So Many Practice Exams

DirtySouth

Hi Everyone. I'm currently studying for the A+ Core exam and was surprised at how many free online practice exams there were. I wondering if it is really necessary to spend money on one of the recommended "big name" exams (Sybex, LearnKey..etc) or would it be just as good to use all of the online free exams.

I realize that it will be helpful to use as many different ones as possible. Is there something that the non-free exams might offer that the free exams would not? Any thoughts on this?

xosag

Well, just from my personal experience, I found that some of the paid for exams covered just a few areas that I didn't find on the free exams. The paid exams for me were more comprehensive, in that you didn't have to go digging around the web for multiple exams to cover the entire range of topics to study for. However, after taking all of the free online exams, there's really not much more that the paid exams would offer you.

And, just as a disclaimer, I only used the exams on the CDs inside the books I got, so my opinion probably should be taken with a grain of salt.

DirtySouth

Thanks for the info. Anybody else have any thoughts?

DirtySouth

BTW, I should mention I have Mike Meyers' Passport that actually came with a self-exam from LearnKey. However, the LearnKey exam only has 75 total questions and they repeat themselves every time you take it.

I'll probably be purchasing Sybex A+ E-Trainer cd off of half.com.

OpenSource

My answer may be considered bias because of the fact the only A+ materials I've paid for are my books, the rest has been found online for free... I really see no reason to pay for practice tests when nearly every certification website and book already include them, for free... If you're looking for a good A+ practice test book, try something like this; http://www.nerdbooks.com/item.php?id=1592000177 or this;
http://www.nerdbooks.com/item.php?id=0789731088

- Joey

bighornsheep

my simple answer would be that it depends on you as the examinee.

I have heard of people taking and passing both the exams and getting A+ cert. without any materials, and strictly doing free practice questions.

I speak from experience that it's generally good idea and it's also a good way to prepare by reading some sort of a book. I dont really think it matter all that much which book you get (not the ones only with questions, but an actual book that covers the domain objectives) and after that, you should do practice questions, lots of them.

With that said, I would get a book that also include plenty of example questions. Good luck!

DirtySouth

Thanks for the replies. I'll let you know how it goes.