Good afternoon,

I am working on preparing for my HS certification and I am struggling grasping the basic information to get me going. The study guides i am using are still too technical for me to fully grasp, so I wanted to see if anyone had any recommendations on a more beginners guide to where I can work my way up to more advanced guides. Also, I thought about purchasing one of the online training courses but I wasn't for sure if that would be a good beginners course.  I am using the following books:

- Hydraulic Specialist Certification Study Manual
- Introduction to Hydraulics for Industry Professionals
- Fluid Power Reference Handbook

Are there any "beginner", hydraulics 101 you anybody could recommend?

Thank you!

Good day,
I commend you realizing your are out of your comfort zone in preparing for your certification test. This test is comprehensive and we want you to succeed.

The IFPS has a number of third-party training options -  and affordable basic online training courses -

I also recommend your read a recent Notable Words column from the Fluid Power Journal. This may give you further advice.

Thank you for your interest in professionalism.
It sounds like you may be aiming a little too high.  If you can wait a couple of months, the new Mobile Hydraulic Maintenance Certification manual will be available.  This covers, on a much more basic level, the foundational information on hydraulics.  The current MHM manual is being completely revised.  It may be helpful but the new manual will be the most useful.

Thank you, I will definitely add that to my resources when its available. I bought the "Eaton Mobile Hydraulic Handbook" because this was recommended as a very basic study guide that will point me in the right direction. I'm hoping to read that to get a better, basic understanding, and then start "Into to Hydraulics for Industry Professionals" over with the hopes I will have enough understanding to comprehend that information better.  Finally, I will tackle the study guide and take the test, hopefully.

I can definitely wait a few months if that's what it takes, I don't want to rush this. Unfortunately, I don't have access to in person study guides or engineers from my company to help me.

The HS cert can be a beast. How did it work out for you did you pass and get your cert?