A+ Core Hardware exam was easy!

shlitz

Wow, I started reading these forums a few days before my exam, and started reading the TechNotes, then I began freaking out. The TechNotes had way more detailed info that what I was studying from (A+ Fast Pass). It was too late to cram all that extra info, so I wrote my exam expecting to fail, but it was bloody easy. I have no major experience (community college education for Computer Programmer/Analyst, no work experience) and it was just easy. No diagrams with arrows pointing to parts on an AT motherboard. If you have been using computers for a good while, experience will be enough.

I passed with a 632!

I havent studied for the OS exam, but should be a breeze if its like the core hardware.

Good luck to everyone who hasent taken it yet. Dont worry, it aint hard at all.

Alien

Conratulations
Sounds like your passing had more to do with high motivation. I'm currently studying for A+ and ahelluva lot more exams. I got some hands on experience but i need to gain more insight. You make it sound like 1+1 Once more congrats and good luck on the OS.

janmike

Congrats on passing the Core! Good luck on the OS.

x_Danny_x

congrats, but it seems you got past experience with computers, i think that might helped alot


how were the questions of the technotes compared to the exam????

were there any binary questions??

shlitz

Sorry guys, but I'm being honest - it was easy, and you guys will probably find it easy too. No binary questions, and the questions in the technotes are waay harder than any question on the exam. If you have read a decent study book and have some computer experience, youll do fine - trust me.

And I was semi-confident about the exam before I decided to check what people were saying on forums. After I read what people were saying on these forums and especially after reading the technotes on this site I began freaking out. I was booked to write the exam the following day and I went in there confident that I was gonna fail.

Here is a sample question I remember from my exam as an example:

Q. A user using Windows 2000 complains that their CD-ROM works fine, but when they put an audio CD in the drive they can't hear the music.
You tell the user:
a) Windows 2000 only supports MP3 and not CD audio.
b) the audio cable from the CD-ROM is not connected to the sound card.
c) the audio CD is probably upside-down.
d) the CD-ROM needs to be replaced.

most questions arent as easy as that one, but not much worse.

STexams

Don't get too cocky, the OS test is a little tougher than the hardware exam... Congrats on the pass and good luck on the OS. Let us know how you do.

asianboi

Q. A user using Windows 2000 complains that their CD-ROM works fine, but when they put an audio CD in the drive they can't hear the music.
You tell the user:
a) Windows 2000 only supports MP3 and not CD audio.
b) the audio cable from the CD-ROM is not connected to the sound card.
c) the audio CD is probably upside-down.
d) the CD-ROM needs to be replaced.

So what is the answer? There are so many correct choices...

c) the audio CD is probably upside-down.

garv221

asianboi wrote:

Q. A user using Windows 2000 complains that their CD-ROM works fine, but when they put an audio CD in the drive they can't hear the music.
You tell the user:
a) Windows 2000 only supports MP3 and not CD audio.
b) the audio cable from the CD-ROM is not connected to the sound card.
c) the audio CD is probably upside-down.
d) the CD-ROM needs to be replaced.

So what is the answer? There are so many correct choices...

c) the audio CD is probably upside-down.

I would say your answer C is wrong. and Asnwer B is correct
This is a hardware exam, so the answer is concerning hardware. We know the CDROM works fine. Win2k Supports the above formats and we assume hte user knows how to insert a CD correctly because we have a more obvious answer of "B"
Answer = B.)

2lazybutsmart

congrats shlitz; but you shouldn't be posting questions you recall from the exam. remember the NDA??

2lbs.

x_Danny_x

NDA?

shlitz

The answer to the Question i posted was B, and if that didnt come to you fairly quickly, you have a lot of studying left.

Today I did the OS test and passed with a 573! Not bad for 5 days of studying. It was a lot harder than the hardware test, and that suprised me because im a lot more familiar with OS type of things than hardware.

quite the jump in difficulty between the two.

So im finally A+ Certified!

(and the question i posted is not exact, so hopefully the NDA, whoever they are, is no worry)

Graham Wong

I just passed the A+ Core Exam with a 594.

The test asked questions not covered by either of the two books I read and even had one question, that I noticed where none of the answers were correct [the correct answer was given in a later question]. If you want to score highly on the test, you'll need hands-on experience combined with the reading.

I haven't taken the OS exam yet, but I expect it to be a total killer.

hopeipast

Good to here you past the core and you are right core is easy and past experience should be all you need to past but to be honest the os will be alot harder and you will need more than past experience