Product: RHCSA/RHCE Red Hat Linux Certification Study Guide

First: This book AND Jang’s separate Lab book were the only resources I used for preparation. I’ve read negative reviews in random places that claim various things are missing from this book….so far everything I’ve heard folks say is missing…is absolutely in this book. The Lab book doesn’t add any knowledge value but the addition of labs and exams is very helpful.

These are not difficult exams but I think folks tend to under-prepare and then blame their research materials.

My approach was to skip the reading and go straight to the labs (using the labs answers as a guide). Once I completed all of the labs, then I read the book. Then I did the labs again. Then I read the book again. Then I did the labs again. I stopped the cycle of insanity once I reached a point where I could complete each lab without having to look anything up and could complete a given objective in under 2 minutes. Time can murder you on these tests. My approach was to be fast, super fast.

For RHCSA, I completed all tasks in under 30 minutes. That left me 2 hours to go back through everything with a fine-tooth comb over and over again and come out with a 300 out of 300 score.

For RHCE, I completed all tasks within the first hour leaving me an additional hour for reboots, and SE Linux relabeling….and then a fine-tooth comb back through all of the tasks to make sure all was well. Got a 260 out of 300…..really wish they broke down your score, it’d be great if I know what area I went wrong in.

Anyway, the point of all that was this…. This book (and possibly the associated Lab Book) are ALL that you need. Don’t listen to the negative reviews. I keep mentioning the Lab Book but there are a ton a labs that come with this book and they’re good labs, the two RHCSA and two RHCE practice exams are great as well. The only problem is this (not actually something negative about this book) - practice makes perfect and after a while, you realize you’re just doing the same labs over and over again - so the Lab Book is nice.

DO NOT GOOGLE FOR LABS. There are plenty of resources out there that try to give you command-line examples of what you need to know or even possible lab ideas. I’ve found a lot of these to be overboard and way above and beyond what you actually need to know - so they will just have you freaking out and over studying topics that don’t even apply. Stick to this book. Do the labs over and again. Read CAREFULLY. Practice outside of the labs. If the book mentions something and you don’t recall doing a lab for it….just do it then, try it out.
Rating: 5
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