Pass your A+, the Mike Evans Way…
I recently completed the Comptia A+ certification through a lot of studying and a lot of practice tests. Here’s an overview of what I did and a look at the different study materials I used.
The A+ test is currently in two parts. A+ essentials (220-601) and an elective test, usually the A+ IT technician(220-602). Each test was 90 questions in 90 minutes, multiple choice. Each test was roughly $160, but you can buy vouchers before you register (at totalseminars.com, for example) and get about $20 off each test. You register with a testing service (this is all at the comptia.org site or in the Mike Meyers book), the service will show you the different testing sites in your area and you schedule the test.
I mainly studied off of “Comptia A+ Certification All-in-One Exam guide” by Mike Meyers (list of $60 but you can get for $38 at Amazon). It’s a thick hardback textbook that takes the route of exploring computer basics on a chapter by chapter basis (memory, processors, hard drives…) and pointing out what’s going to be relevant on the tests. It’s not so much really a reference, but an introductory text for the world of home computers, printers and networking. I feel like I knew a lot going in, but the book filled a lot of gaps in my knowledge. Many times I found myself going: “Oh, that’s why that is”. You’re going to want this book or something like it, because when you start taking practice tests you’ll need something to refer to.
This brings us to practice tests. There’s no way to get a flavor of what you don’t know unless you’re faced with tests. You may know a lot about a subject, but do you really have the specifics down? You can know about different command line statements, but can you remember the parameters or the switches without “/?”. You know about user privileges and file sharing, but can you describe getting to the settings without a computer in front of you? If anything, practice tests will quickly bring you down to earth.
The Mike Meyers book comes with a couple of practice tests and that’s a good start. There are free test on the web, one site is techexams.net although the few that I found seem dated and geared towards earlier exams.
I had the luxury (meaning money) of buying practice tests from four different companies. In all, I spent roughly $400 on practice tests (not including the Meyers book). With hindsight I could have picked two or even on of the companies, but at the time, I spent $300 on the actual tests that I wouldn’t get back if I failed. Similarly a class at a local commercial university can start at $500. Perhaps the reader can gain from my experience.
There is an advantage to going with more than one company. The tests from different companies emphasized different subjects and questions were worded differently. The result gives you a broader base of questions. I think you can get by with one company, but my ultimate recommendation is indeed to get practice tests from somebody.
When you take these tests, just don’t learn specific answers to specific questions. The actual test isn’t going to match the sample tests word for word. If you get a question wrong, or you’re guessing at the answer, that’s a sign to read up on the entire subject.
Here are the four companies I went with:
This is the site run by Mike Meyers that’s tied into his book. The practice exams are supplied on a shipped CD with no option for downloading. The 601 has 10 exams of 50 questions each; the 602 has 10 exams of 60 questions. You have a learn mode that lets you view the answers as you take the test along with a brief sentence on the subject and where to find more is his book. There are no really special features that the others have just straight tests. The price for the CD is $75 plus shipping. I could certainly recommend this one as the best for this price especially when used with the book.
This was the cheapest at $28 for both the 601(3 tests of 116 questions) and the 602(3 tests of 90 questions). It was download only and tied to one computer by using an email license scheme. Unfortunately, it seemed somewhat dated by being Windows 2000 centric and very limited on XP. I can’t really recommend this one.
Another downloaded program tied to a single machine (with an option for multiple machines for extra cost). The 601 and the 602 run $85 each but you can get both for $145. The 601 has 8 tests of 60 questions; the 602 has 5 tests of 50 questions. You have ability to send feedback on questions. You can see if anybody else has comments on the question (not really that useful). You have the ability to design a custom test; I liked this, because you can assemble the questions giving you problems into one test. It also has the ability to feed you information flash-card style, and can call up articles on different subjects. After you take a test, you’ll be able to review the answers with descriptions and a website reference. Overall I thought this was a pretty well-rounded package.
Had some interesting options: You could download or buy a CD-Rom for $99 (that’s for the 601 or 602 only, both would be $198) or can access online to the tests for $69 for 30 days (again, both the 601 and 602 would be $138). Each had 3 tests of 80 questions plus one addition test of 80 random questions. This also has a flash card mode. I’d recommend this one as well, but I just thought Ucertify was better.
Best of the lot? I’d have to go with Ucertify, followed by Transcender or Totalseminars. The good news is that they all have sample tests available for free so you can judge whether they might work for you.
Other comments: The tests I took were mercifully absent of IRQ’s, memory address, beep codes, bios error codes and SCSI info. Know audit logs, permissions, encryption, command utilities, and laser printers. Nothing was Vista related, which makes it tough to study it you’re searching for different utilites and they’re in different places compared to XP (and this might mean a wrong answer on the test).
For me, It all came down to taking the practice tests repeatedly, until I felt comfortable with every subject. As I was taking the tests, I’d open the book and read the subject related to question or google it (the obvious choice was Wikipedia, but a lot of command line info can be found at computerhope.com). Good luck.