General
Three habits I keep coming back to before any cert exam
Nine certifications since 2021. The prep that goes well always has these three habits. The prep that goes badly always misses one.
2 min read
Blog
Insights, tips and exam strategies
Practical articles to help you prepare with confidence and learn from real-world experience.
Latest(7)
General
The 'free practice tests' problem nobody talks about
Free practice tests aren't just lower-quality paid ones. They train the wrong reflexes. A friend's PMP fail taught me why.
2 min read
ITIL
Studying for ITIL 4 with a full-time job and a 2-year-old
I almost didn't sit for ITIL 4 Foundation because of time. Here's the prep approach that survived a toddler and a 9-to-7.
2 min read
ServiceNow
ServiceNow CSA, then CIS-ITSM. Was the second one worth it?
Short answer: yes, but not for the reasons I expected. A year between the two certs gave me a real before/after.
2 min read
Security
Why I stopped using Anki for certification prep
I was the Anki guy. Over 4,200 cards across three certs. Then I failed CISSP and had to rethink the whole system.
2 min read
Kubernetes
Mock exams or study guides? After 200 hours of prep, I have an answer.
I tracked every hour of my CKA prep in a Notion table. 211 hours, six months, one passing score. Here's the ratio that worked.
2 min read
AWS
I failed my first AWS exam by 3 points. Here's what I changed.
I scored 697 on the SAA-C03. The pass line was 720. Three points. Here's the prep change that got me to 854 six weeks later.
2 min read