Getting LPIC Level 1

Thanks for stopping by!

My intension's here are to talk about Linux. My career goal right now is to further develop my Linux skills. Although I am certified at LPIC-1, I am going to write my level 2 exams very soon.

I guess a great place to start this blog is to talk about the exam. If you are interested in LPI, perhaps you may learn something. So lets begin!

So you want to take the plunge. Maybe you are fed up with Windows stuff, maybe you just want to expand your horizons. I will tell you this, despite the flakiness of other certification tests, the LPIC is no walk in the park. There is only a 45% success rate on passing the first time. I consider myself lucky in that I am among that 45%.

The exams are designed to be exceptionally challenging and honestly, I respect that. I have worked in a career centre for a number of years now and we had the saying that every cabby in Toronto has their MCSE. Not to knock it, it HAS changed in the last few years, however the market became flooded with Microsoft Professionals.

The Linux Professional Institute has made this by design to be difficult. To get a relatively new certification recognized in the industry, you have to have good candidates emerging from it, very good ones. Otherwise there will be no respect from the industry. So if you are thinking of this, think serious. I was one of the lucky few that passed on my first go.

Each level has 2 exams. You must pass both at about 62% (see chart below). I am a great self study and did not think I needed any classes. Just give me the book! Well, on my first go, I was sorely surprised that despite my prepping, reading, rereading smooched up in a subway car, I still did not do as well as I had thought I would. I did pass.

My 101 exam I wrote in a testing centre. So it was very controlled, and organized. Its computer based testing and was just what you'd expect. My second, I wrote at Linux World at a reduced rate. That one was paper and pencil. Keep your eyes opened for group testing. Its about half the price the only down side is that you have to wait for your results. The questions are not simply multiple choice, they are much more difficult. you have:

• Multiple Choice
• Choose 2 (multiple choice)
• Choose all that apply (multiple choice)
• Fill in the blanks

It should also be noted that on the regular multiple choice questions, you often see 'All of the above' or 'none of the above' to further challenge you. The same style is used for all the exams.

Each section is weighted differently, so you had better pay attention when you are doing your studying. Here are a couple examples of what to expect.

1. You are installing software on a production server. The installation asks you to stop all file sharing for the next step. In a primary UNIX/Linux file sharing environment, which file contains a list of file systems to be shared? Fill in the blank with the full path and file name of that file.
________________________________________________________

2. After leasing a class C IP address range from a provider, you decide that you need to have 6 networks with as many hosts as possible on each network. Which of the following represents the subnet mask you should choose?

1. 255.255.255.128
2. 255.255.255.224
3. 255.255.255.0
4. 255.255.255.240
5. 255.255.255.248

Answers are at the end of this article. As you can see they choose tough questions. On the first question you may be thinking Samba. Don’t! You have to read the questions well. They say Primarily UNIX/Linux file sharing. Think about this, Windows was not mentioned.

There are some great study materials, and I will list the ones I used. Look st the bottom of this article with the sources.

Here are the scores required to pass.

• LPIC-1
• 101 - 60%
• 102 - 61.4%

• LPIC-2
• 201 - 60%
• 202 - 64.61%

There is a Level 3, however I have not yet had the time to research this, as I am more concerned with Level 2 at the moment. For more detailed information you can visit, www.lpi.org/lpic

The exams were designed using a theory called Item Response Theory. I could go into great detail about this model, however its beyond the scope of this article. For more information, please see sources.

In closing, the LPIC designation I really like because its vendor neutral although DOES seem to prefer Redhat or Debian releases. In the 101 exam you have to choose between RPM and DEB packaging. So pick one and learn it well!

Good luck! If you have done your LPIC Please post your comments!

Talk to you next time.
Ian, Ian's Linux Pages.

Answers to sample questions:

1. /etc/exports
2. 2
   

Sources:

• analysis method called Rasch IRT (Item Response Theory). Rasch ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rasch_model)
• LPIC1 Exam Cram 2, 2005, Que Publishing, ISBN: 0-7897-3127-4
• LPI Linux Certification In a Nut Shell, Second Edition, 2006, O'Reily Media Inc. ISBN: 0-596-00528-8
• www.lpi.org/lpic, Aug 12,2007
• http://www.lpi.org/en/lpi/english/certification/faq, Aug 12, 2007