Honest opinion of a book....

zero-g-smith

Hi I will be starting my self study of A+ next week and I ordered the highest rated book I could find off of Amazon..... Mike Meyers All in One A+ certification (the big ass brown book) 5th ed.

anyway I would like to know form people who have gone through it and/or people who have taken the test and passed or failed what you honestly thought this book conveyed as correct or good, and any bad points or information.

I just got done with 3 gruelling months of prep for my CCNA with 3 seperate 600 page hardback books and quite frankly I am skeptical of any tech boot now as to the errors and omisions.

Just any honest opinion about meyers book would be great!!!! Any tips......any advice.

Also when is the deadline for taking the current test? Is there going to be a new type of A+ test soon?

Also is it possible to take the 2 tests at once?

oldtech

I used it,it's a big ugly thing that won't stay open. The myers video series is great on the other hand so I ended by using the book more to double check and it is a bit more detailed. As I said before the exam questions didn't match up with the study material I used that well. Using the Myers cd practice questions I scored well over 90% on everything but only got 75% in the actual exam. It was as if I was sitting a different subject altogether. So I would recommend a multi-pronged attack.

You might like to have a look at alt.binaries.cbts right now for some study aids.

boyles23

I used the AIO for my A+ and Net+ and I would recommend them to anyone. I used the practice tests from the cd, this site and mcmcse.com and I passed both easily, plus I had about 1.5 years of experience in computer repair and about 6 months networking experience. I prefer them over any books in my opinion.

Hope this helps and good luck.

Plantwiz

Meyer's book is good as is Sybex.

For any published text it is a good practice to visit the publishers site for errata

http://www.totalsem.com/support/errata/index.php?book=aio_aplus_5


Stuff happens. Techonology changes so quickly that Tech Writers have to do their best to get things out and fix it later. Being that your in the 5th Edition, old errors, typos, omissions have likely been corrected and there will likely be the latest topics that need updates.

Total Seminars does a good job overall.

zero-g-smith

Hey thanks for th info so far guys,

a couple more questions.

can the tests be taken as one?
what is the timelimit if you take them seperatly?
are the tests set up like cisco where you cannot move back and correct answers?
Multiple choice/dragndrop/fill in the blank?

Any tips would be great or point me in the right direction website wise.

Plantwiz

zero-g-smith wrote:

Hey thanks for th info so far guys,

a couple more questions.

can the tests be taken as one?
what is the timelimit if you take them seperatly?
are the tests set up like cisco where you cannot move back and correct answers?
Multiple choice/dragndrop/fill in the blank?

Any tips would be great or point me in the right direction website wise.

They are still separate exams, however you may (or would) schedule them at 8:00am and 9:30am. If you finished early, you'd likely be able to start the 2nd exam. If you think you'd need time, then go 8:00am and 10:am (or whatever time fights your day).

CompTIA exams permit 'marking' the question for review at the end of the exam. So yes, you could skip answering questions and return to answer them before submitting/finalizing the exam.

kujayhawk93

The questions are all multiple choice, however there some that are multiple-answer.

zero-g-smith

Hmm I see, so basically you can "mark" answers and the test is not timed? That is awsome.

Im already through the first 4 chapters of the Meyers AIO book. Pretty basic stuff. I can see why most people pass the hardware test easily enough. I thought A+ delved a tad bit deeper.

Again thanks for all the info guys.

Plantwiz

zero-g-smith wrote:

Hmm I see, so basically you can "mark" answers and the test is not timed? That is awsome.

The exam is time!! 90 minutes.