My College Class is Too Slow!

darkerz

Ok, this might be insulting to some people, but we are on week 4 and haven't gone into anything detailed past BIOS, CMOS, Boot procedures, Identifying and installing hardware, Troubleshooting power supply, Identifying beep's after fail to boot and troubleshooting hardware, Overclocking fundamentals, redistribution of voltage, Multimeters and the classic 12, 5, 3.3 chart, customer server standards (reducing redundant logic, technical writing of procedures and troubleshoot attempts), cleaning the PC, the basics and history of sockets/cpu's/external buses/ North,South chips, Chipsets, Flashing BIOS, DEBUG.COM floppy "poking", and now we're at Installing RAM, back to identifying things on the system info and going into Optical drives, storage devices, and the basics of how RAM is RAM.

Bah, I feel like my brain is a freaking slug, I really need to find a way to effectively study on my own. 4 weeks for that? You got to be kidding me. I mean, I grew up on computers so it might explain why it comes as a second nature so I'd like to get advice how to study ahead effectively for this damn exam.

BTW, I'm seeing so many people failing the test here, and now 701+ is out as well. It's hard to believe A+ Essentials + Depot Tech. exam is fail' capable, tbh, is it just being unprepared for questions geared towards someone who's working/worked with the stuff for weeks to years that get people, or not knowing facts?

Thank you for your help.

Hyper-Me

I had the same issue when I was in school. I had already built many computers and knew hardware pretty darn well by the time i took the class and so I ended up falling asleep most of the time. Not because I was being rude or lazy, but because I simply couldnt concentrate on the material because I had already learned it.

ziggi138

I was having the same problem with my A+ class. I went and took the certification exam, and passed. The rule with my school is if you pass the exam, you automatically get an A.

darkerz

ziggi138 wrote: »

I was having the same problem with my A+ class. I went and took the certification exam, and passed. The rule with my school is if you pass the exam, you automatically get an A.

Same here, I'm extremely tempted to "Geek out" 5-7 hours a day or more of reading + Self made labs with the 4 machines I have at home for a week or two and go get it. Funny thing is, I have my MSCE and A+ Securities and Network, but I got these when I was 15/16. Don't ask how, I don't wanna lose my babies =P

qwertyiop

darkerz wrote: »

Same here, I'm extremely tempted to "Geek out" 5-7 hours a day or more of reading + Self made labs with the 4 machines I have at home for a week or two and go get it. Funny thing is, I have my MSCE and A+ Securities and Network, but I got these when I was 15/16. Don't ask how, I don't wanna lose my babies =P

I could be wrong but it seems like somebody cheated.

HeroPsycho

SInce you know this stuff so well, either try to get credit by passing A+ if that would qualify you for class credit, or use the extra time you don't need to study and work to pick up some certs for things you don't know.

Forsaken_GA

Take advantage of the time to study other topics, or explain what's up to the instructor. If they'll let you essentially become their TA for the rest of the class, that's better than sitting there being bored. You can usually count on those teachers for letters of recommendation as well

veritas_libertas

Forsaken_GA wrote: »

You can usually count on those teachers for letters of recommendation as well

This is very much the truth. I had a shot at a Networking job because of an Instructor that noticed how quickly I could finish off assignments (I was bored by what was essentially an A+ Cert class.) I turned down the opportunity because it was an evening job, and my Wife didn't like that idea.

dynamik

Forsaken_GA wrote: »

Take advantage of the time to study other topics, or explain what's up to the instructor. If they'll let you essentially become their TA for the rest of the class, that's better than sitting there being bored. You can usually count on those teachers for letters of recommendation as well

Exactly. I had a C++ class that was a similar situation. I was nearly finished with the assigned programs by the time the instructor finished explaining it. I sort of became the unofficial TA and just went around and helped others. It kept me entertained, and working with others helped reinforce the knowledge.

ally_uk

Then why put yourself on something that is not challenging? if your finding things to easy stop bragging about it and go and get a harder to obtain cert than the A+, anyone whos been in the I.T industry a few years could piss through this exam the material isn't exactly rocket science.

Go for a CCNA

Lee H

Exactly what does the A+ give you, apart from the obvious list of topics covered. I never done it and I am quite capable of break/fix on any machine without knowing how many pins the processor has or how much voltage is going through the CDROM drive

Not dis-crediting the exam in the slightest I do believe you have to start somewher but for someone who already has ample knowledge/experiance its a waste of time, next level maybe MCP or Cisco? Whatever floats your boat

unsupported

ziggi138 wrote: »

I was having the same problem with my A+ class. I went and took the certification exam, and passed. The rule with my school is if you pass the exam, you automatically get an A.

I did the same thing with my networking class. Even though it was one of my electives and the instructor was knowledgeable, I had one guy in the class that was continually challenging/contradicting the teacher with EVERYTHING he said. Once the teacher said "if you get your Net+ you get an A", I got up and left to start studying.

Xenz

unsupported wrote: »

I did the same thing with my networking class. Even though it was one of my electives and the instructor was knowledgeable, I had one guy in the class that was continually challenging/contradicting the teacher with EVERYTHING he said. Once the teacher said "if you get your Net+ you get an A", I got up and left to start studying.

I was that guy, except EVERYTHING the instructor said wasn't right. I remember him going over tests in the middle of class up on the projector, and I would correct his dumb answers.

If you're just getting into it, and you don't feel challenged, I would suggest finding a better college. Don't follow in my footsteps kids, 2 years and countless amounts of money will be wasted to review material. About the only class I had no clue about was the Server 2003 (290) class. It was with the same instructor I noted above, so I am skipping that 500+ dollars in tuition and books and just self studying to pass the exam.

Forsaken_GA

ally_uk wrote: »

Then why put yourself on something that is not challenging? if your finding things to easy stop bragging about it and go and get a harder to obtain cert than the A+, anyone whos been in the I.T industry a few years could piss through this exam the material isn't exactly rocket science.

Go for a CCNA

Well, when it comes to college classes, most folks don't realize they outclass the material until they get there. When I went through school for my Associates, the state was paying for everything (god I love Georgia and the HOPE grant).

I could have easily tested out of a number of my classes. In particularly, my A+ oriented classes, my Network+ oriented classes, and my Windows 2000 Professional class.

I wanted to go through the Cisco Network academy on the states dime. The problem was, there was one class per year at my school, offering classes 1, 2, 3 and 4 on a quarterly basis, and the competition to get in was fairly fierce, I think it was limited to 35 or 40 slots. So I decided there was no benefit to testing out of the courses, I might as well take them, meet some people, and see if there was anything I could learn. For my A+ class, my partner and I ended up being the TA's because we were both very good with computer hardware. The teacher would randomnly throw challenges at us just to keep us amused, and when we finished our hands on work, we would move around the room and help other students that may be having a hard time.

For my Network+ class, the Cisco teacher was the one teaching it, so it was all about getting noticed, so that when he saw my application for the following years program, I'd be more likely to get accepted.

For Win2k Pro... I was sort of a goof off in that class. I had remote access to the teachers box the first day of class, and I would randomnly screw with him. He had a sense of humor though, and we became pretty good friends. I actually passed the certification exam the day of the final for the class. I walked in, showed him my score report, and asked him if I still had to take the final. (I did).

I did get into the network academy, and quickly found out that I outpaced the rest of the class by an order of magnitude. About midway through the third class, I said screw it, and just went and took the CCNA (we had an onsite test center, so this was easy). I passed, walked in the next day, showed my exam report, and from that day on, I was pretty much the unofficial TA. A couple weeks into the 4th quarter, the teacher handed me an email he had received. It was from a local company looking to hire someone with CCNA skills. He handed it over to me, and I ended up taking the job. The only problem was that work started at 9am, and class was slated for 8am to 10:30am most days. The teacher was kind enough to let me show up for 15 minutes to account for the schools rule of being present, and then leave for the day so I could make it to work on time.

So for me, it was worth it to spend time doing something that was beneath my skills. I'm still friends with alot of the people I met during my courses, and I have letters of recommendation from every one of the teachers I've mentioned. The networking between people has done more for me than my CCNA ever has.