Mastering the RCDD Exam: Strategies and Benefits of Study Groups

Got a great subject matter we're going to cover tonight . We're going to talk about how to create your own RCDD study group . We're going to talk about that . To create your own RCDD study group . We're talking about that tonight . Now , the advice I'm going to give you tonight you can also use it to create a study group to be anything .

You can use it to be a study group for a BICC technician . You can use it for a study group passing your Cisco certification or your CompTIA certification . It's just good general guidelines on study group . But I'm going to focus it on the RCDD and the reason for that is because I do get asked a lot about RCDD study groups because I run them .

I run about half a dozen RCDD study groups now and so I'm pretty . I've got the kinks worked out out and I know what works , kind of what doesn't work , and a lot of times I get asked questions Chuck , do you have an RCD study group right now ?

Well , yeah , but we're two thirds of the way through it , so it doesn't make sense to jump in , and I usually only do one study group a year usually . And I usually only do one study group a year usually .

I might do more if I can find other people , other fellow RCDDs , who want to help me run the study group , because Chuck only has so much time in the day , and that's what it really pulls down to . Hey , let's start off with the acronym challenge . You know we always start off with the acronym challenge . The acronym challenge for today is PBB , pbb .

What does that acronym mean ? I'll give you a hint it has something to do with bonding and grounding . Pbb what does that acronym mean ? I'll give you a few seconds to answer that . Let me see if anybody's answered . In the the chat box . Chat box , the pbb stands for primary bonding buzz bar . You know you got to be kidding me . You almost got it .

Almost got hk rag got it , though . 10 000 points to both of you for your efforts , 10 000 points to both of you guys . And so let me talk about this for a little bit before we get too much further . Let me turn off this design thing so I can turn off the screen here .

There we go , boom yes , the RCDD the Registered Communications Distribution Designer and I know the majority of you are going to know what that actually means . Now some people know , some people don't know what that means . So the RCDD is a certification . It's one of the premier , if not the premier , certification that you can get in our industry .

And it's not easy . They don't just hand them out . You have to work to get your RCDD . Getting your RCDD will do lots of things for you . Number one it's going to make you more knowledgeable A lot of times when you're reading the RCDD . I know what I did when I passed mine 20 years ago when I was reading through the TDMM .

That's this book right back here . That's a two-book set . You need to have them read them . Telecommunications Distribution Design set . You need to have them read them . Telecommunications distribution design manual . You got to read through those and you got to know them inside and out , forwards and backwards , upside down in your sleep .

You pretty much have to be able to dream the DMM to pass the RCDD test . But let me tell you what it's going to do for your career . And this is just based on my personal experience from me getting mine and me helping people get theirs .

Getting your RCDD number one elevates your status within the industry right , because people will know that it's not an easy certification . They don't just hand them out right ? You got to be kidding me , says says . His RCD took him from 78,000 to well over 100,000 . It did with me as well .

When I passed my RCD , I instantly got a $10,000 raise , bam right , from my company that I worked for at the time . I was even offered a job for $30,000 more than what I was making at the time . Now I didn't like the company . The company was Brand Spanking New . It was only a couple of years old .

The company I was working for at the time had 80 years of experience , 80 years been around for 80 years , and I had a father of four kids . You need stability , so I stuck with the company . I did , and it worked out for me in the long run .

So it's going to elevate your status in the industry because people are going to look at you as a and you know I hate this word subject matter expert , but you are knowledgeable in all things information communication technologies and people understand that there's some value to that and it's going to again , like I said , open up opportunities for you to maybe get

that dream job that you want or go work for that dream company that you want . So getting your RCDD is going to help you around .

Henry's in the house , henry , how you doing Henry ? Henry is a Bixie training delivery specialist and also a good friend of mine , fran says here . He says in the chat box , working on his ITSIM . Now , the ITSIM is the Information Transport Systems Installation Methods Manual .

So let me tell you this , even though tonight's show I'm going to say class , tonight's show is about how to create an RCDD study group . You can also use it for a , an RCDD study group . You can also use it for a Big C technician study group , a Big C installer study group .

It doesn't have to be RCDD , although I've fine-tuned it for the RCDD's conversation tonight . Oh , so you know we did the Akron Challenge . You know what we forgot to do . What are you drinking ? What are you drinking ? Put it in the to do . What are you drinking ? What are you drinking ? Put it in the chat box . What are you drinking tonight ?

Chuck is drinking Zevia soda , zevia ginger ale with some lemon essential oil , because it gives that a little bit of lemon-lime taste . Love it . So put it in the chat box . What are you drinking tonight ? Oh , good stuff , good it . So put in the chat box . What are you drinking tonight ? Oh , good stuff , good stuff . So let me see we're all about here .

Let's cover this one question before we get into it . So , working on taking the exam within the year , reading through chapter six today three-day training in August . Are you coming to Tampa to do the three-day training ? Let me know if you're doing that . If you are , I don't live too far from Tampa .

I might come down and meet you for a cup of coffee and we can talk . Right . I might even schedule a podcast meetup meeting if you're doing the class out of Tampa . I've done that before for other people . Let me see Somebody's drinking Thai tea . Nice , thai tea is really good stuff . I love Thai tea . Now let's get on with the subject at hand .

You're not here to hear about me and what I'm going to do and stuff , but let's talk about study groups Study groups . So I already talked about what is an RCDD . So tonight's show is going to be broken into four segments . The first segment is going to be common challenges that people have while pursuing their RCDD certification .

I told you it's a marathon , it's not a walk , it's not a sprint . I know I've said this before . It took me about six months to get mine and I've talked to people it's taken them up to a couple of years to get theirs . It's a journey , it's not an overnight thing . So the first segment is going to be the common challenges .

Second segment is why should you create a study group ? The third segment is going to be the advantages of a study group , and then I'm going to close it out with how to create your own study group . Okay , so it sounds like an interesting show tonight , doesn't it Right ? Interesting show .

So let me go ahead and flip over to my graphics page so I can put up my graphics . I don't know if I only had a beautiful assistant who would help me do my graphics . Can you hear me , wife ? Somebody says it took them two years of constant study and got to love principles of transmission . I'll talk about that in a minute .

So , first segment , first segment common challenges that people have when it comes to the RCDD and getting a credential right I almost said a certification . Remember , it's a credential , not a certification . So the first thing is , as you gotta be kidding me TikTok just pointed out , it's going to be some advanced concepts and terminologies , right ?

And the very first chapter is called the principles of transmission . The principles of transmission it's like the foundation that all the other things that you're going to learn are going to be built upon , and you have to have a good , solid grasp of that , good solid grasp of principles of transmission .

But the problem is , unless you've gone to electronic school or have some type of electronic engineer background a lot of that stuff if you're like me , I'm a cable guy . I started off pulling cable . I didn't go to college to learn electric . I was right out of high school , bam , straight into pulling cable . That's why I call myself a wire monkey .

Wire monkey Anthony's in the house . How you doing , anthony ? Some of those concepts are foreign to me . Principles of transmission is what I call the weed-out chapter , because most people get these great visions of man I'm going to become an RCDD and I'm going to be riding in the back of a Rolls Royce eating gray poupon .

I mean , it just showed my age , didn't I ? Yeah , and they don't realize . And then they read that first chapter , principles of Transmission , and I'm telling you , it is the hardest chapter , the hardest chapter . Some people like to jump around in their reading . I highly suggest that you start with page one and you work your way through to the end .

Get that hard chapter out of the way . Don't avoid it . Don't avoid it , right . And so a lot of the stuff you're going to , you're gonna . It's not just principles of transmission .

I heard the other day I was in one of the social media groups on facebook I don't remember which one it was and somebody said that they had just gotten back from their dd 101 course , or or they just finished the online dd 101 course , or no , no , no must have been the dd 102 , because it was in person class in Tampa .

And they said that bonding a ground and kick their butt . And the reason they said that is because they probably are still using the old terminology . That's why I threw PBB in the acronym challenge tonight . Right , so you got to learn all this stuff .

Here's one tip for tonight If you want to get your RCDD certificate I almost did it again your RCDD credential . If you want to get your RCDD credential , you better know what the TDMM says , because that's what the exam is going to be based on .

The exam is not going to ask you what your boss from three jobs ago called that component , because he may be wrong . He may be wrong . So you have to try to deal with how to grasp those advanced concepts and especially the terminology , because , like I said , reading the terminology is going to .

That's what sets off a lot of people , because we have a lot of different names for things in the low voltage side , and I'll give you a brief example the telecom room , the TR , the room that houses the horizontal cross connect , which is the patch panel , the 110 block , the 66 block , and we've called that thing multiple things over the years .

You know again , I've been in the industry for 42 years and you know when I first got in we used to call them IDFs , independent distribution frames . Some people used to call them communication rooms . They've also been called telecom closets , but now they're called telecom rooms .

If you want to pass that RCDD test , you have to know the correct and most current version of that terminology or that acronym which again is found in guess what , the newest edition of the TDMM . Now , right now we're kind of at a little bit of a weird spot right now because they just released the 15th edition I don't know six months ago , five months ago .

So they're still taking applications for exams on the 14th edition , but they're going to stop doing that here real soon . If they haven't actually , I think it might be today , I think it's the 30th . Go check my the episode that came out on Monday . I interviewed Bob Hertling .

He is the chair of the TINM committee that wrote that reviewed the TDMM , the book that you got to study . And we go through those dates right . Another reason people have problem understanding it is because limited access to hands-on or practical examples . What do I mean by that ? Most people in this field are hands-on learners .

Right , we got to put our hands on something , right ? Yeah , we can listen to lecture , all that fun stuff , but you know what we really learn when we start terminating jacks and terminating fiber and doing stuff . So just purely reading through the book , trying to grasp that concept , is harder for most people like us knuckle-dragging cable guys .

So it's hands-on real hard . And then when you're reading through the book , you're not reading a here . Let me grab my book for a second Again , like I said , this is one half , one half of the TDMM . This is the . Let me see if I can use this . This is volume two . Okay , and this is the 15th edition , by the way .

Okay , this is not , this is not a student manual . This is not an . This is . This is a design manual . They don't . They just tell you how it has to be . So a lot of people have a hard time reading that , including me . Sometimes I read and have a hard time understanding it right .

And then another problem that people have is there's a ton of information in that book there's 2,200 pages and how do you know which information they're going to actually test on you or test you for that RCDD credential ? By the way , there's ?

Here's another tip , pro tip number two for the night get on the website , go to your google machine , type in uh , rcdd study handbook . If you're doing it all , the 14th edition , do v14 . I think the 15th edition is out . I think somebody told me in one of my uh , one of my live streams , a couple weeks ago that the 15th , the v15 , is out .

It's got to be out or it's gonna be out soon . That's going to give you a lot of tips and uh and , uh , I should have written a chuck's notes edition , yeah , um , so that'll help you to know which section is going to be really important that you're going to be doing on . The next problem is time management .

Again , you're going to have to allot time to do this . I did a post on social media not too long ago because somebody asked about hey , I'm going to go for my RCD test . What do you think are some tips ? And what I said was when the guys want to go out drinking , stay home .

When you want to go out go kayaking , stay home , because it requires a commitment . And again , a lot of people start off I'm going to do this , I'm going to get my RCD . Yes , I'm excited , I'm going to do it . And then they hit principles of transmission and then they say , oh man , or they get behind a little bit , that hurts .

They might also have not been setting realistic expectations and study goals . I'm going to talk about that here in a minute . You really need to set yourself a plan up , a plan study goals . Another problem that helps people , that keeps people from getting their RCD , is access to resources Access to resources , identifying the right materials .

So obviously , the TDMM is the one , but there's also what about getting your brain ready to take exams right ? What about understanding some of these complex things in there ? What about the financial constraints ? Because , again , the TDM is not cheap . Applying for your RCDD credential is not cheap .

You're going to spend about $1,000 , maybe more if you decide to go to classes , and that's why I'm doing a study group . Yes , I do an RCDD study group . We're almost done with it . We're close to being done . I think I do an RCDD study group . We're almost done with it . We're close to being done . I think we're three weeks away from being done .

And I told you I do one a year . I'm not doing another one this year , so you may not have opportunity to do a study group . So that's another reason why you want to do this . Segment number two . Let me flip back over to the second category . Boom , Segment number two . There we go . Look , I can do this by myself without

help . Yes , why should you create your own study group ? Okay , number one it's going to enhance your learning experience , because when your group comes together and I'm going to talk about reading assignments and stuff like that in a minute when you come together and you discuss what you've read through conversation with other peers .

The thing is so , like the old tech guys on TikTok feed right , and so is the beard of knowledge right , and so if the three of us read the exact same material , we'll pull away three different views , three different views , and when we come together and we have a conversation through a consensus , it helps us get a better understanding of the material , because

Ed's going to bring his point of view , the Beard of Knowledge is going to bring his point of view , I'm going to bring my point of view . It's going to give you that exposure to different perspectives and approaches , and there's collaborative learning through the group learnings , group learnings .

Another reason why you should create a study group is accountability and motivation . When you set up a study group , you should set up and it's up to you Do you want to do it , you know , daily , monday through Friday or whatever , or do you want to do it once a week , whatever ?

Again , it's totally up to you , and we'll talk about scheduling stuff a little later on . But , number one , when you set them up , when you set up the consistent schedule , then you know , oh , I got to get my reading done . Like , for example , the study group that I run . We meet once a week , thursday nights 7 pm .

That's why I'm always in a hurry to get off this live stream , because I've got the study group right behind this and I got to have dinner between those two groups and I don't think I'm having dinner tonight because this is going to go long . I'm only in segment two and I'm already at 620 . Yeah , this is going to go long .

I'm just letting everybody know that now . So when you have those meetings and you've got them set up at regular intervals , then people know oh , I've got to get my reading done . Because as a group , a study group , the accountability part is hold each other accountable . Hey , did you get your reading done ?

You'll be more likely to do your reading if you know somebody's going to ask you if you did it or not . You'll be way more likely to get your reading done . There's a lot of motivation in that and that's going to help you also share your progress and your milestones .

And what it does is it creates a sense of accomplishment , because there are times , there are absolutely times , when I'm running the study group Because I read through the TDMM . When I do the study group too , even though I've already passed my RCD . I read through it every week . There's times when I'm like , oh man , I don't want to read that .

But you know what ? I know that the group is counting on me . And another good advantage of doing your own study group is networking and professional growth . Right , networking and professional growth . You're going to build connections . You're going to build connections with people in the study group and that's going to help with other professionals in the industry .

It's going to offer , offer , give you opportunities for mentorship and guidance from experienced members we'll talk about that here in a minute . And you're going to develop some soft skills like communication and teamwork . Communication and teamwork right , that's . That's going to help it a lot .

Because you know you created this group , you had to go to go through it and make sure you get it done and you got . You got . You guys came up to what came of the collective goal and you made it through and you got that goal . Those are some of the good , some of the best reasons why you should create your own study group .

Now let's go to the third segment . The third segment and that's going to be the advantages of it Number one resource sharing .

Resource sharing One of the things that I've asked my study groups to always do is , when we come together once a week , a , get your reading done , but also share any resources you found , because one of the things when you read through that really heavy technical book I don't know about you , but I do this I'll go online and I'll say , hey , find a video on

how to explain voltage , current and amps , and then when I see somebody kind of coming from a different perspective , oh yeah , so bring that to the group and share it with everybody and that's going to help . That's going to help everybody , you know . Sharing your notes , your summaries . You might even want to do practice test questions , practice test questions .

That helps too . And here's the beautiful thing . Like I said , I've done about a half a dozen RCDD study groups and one of the things I learned the industry and I told this to somebody in an interview just not too long ago for the podcast our industry is like a bicycle . Right , there are people that are subject matter experts in the front wheel .

There are subject matters in the back wheel , subject matters in the frame , subject matters in the crank , subject matters in the train , subject matters in the seat post , subject matters in the handlebar . There's nobody that's a subject matter in all aspects of this industry Nobody .

So when you create your RCD study group and you put out the word and you give people a join , I'll give you an example and I won't mention his name because I didn't get permission to share his name , but he probably wouldn't care . One or two RCD sessions ago we were going through it .

He joined it because he wanted to get his RCDD and we got to the wireless section and the distributing antenna section of the TDMM Not strong areas for Chuck , not strong areas , but that's what that guy did for a living . He did wireless networks and distributing antenna systems , so he was able to bring some in-depth knowledge just for that one .

Now , he was weak in some other areas , but that's why you're going to get through the R systems . So he was able to bring some in-depth knowledge just for that one . Now , he was weak in some other areas , but that's why you're going to get through the RCD . So that's one of the things about doing that , one of the advantages of that study group .

Another thing is it's going to help with emotional support and stress relief , because what there's going I'm going to tell you now when you're reading through the TDMM . You're going to be like , oh man , I'm hitting my head against the wall , oh man , and you'll feel alone .

You'll feel isolated because your spouse isn't going to understand your journey , your kids aren't going to understand your journey . But if you're in a study group with other people , they are experiencing the same thing at the same time .

So you get that emotional support and they're like , yeah , this week was a really hard week , or this week was an easy week , and together you guys can celebrate the successes and the milestones together . These are all advantages of doing it .

Now let's talk about how to create your own RCDD study group . That's probably why you're here . Right , you want to find out how to create your own RCDD study group . Number one first thing you got to do find members , find people . You can have a group as small as two . You can have a group as large as 20 . Find people .

Now , where are you going to find these people ? First , start off with your circle of influence . Ask people around within your company , ask people that you work with . Ask other people you know within the industry . Hey , are you going to be studying for your RCDD ? I'm thinking about starting up a study group , right , maybe .

Even look at professional networks and stuff like that . Again , you can do all kinds of different things there . Just reach out , because you really don't . You don't want to have too many , but you don't want to have too few either . Now , one great resource is to utilize social media . Social media is a great resource for this , you know .

Especially , you know , go out , go to LinkedIn and say , hey , I'm thinking about creating an RCDD study group , dm me if you're interested . Put it out on TikTok , put it out on Facebook or whatever social media platform you prefer . That's going to help . That'll attract . Now , don't do this .

Don't put out the post on a Monday that's going to start with a study group on Tuesday . Put the post out about two weeks ahead of the time . Put it out two weeks ahead of time and I call it soak time because people get time to see it .

And here's something I will do for you If you decide to create your own RCDD study group , let me know or DM me , message me , email me . There's lots of different ways you can get in touch with me . Let me know , I will create a graphic for you and I will put it on my social media my social media .

So now you get access to all of my audiences and that'll help you get some people in there . Okay , that's something , personally , I will do for you . Now the next thing what you need to do is , once you've got your people together right , you need to set the criteria for the group membership and to ensure commitment .

So that's when you need to sit down and say okay , look , are we going to meet once a week ? Are we going to meet every week ? Are we going to meet at noon ? Are we going to meet at five ?

Are we going to meet the if it's a small group at work , are we going to meet in the conference room at 4 pm on Thursdays or 8 am on Mondays , or whatever time you guys decide to choose ? So make sure there's a clear understanding . It's best to write it down . It's best to write it down and look , here is , and again , do it through .

Once you get your people selected that are going to be in this group , have a conversation . So that way it's a group consensus . A group consensus because you're going to have more likely to have participation if people who are joining your group feel like they have a say in what the group's going to actually do . Somebody says a bixie conference .

Absolutely , a bixie conference is a great way to meet people , to find who are studying for the rcd absolute great plan . And then you got to again . You got to clear , you got to establish my boss used to say this all the time , courtney Matthews from Custom Computer Cable .

He used to say all the time have a clearly defined task assignment , clearly defined task assignment . I still remember that to this day . Still remember it . So what are you going to do ? So what you need to do is , once you come up with a plan , figure out how long you want that study group to run .

You might want it to run three months , six months , nine months , a year . Again , it's up to you . It's going to be your study group and once you come up with that time frame , come up with a reading plan . Come up with a reading plan . No , it's a blister . Somebody asked me if I hurt my thumb . It's a blister .

I was doing some work on the farm and I got a blister in my thumb . I told you I have a farm . People don't realize , they think I'm joking . No , I was shoveling six yards of stones and I got a blister . But anyways , I digress . So once you figure out how long you want that study group to go , then you need to come up with a reading plan .

Now I'm going to show you the reading plan that I use for my study group . I'm going to put up . Unfortunately you're not going to see this on TikTok , you're going to have to go to the YouTube or one of the other LinkedIn feed . So here's the reading plan that I use .

So we typically do 26 weeks , 70 pages a week and , as you can see , it's just a little Excel spreadsheet and I put it out there and say , okay , week number one you got to read these pages . Week number two you got to read these pages . Week number two you got to read those pages . Week number three you have to read those pages .

Create a reading plan that way . You know , there's an old adage in the project management world how do you eat an elephant One bite at a time ? And trust me that TDMM is an elephant , it's an elephant . So come up with a plan and say , okay , each week we got to read these map pages and to get through this Right , and again , that's just that you get .

You can create your own , your own reading plan . You don't have to have to use mine . I just you know somewhere there and then assign roles and responsibilities . Now , a lot of times , what I'll do with my study groups is I will make certain people in charge of certain things , and that's good because you're all coming together as a group .

You know one person might be the person to be the collaborator of all the resources . So when , every week , when somebody finds the articles or the YouTube videos , you send it to the Beard of Knowledge and the Beard of Knowledge will put it in Excel .

You send it to the Beard of Knowledge and the Beard of Knowledge will put it in Excel in a document on Google Docs , and then he'll share it out to the team and then you will do the you know whatever . Another thing you need to figure out is utilizing tools and resources right . So you have to come together .

If you're meeting in person , like at your office , because you got a couple of people at the office if you're meeting there , is there a whiteboard , is there markers ? Is there post-it notes ? Make sure it's going to be stocked .

I think in today's environment , probably for this kind of thing , for a study group like this , while face-to-face is great , I think this is one of the areas where virtual stuff actually is better , right , so you know , go in .

I , one of one of my mentees from a couple years ago , wanted to join the rc study group and we were already well into it and I told her . I said look , um , it's just not fair to you to join this group right in the middle of the group .

So what she did was she created a channel in , I think , no , discord I almost said Slack , but it was Discord right , you can even do Zoom . Zoom is free as long as you keep your meetings to less than 40 minutes and the way around , that is , that when your 40 minutes comes up , you just click out and click back in again , or what you might want to do .

Let's say you've got a group of 10 people who are going to want to come together for this RCT study group that you set up , buy Zoom for a year and then share the cost amongst all the team members . Zoom for a year is only $180 , I think , and if you divide that by 10 people that's $18 .

If you're not willing to spend $18 on a resource as valuable as a study group , you may not even want to be pursuing your RCDD . I'm just going to leave it at that Now . Another thing you need to do is , again , keep track of your progress . Every week when I meet with my group , I tell them , hey , did you get your reading done ?

And if they say no , how many pages behind are you ? So that way I know the next week to talk to them , you need to say , okay , well , did you get your reading done ? I even offer them advice .

If they get too far behind , I'll say , okay , this week focus on getting your 70 pages done first , and if you have extra time , then take a small chunk from the previous stuff so you can help give advice to each other to get through this thing .

Another thing you're going to need with an RCD study group is , as you're reading through the TDMMs because you're RCDD candidates again , there's going to be a lot of stuff that you may not understand . Why not invite an RCDD to your study group ? If you have an RCDD within your company , invite them to come .

You probably think , well , why would somebody who's already got their RCDD study group , why would they want to read the TMM Again ? Because you got to stay current with it . Because there's going to be stuff that it . Because there's going to be stuff that you forgot .

There's going to be stuff that you forgot , so why not invite a current RCDD in your sphere to attend the group ? That way they can help answer those questions and also read through the stuff as well and become better themselves . If you can't , if there's nobody within your company who's an RCD , go to LinkedIn Type in RCDD .

Find someone in your area or someone in your field . You might find somebody you know and reach out to them and say hey look , I'm running a study group with some friends . Is it all right if , from time to time , if we have a problem understanding a certain concept , can we reach out to you for an explanation ?

Most people in our industry would consider it an honor to help an upcoming RCDD do that . Most commonly , most people will , and if they don't , go ask somebody else . Or , as Kaylin pointed out in the thing a Bixie conference , go to a Bixie conference . There's lots of RCDDs running around there . Then you talk to them , make friends with one .

Here's another offer that I'm going to give you . If you can't find an RCDD to help explain things , right , reach out to me . All right , just shoot me an email , I'll help you . I've also talked to a couple of friends of mine . Right One is Bob Hurling . I mentioned him earlier . He's the chair of the TINM committee who helps revise the TDMM .

Do you think he's familiar with it ? He's already said shoot him questions , he'll be more than happy to help you . Phil Clingingsmith , he's helping me run my RSC study group right now because we're doing half and half . He's also said absolutely , send him questions , he will help you as well .

Just between the three of us me , phil Clingingsmith , bob Hurling there's 150 years of experience there and if we don't know the answer because of the circles we run in , I guarantee you we know the person who does . You got to be kidding me . Also said he'd also be happy to help you as well .

So there's lots of RCs out there that are going to help you and help understand . Don't be tough if you read through this thing and you're like that just doesn't make sense to me , and then when you ask the RCD to explain it , that's going to help .

So there's our recap there . I kind of went a little over tonight . It means Chuck's got to eat dinner a little bit faster than normal . A little faster than normal . Let's go over to the chat box , because I have not been paying attention to the chat box because I had my notes up . I was reading my notes .

So let me see Working on exam within the year , reading through chapter 60 . I already read that one . All righty , here's one here . This whole show kind of ironic , this whole show was started from an email . People wonder how I come up with ideas for show content . Somebody sent me an email and said hey , chuck , study groups , can you give me some ?

When are you doing one ? I told him I'm not doing it until next year . Why not start your own ? And he goes I don't know how . And I said show content . So there you go .

So yeah , if you want to break down each book , the TDMM , the ITSEM , et cetera , as to which guide is which career path and how to better prepare and study for the test that companies each got , so the TDMM is going to be used for your RCDD , the ITSEM manual will be used for your Bixie technician , your installer , copper installer , fiber installer , fiber ,

those certifications . And again you can use the same parameters I said for setting up your books . Right ? So there we go . Anthony's in the house . He said good evening , mark Higginson . Congratulations , mark , on your new certification , all righty . Somebody says , rob , it humbles and scares you . Oh , it absolutely does .

You know , after I got my RCD , my biggest concern was somebody was going to ask me a question that I didn't know the answer . Yeah yeah , the first one was the best . Yes , another thing coming in across the chat box . The first one was the best . Yes , another thing coming in across the chat box .

I know this is not related to today's video , but what steps would you take before taking the RCD exam ? In regards to study material , did you do an in-person training before I took my test ? I did not . I did not take any in-person classes , but some people have . That's a personal journey . What works best for you ? Right , I was able to do without .

Some people do need to have that class . What I did was I created my own flashcards . I bought two packs of three by five index cards . I wrote questions on the front , wrote the answers on the back and , as we were driving to the job site , I gave the index cards to my partner and said read them to me and I'd have to answer them .

I even recorded my own voice on a cassette tape . And Daryl the RCD's in the house he says never give up . It took him four tries to get his four years ago . Also , you've got to be kidding me . He says he highly recommends the design courses . I do as well , especially if it's not something you're familiar with , right , anybody studying for the ITSUM .

So I'm actually considering starting an ITSUM study group . If you're on Facebook , go to Facebook . Look up Bixie Technician Study Group . That's my group . If I do launch it , it'll be there . And somebody asked can I share the reading plan ? I just did so . It's in there . By the way , this is recorded .

So if you need to go back and see the reading plan that I put up , go back and watch the recording . After the show's done . It's there . I'm not going to edit it out . Okay , it Took my tech in 2022 . I'm studying the TDMM . If you end up starting a group , I would love to join and help with some of the questions .

Absolutely yeah , if you're considering , or if you . I didn't do this show tonight to get people to come to my study group . I did tonight's show because some people don't have the money . Some people don't . They want to create their own stuff . That's why I did tonight's show . Because some people don't have the money . Some people don't .

They want to create their own stuff . That's why I did tonight's show . I'm sharing what I do in my study group . If you want to participate in one of my study groups in the future , send me a message . I will save your contact information and put it up so that when I do the next one up , it'll be there . So there you go .

Rob says thanks and let me see . Rob says thanks and let me see . What's this one here . Robert Michael , I just used the Corey and Steve RCD study course . I've heard a lot of good things about the Corey and Steve study group . I've never used them , though , but I've had other students who have used them . Went all over . A lot of information .

I went past my 30 minute mark that I normally go by . Lots of great information again . Questions , comments , concerns send them to me . Email that I normally go by . Lots of great information . Again . Questions , comments , concerns send them to me . Email direct message . I'm all over the place .

Send them to me , and if you're interested in one of my future study groups , let me know that as well too . So I hope you found value in tonight's content . If you did , just put it in a chat box and do me a favor I don't think I've ever asked this before . Do me a favor . If you're on LinkedIn , if you're on YouTube , share this video to your feed .

Share this video to your feed so other people can see it Again . I want to do it so that way we can impact more people and have more people become our CDDs , have more people make more money , have more people climb that ladder and be more successful in their career . That's the whole reason I do the podcast .

The whole reason I do the podcast is to make other people's lives better , educate , encourage and enrich the lives of other people in the industry . That's exactly why I do this , exactly why I do this . All right , a couple more things then I'll sign off . I love Thursday night podcast .

So , technically , thursday nights are the live stream , mondays are the podcast , Just so you know . So there you go . In case you're not listening to the podcast , right , I'm looking for one to study for the RCE . So look , we already got somebody already there who's looking to .

So , mark , if you're really serious about starting your own study group , message me and , uh , I'll help you get that set up . I will , I'll go , I'll . I want to have , I want to help everybody . All right , everybody . Now I have literally like 18 minutes to go eat dinner and get back in here before the before my study group tonight .

Till Till next time , everybody , remember , knowledge is power .