ISA offers a variety of resources to help you prepare for the Certified Automation Professional (CAP®) exam.
A Guide to the Automation Body of Knowledge is the primary text resource for the CAP test and provides a complete overview of all technical topics. Order the Guide to the Automation Body of Knowledge.
The CAP Study Guide is a comprehensive self-study resource that contains a list of the CAP domains and tasks, 75 review mock test complete with justifications. References that were used for each study guide question are also provided with the question. The Study Guide also includes a recommended list of publications that you can use to do further study on specific domains. Order the CAP Study Guide.
A CAP review course is available in several formats as preparation for taking the certification exam. This course is offered by ISA and can also be offered at your location.
ISA also has a variety of training courses that would be helpful in preparing for CAP. Visit the Automation Professional Training page for a complete list.
Questions on the test were derived from the real practice of automation professionals as outlined in the CAP Role Delineation Study and job task analysis. Using interviews, surveys, observation, and group discussions, ISA worked with automation professionals to delineate critical job components to develop test specifications to determine the number of questions related to each domain and task tested. This rigorous program development and ongoing maintenance process ensures that CAP certification accurately reflects the skills and knowledge needed to excel as an automation professional.
The following six questions were taken from the CAP test question item bank and serve as examples of the question type and question content found on the CAP exam.
| Question Number | Correct Answer | Exam Content Outline |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | Domain 1, Task 4 |
| 2 | C | Domain 2, Task 2 |
| 3 | B | Domain 3, Task 3 |
| 4 | B | Domain 4, Task 7 |
| 5 | C | Domain 5, Task 5 |
| 6 | A | Domain 6, Task 2 |
BY Sydney LakeOctober 04, 2022, 2:08 PM
A logo sits on the window of the LinkedIn Corp. European headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, as seen in June 2018. (Photographer: Jason Alden—Bloomberg/Getty Images)
While earning a master’s degree or another advanced degree can be a great way to make a career switch or earn a higher salary, these programs often require a significant investment of both time and money. For example, a master’s degree in cybersecurity from the University of California—Berkeley, which Fortune ranks as having the No. 1 program in the U.S., costs about $75,000 to complete.
However, these programs can help graduates achieve robust career outcomes. Some cybersecurity grads from UC Berkeley’s program manage to double their salaries post grad, to $200,000. Cybersecurity workers are also in high demand with more than 700,000 open positions in the U.S. alone. Worldwide, the number of unfilled cybersecurity jobs grew by 350%, from 1 million positions in 2013 to 3.5 million in 2021, according to Cybersecurity Ventures.
“Today’s labor market is all about skills,” Jeff Kellum, senior content manager of tech content at LinkedIn Learning, tells Fortune. “With an estimated 3.5 million unfulfilled cybersecurity roles by 2025, the ability to learn and showcase in-demand skills is critical for anyone hoping to get their foot in the door in the space.”
One way to start on your journey to becoming a cybersecurity professional is to start with the basics. LinkedIn Learning offers a variety of courses focused on cybersecurity from a foundational level all the way to preparation for advanced certifications.
“In the face of an uncertain macroeconomic climate, the ability to learn and showcase in-demand skills is critical to helping people get a foot in the door with a new company or finding a new role within their organization,” Hari Srinivasan, vice of product at LinkedIn, wrote in a late August blog post. “For many professions, certifications have emerged as key to this, with the number of people on LinkedIn who’ve added certifications to their profile increasing 44% over the last two years.”
Fortune has compiled a few cybersecurity courses to check out on LinkedIn Learning for people interested in learning more about the field. We’ve also included a list of the 19 learning paths and courses LinkedIn offers to prepare cybersecurity workers for the most in-demand certifications. LinkedIn Learning is available to LinkedIn users with a premium account, which can cost about $30 to $60 per month, depending on the package you purchase.
This course helps learners understand the basics of cybersecurity including explainers on cyber threats, cyber criminals, managing cyber risk, and responding to cybersecurity incidents. Cybersecurity Foundations is taught by Malcom Shore, who served as director of New Zealand’s Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB). The course takes roughly two hours total to complete, and includes instructional videos, chapter quizzes, and a final exam.
This course is tailor-made for professionals looking to make a career switch to cybersecurity. Transitioning to a Career in Cybersecurity helps learners to leverage their current skills, whether it’s in IT or a related field, in cybersecurity. The course also includes resume tips, interview strategies, and resources for finding a job in cybersecurity. The course, which takes a little over an hour to complete, is taught by Marc Menninger, who’s worked in cybersecurity for more than 20 years.
LinkedIn also offers a complete learning path for professionals who are interested in pursuing a career in cybersecurity. The learning path, Become a Cybersecurity Professional, takes about six-and-a-half hours to complete, and includes five courses: Cybersecurity Foundations, The Cybersecurity Threat Landscape, Learning the OWASP Top 10, IT Security Careers and Certifications: First Steps, and Land Your First Cybersecurity Job. If you complete the entire learning path, you receive a certificate of completion for your work.
LinkedIn Learning also offers 19 prep courses for the top cybersecurity-related certifications. Among the top 15 highest-paying IT certifications in 2022, three of them were cybersecurity-related, according to Skillsoft, which offers online training and courses on tech subjects. These certifications also helped professionals land paychecks of $150,000-plus.
“Security has always been well-paying and it really comes down to scarcity—both in the number of professionals and in the required skills,” Mike Hendrickson, Skillsoft’s vice president of tech and development, previously told Fortune. “With today’s limited pool of security professionals, organizations need to make their offers quite attractive, both in compensation and opportunities for professional development. Skills expectations are also high for these professionals.”
Here’s a list of the cybersecurity certification prep courses that LinkedIn offers:
See how the schools you’re considering fared in Fortune’s rankings of the best master’s degree programs in data science (in-person and online), nursing, computer science, cybersecurity, psychology, public health, and business analytics, as well as the doctorate in education programs MBA programs (part-time, executive, full-time, and online).
Olivia says it doesn’t matter how you do your practice exams, as long as you do them and learn from them.
October 28 - Biology
October 31 - Psychology
November 8 - Chemistry
November 9 - Physics
November 10 - Environmental science
Voulgaris’ biology tips:
Ben Ostermeyer scored a 50 in VCE psychology in 2021 and received a premier’s award.
When Ben Ostermeyer, 18, was studying for his 2021 VCE exams, he was in and out of lockdown. It meant a lot of his study groups were online.
Ostermeyer, a former student of Whitefriars College in Donvale, scored a 50 in psychology and earned himself a premier’s award in the subject. He’s now studying speech pathology at the Australian Catholic University.
He leaned on his teachers, his friends and his mother to drill content before doing practice exams.
“I got other people involved. I studied with my mates and my mum and went through the content togther,” he says.
He did about 10 practice exams altogether, the first few of which he did open-book style to identify areas he needed to focus more on, before progressing to closed-book exams.
Although he didn’t use a timetable to study, Ostermeyer did make sure he did all his practice exams at the same time they were scheduled: 10am.
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The psychology test includes multiple choice, short-answer questions and an extended-answer question. He says it was good to experiment with completing the different sections at different paces.
“In the exam, I found I spent more time on the multiple choice. In my practice exams I was flying through the multiple choice. I would recommend trying to do them at different paces,” he says.
He also recommends spending time studying research methods – hypotheses, independent variables and experiments.
“Just get in there, have a crack at it. I was little bit nervous. I was pretty confident going in because I put in a lot of work, so I knew that would put me in good stead.”
Both students advise getting a good night’s sleep before the test and taking time to relax, whether that’s by listening to music, doing puzzles or exercising.
Voulgaris says to remember that there are many pathways into your future career. “I’m at uni now. It’s a completely different landscape. No one cares what my ATAR was,” she says.
“I’m doing bio-med. You can do the same path through science. There are always options. You aren’t looking at it as a score that evaluates yourself. It’s just another tool to get where you need to go.”
Tips from assessors from previous science exams:
PHYSICS
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
CHEMISTRY
PSYCHOLOGY
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In our intensive and evening courses, which run over the course of several weeks and build upon one another, you can systematically work towards achieving a certain language level. The course content of the individual sub-levels is designed such that, by combining the applicable courses, the learning goals of a complete level are covered.
The difference is that our one-week Exam preparation in a group course focuses on targeted preparation for your German exam.
Yes, once you have completed the Exam preparation in a group course, you receive a certificate of attendance.
Yes, to attend an Exam preparation in a group course, you need previous knowledge of German to the level of the applicable course. This means, to do the Exam preparation in a group at level B1, you will need knowledge of German at level B1. To do the Exam preparation in a group at level B2, you will need knowledge of German at level B2. To do the Exam preparation in a group at level C1, you will need knowledge of German at level C1. To do the Exam preparation in a group at level C2, you will need knowledge of German at level C2.
One-week Exam preparation in a group costs EUR 340.
Keeping COVID-19 safe
VCAA is reviewing provisions for students who need to isolate or quarantine due to COVID-19. They will provide more advice.
How did you manage your stress?
“Go for walks, socialise and make sure you’re not trapped in your room. I also recommend staying in contact with friends, and reaching out to teachers for study help.”
What advice do you have for test preparation?
“For content-heavy subjects with a lot of definitions, flashcards and quizzes are really good for revision. Make sure you take consistent breaks and don’t study for long hours. Try to study with friends and quiz each other.
“I think a good thing to do is to have a dedicated space for studying, preferably away from your bedroom. When in your bedroom your mind is still not in study mode.”
What about when taking the exam?
“Try not to psych yourself out. Take deep breaths, breathe. When you are actually taking the exam, use your reading time well and identify your big-mark questions and questions you do know the answer to. When you start with questions you know the answer to, it can supply you a confidence boost, so when you come back, you are more eager to try those harder questions.”
Have you got any other advice?
“Keep it in perspective. It’s not the be-all or end-all. There are other pathways. If you are trying your best, that’s all you can do. Try not to be really hard on yourself.”
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According to psychologist Dr Anna Colton, all young people are different both in the way they revise and show their stress.
Stress can manifest in many ways. For example, tearfulness, insomnia, a lack of appetite, or eating all the time. Alternatively, young people may show their stress by socialising too much or withdrawing from social activities altogether. To add to this, blind panic, which some young people experience when they are under pressure can result in inactivity - this can often be misinterpreted by parents as laziness.
Students from the Batangas State University-Rosario took their creativity to the next level when they created their own headgears to prevent cheating during their exams.
As seen on Mark Salazar's report on "24 Oras," Thursday, they wore a series of colorful hats including a black garbage bag, a traffic cone, and even a rabbit head.
Their teacher Michael Balanay said he was also surprised that his students took on the challenge he thought wasn't even serious. They were in the middle of their midterm exams then.
"'Yon po 'yung tinatawag namin na anti-cheating headgear na iba't ibang design," he said. "Ito pong ginawa nila ay parang katuwaan lang na in-accept nila 'yung challenge even walang guidelines."
("That's what we call anti-cheating headgear with different designs. They did this for fun and accepted the challenge even without guidelines.")
"Nagtataka na lang ako bakit ang daming nagkalat na props. Sabi nila, 'Sir, hindi n'yo po naaalala? Ito po 'yung challenge na anti-cheating headgear.' 'Aba tinuloy n'yo pala. Kung gusto n'yo isuot, sige.'"
("I wondered why there were so many scattered props. They said, 'Sir, don't you remember? This is the anti-cheating headgear challenge.' 'Wow, so you did it after all. If you want to wear them, go ahead.'")
Because that the students have already given it their all, Balanay said they made it into a contest. The winner gets a slight credit on their exams.
"Alam naman natin na 'yung students, minsan ay nagkakaroon ng problems sa iba't ibang bagay so 'wag na po nating dagdagan pagdating sa problem sa school," he said.
"Gawin lang nating light 'yung mga bagay-bagay," he added.
("We know that students sometimes have problems on different things, so we shouldn't add to their problems at school. Let's just keep things light.")
And the one who succeeded? The student who made a headgear that resembles a coffin. It read: "In loving memory of my midterm examination."
Good luck on everyone's test results. Hope the anti-cheating headgear helped!
—Franchesca Viernes/MGP, GMA News
Details of how next summer's exams in Wales will be run and graded have been released. Regulator Qualifications Wales said grade boundaries would be set midway between pre-pandemic 2019 and this summer's overall higher grades. This is despite England planning to largely return to pre-pandemic grading levels next year.
The decision means students and schools can expect results to be lower in 2023 than this year - when sat exams returned - and lower than the two pandemic years under teacher assessed grades, but higher than 2019.
Students and teachers will be given some advance information of the topics, themes, texts or other content to expect in summer 2023 exams.
Read more: Teachers in Wales threaten industrial action over pay
Record results were posted during the pandemic and critics have argued that grades were inflated when exams were cancelled and results awarded on teacher assessment in 2020 and 2021. The aim now is to steady the system back but also take account of Covid disruption to learning.
Qualifications Wales said: "The intention is for this year’s results to fall broadly midway between the 2019 and 2022 results. This approach takes into account the disruption experienced by learners during the pandemic and the fact that AS qualifications and some GCSE units were awarded this year – using a different grading approach - and these will have an impact on next summer’s grading."
"The move signals the next step on the Welsh qualification system's journey back to pre-pandemic assessment arrangements, whilst also maintaining support for learners, schools and colleges with advance information and a supportive approach to grading."
The regulator said providing some advance information of what to expect in test papers would help learners focus their revision for exams and assessments.
"Qualifications Wales believes that this is the fairest approach for learners this year. The current trajectory means that there will be a return to pre-pandemic standards in 2024. "
Philip Blaker, Chief Executive of Qualifications Wales, said: “After a challenging couple of years for the education system, everyone’s effort and support for learners means we are moving back towards pre-pandemic approaches.
"As we continue on that journey, there will continue to be support into 2023 since we know the pandemic has had a long-term impact on learners. Most qualifications are delivered over two years, which means that some learners have already experienced disruption as they prepare for qualifications that will be completed this year.
"We continue to work closely with awarding bodies, other UK regulators, higher education institutions and other stakeholders to make sure that Welsh learners are not disadvantaged. It remains our priority that the grades learners achieve support their progression on to the next stage of their learning or employment.”
Headteachers representatives welcomed the move, but had this warning:
The move was welcomed by the Association of School and College Leaders Cymru, but it cautioned communication of the changes was vital.
Director Eithne Hughes said: "We certainly see the logic of working more slowly back to the pre-pandemic arrangements given that AS grades and some GCSE modules were awarded on a different system. There will, however, need to be excellent communication with parents, schools and universities to ensure that this position is very clearly explained."
This is how England's exams will be graded and run in 2023
Candidates sitting exams in England, or English test board exams in Wales, won't get advance information of content. The approach across the border is different.
For England GCSE, AS, and A level exams will largely return to pre-pandemic arrangements next summer, the Department for Education has announced. But prior attainment and grades achieved by previous test years will be considered when grading there.
"To protect students against the disruption of accurate years, and in case students’ performance is slightly lower than before the pandemic, senior examiners will use the grades achieved by previous cohorts of pupils, along with prior attainment data, to inform their decisions about where to set grade boundaries," the DofE said.
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