Verfity My Exam Link: https://rhtapps.redhat.com/verify/?certId=200-088-763
Exam Overview
Cost: $160
$80 for RHA students
Length: 1 hours
My Journey
I passed the PE124 on June 30, 2020 on my first attempt! I scored 233/300. This exam was just a milestone for the RHCSA and I only prepared for around a month. Red Hat recently starting offering a preliminary exam for the RHCSA which is only 1 hour long and tests fewer exam objectives than the RHCSA. It is called PE124 and I was fortunate to be awarded a PE124 exam voucher by submitting an essay for the North America PE124 “POSITIVE IMPACT” Campaign.
I was fortunate that Red Hat started allowing a remote exam option for certain exams and PE124 was one of them. During the school year, I did not have time to study for certifications because I was working part-time, a full-time student, and had extracurriculars. I waited until the summer when I was going to continue my part-time job, take one class, and work on side projects. After passing the AWS certified cloud practitioner exam, I knew the PE124 exam was next. I was working on developing cybr.club, finding someone to hire for the cyber club logo, and learning Django on the side. I set a goal of passing the PE124 at the end of June so I ended up scheduling my exam on June 30th and received my score report just around an hour after I took the exam.
OBJECTIVE: SCORE
Understand and use essential tools: 100%
Operate running systems: 100%
Deploy, configure and maintain systems: 100%
Manage users and groups: 67%
Manage security: 50%
After taking the exam, I had an idea of what I missed and just reviewed the areas I needed to improve on. The PE124 is not a very hard exam since the objectives tested cover basic Linux administration skills. I think the exam is worth it since it shows potential employers you at least know the basics of using a Linux machine.
My Background
Before studying for this exam, the only experience I had with using Linux was having a Linux distribution on my personal laptop for less than a year. The only commands I knew from memory were commands to navigate the terminal, vim, and creating or deleting files.
Exam Day
You only need to have one camera and the exam is web-based. This is not like taking the RHCSA which requires an extra external camera and you have to create a bootable USB to boot into the exam environment. If you are prepared to take the exam, 1 hour is more than enough time to complete the required tasks during the exam and double-check your work.
Next Steps
My next step is to pass the RHCSA and help others pass the PE124 exam.