A+ Certification

[fatsheep]

I've got a book called "Exam Cram 2 A+ Second Edition" (published in December 2003) that I'm reading in order to eventually get A+ Certified. I say "eventually" because it looks like I've got quite a lot of material to get through before I'll be ready to take the test. So, I'm just starting to study for it basically although I'm hoping my experience with computers (building them, messing around with them, programming on them, etc...) will help.

So who here has been A+ Certified(or plans to)? What would be your advice to me?

[spartan_phalanx]

I am currently studying for the A+ certification as well. My course has roughly 900 pages of textbook pages to go through. It's based off of "Mike Meyer's Guide to Managing and Troubleshooting PCs".

Non CompTIA members can take the tests for around $190 and scheduling can be found @ prometric.com or vue.com. There are vouchers and other discounts out there as well.

Tips from my textbook note that each of the two tests have roughly 90 multiple choice questions. You obviously have to pass both the A+ Core Hardware and the A+ Operating System Technologies exams to pass. Both exams are practical with little or no interest in theory. There's two types of exams. The standard exam where you answer question and are score on how many you get right or the adaptive exam in that you are asked either an easy, medium or hard question. If you get a medium question right you are then asked a harder question, and vice versa if you get a hard question wrong then you asked an easier question.

I could go into a lot of details but I would be just quoting my textbook and it would be quite long. They say as a general rule though that you'll need 200 hours of studying if your a complete noob and 40 hours if your an experienced professional.

I will post a general % breakdown of what's on each test when I have a bit more time.

-----
Core Hardware exam

35% Installation, Configuration, and Upgrading
21% Diagnosing and Troubleshooting
5% Preventive Maintenance
11% Motherboard/Processors/Memory
9% Printers
19% Basic Networking

Operating System Technologies Exam

28% OS Fundamentals
31% Installation, Configuration, and Upgrading
25% Diagnosing and Troubleshooting
16% Networks

The exams were designed to test the knowledge of a technician with only 6 months experience, so it's not going to cover absolutely everything.

[fatsheep]

I am currently studying for the A+ certification as well. My course has roughly 900 pages of textbook pages to go through. It's based off of "Mike Meyer's Guide to Managing and Troubleshooting PCs".

Non CompTIA members can take the tests for around $190 and scheduling can be found @ prometric.com or vue.com. There are vouchers and other discounts out there as well.

Tips from my textbook note that each of the two tests have roughly 90 multiple choice questions. You obviously have to pass both the A+ Core Hardware and the A+ Operating System Technologies exams to pass. Both exams are practical with little or no interest in theory. There's two types of exams. The standard exam where you answer question and are score on how many you get right or the adaptive exam in that you are asked either an easy, medium or hard question. If you get a medium question right you are then asked a harder question, and vice versa if you get a hard question wrong then you asked an easier question.

I could go into a lot of details but I would be just quoting my textbook and it would be quite long. They say as a general rule though that you'll need 200 hours of studying if your a complete noob and 40 hours if your an experienced professional.

I will post a general % breakdown of what's on each test when I have a bit more time.

-----
Core Hardware exam

35% Installation, Configuration, and Upgrading
21% Diagnosing and Troubleshooting
5% Preventive Maintenance
11% Motherboard/Processors/Memory
9% Printers
19% Basic Networking

Operating System Technologies Exam

28% OS Fundamentals
31% Installation, Configuration, and Upgrading
25% Diagnosing and Troubleshooting
16% Networks

The exams were designed to test the knowledge of a technician with only 6 months experience, so it's not going to cover absolutely everything.

Well I'm not a complete n00b but I wouldn't call myself an experienced professional either so I'd say based on your figures I'll need 100 or more hours of study. How long have you been studying and when do you plan to take the test?

EDIT: Also, do you know if a text book released in 2003 is OK to study from? Or should I get a more recent text book?

[spartan_phalanx]

I've actually had my textbook for a couple months, been procrastinating. I've thumbed through it and read a couple chapters but nothing in depth yet. My course on average takes about 6 months to complete with just a couple hours a week devoted. With summer here and a number of other factors I'm not in a tremendous hurry, although I have plans to take the tests this winter.

As for the content, they anounced this year I believe that they are going to be adding new questions to the exams at unspecified times and quantities. These new questions will be base on newer technology that's taking to mainstream. 2003 is a bit old in computer time but I don't know for sure how up to date the exams are currently.

I paid a bit of money for my course from an acredited online university but to me it's worth the money to get something up to date and well organised. Granted I could find all the information I need on the net for free or little money but I would have to spend a fair amount of time searching and reading needless content to get it.

You have a good starting point with that but your likely going to want to read up on all the newer techs since then as well. Having only just started my course I can't give a lot of advice, but if it's something you think you would come across while troubleshooting or building PC's then study up on it.