General Discussion - ! Help ! w/ A+ cert

Author

! Help ! w/ A+ cert

Neobuhummat

2001-07-23, 7:28 am

Hi, I'm new to this forum so inform me about any 'unwritten' rules or anything. Now lets get straight to my topic.

1. I'm thinking of buying a A+ cert book for my study on to A+ exam. Any recommendation or rejection on the book from Microsoft Press?

2. Now, I need people who have done A+ exam (2001 edtion) to answer me please. I wanted to know what is most of the Qs in A+ OS tech exam focuses on. I've heard from other threads that it focuses in NT 4.0 which by now if pretty old and also most of the A+ cert books doesn't cover.

3. Now this is pretty hard question to answer. I want to take the exam by August 13th. I'm now almost pass the Core part of A+ exam (except memorizing IRQs and basic I/O addresses, and some SCSI types). Does anyone think I can be ready by my due date and what kind of precaution or special thing I'll have to do in order to reach this goal?

Thanks a bunch for reading this EXTREMELY long post. I just need these answer ASAP.

Adam3

2001-07-23, 8:29 am

I would go against getting the MS Press A+ book. I would get the All-in-one A+ book. This is the book I used and it was great. As far as what the new objectives are I don't know because I did my exam over a year ago when it was mostly dos, win3.1 and win95. You must have your irq's down before even attempting this exam as well as the major io addresses. I honestly think you are spreading yourself to thin to think you will be ready for August 13. Give it another month at least. GOOD LUCK!!!

XtremeFighter

2001-07-23, 9:14 am

quote:

1. I'm thinking of buying a A+ cert book for my study on to A+ exam. Any recommendation or rejection on the book from Microsoft Press?

I would go against the Microsoft Press book.
If you have experience, (you are not a beginner), then I would recommend ExamCram.
But If you need some more help on the Exam, you could get Mike Meyers A+ Certification Exam Guide 3rd Edition. That's the perfect book, and It would be a very good resource for a technician. So it depends in what level you are. To see the differences between the two books, go to the local bookshop or library and read a few pages from them. You are the one that's going to make the choice, and not us.

quote:

2. Now, I need people who have done A+ exam (2001 edtion) to answer me please. I wanted to know what is most of the Qs in A+ OS tech exam focuses on. I've heard from other threads that it focuses in NT 4.0 which by now if pretty old and also most of the A+ cert books doesn't cover.

I can't really help you on this one, because I am still studying to take the A+ Exams, but I will give you the address that shows you some information from another user that took the exam had to say about it.

http://pub3.ezboard.com/ftotalsemin...picID=102.topic

That user is also registered in this board so he may give you some info on the test.

quote:

3. Now this is pretty hard question to answer. I want to take the exam by August 13th. I'm now almost pass the Core part of A+ exam (except memorizing IRQs and basic I/O addresses, and some SCSI types). Does anyone think I can be ready by my due date and what kind of precaution or special thing I'll have to do in order to reach this goal?

As I said above, It depends on your experience, and years of working on this field. I would recommend not to take the test before september.

Anyway, that's your choice.
Good Luck on your exam, and hope I helped.

Regards,
XF

Neobuhummat

2001-07-23, 2:01 pm

Thanks for your answers yet still I got some more that i need help from u all.

I've tried many of the exam practice questioins on Web and on CDs ( 1 on the old Examcram, 1 from the new Examsim from syngreess.com and several demos and free sites) I all seem to score around 80's and sometimes 90's on 1st and second try. It makes me think that I'm almost done with the material and needs just memorization of facts. If anybody here knows a good website that can provide some "HARD" (qustions similar to ones show at exam) please let me know.

As a side note, I've worked on PCs for about 4 year now starting from junkie Packard Bell
P200 with Win 95 to my homebuild Duron 600 with ME and Win 2000 dual boot.

P.S. I would really really like know why ppl are prasing the M. Meyer books and turn down the MS press one. I've browsed through both and found strength and weakness. Can anyone tell me why you don't like the MS press book?
Also the NT 4.0 question is unresolved since the board link from XtremeFighter is dead.

XtremeFighter

2001-07-23, 4:36 pm

I don't know why links seem to always be dead on this board, but here is the steps to get there:
Go to: http://pub3.ezboard.com/btotalseminars

Scroll down to the certifications section, and click on the A+ Certification.

There you will see the topic :
Passed Both A+ Tests on First Try... And Only 15 Years Old!-by Ke0Ke0

There you will see the information.

darthw

2001-07-23, 5:18 pm

I have found the MS Press exam preparation texts to be decent, but not as good as the other titles mentioned on this thread. The MS exam books often seem to be less detailed than other texts, but they are usable. To me it seems that one would rather use something like the All-in-One, which may be overkill, but better more info than not enough.

Neobuhummat

2001-07-23, 7:35 pm

Finally, at least somebody mentioned a medicore but honest opinion on the MS press book. And yes it does sort of agree with my view on M. Meyer's book. Unfortunately my funding is short (no duh cause I'm a unemployed Sophmore HS) so I can afford the MS press book with a practice exam book. The exam practice book is from Syngress called "Test Yourself A+ Certification" Any repraisal or rejection for this book while I still got time to return it.

Btw, this is to Xtremefighter only. It seems like yourself haven't passed the A+ exam yet. I'm curious how come you sound so experienced in this subject and can give such pro-like comment about the books and exams. And also thanks for the link to that board. KeoKeo seems to passed the exam pretty well. His latest post seemed to outline some of the objectives on the test so I'll focus more time on those matter.

XtremeFighter

2001-07-23, 7:55 pm

Hello Neobuhummat,
I am glad the link worked this time. The reason I "sound" or really am so experienced is because I have passed the brainbench computer service technician test. That's basicly like the A+ Exam but it's not that popular. It tests the skills of people with less than 6 months of experience in the field. I would be glad to help on anything!
And BTW, I am planning to take my A+ Hardware exam by August 15th, and the Operating Systems test on September. I have been studying specificaly for this exam since June. But I have been playing around with computers for a long time...

Ok, good luck on your exams,
Keep in touch
XtremeFighter

Neobuhummat

2001-07-23, 9:04 pm

Hmm, never heard of that. hehe well at least I know that you're not just a "pretender". I've met some of those ppl in other boards. Anyway you can get me at V2_gundam_zero@hotmail.com

or AIM at

Neobuhummat ZERO

or at the MSN mess

at the mail address above.

Oh and... do I have to pay another fee if I want to take the test separate? For example Pay $140 for the 1st test but only take Core and then another $140 for 2nd test to makeup OS. Or can I just wait the 90 day limit for making up? Kinda confused on that one. If I can wait 90 days for OS, I can squeeze review for OS after my August 13th deadline.

Unregistered

2001-07-23, 10:34 pm

I used the Managing and Maintaining your pc book and a course study at Interface Computer School and got a 755 (yeah so I dont study much heh)...the OS questions on my test were mostly Win2k, NT, and networking them..but I had other peers get alot of 95/98 questions too. There is alot of installation and trouble shooting questions on all of the OSs...go to http://www.XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX for osme good recent dumps on A+, I have one in both sections.

XtremeFighter

2001-07-24, 10:23 am

quote:

Oh and... do I have to pay another fee if I want to take the test separate? For example Pay $140 for the 1st test but only take Core and then another $140 for 2nd test to makeup OS. Or can I just wait the 90 day limit for making up? Kinda confused on that one. If I can wait 90 days for OS, I can squeeze review for OS after my August 13th deadline.

No, you don't have to pay any extra fee, If you take the tests separtely. And the other good news is that CompTIA, has taken off the 90 day limit between tests. So you can take the second test whenever you want, before they make any major changes in the objectives of the test (which are scheduled to be in fall 2002).
And BTW, you don't nessecerly need to pay $140/test. Go to www.ExamVoucherss.com and get a free voucher from them before scheduling the test. When you call (Sylvan Prometric, 1800- 77MICRO), to schedule it, give them the coupon number that you got from test vouchers.com.

Good Luck,
XF

Neobuhummat

2001-07-24, 12:27 pm

Thanks ALOT for that info. Heheh I guess the basic info slipped outta me when I vainly tried to remember the IRQs and I/Os. But man..... they're hard to remmeber, IRQ is easy cause they're just # = component. But I/O uses Hexadeci so it's harder. Any good suggestions?

Neobuhummat

2001-07-24, 12:30 pm

Wow... wait a minute.... $100 for EACH of the tests? so that makes like around $200 just to take the whole exam? Ahh isn't that just rip off? The whole test costs $140 on CompTIA website. U need to clear up on that deal Xfighter

XtremeFighter

2001-07-24, 2:55 pm

Hey man,
Oh, I messed up. I didn't mean $140 per test, but I meant $140 for the whole thing. And by the way, vouchers are nothing else than a discount. They just send you a number by email... When you register for the test, and you give them that number, you will not have to pay $140 anymore but just $107...
I think this price includes both exams. If you are not clear about the pricing, just call: (Sylvan Prometric, 1800- 77MICRO).

But I am 99.9% sure that the price for both tests is $140.

Regards,
XF

Sponsored Links