There were some ridiculous questions on this exam.

My biggest stumbling blocks were questions that required in-depth memorization of options and syntax.

The easiest question was about renice. How to change the priority of a running application.

But for me to get a majority of the questions right I would have to memorize all the options of the mount command and what they do, ex. mount -a, -F, /dir/mountpoint

I think it would be a waste of time to retake the LPIC so I am going to concentrate on RHCSA. I did learn alot from studying for the LPIC and I will use it on RHCSA.

Does this sound like a good idea?

LPIC is easy if you use the commands they ask you about. I had a question about setting the default gateway with the route command which I never use for that task. I did pass though as the passing score is very minimal, they also include several beta questions in each take that are not counted against you if you get them wrong. This is more like a CompTIA exam where it is alot of memorization but if you start taking LPIC/Linux+ practice tests and read some study materials directly related to the exam you should be able to pass if you are a decent Linux user.

The cost difference between the two exams is very extreme and I would recommend going for the CompTIA Linux+ which if you pass gives you your LPIC cert and your Novell cert as well.

If you can afford the cost of the RHCSA crash course with exam then go for it, however, I would seriously doubt you can pass the RHCSA on your first try without any additional training if you did not pass the LPIC-1.

There is not an extreme cost difference between the exams. I just paid $175 for LPIC-101 whereas the RHCSA is $400 so assuming that LPIC-102 is the same cost as LPIC-101 the cost difference is $50. Also, I have a better chance of landing a Linux job with an RHCSA certificate than a Linux+.

My main point of consideration is that the RHCSA is a better cert to start with then the Linux+/LPIC1. Like most IT professionals in the USA, I do not have Linux Administration experience and there is no way for me to gain that experience. The best way for me to learn Linux would be a hands-on, task-oriented cert instead of a memorization test.

If somewhere down the road, I know all of the Debian and RH commands from using them all day at work then I will retake the LPIC. Here's hoping that will be the case.

The cost difference is because almost nobody goes and takes the RHCSA exam without at least taking the crash course w/ exam which is about $4,000. If you have no linux admin exp you will fail the RHCSA if you don't take the two sys admin classes they offer first.

---------- Post added 05-16-12 at 06:50 PM ----------

I have both by the way and both are well respected, the Linux + is much easier to obtain and because you get three certs by passing it your resume looks stacked.