Cloud Academy began with quizzes and we quickly expanded our offer to include courses and labs. With two million quizzes completed in just the last 24 months – with enterprise customers using them to test, train, and prepare their teams – we wanted to bring our assessment experience to the next step. Together with this announcement, we are also releasing 1,000 new quizzes.
We’ve always known that quizzes are a great way to both learn new skills and deepen your understanding of what you’ve already experienced. But Cloud Academy has just completely redesigned their quiz interface in a way that sets an entirely new standard for mastering complex and demanding technical material.
New to some specific Cloud Computing topic and need a quick overview? Looking to build confidence in the skills you’ve already got? Almost ready for an AWS certification exam but could use a realistic practice exam?
Cloud Academy quizzes let you do it your way.
Modes: quizzes are just a great way to learn
Depending on your immediate goals, you can choose to tackle Cloud Academy quizzes in either Study Mode or Test Mode. If you are looking to learn skills that are still a bit new to you, then you’ll want to use Study Mode. In Study Mode, you are shown demanding questions one after the other, but without the need to respond within a set time, and with access to the correct answer and a full explanation displayed immediately. In other words, you’re given all the time and resources you need to properly absorb the material.
Test Mode, on the other hand, is for users who are getting close to the end of their studies, and need to know just how they’re doing and, where relevant, whether they’re quite ready to attempt a certification exam. Just like with real exams, questions in Test Mode quiz sessions are time-limited and explanations are not displayed.
Subject Matter
You get to precisely define the contents of every quiz session you start. You begin the process by selecting either a Platform (AWS, Google Cloud Platform, etc.) or a Topic (Compute, Networking, Database, etc). You’ll then choose a quiz mode (Study and Test) and skill level (Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced).
If you clicked on one of the Platforms, you will then choose either a general topic or a specific service within the platform. If you had, instead, chosen a Topic – say, Database – you will then have to choose a platform (AWS, Google Cloud Platform, or Rackspace) for your Database questions.
At this point, you’re ready to start the quiz session, where session details (like how many questions still remain in the session) are displayed.
In Study Mode, you will be given links to more learning resources and the option of saving an explanation. You will also be able to click the “See Question Again” button from the Explanation page following a question.
Session Results
Once you’ve answered all the questions in a session, you will be shown your score and how well you did in relation to all other Cloud Academy users. You can click on links to review responses that you answered either correctly or incorrectly, bookmark your session, or launch a new quiz session. Scrolling down through the results page, you will be shown the specific services in which you are, so far, strongest and weakest, along with video courses that Cloud Academy recommends you take.
