Attainable Goals?

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I've (we here at CF lol) established which certs I should take, and will take, but are my goals attainable?

I want to be A+, N+ and MCDST qualified within 12 months. Is this possible with an hour a day of study? I am thinking perhaps not? I have 11 years experience with Windows on a helpdesk.

I am pretty bright and take in things quite well, and I appreciate its hard to say whether I will or wont meet my goals, but based on the average person with the above time frame?

 

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You arent going to know that until you start studying them to be perfectly honest. It could take you a week at that rate to be ready for the A+, depending on your personal experience with the concepts and knowledge presented in the certification. It might take you a year just to get to grips with the A+.

Its different for everyone, and is heavily dependant on your skill, your existing knowledge, the time you have available to prepare, and your ability to learn the material you dont know.

 

11 years of experience, especially if it is varied, should get you off to a good start.

You might want to do a bit more than 1 hour a day tho... Not necessarily every day of course, you need to balance the work with some relaxation as well.

But you need to ask yourself how much you can read in an hour (bare with me, studying is not just reading of course). Depending on the book, that might be just 20 pages. Multiply this by the number of pages in an A+, N+ and an MCDST book (and throw in an extra book or two for good measure) brings you at 2000-3000 pages for "just" the reading material (give or take, the more the better). Also, some chapters may slow you down more, some will require lab work, and so on, and so on.

That's ~6 months where you're just reading, 1 hour a day. Then there's the tinkering, lab, practice exams... all mounts up.

But maybe in your case, it is stretching you study time a bit too much. Sure it all fits in a year (you're looking at 5 exams, i.e. one every 2 months), but if you have 11 years of experience,you could be churning out those exams at a speed of 1 a month (but everyone is different of course).

In any case, good luck. Sounds like a plan. My math skills s***, please don't flame

 

Like people above have said mate, it's all down to the individual person...

I haven't done the N+ or A+ but I've passed the MCDST. I didn't do any revision for it either (well, I had a quick skim of the topics to see if I knew enough) and I passed with a very decent score (870 and 920 I think). I have been in my IT career for 2.5 years now and I took both exams in one setting around my 1.5 year mark, however I grew up interested in computers though with a dad who had a computer shop so
I would go for the kill if I were you mate.. 11 years is a long time..
I'm sure you would have picked up most of the content which is needed for the MCDST.

on another note...
11 years experience on helpdesk
ouch

good luck

 

It is doable, although I would set your goals one at a time, breaking them up into less daunting chunks.
I would book your first exam NOW for say in a months time, and if you get to that date and realise you need an extra week or two, reschedule for in a week or two's time.

With 11 years of experience you should already know the majority of these items, so if you can get some testing exams and find out your weak points, focus more on that area of study, should save you time and stress.

 

This.