Staying Motivated and determined for Training!

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Hi all,

I would like to pose an open question to everyone.

Currently I am training for the AZ-104 exam. I picked this because my new job that I started in August last year is starting to make the move to Azure and so do many other businesses so it seems logically to gain the skills to stay on top, and why not get the exam at the same time.

Having never used Azure but knowing enough of the capabilities I have helped the business move to azure with the majority of their systems just by playing with the system. Don’t fear the Infrastructure Manager is clued up on Azure and he has checked my stuff and confirmed it all good.

My main thing is sitting and training for the exam.

When doing stuff for work or at home in a lab environment it’s easy to take 2 hours setting up a VM and NSG Step by step as you can easily tear it down if needed however in the exam time is off the essence.

I’ll admit I have been hardcore studying since September last year, going through the ITProTV videos over and over and even using Microsoft Learn to go through everything “in the Microsoft way”.

However when it comes to sitting practice exams I start to get nervous.

I did originally book the exam in December last year and was prepared to sit it, when it got cancelled. So I ended up rebooking it for beginning of March and me being me I have pushed it back further to the beginning of April.

I find that when I am in the Azure portal trying to have hands on experience in the evenings and weekends (not much else to do when your in a national lockdown) that I find myself thinking “I know this, it’s so easy” but then when looking back at it I still don’t feel confident.

I spend every evening I can (normally minimum an hour) and then the weekends as well (2-3+ per day at the weekend) however I still feel like I am nowhere near ready for it.

I have sat the practice exams but still feel like I am going to fail. I know there are some issues with the practice exams where I have found that the correct answer is marked as wrong but that isn’t ITProTV faults as it’s a 3rd party.

I sat ITIL foundation 4 in July after just 3 weeks of training and I felt the best I ever did for the exam however I just don’t feel it for this exam.

How does everyone else stay positive and motivated to keep pushing forward when training for a certification?

Not sure if this is just me overthinking everything or if others get/feel the same as me.

Sorry for the rambling on

Bradley

@Bradley-Shears ,

I know exactly how you feel. I never feel like I'm prepared to take the exam. I get soo nervous when I step into the testing booth. I have procrastinated scheduling an exam many times.

It's important to go through the practice exams. They help determine what areas you need to focus your study efforts on, but don't let them discourage you! They sometimes have the answer incorrectly marked. They also tend to go into much more detail than will be expected on the exam. But that's ok, nothing wrong with being over-prepared. Just make sure to take full advantage of them. Review each question, and when they provide the explanation, read why the right answer is right, and why the wrong answers are wrong. You can learn so much from the explanations.

I like to do small samplings, like 10 questions at a time. Then I set it to show the answers as I go. For each question, I give my best answer, then look at the explanation. If I don't understand something, even from the wrong answers, I stop and google it. This is why I only do 10 questions, because it will take me an hour, lol.

In the end, you just have to go for it! You might fail, and that's ok. You are more likely to succeed! Many times Microsoft offers certification vouchers with a retake policy. This can help with the stress of having to pay again if you don't pass the first time.

Also, the more Microsoft exams you take, you will feel more comfortable with how they ask questions, and better judge how prepared you are.

Hope this helps and good luck!!

@Bradley-Shears ,

Here is a link with information on the Microsoft exam replay offers.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/learn/certifications/deals

@Mike-Rodrick

Thanks ever so much for the detailed response and taking the time out of your day to respond.

I completely agree with the practice tests, I think there is always that thing in the back of your mind to almost beat yourself up if you get something wrong especially if you have spent so long studying.

It’s just the case of biting the bullet and going for it. If you fail, just look at what went wrong and try again.

Thanks again @Mike-Rodrick!