Your unfair advantage in IT certifications
Entry IT exams are full of lookup-table facts: port numbers, OSI layers, cable and connector types, wireless standards, troubleshooting steps and command syntax. Each one is small; together there are a lot of them.
The advantage isn't a shortcut. It's a study method: pulling answers from memory and reviewing them just before they fade, instead of rereading, highlighting and cramming.
3 programs · 2,385 cards · organised by public exam outlines
What your memory has to carry for IT certifications
Different exams, the same problem: a lot to hold, for a long time, recalled on demand.
Ports and protocols
Which service runs on which port, over TCP or UDP, and at which layer.
Standards and specs
Cable categories, Wi-Fi standards, RAID levels and connector types.
Procedures
Troubleshooting methodology and the commands that go with each step.
Why the old way fails for IT certifications
Rereading, highlighting and cramming are the most common ways to study, and they feel productive. The research says they're the weakest.
Rereading
Rereading a port table makes it familiar. Reading it again does little for recalling port 3389 when a question needs it.
Retrieve it
Tested students recalled 61% of a passage a week later; students who reread it four times recalled 40%.
Roediger & Karpicke (2006), Psychological Science
Highlighting
Highlighting a spec sheet does not practise producing the spec.
Test yourself
A review of ten techniques rated highlighting and rereading low utility, and practice testing high.
Dunlosky et al. (2013), Psychological Science in the Public Interest
Cramming
Cramming ports the night before can work for a quiz. Across two A+ cores or the CCNA, it is too much to hold for one night.
Space it
Word pairs reviewed across four days were recalled 54% of the time; the stack crammed the day before the test, 34%.
Kornell (2009), Applied Cognitive Psychology
The numbers behind the method
Published finding about the method, not NoReread results. Each one is shown with the conditions it was measured under.
recalled a week later: kept testing vs only restudied
Port-to-protocol is pair learning, the same kind of material as this study.
College students learned 40 Swahili–English word pairs. Pairs that kept being tested after first recall were recalled about 80% of the time a week later; pairs dropped from testing but restudied, 36%.
Karpicke, J. D., & Roediger, H. L. (2008). The critical importance of retrieval for learning. Science, 319(5865), 966–968.
Published finding about the method, not NoReread results.
of learners did better with spacing, while most believed cramming worked better
Cramming feels like it works. For nine in ten learners in these experiments, spacing worked better.
Across three flashcard experiments, spacing beat massing for 90% of participants, yet after the first session 72% believed massing had been more effective.
Kornell, N. (2009). Optimising learning using flashcards: Spacing is more effective than cramming. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 23(9), 1297–1317.
Published finding about the method, not NoReread results.
utility: practice testing and spacing vs rereading and highlighting
Practice testing and spacing were rated high utility; rereading and highlighting low.
A review of ten learning techniques rated practice testing and distributed practice high utility; rereading, highlighting and summarization were rated low utility.
Dunlosky, J., Rawson, K. A., Marsh, E. J., Nathan, M. J., & Willingham, D. T. (2013). Improving students' learning with effective learning techniques. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 14(1), 4–58.
Published finding about the method, not NoReread results.
See the research
Three short loops. Two chart published results exactly as reported; the forgetting curve is an illustrative model and is labelled as one.
Testing yourself beats rereading, a week later
Bar charts from Roediger & Karpicke (2006), Experiment 2. Five minutes after studying, students who read a passage four times recalled 83%, read three times and tested once 78%, read once and tested three times 71%. One week later the order reversed: 40%, 56% and 61%.
Roediger, H. L., & Karpicke, J. D. (2006). Test-enhanced learning: Taking memory tests improves long-term retention. Psychological Science, 17(3), 249–255.
Published finding about the method, not NoReread results.
The forgetting curve, with and without reviews
An illustrative model, not measured data: after one exposure, memory decays quickly toward zero over 30 days. With reviews on days 1, 3, 7 and 14, each review restores it and it decays more slowly each time, staying high at day 30.
Ebbinghaus, H. (1885). Über das Gedächtnis. Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig.
Illustrative model, not measured data.
Spacing beats cramming
From Kornell (2009), Experiment 2: over four days, one stack of 20 word pairs reviewed every day versus four stacks of five each crammed on one day. On day 5, spaced pairs were recalled 54% of the time, massed 21%, and the stack crammed the day before 34%. Across three experiments spacing beat massing for 90% of participants, yet after the first session 72% believed massing worked better.
Kornell, N. (2009). Optimising learning using flashcards: Spacing is more effective than cramming. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 23(9), 1297–1317.
Published finding about the method, not NoReread results.
IT core programs
Ready-made decks, organised by each exam's public outline. Open any program to try its free sample cards.
CompTIA A+
9 decks · 799 cards
CompTIA Network+
5 decks · 795 cards
CCNA
6 decks · 791 cards
| Exam | Questions | Time |
|---|---|---|
| CompTIA A+Up to 90 questions per exam · 90 minutes per exam | Up to 90 questions per exam | 90 minutes per exam |
| CompTIA Network+Up to 90 items · 90 minutes | Up to 90 items | 90 minutes |
| CCNAApproximately 100 questions · 120 minutes | Approximately 100 questions | 120 minutes |
How NoReread puts it to work
1. Cards from public exam outlines
Each program is organised by its exam's publicly available outline, so the decks follow the structure you will be tested on.
2. Recall first, then flip
Every card asks before it tells. That moment of pulling the answer from memory is the retrieval practice the research measures.
3. Reviews scheduled before you forget
An SM-2 schedule brings each card back just as it starts to fade: sooner if you missed it, later if you knew it.
Each card is a single fact, like a port or a layer. You answer before you flip, and the schedule brings back the ones you miss until they stick.
During which troubleshooting step do you question the user and ask what has changed recently?
Step 1 — Identify the problem. Gather information from the user, identify user and environmental changes, and review logs.
Learn first, then retain.
Flashcards are a memory tool. Learn the material first, then use NoReread to retain it and refresh what you already know. It doesn't replace studying the subject.
Cards are created from publicly available sources and may contain errors. Check anything you rely on against your official materials.
Straight answers
Is NoReread enough to prepare for IT certifications?
No, and we won't pretend otherwise. Flashcards are a memory tool. Learn the material first, then use NoReread to retain it and refresh what you already know. It doesn't replace studying the subject.
What does “unfair advantage” mean here?
The advantage is the study method: retrieval practice and spaced review, instead of rereading, highlighting and cramming. It is not a promise of a pass or a score. The numbers on this page are published findings about the method from the studies cited, not NoReread results.
Do these cover performance-based questions?
Flashcards cover the knowledge those simulations draw on. Practise the hands-on tasks themselves in a lab or simulator.
Which exam versions do the programs follow?
Each program page names the exam version it follows, from the public exam objectives. Check against the current objectives before you book.
Can I rely on the cards being accurate?
Cards are created from publicly available sources and may contain errors. Check anything you rely on against your official materials. We're not experts in every field we cover, and NoReread does not guarantee exam results.
Is NoReread affiliated with the organizations behind these exams?
No. NoReread is not affiliated with or endorsed by the organizations whose exams and outlines it references, and exam names are trademarks of their respective owners.
How can I try it?
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Exam names are trademarks of their respective owners. Content disclaimer · All the research
Study IT certifications the way memory works
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