of the DSL transfer must take place using traditional copper lines, not the fibre-optic cable. This means speed is limited for this last leg of the journey, when not near a fibre-optic line.

Cable Internet gets around this problem by using fibre-optic cable, that many houses already have, namely the cable TV lines. They offer speeds comparable to DSL, but are much better in remote locations, far from the nearest telephone hub. Like DSL, cable internet is often sold in a package deal with digital phone service, but because it comes over the cable line, high-definition digital cable TV is also often part of the package deal.

Massachusetts Broadband Expansion


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Thursday, July 8th, 2010 — Governor Patrick highlights broadband internet expansion in the Commonwealth at Greenfield Community College.

(Photo credit: Holland Hinman/Governor’s Office)

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by opensourceway

Cisco Locates Its Sales Company in Tianfu Software Park, to Build Smart+Connected City with Chengdu

Chengdu China, On May 20, 2010, Cisco ,the world’s leading network solutions provider formally signed two MOU with Chengdu, to establish Tianfu Smart+Connected City project and increase collaboration with local educational institutions.. The newly established Cisco sales company will locate at Chengdu Tianfu Software Park, the biggest software park in China, this location will be the center of Localization operation of Cisco China.

Mr. Owen Chan said, Chengdu, as the center of business, finance, science and technology, and a hub of transportation and communication in Southwest China, has abundant talent pool, that is the strongest “impetus” Cisco determined to settle down in Chengdu 1 year ago.

Chengdu, one of the 11 national software bases in China, and also one of the fastest growing Software outsourcing cities in China, currently has up to 1.65 million technicians, and 130 000 software practitioners according to the a report released by Chengdu Tianfu Software Park Co., Ltd, the operator of Tianfu Software Park.

As the major base for software and service outsourcing industry development in Chengdu, In rent one year, a large number of international enterprises including Accenture, DHL, Maersk, Alibaba, Manulife, Amazon, Wipro etc. selected Chengdu Tianfu Software Park to implant their back-offices, R&D centers or development centers to take advantage of the good talent pool and low operation costs.

Tianfu Software Park (TSP), located at the core of the New Tianfu City of Chengdu Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone (Chengdu Hi-tech Zone), is an ecological park of international standard, serving global software and service outsourcing players. It is developed and constructed with full funding from Chengdu Hi-tech Investment Group Co., Ltd. It has a total built-up area of over 1.1 million sq. m, with 790,000 sq. m already being furnished and put into service.

TSP has a grand and rational architectural layout and is equipped with first-class supporting facilities. It has an ideal environment for working and living. TSP has attracted many world-renowned enterprises to set-up business, including IBM, SAP, NEC, Symantec, NCS, Accenture, Huawei, Ubisoft, Alibaba, Mearsk,, Nokia Siemens Networks, Tencent, Wipro and NIIT Tenants here focus on fields such as ITO / BPO, network communication, software development, digital entertainment, information security, back-office operations, and talents training.

As the major base for software and service outsourcing industry development in Chengdu Hi-tech Zone, TSP has already become the key center for the industry in China. Meanwhile, Chengdu has risen to be a crucial city, following Beijing and Shanghai, for strategic layout in China for large enterprises from home and abroad!

Unit Testing – Acceptance Test Plan during Software Development Testing Phase


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