Getting started

A suggested path through the material. Adjust it to your exam date and background.

On this page
  1. The study path
  2. By goal
  3. Using the repository directly

The study path

  1. Check your background. Read Prerequisites and work through its self-assessment. Budget 2–8 weeks of preparation if you are missing essentials.
  2. Choose your target certification. Open Certifications to see which chapters carry the most weight for your exam. For NCP-AAI, every chapter contributes.
  3. Read chapter by chapter. Use the Curriculum pages for the overview and the Study_Plan.md for each chapter’s key concepts, self-check questions, and time allocation. The Study Plan describes a 4-month (120-day) intensive schedule and allocates about 340 hours across its chapters.
  4. Check retention. Take each chapter’s quiz from Quizzes & practice exams when you finish it.
  5. Practice. Work through the code examples for the chapter, and the lab where one exists (coverage is still being built out).
  6. Take a second pass. Use the slides for a condensed review and the videos, embedded under each chapter summary on the Part pages, for another explanation of the same concept.
  7. Rehearse the exam. Take the full-length practice exams, and use the AI tutor to work through what you miss.

By goal

If you are… Start with
Preparing for NCP-AAI Part 1, then follow the Parts in order; use every chapter
Preparing for another certification Certifications: pick the chapters rated H, then fill gaps from M
Teaching a course The Curriculum pages, slides, and the labs template
Looking for depth on a single topic The Part page for that topic; each chapter row links its slides, quiz, videos, figures, and code
Wanting to help Contributing

Using the repository directly

Everything on this site is a view onto files in the repository. The book’s chapter text is not published here; the Study_Plan.md is the reading guide, and the Part pages link into it chapter by chapter. Clone the repository if you want the slides, figures, and code offline:

git clone https://github.com/GSA/MasteringAgenticAISystems_supplementals.git