Hi lovely readers,

Microsoft, Cisco, CompTIA+. There are a lot of companies that have associate level certificates to get you started in your career. I myself have a long list of them because I just really like to expand my knowledge on different topics.

Over the years I found a way of studying that helped me pass these exams quite easily. Currently I’m working on Microsoft Azure Fundamentals certificate and I wanted to share how I’m doing this. Let’s get to studying together.

1. Watch the study course

Most associate level certificates have a course you should read through before you take the exam. I like to watch this while taking notes (+ timestamp or page number) of definitions of words that I need to remember, in my own words. Take your time and read, don’t scan. You can find the official Microsoft Azure Fundamentals course on Microsoft Learn

2. Watch an exam cram

Cramming means absorbing a lot of information in a short amount of time. Exam crams are video’s you can use to do this. You can find a lot of them all over YouTube.

These video’s are way more practical than study courses, which can really help remembering different topics. I like to watch them because I get to see how the definitions I learned actually work in real life. Once again, really listening and making notes, explaining stuff in your own words is really important. Fill in the definitions you got from your course and add new information to it if needed. There's a really good one for Azure, which also includes tests and notes by Adam Marczak

3. Look for flashcards and make them yourself

Now that you got the definitions down from the course or exam crams you watched, start making flashcards. Each flashcard has a definition on the front and the explanation on the back. You can do this on pen and paper (which can help because writing stuff down by hand helps you remember better), or you can do it digitally. There are multiple websites you can do that with, like quizlet or cram.com

It’s also very helpful to look at the flashcards other people made, just to get a sense of how they would explain the definitions. Google search for the code or name of the certificate + flashcards and something will probably show up.

4. Make your final notes and determine what you need

Now that you’ve watched a course, an exam video and worked with flashcards, it’s time to make your final notes. You can either edit the list of definitions you already have or you can go for writing a summary.

Highlight the words that you find most important. If you want to be sure you remember everything extra well, consider writing it down on pen and paper. Maybe even do it multiple times.

Are you still confused about some parts that was explained either in the exam cram or the study course? Then you might want to watch it again or maybe watch some other video’s on it. Do you learn better by reading books? Maybe a study guide book can help you.

Final tips

While studying, please take your time. This is not about setting a record in learning, this is about learning new information well. If you have issues focusing on the content you need to learn, do it in multiple parts. There is only so much a human mind can learn, if you’re tired or distracted easily, you’re not going to absorb any information.

Having fun with it is very important too. Share some of your learning journey online. Tell people about what you learned.

And in case you fail your first exam, don’t feel down. Redo this whole study plan and try again. You can do this

That’s a wrap!

Thank you for reading. I hope this can help you in your (future) career as a developer. If you have any suggestions or tips, feel free to leave a comment or contact me on Twitter at @lovelacecoding. See you later!