alt.certification.a-plus - I sat both tests this morning. <a story>

Author

I sat both tests this morning. <a story>

S.Lewis

2002-10-28, 1:25 pm

I sat both tests this morning, nearly 18 months after my employer-paid week-long A+ class.

After the dot.com bubble burst, money became tighter in the business, and I obtaining my test vouchers resembled pulling teeth with rusty pliers.

So, around October 1, I finally received my vouchers. I then scheduled to sit the tests today, giving myself fully 3-4 weeks of prep time, study, and prayer. I left both last week and this week fully empty of other appts. at that time so as to respect the challenge of the tests, and to show up prepared.

Life being how it is, and unscheduled things happening as they are wont to do, uhm, well, I sort of didn't get to study much. In fact, I really became frustrated at the way my schedule had deteriorated by coming insanely packed and time-consuming, and prepared myself to flame out in previously unseen multi-colored debris across the early morning horizon. "hey, they paid for it", I said. "I can always take the one or both again out of my own pocket (after digging myself out from a very impressive hole I create after augering in today). Truth is, I didn't study (per se), at all. I was neither a happy camper nor was I confident. No, far from it.

I got up this morning and refused to panic. I got my son on the school bus, then came and sat at my PC. Okay. Let's run a practice test or two before I leave. Not unexpectedly, I white-knuckled through the Core practice exam. This was my perceived strength. I passed with all the credibility of an Enron executive before a Senate subcommittee. Then I hurriedly proceeded to run the OS practice exam. The result was nothing short of the kind of spectacular bellyflop that causes one to be remembered for life with some unflattering nickname like "rockhead" or "tsunami-boy".

Okay, uhm, so it didn't go well. In fact, it went about like the Titanic on the iceberg pop-quiz.

Still, I refused to panic. Only because I knew that I know what I know, and if I panicked, then I'd lose even that much coherent information.

Left an hour early. Traffic jams. Road construction. Map point (not unlike mapquest) gave great directions to a McDonald's in the general vicinity of the testing center. This was not a good omen. I imagined being promoted to "Window #1". I say "promoted", cause that's where, like, the guy has to handle the money, so you know he's going places.

Anyway, I managed to find the testing center 5 minutes before my appt. time. Swell. The coffee I'd had re-visited me so that I had to access "the facilities" immediately upon arrival. I considered it a plus that I was neither wearing shorts or sandals at the urinal. I had *that* going for me.

I signed in and was immediately ushered to my testing PC. Good. Only one other person sitting a test in the room. This minimized the chances of my sobs being detected by any other carbon-based form of life.

My testing machine was a P133 that looked for all the world as if it had been stolen, or rather, that it's *components* had been stolen and quickly re-assembled so as to mimic the appearance of some machine I've seen in the last three years. I grew facial hair waiting for the testing application to open. I was immediately greeted with a runtime error on the box, followed by (2) illegal operation errors. "Houston, we have no taskbar".

I informed the young lady that the system had puked. She came in and reset the machine. Of course, it immediately booted back up to the Windows options menu. I took my life in my own hands and selected "normal mode". Whoa, Nelly. Scandisk. Finally, the machine came up. The young lady launched the application, it opened and did not crash. Shazam. The momentum was palpable.

By this time, I had thoroughly searched my scalp for the mark of the beast and determined that I was clean and that this was not the source of what appeared to be a string of bad luck.

---------------------------------------------------------

I say not in jest that prayer does indeed work. I managed to pass the core with a 793 ( I took the core first, as I prefer my pain a bit later in the day). I felt comfortable during the core while not approaching anything near hero status. Going in, I felt I would do better on the Core, and I wanted to start things off as well as I could.

I took a 10-minute break after completing the core to hot box a cigarette, re-focus, and conclude that any Andy Griffith show in color is not worth watching.

The OS exam was an adventure. I expected this going in. I haven't used Win98 in over two years. I've current installs of Win2K, WinXP Pro, and WinME here at the house. It had just been too long to remember paths and system files present, features and screenshots. I've only used NT 4.0 minimally. All of this I hadn't taken a hard, serious look at since last year. I was destined to be humbled in a major way.

Miracle of miracles, I passed with just a 701. I think I fully used up 30 questions (?), though my time was fine.

I'm certified and I'm grateful. I've lurked here off and on for the better part of 18 mos.. In the days after my A+ class, I worked hard for a month or so expecting the arrival of my vouchers. Didn't happen. Since then, I've been limited to working on a ton of P4 systems; working with Win2K and XP machines, and learning what I can by listening, reading, and helping others in different newsgroups.

I don't mean to be an arrogrant pr!ck in this post. I am not advocating not studying. Far from it.

Brain dumps are (to me) an insult to the certification process. My advice would be stay hard with fundamental terminology, be prepared for scattered and mixed questions on Win95, 98, NT, Win2K, focusing on the differences between the OS and their function/capabilities.

While I privately felt that I had earned enough knowledge to merit certification, I wasn't convinced that I could prove that in testing.

I encourage everyone to take the practice tests as a guide, but don't obsess over them. Bone up with whichever Cert guide you happen to have, and by all means, get really good directions to the testing center.

I thank you all and wish you success in your testing. YOU CAN DO IT!!!

Stew

Don B.

2002-10-28, 4:23 pm

On Mon, 28 Oct 2002 12:58:43 -0600, "S.Lewis" <stew1960@mail.com>
wrote:

>This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
>
>------=_NextPart_000_0013_01C27E81.BE745090
>Content-Type: text/plain;
> charset="iso-8859-1"
>Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
>
>I sat both tests this morning, nearly 18 months after my employer-paid =
>week-long A+ class.
>
>After the dot.com bubble burst, money became tighter in the business, =
>and I obtaining my test vouchers resembled pulling teeth with rusty =
>pliers.
>
>So, around October 1, I finally received my vouchers. I then scheduled =
>to sit the tests today, giving myself fully 3-4 weeks of prep time, =
>study, and prayer. I left both last week and this week fully empty of =
>other appts. at that time so as to respect the challenge of the tests, =
>and to show up prepared.
>
>Life being how it is, and unscheduled things happening as they are wont =
>to do, uhm, well, I sort of didn't get to study much. In fact, I really =
>became frustrated at the way my schedule had deteriorated by coming =
>insanely packed and time-consuming, and prepared myself to flame out in =
>previously unseen multi-colored debris across the early morning horizon. =
>"hey, they paid for it", I said. "I can always take the one or both =
>again out of my own pocket (after digging myself out from a very =
>impressive hole I create after augering in today). Truth is, I didn't =
>study (per se), at all. I was neither a happy camper nor was I =
>confident. No, far from it.
>
>I got up this morning and refused to panic. I got my son on the school =
>bus, then came and sat at my PC. Okay. Let's run a practice test or =
>two before I leave. Not unexpectedly, I white-knuckled through the Core =
>practice exam. This was my perceived strength. I passed with all the =
>credibility of an Enron executive before a Senate subcommittee. Then I =
>hurriedly proceeded to run the OS practice exam. The result was nothing =
>short of the kind of spectacular bellyflop that causes one to be =
>remembered for life with some unflattering nickname like "rockhead" or =
>"tsunami-boy".
>
>Okay, uhm, so it didn't go well. In fact, it went about like the Titanic =
>on the iceberg pop-quiz.
>
>Still, I refused to panic. Only because I knew that I know what I know, =
>and if I panicked, then I'd lose even that much coherent information.
>
>Left an hour early. Traffic jams. Road construction. Map point (not =
>unlike mapquest) gave great directions to a McDonald's in the general =
>vicinity of the testing center. This was not a good omen. I imagined =
>being promoted to "Window #1". I say "promoted", cause that's where, =
>like, the guy has to handle the money, so you know he's going places.
>
>Anyway, I managed to find the testing center 5 minutes before my appt. =
>time. Swell. The coffee I'd had re-visited me so that I had to access =
>"the facilities" immediately upon arrival. I considered it a plus that =
>I was neither wearing shorts or sandals at the urinal. I had *that* =
>going for me.
>
>I signed in and was immediately ushered to my testing PC. Good. Only =
>one other person sitting a test in the room. This minimized the chances =
>of my sobs being detected by any other carbon-based form of life. =20
>
>My testing machine was a P133 that looked for all the world as if it had =
>been stolen, or rather, that it's *components* had been stolen and =
>quickly re-assembled so as to mimic the appearance of some machine I've =
>seen in the last three years. I grew facial hair waiting for the testing =
>application to open. I was immediately greeted with a runtime error on =
>the box, followed by (2) illegal operation errors. "Houston, we have no =
>taskbar".
>
>I informed the young lady that the system had puked. She came in and =
>reset the machine. Of course, it immediately booted back up to the =
>Windows options menu. I took my life in my own hands and selected =
>"normal mode". Whoa, Nelly. Scandisk. Finally, the machine came up. =
>The young lady launched the application, it opened and did not crash. =
>Shazam. The momentum was palpable.
>
>By this time, I had thoroughly searched my scalp for the mark of the =
>beast and determined that I was clean and that this was not the source =
>of what appeared to be a string of bad luck.
>
>
>---------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>I say not in jest that prayer does indeed work. I managed to pass the =
>core with a 793 ( I took the core first, as I prefer my pain a bit later =
>in the day). I felt comfortable during the core while not approaching =
>anything near hero status. Going in, I felt I would do better on the =
>Core, and I wanted to start things off as well as I could.
>

>
>
>I'm certified and I'm grateful. I've lurked here off and on for the =
>better part of 18 mos.. In the days after my A+ class, I worked hard =
>for a month or so expecting the arrival of my vouchers. Didn't happen. =
>Since then, I've been limited to working on a ton of P4 systems; working =
>with Win2K and XP machines, and learning what I can by listening, =
>reading, and helping others in different newsgroups.
>

>
>I thank you all and wish you success in your testing. YOU CAN DO IT!!!
>
>
>Stew
>
>
Hi Stew,
I'll congratulate you if you'll congratulate me ;-)

I also passed my OS exam today after passing the Core with an 833 and
failing the OS exam first time around.

Today, I corrected that so, we both join the legions of certified
computer geeks :-)

I passed OS with a 770; got to question 25 and the print screen
flashed up.....by then I was already on my nth fingernail.... ;-)

Good work and good luck in the so-called 'improving' economy.

Don B.

S.Lewis

2002-10-29, 5:23 am

"Don B." <dabble75@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:3dbdb36d.29592410@news.earthlink.net...
>

<snip>

> >
> Hi Stew,
> I'll congratulate you if you'll congratulate me ;-)
>
> I also passed my OS exam today after passing the Core with an 833 and
> failing the OS exam first time around.
>
> Today, I corrected that so, we both join the legions of certified
> computer geeks :-)
>
> I passed OS with a 770; got to question 25 and the print screen
> flashed up.....by then I was already on my nth fingernail.... ;-)
>
> Good work and good luck in the so-called 'improving' economy.
>
> Don B.

Congrats, Don. The OS exam was a bit of a bear for me as well.

If this economy keeps getting better, I don't know if we can stand it....heh
heh

Stew

Kathy

2002-11-02, 3:23 pm

Hi Stew and Don,

Congratulations to you both. Now is your turn to congratulate me....naw,
just kidding!

BTW Stew, I liked your story. It sounded like an adventure to me!

I took the Core exam in September, passed with a score of 847. I got about
23 questions and got nervous when the questions went pass 21. I sat the OS
exam yesterday and passed with a score of 965. This time I only got 20
questions. In my opinion I thought the Core was the hardest. I went in to
take my exam yesterday more nervous than ever because others have said that
the OS was harder....I never practice what I preach....I tell others NOT to
be nervous...so here I was a basketcase. One other guy was in the same room
as I taking an exam as well. I sat down and started taking my exam...the
room was so quiet that all you could hear were the sounds of the fans inside
the computers. So I took a long deep breath, then started my exam. Actually
I was quite surprised that the OS exam seemed so much easier than the Core
exam.

Anyway now what? just kidding! I plan to look for a job very soon and
eventually maybe go for the Network+ cert. I guess all of the hard studying
does pay off.

I plan to stick around here at this newsgroup to see how others troubleshoot
problems. I have learned quite a bit from others in here.

Newbies stick with it and you can do it too!

Kathy
--
kathyz101 AT yahoo DOT com

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