just got my ass kicked

ya know ive been doing well on the practice tests ive been taking, but ive been wondering, really, are these typical of what i am up against? the ones in meyers book, the sybex book, other tests ive practiced with, but im wondering that maybe im too overconfident and i shouldnt be gauging weither or not im ready by these practice tests

i mean i ripped a few pcs apart, i fixed a few for folks, i spent a year in a NOC, but that job was mostly lightweight stuff anyway, email problems, some web hosting issues, the job helped sure but it really didnt have much meat to it

anyway, im kinda worried, i went to barnes and noble tonight, pulled out a book called exam cram 2, and it kicked my ass, i stood there for about a half hour with it and i really dont think i got more than 60- 70% of the questions right that i checked myself on

i dont know, maybe squatting down with a book in an aisle with a bunch people running around isnt a good comparison to the real test environment

anyway i bought the exam cram book, and another as well thats just practice questions, im gonna call tomorrow and have my test pushed back a week, something tells me i need to do that, its not company money paying for this, im laid off, my wife, my cats, and my guinea pigs are all depending on me, i would really suck if it didnt get this cert

im starting to ramble, again, anyway i dont really know what the purpose of this post is except to vent, i hope ya dont mind, oh ya...... i actually do have a question, thought of this on the way home...

when ur taking the A+ exams, are you allowed to go back to questions you havent answered yet, are you allowed to back track to questions you skipped, or is it just straight ahead no looking back?

ok im done, gonna set the alarm for extra early and get a good start on studying in the morning, right now i need a beer..........

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matradley

westburn wrote:

ya know ive been doing well on the practice tests ive been taking, but ive been wondering, really, are these typical of what i am up against? the ones in meyers book, the sybex book, other tests ive practiced with, but im wondering that maybe im too overconfident and i shouldnt be gauging weither or not im ready by these practice tests

i mean i ripped a few pcs apart, i fixed a few for folks, i spent a year in a NOC, but that job was mostly lightweight stuff anyway, email problems, some web hosting issues, the job helped sure but it really didnt have much meat to it

anyway, im kinda worried, i went to barnes and noble tonight, pulled out a book called exam cram 2, and it kicked my ass, i stood there for about a half hour with it and i really dont think i got more than 60- 70% of the questions right that i checked myself on

i dont know, maybe squatting down with a book in an aisle with a bunch people running around isnt a good comparison to the real test environment

anyway i bought the exam cram book, and another as well thats just practice questions, im gonna call tomorrow and have my test pushed back a week, something tells me i need to do that, its not company money paying for this, im laid off, my wife, my cats, and my guinea pigs are all depending on me, i would really suck if it didnt get this cert

im starting to ramble, again, anyway i dont really know what the purpose of this post is except to vent, i hope ya dont mind, oh ya...... i actually do have a question, thought of this on the way home...

when ur taking the A+ exams, are you allowed to go back to questions you havent answered yet, are you allowed to back track to questions you skipped, or is it just straight ahead no looking back?

ok im done, gonna set the alarm for extra early and get a good start on studying in the morning, right now i need a beer..........

Practice tests, generally by Transcender, Testout, Preplogic, and on this website are pretty good. That ExamCram book will be a lot of help. I also work with Sybex books when preparing for exams and they are great too! At any rate, your experience will help you a lot once you get used to how CompTIA examines you.

The questions on the practice exams are close to actual exam questions in regards to how they are worded and how the answers are presented to you. You will, often, get conventional multiple choice questions and multiple choice questions with multiple answers. The reason for these practice exams is to prepare you for the real thing.

Definitely have a look at the Technotes offered by this website - http://www.techexams.net/comptia.shtml and have a look at the objectives - http://certification.comptia.org/resources/objectives.aspx . Also, come back here and discuss your problems. We can help you out as much as we can.

If you want more online practice questions, have a look at these following websites:

- http://www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/search.php?search=A%2B ;
- http://pages.prodigy.net/aplus_omega/exam11.htm ; and
- http://www.quia.com/quiz/340501.html .

sprkymrk

westburn wrote:

its not company money paying for this, im laid off, my wife, my cats, and my guinea pigs are all depending on me,

Well if push comes to shove, the cats can eat the guinea pigs and you and the wife can have real Chinese food...

(in other words - that's not chicken in the chicken chow mein)

Seriously though, I have never really liked the Exam Cram questions that well. I've never done well on them unless I read the end-of-chapter questions first and then go back and read the chapter. Not sure what it is about them in the EC books. At any rate, going through the Exam Cram is a good idea, it shouldn't take long and will hopefully reinforce the concepts for you. I always use a real book (like MS Press or Sybex or Syngress) plus an Exam Cram for every test.

boyles23

When I took mine I was scoring between 90 - 100% and the exam still seemed different from all the questions I had practiced on. What have you been scoring on the tests you have been taking? I took practice exams from the Myers book, this site and mcmcse.com and the only book I used was the Myers AIO for A+ and Net+. Just hit up your week spots and the test really isn't to terribly difficult.

markieman31

on the A+ exams...you can go back on the exam and you can review at the end. ( Now an exam tip for you ) I don't recommend going backwards and changing an answer unless your 110% sure you answered wrong beforehand and your new answer is correct. If you proceed through the exam and your like..OH MAN! thats the answer to that other question...then go change it...if all soemthing does is make you second guess yourself and debate answer...leave whatever you selected and press on. Don't second guess yourself..pick an answer and stick with it, unless your 110% positive you have the right answer.

westburn

matradley wrote:

Also, come back here and discuss your problems. We can help you out as much as we can.

thanks, i def have the tech notes you have here on schedule for today, if have a problem or a question ill post it, well be checking out those other sites for practice tests as well, thanks again

sprkymrk wrote:

Well if push comes to shove, the cats can eat the guinea pigs and you and the wife can have real Chinese food... (in other words - that's not chicken in the chicken chow mein)

naaa, the cats dont give a rats ass about much but the guinea pigs are encouraging, every morning when i feed them its a reminder on responsibility, ya i know thats pretty sappy but it is what it is, now the neighbors dog out back that keeps breaking my concentration throughout the day, now theres a mutt with probably a good 10 pounds of meat

one good thing about the exam cram book is that it appears to have a good number of tricky questions, and i dont think ive had my share of those yet from other test questions, im actually looking forward to some minefields, ill try not to rush through, not lose my cool, and relax (which i really couldnt do in that aisle at the bookstore, where i panicked just a bit), thanks for the advise!

boyles23 wrote:

What have you been scoring on the tests you have been taking?....

....Just hit up your week spots and the test really isn't to terribly difficult.

on average ~85-90%, not having a real lot of experience with troubleshooting, especially printers, its troubleshooting questions thats give me the hardest time, im not really sure how to hit that up though, other than to memorize from the books, lack of practical experience in that area is def my weak spot

markieman31 wrote:

on the A+ exams...you can go back on the exam and you can review at the end. ( Now an exam tip for you ) I don't recommend going backwards and changing an answer unless your 110% sure you answered wrong beforehand and your new answer is correct. If you proceed through the exam and your like..OH MAN! thats the answer to that other question...then go change it...if all soemthing does is make you second guess yourself and debate answer...leave whatever you selected and press on. Don't second guess yourself..pick an answer and stick with it, unless your 110% positive you have the right answer.

thanks, i was pretty sure it wasnt just linear but wasnt positive, so i was wondering on that, im trying to get a strategy worked up before i get to the exams, what i think im gonna do is basically this...

1. answer all the questions where im sure of an answer and get to the end
2. go back to the beginning and work on the tougher ones and double check my first responses
3. go back again and answer the ones im struggling with, again double checking earlier responses
4. the whole time eliminating the def wrong answers, reading every single word, and trying to do my best to be relaxed and focused

....

damn my coffee got cold, i have a hard time with the notion of concise, i was the kid with the hour long show and tell, thanks for all the advise!...... back to the grindstone...........

markieman31

westburn wrote:

thanks, i was pretty sure it wasnt just linear but wasnt positive, so i was wondering on that, im trying to get a strategy worked up before i get to the exams, what i think im gonna do is basically this...

1. answer all the questions where im sure of an answer and get to the end
2. go back to the beginning and work on the tougher ones and double check my first responses
3. go back again and answer the ones im struggling with, again double checking earlier responses
4. the whole time eliminating the def wrong answers, reading every single word, and trying to do my best to be relaxed and focused

....

damn my coffee got cold, i have a hard time with the notion of concise, i was the kid with the hour long show and tell, thanks for all the advise!...... back to the grindstone...........

Just be careful with that. You can't take too much time. I can't remember exactly how many questions there are on the exam, but its between 85-100. You only get 90 minutes to take the exam if memory serves. I'd hate to time out on an exam and have blank questions. If anything make a logical guess on the question, mark it for review, and go back later...but don't leave it blank, just in case. Your talking about going through 85-100 questions 3 time, in 90 minutes...that'll end up being 20 seconds per question? I don't think you'll get through each question 3 times. Don't waste your time on things your sure are correct.

I personally rarely ever review. If i can't answer a question, i make the best guess i can and click next. Through the exam if all of a sudden the correct answer hits me, i know it, and then i click back back back back, till i get to that question, answer it right, and then next next next, till i am back at where I should be. I don't want to second guess myself. Racking your brain on a question, or trying to decide between 2 answers you both think are correct doesn't help.

but thats just me, some people love to review at the end, and thats fine. But i don't think you'll be able to do it the way your planning because of the time. Try not to leave too many blank, as timing out with blank answers won't be any fun.

westburn

markieman31 wrote:

Just be careful with that. You can't take too much time. I can't remember exactly how many questions there are on the exam, but its between 85-100. You only get 90 minutes to take the exam if memory serves. I'd hate to time out on an exam and have blank questions. If anything make a logical guess on the question, mark it for review, and go back later...but don't leave it blank, just in case. Your talking about going through 85-100 questions 3 time, in 90 minutes...that'll end up being 20 seconds per question? I don't think you'll get through each question 3 times. Don't waste your time on things your sure are correct.

I personally rarely ever review. If i can't answer a question, i make the best guess i can and click next. Through the exam if all of a sudden the correct answer hits me, i know it, and then i click back back back back, till i get to that question, answer it right, and then next next next, till i am back at where I should be. I don't want to second guess myself. Racking your brain on a question, or trying to decide between 2 answers you both think are correct doesn't help.

but thats just me, some people love to review at the end, and thats fine. But i don't think you'll be able to do it the way your planning because of the time. Try not to leave too many blank, as timing out with blank answers won't be any fun.

yes, i will plan on using the time as wisely as possible, the women on the phone said i have 2 hours, i figuring like this for ~90 questions....

1. first pass through i will take ~1/2 hour answering only the easy ones that i can answer in about 20 seconds, im hoping i can answer at least half the questions first time through leaving ~45 questions still

2. the second time through ill give myself a full hour to work on the tougher ones i didnt catch the first time through, at ~45 questions i'll have a little less than a minute and a half for each, if i get stuck anywhere at this point ill move on to the next question

3. third time through ill have ~1/2 hour left, this is where i plan to quick check my answers, and if i have to guess at any ill take my best shot at this point, i dont plan on leaving anything unanswered even if its a total guess

anyway thats the plan ill try to stick to that best i can, thanks for the advice!

ps...... whats really killing me time wise when studying is trying to get down all the specs for all the CPUs for Intel and AMD from the pentium on, the speeds, the L1/L2, the FSB speeds, the bus widths, the sockets, its just too much for me to stuff into my head, so im trying to wittle away studying details on certain CPUs and hoping i wont run into them during the test, stuff like....

overdrive processors
xeons
core, core 2
extreme editions
opterons

i simply cannot memorize as much as ide like to, i gotta cut back and im playing the odds hoping detailed questions on those things up there wont pop up, again thanks for the advice.........

markieman31

yeah 90 minutes for the exam, and usually 15 minutes for an intro and 15 for a survey. Then actually 90 minutes to answer questions.

I wouldn't worry too much about all that CPU stuff. know what its function is, that it uses a ZIF socket, and some troubleshooting that might lead to a bad or overheating CPU. As far as Intel and AMD specs go...don't waste your time on it. The only time you might run into a CPU speed question, is if it asks for Windows requirements, and there it doesn't matter AMD or Intel.

I also wouldn't worry too much about bus speeds either. Be able to identify where they are on the motherboard, as well as things like north bridge, south bridge, where the CPU is, blah blah. Open a computer, and look at everyhting inside. Be able to ID it all, and be able to locate all the major items on the motherboard, and have an understanding of its function.

westburn

thanks, really appreciate the advice!

BPM_33

A+ 2006 objectives isn't really concerned w/ whether or not you know how much L1 Cache is in the E6400.

It's a lot more general.

A few tips for the exam:

1- Make sure you know the printing process steps: Cleaning, Charging, Writing, Developing, Transferring, Fusing.

2- Understand all the customer service stuff: (e.g. how to handle a rude customer, etc...)

3- The wireless standards.

4- Various printer connections/standards (e.g. IEEE 1284, USB, networked etc...)

Those are just a few just make sure you know the objectives.

westburn

BPM_33 wrote:

A+ 2006 objectives isn't really concerned w/ whether or not you know how much L1 Cache is in the E6400.

It's a lot more general.

A few tips for the exam:

1- Make sure you know the printing process steps: Cleaning, Charging, Writing, Developing, Transferring, Fusing.

2- Understand all the customer service stuff: (e.g. how to handle a rude customer, etc...)

3- The wireless standards.

4- Various printer connections/standards (e.g. IEEE 1284, USB, networked etc...)

Those are just a few just make sure you know the objectives.

that is a relief, i really was starting to go overboard with CPU specs, im trying to cover the objectives best i can, i also decided to reschedule and NOT to take both tests the same day, i was getting too eager to get it done, and probably a bit too cocky as well, thanks for the advice!