My Experience with A+

kmccarthy2

Let me just start by saying that it is entirely possible to pass this test without taking a class or anything like that. The study guide mentioned later in this post was almost enough to pass the test by itself. Since I put so much time and effort into the preparation of the CompTIA A+ exam I figured, at the least, I'd share my experience to help others take and pass the 220-801 and 220-802 exams. Prior to deciding to get certified, my experience with computers was minimal. Mainly, it was only personal use (I had built my own computer several months before.) and had been into computers since I was fairly young. I had no formal training. Also my undergrad degree was in something completely unrelated.

Then one day it all began about 11 months ago when I purchased a $100 groupon for ITUOnline CompTIA A+ package (it guaranteed the contents of which would allow you to pass the exam without further research.) After watching the majority of the videos and reading the comments from other users, I quickly realized that I would need some other resources in order to be confident to take the test. The videos were very vague and unspecific. They had very general knowledge and appeared to be geared toward people that literally had no experience with computers. I then purchased the CompTIA A+ Complete Study Guide Second Edition by Sybex after doing some research online. The study guide came with the book, as well as, a test engine (8 tests total), flash cards, and other study tools. In about 8 months of time (I would study a couple weeks aggressively, on and off) I read through the entire book and had taken a abundance of notes to the related material.

I organized these notes and studied them on and off for some time. Then I used the practice exams on ExamCompass (which is free). After completing those to my liking, I switched over to the practice exams supplied by the study guide. I found myself at this point memorizing the answers to the questions, rather than the related information that the questions provided. I caught myself and switched my strategy. After completing all the study materials provided with the book I felt fairly confident, but the more I looked online the more worried I would get that I wasn't ready. There was not too much information on the performance based questions and that scared me having no real experience troubleshooting computers.

I took and passed both exams by a respectable margin on March 10th on the first try. It wasn't until March 9th that I found this forum and saw that several people suggested watching Professor Messer's free videos on youtube. I had previously found them through my research, but because of my experience with ITU I never got around to watch them. The night before the exam (my first exam was at 10:45am) around 11:00pm I ran through Professor Messer's troubleshooting videos quickly and took notes. This turned out to be a great decision. He breaks down the troubleshooting into small 10 minute or so videos and it really helped me. The reading (as with all these guides the reading is very dry) of the book was difficult to translate into real life situations. These videos allowed me to make connections I previously wouldn't of thought of.

All in all, a lot of the things I had over studied were either barely included or not included at all on the exams. Seems like I got into my own head a lot of the time because I had put so much time into this. In my experience the first test was the easier one (it focused mainly on hardware components.) The second exam was a bit more difficult. As other people have said, the wording used in a lot of the questions on both tests is poor, and you really have to carefully go through the questions to make sure your providing the right answer (I experienced this in the practice exams also.) After I completed either test I would then, with the remaining time, go back and recheck my answers. Each test had 4 performance based questions that were not even that difficult. I recommend anyone that goes down the path I did simply purchase the Sybex study guide, use Exam Compass, and watch Professor Messor's videos and you should absolutely be able to pass. Several people have said they don't recommend taking the tests together, I disagree. I took both back to back with no issues, it most likely has more to do with personal preference.

Thanks, and good luck

fuz1on

congrats!

H3||scr3am

Congratulations on passing your A+ exams!

dannyky

Awesome, congrats. Really makes me want to get the cert.

Techie19

Congrats on passing the exams and getting certfied. I'm taking the 802 on April 3rd. Been mostly using the ExamCram book along with the Mike Meyers and A+ Training Kit book. Also watching the Professor Messer videos.

I find myself knowing a lot of the information already but still feel somewhat not 100% confident yet. For the 801 I feel that I over studied. A lot of the information I studied wasn't on the exam. Found the exam to be somewhat challenging, like the wording on the questions was sort of confusing. Hoping the 802 is better.