Any advice for someone taking the ISM (E20-001) exam?

Hi Muneer, I branched this question to a new discussion to make sure people see it. I'll let the folks who have taken the exam recently weigh in first, but don't be scared! This community is a great place to get advice when you are preparing for an exam - so you are in the right place!

Who has advice for Muneer?

Hello Muneer,

If you have worked in Storage for 18 months, then I think that studying the book can put you in a good position for taking the exam. I know that reading a book is not everyone's preferred way of learning, but, if you can learn and study in this way, then, as I say, I think you can be in a good position. A few other points:

• You can always ask questions about the book on this forum, and, as Gina says, this is a good forum for seeking advice.
• For whatever reason, when I take a live exam (at Pearson Vue), I always seem to get a score that is a few % less than the score I got when I took the practice exam. So, I normally prefer to take the live exam after I can comfortably pass the practice exam (passing score + 10%, say). Maybe this is just me, who knows.
• Also, sometimes when I look at the 4 possible multiple-choice answers to choose from, I sometimes think that maybe 2 of the answers are correct, which then gives me a dilemma. But then I think to myself that the examiner's want the 'best answer'', when I remember this, then it is usually pretty clear to me which answer they want.
• In relation to the previous bullet, if you do sometimes find your self in a dilemma, it can help to ask yourself the question "Why are they asking me this particular question, what aspect of the technology are they checking to see if I know the answer to ?".
• As you know, ISM is technology focused, and so many of the questions are around storage technology, as opposed to storage products. When I joined EMC, I took the exam at a time when I did not know an awful lot about the Symmetrix array. There was a question on the exam (not sure if it was the live exam or the practice exam) that included the word Symmetrix - now, rather than panicking about this, in my head I replaced the word Symmetrix with the phrase "Really_cool_really_big_high_performing_hardware_raid_array_with_a_single_unified_cache!". I was then able to answer the question pretty well, I think. I realize that this might not always work, but I certainly think it can often work.
• At the end of the day, the main point is study, study, study.

I hope that this helps, Richard.

Muneer you may also want to read some previous posts on the topic:

• How do you study for an exam?
• Study tips for EMC E20-001 (ISM Examination)
• How to use the ISM book to study

Richard:  Thanks alot . Your reply  motivate me a lot  - -I will try to familer with Popular EMC products . i think that is the  best way to tackle,  out of syllabus questions.

Gina :

   My plan :

                 Study ISM books thoroughly.

                 Refer good docs  from PowerLink -    I hope that will make me success.

Please advice me if you have any  add on.

Nest level Clarion .:)

Hi Munner,

After you go through with book and material.

You must go for practice test available, it will lead you to have an understanding about the exam.

It helped me too.

Good luck

Muneer,

ISM book covers all the topics of E20-001. You may also navigate in powerlink to get the document required.

Practise test is another option to get the virtual feeling for the exam.. :-)

All the best.........

Hi Muneer,

Nothing to wory about exam.You already have one and half years of experiance in storage environment.Prepare with strong determination.I appeared for the ISM ( E20-001) exam first time and I cleared it.Prepare well with the help of ISM book or EMC training.Do clear all concepts of SAN , NAS , CAS , and DAS ,Replication Technology ,Virtulization .There might be some questions out of syllabus , But you would able to give answers easily.Also give practice test offered by EMC as all community people told.