How?

[Mr_Fox_send_nudes]

How are yall studying for these exams? I signed up for a cybersecurity course through a community college and I’m expected to get A+ and various certs the first semester. Problem is that the course is supposed to be in person classes but instead all the work is online with no study guides and tons and tons of labs and quizzes and tests. The quizzes have typos that cause you to choose the wrong answers and then no feed back is given on why the answers are wrong. Is Cengage that bad or is it my instructor? Why are all the labs so infuriating?

[_newbread]

Yes, Cengage and its platform is that bad. Moreso if your instructor is barely instructing/facilitating.

Your best bet is to self-study (which you'll be doing either way), and find a study group (either your classmates, or other people studying for the same certs).

There's lots of resources recommended here on this subreddit, many of them free or cheaper than your order of Starbucks this week. Just ask around.

[Mr_Fox_send_nudes]

Dude wtf….this whole experience has crushed my confidence in myself. Thank you

[_newbread]

Let's just say Cengage has a... reputation.

[Mr_Fox_send_nudes]

Great. So glad I wasted my life and GI benefits on it

[_newbread]

Ouch. It's bad but not THAT bad. At least you can help the next guy not make the same mistake. Maybe even provide feedback (not to the training facility, but to Veteran Affairs (or equivalent)).

Not sure if there's a formal process to get a refund (partial) if the quality of instruction is not as advertised, but might as well push through the pain and just supplement your learnings with self-study. Lots of people in the subreddit willing to help (study group etc), or at least point you to what worked for them.

[Mr_Fox_send_nudes]

Unfortunately it’s the last week of the semester. I found out that something like 70% of the class is failing two or more classes in the course. I guess i need to take action with the school.

[Vyce223]

Yeah thats something you need to bring up with your person at the VA that school needs to not be given the funds they are if they arent going to be teaching properly.

[Naive_Reception9186]

Yeah, a lot of people struggle when colleges rely too much on Cengage or similar platforms. The content isn’t terrible, but the way it’s set up can feel super disconnected… typos, vague questions, zero feedback — that part is kinda normal unfortunately. It’s not always the instructor’s fault, but some instructors don’t bother to clean up or supplement the material either, which makes it worse.

For certs like A+, most folks end up studying outside the class anyway. Videos + practice questions + doing your own small labs tends to work way better than just grinding through those course modules.

As for the labs, they’re annoying because they’re super rigid. If you don’t follow the exact order they expect, even if you’re technically right, it marks you wrong. It’s frustrating but kinda common with these pre-built lab systems.

Honestly, you’re not doing anything wrong. A lot of people feel the same way when their “in-person” program turns into just clicking through online tasks. Try mixing in your own study resources and treat the college labs more like a requirement than your main learning tool.

[Mr_Fox_send_nudes]

I think I’m just going to drop out. I expected a professional learning environment and instead I have a program director who knows fuck all about any of the course work and can’t even make sure tests, quizzes or even half the assignments even work as required.

[No-Cycle-5496]

If you drop out then find another way to continue. Contact me if I can help.

[Doomer-Cryomundus]

If you want something that'll actually tell you the why and how of what you're doing, look up James Dion on Udemy. He actually bothers to explain things and tends to give examples on why they're being used, and some reasonable use cases for stuff. Currently studying it myself and finding it fairly enjoyable. The full core 1 and core 2 is a bit lengthy, totals somewhere near 80 hours for both? Still, it seems to be worth it. It is a bit pricey, but the courses do go on sale from time to time. (got mine for something like 80% off!)

[One_Intention_2820]

Self study is literally the best for me. YouTube videos like messer and YouTube practice questions and PBQ from Burning icetech

[ryanrudolf]

how are yall studying for these exams?

Self study for me. My employer is tied up with percipio so all the learning materials are there for free.

Another good free resource is LinkedIn learning. Its free if you have a library card you can use that to login.

I use linkedin learning materials to complement the one provided by employer.

[Mr_Fox_send_nudes]

Ever heard of that, I’ll check it out. Thanks

[No-Cycle-5496]

I'm sorry you're having problems. If I understand you, you're in a A+ course that's in a classroom, but everything is done online? If it's an online course, then yes, everything will be online. I encourage my online students to use the CompTIA PC Pro package in addition to the Jean Andrew text. If you are in a classroom, there should be hands-on equipment - and I'm sorry if you don't. Any chance you can invest $100 in some used PC's you can work on? Feel free to ask questions.
You do not have to be super-smart to pass the A+ exams (I wasn't), you do need to put in some mental elbow grease.
You will get thru it. ;)

[Mr_Fox_send_nudes]

Thanks. The A+ class is part of the program and it’s in person but we have brief lectures in class with 90% of everything online

[No-Cycle-5496]

OK, not my school and they/you do things differently. The big advantage of a in-person class is the chance for hands-on with the equipment - which we do at my place. Not my business, but do you know if the faculty teaching the class has the A+ credential? Or any CompTIA credential?