Best Preparation for CSA exam

AdrianRaymundo · ‎06-21-2023

Hello Community,

Would like to hear your tips to prepare for my first CSA exam.

LearnUseThrive · ‎06-21-2023

I'm testing next week. I've been going through the book and highlighting anything that looks like it could be turned into a question, like anything in bold, anything listed as "Note:", key difference or benefits of things, etc and then reading through all my highlights

Cwhyte · ‎07-12-2023

Hi,

Did your strategy work? I want to make sure I cover all my bases before I take it. Seems that people who have the experience on the platform do really well and pass it quickly. I do not have that six months experience just yet so I'm not sure if I should wait.

LearnUseThrive · ‎07-15-2023

Yes, my strategy worked well, and I'm happy to say I passed! A lot of the questions were right out of my highlights.

The Udemy practice tests from Ali Saghaeian were pretty good. The format was on point, and while they were maybe even a little harder than the actual exam, the great part is the show you the test domain that you're weak in. Then you can go back and hammer that part of the ebook. If something didn't make sense in a lab, read that part of the ebook again and do the lab again.

Many local libraries offer unlimited Udemy access FREE with a library card, so check up on your local county and city library systems.

You need to get 45 questions right on the 60 question exam. When going through the exam, use the "mark for review" on any question you're not positive about. If you hit the end of the exam and have 15 or fewer marked, you're likely going to pass! I was at exactly 15, and those ranged from "no idea" to "I'm almost sure I know this one" so I knew I was in pretty good shape. Then I went back through answering the 15, some of which I now knew because of phrasing in other questions. In the end I only had 7 which I felt I might still get wrong. Then just to be on the safe side, I went through the entire test again making sure I hadn't misread any of the "sure thing" questions... turns out I had misread it for one and corrected it.

Even with all that I had 15 minutes left. Was delighted to see it tell me right away I had passed.

Edit: I passed CSA in June 2023. It took a while of submitting applications to get an interview, but I landed a Developer position in January 2024. Good luck to all!

YolNehc · ‎02-06-2024

Very Informative, thank you