Studying for the LPI Certification Exam

One of the question I often answer when taking part in a Free Software or Education event is, “How can I study for the LPI Certification Exam?”

The answer for this question depends a lot on the student profile. Is she a self-taught person? Do they like to study in groups? Does he need a coach or teacher?

In one way or another, this follow up question is usually “where do I get materials to study for this or that exam?”

I always tell people that LPI is an independent certification body, providing the topics people need to know to take an exam and get certified. We do not produce educational material, as our official partners produce their own (sometimes sharing with each other) and also independent authors also write books, produce videos, podcasts and other materials. That said, I have a set of hints for people who want to get certified.

For those who feel more comfortable having a coach or teacher, the LPI partners page makes it easy to search for a partner near the place you live or work. 

Others prefer to study alone or form a study team, which is my own preferred method. If that sounds like you, it’s best to start by reading the official LPI topics in the site wiki, then decide which ones have the most appeal, as well as any areas where you feel the need to learn more.

Consider the following examples . . .

Our first student has been using Linux for quite a while and knows enough about using the shell and terminal. Reading the Linux Essentials exam topics though, he feels he needs to know more about Searching and Extracting Data from Files (Topic 3.2), using the cut command.

We have excellent free material on all the topics covered by the Linux Essentials certification, so I would first refer that student to the link where we collect these materials: https://wiki.www.lpi.org/wiki/Free_Training_Materials. Here in Brazil, where I live, our partner, 4Linux, has a free online training that also covers all of our LE topics.

The next student is a DevOps professional who, with minor exceptions, feels confident about all of our topics. For instance, she is not familiar with CORS headers and CSRF tokens, and the topic, “701.1 Modern Software Development”, specifically asks for this.

Typically, DevOps professionals are quite knowledgeable in finding information, so I suggest some Google searches. Try them yourself:

“CORS headers”
“CORS headers” site:.edu
“CORS headers” filetype:pdf
“CORS headers” book
“CORS headers” tutorial

And as a plus:

fabian devops blog site:www.lpi.org

Since I mentioned DevOps, I’m proud to report that here, in Brazil, 4Linux has complete DevOps training covering all of our DevOps certifications. This is the first LPI partner in the world to have produced such courseware in a practical training environment.

Do you have more hints on how to study for a certification exam? Please let us know!