Sept 2014 WGU Courses -- DRV1 & DSV1

September 2014: I completed the two Linux Courses, DRV1 and DSV1. The tests weren't bad, however, the primary study material left a lot to be desired. On the DRV1 (LPI101) course and study guide, I was making the upper nineties on the practice questions from WGU material. I knew the answer to the question, not just memorizing question 4 answer c. I knew what the other 3 answers represented or what the question was asking. However, the real test material was quite a bit different. Very frustrating experience.

I jumped to the forums after eeking out a 600 (500 to pass). Many had the same issue. I tried the recommendation of many and went to the linuxacademy.com site for the LPI102 course. MUCH BETTER! They offered a monthly plan which i picked up for $25. The course was 30 hours of material. It was lecture with the instructor doing a lab. as part of the package, you can launch up 4 different linux machines with a variety of OS. I spun up two machines, CentOS and Ubuntu (RPM vs. Debian). Some of the files are in different locations per distribution, plus it was good practice to deal with the different tools on each. My typical session was to listen to the instructor, watch what he did, then duplicate it on my own machines. So, it took longer than 30 hours to complete the course in LPI102 pausing the lectures. After each section, I would review the course notes to make sure I covered anything not specifically covered in the lecture. Some commands just have a lot of options. Last, studying there and passing and understanding all the prep material, I tried a WGU practice test to get used to seeing test questions. I went into the testing site only making 80% on the WGU tests.  I made a 670 on the DSV1/LPI102 course. The questions I missed were my fault. It was covered at LinuxAcademy, but I simply didn't recall the answer. Plus some were those details where I go, screw it, if they ask that level detail, I'm guessing. I can deal with that feeling much better than going into a test having studied the wrong material.

Anyhow, recommendation: use the study programs, examples, and guides at the LinuxAcademy. 25 for a month, 60 for a 3 months is worth it. Duplicate what the instructor is doing in EVERY LAB. Yeah you may have to pause, rewind, and go wth did he just do?. I didn't ask any questions of the two gentlemen who provided the course, but they are responsive in the forums. Use the practice tests from WGU to get some questions thrown at you a day or 2-5 days prior to the test. Master the material/commands where you have to type something that was in both study materials. Master the locations of anything covered in both. Review the LPI101/102 exam objectives (duh?) to ensure you aren't going to be surprised on the topics. Don't expect the exam questions to be repeated word for word in your study material. That's called a brain dump. Neither of the training providers are in that business. However, read the test questions again. Sometimes they combine topics, ask a question a different way than you studied it. Usually you can get the questions down to 2 options.

Good luck.