I recently took the IT Passport Examination.
The IT Passport Examination has been gaining recognition lately, but what kind of certification is it, and how difficult is it?
I’ll explain based on my own experience.
First, to summarize:
The IT Passport Examination is a proficiency test covering knowledge of IT.
Study time is roughly 30 hours. Even at the very least, you’ll need more than 10 hours!
To begin with, the IT Passport is a national certification, and it is a credential showing that you have basic knowledge of IT and business management in general.
So it isn’t a license; to me it felt closer to a proficiency test.
The content, too, is less about programming and more about IT technology plus general knowledge related to corporate strategy and management.
The benefits of earning this certification include:
・It gives you a selling point in your job search
・It serves as proof that you have IT knowledge
The people I’d recommend it to are mainly university students and new employees.
If you’re feeling uneasy about job hunting, why not give this certification a try?
Next, about the exam itself.
Having taken it, I felt the difficulty was about the same as when I got my Class 4 amateur radio license.
Frankly speaking, it was harder than I expected.
I think about 30 hours of study will reliably get you a pass.
In my case it was around 8 hours, and it felt like a squeaked-by pass.
The content is relatively easy to grasp and many of the topics are familiar, but the actual terminology is very hard to memorize—there are tons of three-letter acronyms and complicated terms.
As for the fastest way to pass, the key point is that you must not try to get a perfect score.
Aim for just a bit above the passing score of 600 (out of 1000).
The reason is that the exam will definitely include questions on things you haven’t studied.
There are also plenty of questions that are hard to understand.
Past exams are published on the official website, so if you work through the last few years’ worth you’ll see what I mean—there’s a surprising amount of “I never studied this!” and “This is way too hard!”
When you hit a question you don’t understand, many people want to fully understand it or be able to solve it, but if you want to pass in the shortest time, just accept that it is what it is and move on.
The acronyms are hard to remember too, but rather than memorizing every term perfectly like a dictionary, narrow it down to keywords and aim for a rough, general grasp.
Some might question whether that’s good enough for a certification, but personally I don’t think you need to memorize terms like a dictionary at all.
What matters is that when you actually encounter the term, you have a rough sense of what it means and know that such a concept exists.
Learn it roughly! That’s the fastest route to passing.
Here’s the study method I’d recommend:
- Read a study guide once from start to finish (read to the end even if you don’t understand it)
- Work through past exams from about four years ago up to the present
- Use the study guide to understand the questions you got wrong or didn’t understand (if it’s not in the guide, let it go)
- Note down the terms you often got wrong along with their meanings, and reread them right before the exam
The way to beat this exam is to work through past papers!
That’s all there is to it.
It isn’t a highly difficult certification.
If you prepare properly, you can definitely pass.
Give it a try!
The IT Passport website is here
And here’s the book I used to study
