Do I sound prepared enough for the test?

Matt_Smi

Hello, I am taking my A+ Hardware test this Friday and of course I am pretty nervous about it. I went to school these past few mouths (I am on break now and go back in Jan for MSCA courses) to help prepare me for my A+ and Network+ certifications. I have been studying for a while now, but these past few weeks I have been really cramming so to speak. I have been studying from three different books, one of them (the Mike Meyers AIO) I have read all the hardware chapters over twice now, the other two I am working on finishing. I have also been using around 6 different practice tests (plus practice questions in the book) that I got from my school. I am now consistently scoring above 80’s on those, usually in the high 80’s. I am also not just studying to pass the test, like let’s say how I used to study for a history test, I am studying to understand the material and I think I have a pretty good grasp on it., I have been into PC’s for the past few years and love learning and applying my knowledge with them. I have a bit of on hands experience, building my own PC and also I have fixed and troubleshooted quite a few PC’s for people over the past year. I have also gotten most of the things that need to be memorized done, such as IRQ’s, I/O addresses (just took the test here and got 19/20 right), maximum cable lengths, RAM pins, ect. I feel I am pretty well prepared but the main reason I am nervous is because a friend who was in my class took the test and he did pass, but not by a big margin. He said it was really difficult and the questions were worded in a very awkward manner. Then again I am not sure he was prepared as I was, I know he only used one book to study from, but he did know his stuff. Like I said I feel I am well prepared but I just don’t know what to expect.

jescab

I would say you are ready but only YOU truely know if you are ready to sit the exam. Go to Comptia site and look over the objectives and if you know them then you are ready.

GOOD LUCK!!

Plantwiz

As jescab mentioned, only you will 'know' when you are ready.

If you are comfortable with the objectives then you likely are. Try to relax a couple days before hand and light review the night before. You will either know it or you won't.

Failing a test isn't the end either - so don't worry so much about it, just do your best.

Best wishes.

Matt_Smi

I am feeling pretty good about it, I just took the whole hardware test on www.mcmcse.com and got an 87% on it, and when reviewing the ones I got wrong it seems they have some just plan wrong info. Yesterday I also took a 210 question prep logic test and pulled a 90% on that, so hopefully I will do fine on the real test.

raied

Nice scores, you should pass your exam with scores like that.

skully93

I would say you should go for it. I scheduled and passed both of mine in the same day and I did OK.

Your friend may have passed by a slim margin for a number of reasons. He might have psyched himself out, or he may have gotten a series of very poorly worded questions.

Comptia exams are nice and all, and after passing 3 of them I don't mind them so much, but lets face it, there's a ton of memorization involved, and some of that information is in most situations, totally pointless.

How many pins do certain RAM sticks have? who cares? A month of swapping it around you can tell from 10 feet away that it's ECC ram or some new DDR2. Not that it wouldn't help to be able to check them for sure just by look.

The rest of it is great info, and should be retained until it becomes part of your 'style'.

Just take your time, read the questions a bunch of times (few people say they have too little time for CompTIA exams), and do your best.

crap I forgot my old pwd

Relax man, don't be too intiminated by this exam. If a bunch of 12 and 13 year old kids can do it you can too. I remember being really nervous when I took it. But in the end I got an 890 on it. You'll be just fine.

Matt_Smi

Took it this morning, passed with a 784, honestly I thought it was pretty easy. There were a few tough questions but most of them were common sense (to me anyway) or stuff I had seen on practice tests. I think I over studied for the test, but thats alright because I know a lot more now. Time to celebrate tonight!