I scored just about as well two years ago as I did this time with a score of 775. You would not expect that; considering that within two years your experience should grow. Not only that but I felt pretty confident in my answers and even went through them a second time to count the number of questions that I was not 100% sure on to see if I could deduce what the correct answers were. So where did I go wrong?
I did have other things on my mind, but for this exam, I was feeling pretty good. Looking at my performance graph, pictured below, the only indicator of what I missed is the "accessing and securing data" section. Not very helpful at all.
This section has several areas that I could have missed on. If I had to guess, my guess would be either the code sections where you have to drop snippets of pre-written code. In these sections they give you a box to select snippets of code that when all together should reflect the expected solution. I am not sure how the grading is done on these. I.E. I am not sure that if you get one snippet wrong you get the whole question or if partial credit is allowed.
I am not fond of these sections because how someone else may write code may not be the same way I write code. There are nuances that you may miss. Another one of my struggles with these kinds of problems is probably caused by my limited JavaScript knowledge. Anyone who knows me, knows I am not a fan of client side JavaScript code. I just do not trust it. In fact, I usually run with NoScript. I understand it is nice for a user at times, it does not get rid of the fact that you are giving the client your code that can be manipulated. But that is a topic for another time.
Aside from that, perhaps I confused the various types of data storage (although I feel as though I have a pretty good grasp on that).
So enough complaining about my lousy score, let me talk about what I am going to do to ensure I do better the next time. I think I am going to create an Anki deck going over the questions I remember, and use the reference guide to come up with other questions of my own. This will allow me to quiz myself over the period. And although I am not supposed to recommend this, I am going to take other practice exams that may or may not be found on the internet (be sure to make sure the answers provided (if any) are correct or you may be hurting yourself).
Next, I want to discuss the test environment itself. The last time I took this certification, the software used for the test was primitive. In this test they had a more robust visual experience (it even let you pick skins, however, I noticed some bugs in the skin I initially chose and had to go back to the default so as to not waste too much time). The place I took my certification was empty, in that I was the only test taker at that time. This was very nice because I did not have the anxiety of comparing myself to others based on how frequently they clicked, got up, coughed. I was able to focus on my test. Your mileage in this area may vary. They also had to take a picture that was included on my printout, not sure why this is. Last time I took it they just checked my id. And I think this time I had to bring an extra form of identification.
Overall, I recommend trying to put yourself in the same scenario as your testing environment. Whether this means practice tests, timed quizzes, etc. This will help you the most to prepare. I do not know how I am going to prepare for the code sections if they keep those in the exam the next time I take it, hopefully by then I will have a few more certifications under my belt.
Let me know if you are interested in a post about a study guide and I will put one together from my own notes.
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