Who checks on Comptia?

I have received many certs in my many years on this planet, not just in computers. So I went about studying for this one and found so many errors in the reference books INCLUDING Comptia's own books and materials. How can a company just jump in and say "here is the cert, here is the test, pay us" and not have to answer to anybody for the crap they put out?

I will give you just one example. Comptia asks "What type of fire extinguisher should be used for a fire in the computer room?" The possible answers? Type A, Type B, Type C, Type D.

One small problem with that. There are no such thing as Type A, B, C, D fire extinguishers. There are CLASS A, B, C, D fire extinghishers. TYPE refers to water, gas, chemical. They obviously wanted CLASS C fire (electrical). However even that is the wrong answer.

You extinguish a fire in an electrical room by FIRST securing the electricity and THEN using a gas type extinguisher such as CO2. BUT once electricity is secured it goes from a Class C to a Class A fire and water can also be used if necessary.

Yes, I'm ranting. I hate certifications that are basically made meaningless because the certifying company is clueless themself.

And I found numerous errors in their computer security too. It is a joke.

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Comments

wastedtime

I understand where you are coming from on this and you may want to check to see if they have a list of fixes for the book. This has annoyed me too but anymore when I am doing certifications I feel that some of this just sharpens the info I do have. It forces me to think and question what is and isn't right and find it on my own. Lately I have started doing some college courses and one of the required courses for the college dealt on this subject as you had to figure out what was scholarly and what wasn't.

So I do agree with you that Comptia needs to do better editing of their material along with many others but if anything take it as a bit of a learning experience.

skrpune

have you checked to see if there are published errata for the book? You'd be hard pressed to find any cert book out there that has no errors in it...I haven't found one yet (MS or CompTIA) that doesn't have at least some mistakes.

tonyarm99

I fully and competely agree!!!!! You can have 3 books and have 3 competely different answers. One that I found involved PGP. It asks for what PGP uses for encryption and hashing. All 3 books are different. I called PGP and they told me something totally different, so regardless if I was right or not, I could still be wrong on the test!

This is craziness.

TravR1

Nobody can print a 1000 page book and have it completely error-free... especially when it's about computer stuff and the editors don't know about that stuff.

Whether it's class or type, you'll get the answer right, just choose the appropriate letter.

It's commendable if you want to have it all completely straight in your own head, that's why it's recommended that you use more than 1 book. For Security+ I used 3 study guides.

Errors like those shouldn't make the difference between a pass and a fail if you really know your stuff like I did when I finally scheduled the exam.

DonOmite

I have found with cert tests that a lot of times the company that does the cert just makes this crap up as they go along and then it becomes the "standard" because it is on the cert. Comptia seems to be doing the same.

Anytime somebody says "BEST PRACTICES" you know it probably isn't. When I just took the 201 test there were so many questions saying "What is the BEST ...." That is in THEIR opinion. In this industry there are so many RIGHT ways of doing things that you can't say 1 is the best. Now if they were saying "of the choices given, which is the best" that might be different. But only if 3 choices were obviously wrong.
EX:
What is the BEST way to delete junk mail?
A - Use a sledgehammer on your monitor
B - Electromagnetize your hard drive
C - Click the X button that says DELETE
D - Throw your computer from the top floor of the Empire State Building

Just to give some context here. I was a professional test writer for 5 years. Comptia needs help with that. One basic rule of writing tests is "don't leave the question open for interpretation". A lot of them were and that meant I had to figure out what they were really asking for. Not good.

dynamik

Protest with your wallet and go with another vendor. I'd gladly take your money in exchange for allowing you to complain about me on a forum

Slowhand

dynamik wrote: »

Protest with your wallet and go with another vendor. I'd gladly take your money in exchange for allowing you to complain about me on a forum

I second that. We are now offering "Complaining+" for the low-low price of $450. (Training material not included.)

veritas_libertas

I just want to know the objectives for Complaining+

msbachman

veritas_libertas wrote: »

I just want to know the objectives for Complaining+

Not sure about the rest, but starting threads that waste people's time is sure to be mentioned.

WilliamK99

veritas_libertas wrote: »

I just want to know the objectives for Complaining+

Not sure but my kids are already fully certified....

apena7

When they are asking for what is "Best" go with the answer that is the most comprehensive (even if it's not necessarily the most practical). When they are asking what should be done "First" go with the simplest solution (make sure it's plugged into the wall, etc).

veritas_libertas

WilliamK99 wrote: »

Not sure but my kids are already fully certified....

Baldeagle79

I noticed that the Sybex book (current version) has flashcards on the CD-ROM that are generally helpful, except when they say that "Error-Correcting Code" is what ECC stands for with respect to asymmetric algorithms! For Security+, ECC is elliptical curve cryptography.