IT Fundamentals Pro - Preparing for the CompTIA IT Fundamentals+ exam (FC0-U61) – TestOut

Johnny Carrera, a veteran in the classroom of 20+ years and now one of TestOut's Instructional Designers, reviews how to help your students pass the IT Fundamentals Certification Exam (FC0-U61).

Tips for CompTIA ITF+ Test Prep

The students must understand that they are entering a new phase of the class.
- This phase is typically 4 to 8 weeks.
- A student should spend from 5 to 10 hours a week, 40 hours total, practice testing.
- Some students might need less time, but others may need more. This is a general guideline.
Study groups and group testing are very useful.
- Study group: Students form a group to work on TestOut practice exams.
- Group testing: An instructor goes through TestOut practice exams with his or her class. Use a projector so students can work together.
Students should be practice testing in class and at home.

Tips for Practice Tests - Domain Practice Exams

Use the 20 questions domain practice exams first (at the end of the product).
Start with the domain with the largest % of questions (as of May 2021):
- Infrastructure
  - 22% of ITF+ questions come from this domain.
  - TestOut ITF Pro resource index: B.2.2
- Security
  - 20% of ITF+ questions come from this domain.
  - TestOut ITF Pro resource index: B.2.6
- Applications and Software
  - 18% of ITF+ questions come from this domain.
  - TestOut ITF Pro resource index: B.2.3
- IT Concepts and Terminology
  - 17% of ITF+ questions come from this domain.
  - TestOut ITF Pro resource index: B.2.1
- Software Development
  - 12% of ITF+ questions come from this domain.
  - TestOut ITF Pro resource index: B.2.4
- Database Fundamentals
  - 11% of ITF+ questions come from this domain.
  - TestOut ITF Pro resource index: B.2.5

Tips for Practice Tests - Practice Exam reports

As students finish each domain exam practice session:

Use the exam report to go over the questions they missed and the questions they got right but they guessed the answers.
Use the explanations to learn more about why they struggled with those questions.
Use the reference link to review or study associated material.
Make sure that students are not just memorizing the questions and answers.

Tips for Practice Tests - Flagging

The ITF+ exam allows you to flag or mark questions and save them for later. It is important to practice flagging questions during practice tests.

Because of a tight time limit, students should spend enough time on questions that they can comfortably answer first.
Then they should work on the questions that they struggled.
Each of the TestOut 20 question domain practice exams in B.2 allow students to practice this test-taking skill.

Tips for Practice Tests - Full Practice Test

Once students are scoring 85% or higher on all the 20 question domain practice exams 3 times in row, it is time to move to the full practice test.

The full practice test delivers 75 questions from all exam domains just like the real ITF+ exam (questions are randomly pulled from the question bank with 60 minutes to complete).
Note: For a test with a longer test time create a 75-question custom exam.
The TestOut ITF Pro resource index: B.4
As students finish each full practice exam session:
- Use the exam report to go over the questions they missed and the questions they got right but they guessed the answers.
- Use the explanations to learn more about why they struggled with those questions.
- Use the reference link to review or study associated material.
- Make sure that students are not just memorizing the questions and answers.

Additional Preparation for Skill/Task Questions

Some questions on the ITF+ are going to require the student to perform a skill/task to choose the correct answer. Make sure the student practices the following skills before taking the exam.

Convert a binary number into the decimal equivalent. (TestOut Section 2.3.1 and 2.3.2)
Convert a decimal number into the binary equivalent. (2.3.1 and 2.3.2)
Convert a Hexadecimal number into the binary equivalent. (2.3.1 and 2.3.2)
How to convert computer storage units (GB to TB, KB to MB, etc.) (2.3.3 and 2.3.4)
Read pseudocode and determine what the code is meant to do. (8.2.1 and 8.2.6)
Read JavaScript code and determine what code is meant to do. (8.2.6)

Understanding CompTIA ITF+ Questions

It is critical for students to understand that the ITF+ exam does not ask many high-level, conceptual questions, such as What is IoT stands for? Or What is the main advantages of Cloud computing? Most of the questions that students encounter requires much deeper understanding.

For many test items, students need to analyze a question scenario to answer the question correctly.
Some questions ask the student to perform a task
And some questions are challenging because they are somewhat ambiguous and confusing. Here are some examples:
- Example Question 1 - (Scenario-based Question)
  
  In response to a user’s input, a web application needs to make changes to the contents of a table in a database. What general programming language do you use to accomplish the task?
  
  A. DML (Data Manipulation Language)
  
  B. DDL (Data Definition Language)
  
  C. DQL (Data Query Language)
  
  D. DCL (Data Control Language)
  
  Explanation: In addition to understanding what different SQL language categories are (DML, DDL, DQL, DCL), the student must know 1) common SQL actions associated with DML, 2) what a web application is, and 3) what user’s input means in the context of this question (updating a password, deleting a phone number, etc. using SQL).
- Example Question 2 - (Scenario-based Question)
  
  Sam works from home. His wireless network generated poor signal quality. The signal improved when an old cordless phone stopped working. What problem did the cordless phone cause when it was active?
  
  A. Intrusion
  
  B. Network Overlap
  
  C. Attenuation
  
  D. Interference
  
  Explanation: In this question, the student needs to know 1) how a cordless phone could affect the quality of wireless signal, and 2) what the phenomenon is called. The question does not simply ask what interference is.
- Example Question 3 - Skills Question
  
  Convert the decimal number 40 into binary notation.
  
  A. 101011
  
  B. 1011111
  
  C. 1010100
  
  D. 101000
  
  Explanation: The student needs to be proficient at converting the decimal to binary number to answer this question correctly. Without adequate practice the student could make a calculation error
- Example Question 4 - Skills Question
  
  A company operates two offices in the same town, with 100 employees in each building. What type of network does it need to connect all its employees? LAN (Local Area Network) or WAN (Wide Area Network)?
  
  A. WAN, because there are more than 50 employees.
  
  B. WAN, because there are multiple locations
  
  C. LAN, because there are only two offices.
  
  D. LAN, because there are less than 500 employees.
  
  Explanation: This question can be seen as ambiguous or confusing because it does not give information about how far apart the buildings are. If the buildings are close together a LAN is possible, if they are miles apart then a WAN provider is needed.

Summary

The ITF+ exam does not ask many easier, high-level conceptual questions.
- Students must have a solid and deep understanding of the test material.
- Superficial knowledge will not be enough to be successfully pass the exam.
If a student does not have a strong knowledge base of the material, answering scenario-based, skill, ambiguous questions will be very difficult.
Practice Test, then Review, then Practice Test, then Review over and over...
The students will not like this very much, but it is the only way to pass.