Passed A+ core, but OS is haunting me.

Phil3021

Hardware no problem. . software no matter how much i read i just feel that i cant take it in. Its haunting me .
Any suggestions like the YMCA thing, for the boot process. That is worth more than gold to me at the moment. Any particular areas i should really pay a lot of attention to?
Please help.
I am due to sit the test on May the 6th.

bellboy

how many of the operating systems tested (dos, win9x, nt, win2k) do you have access to? try to learn what is in the control panel of as many of them as possible and also the other methods of finding the same utils (right-clicking "my computer", etc).

sometimes it is much easier to learn something via hands-on - the networking components, for example, are easier grasped if you set up a small network.

don't forget, at the end of the day, the everyday admin that you do (working with your lab network, if you have one, installing/updating/reinstalling drivers, printer util, scandisk/defrag, etc) is still hands-on! the a+ represents something like 18 months working experience of computers, and covers the day-to-day things that a junior admin/tech will come across.

bellboy

have you tried many practise exams? there is a link available from the "comptia" link to the left of this page showing the sites with practise tests and exam simulators that we approve of.

if there are any questions in particular that you do not understand of the techexams practise questions, remember that they can be discussed here, as can other questions, but please refrain from quoting questions word-for-word that have been provided by other vendors

BellaJones

Actually, I feel the same way. I am also finding it hard to really come to grips with OS after Hardware.

bellboy

bellajones and phil3021, try the techexams operating systems practise questions and post in this forum which questions you cannot answer or which concepts you do not understand and we will try to answer them.

like i said in an earlier post in this thread, everyday working, tweaking, troubleshooting in as many of the operating systems tested as possible will build up experience in that operating system.

you cannot rely totally on your books to let you know how to do things.

Blueice087

ok, i am doing great on practice tests.. scoring anywhere from 86% to 98%.... thats on your test on here and other tests online. i do a computer prep adaptive test and i score a 647... how is it i do so great on all practice tests but computer prep adaptive and test out .. grrrrr this drives me nuts here. i have read and reread the meyers book on OS. but i am always seeing new questions in practice tests that throw me off.. nothing like you guys have on this site. and i see stuff from my MCP class in practice questions to. why is that now?

bellboy

which prep test is it? i had microsoft readiness review for a+ and thought it was far too difficult (at the time). it was far harder than the actual exam and i stopped using it.

Blueice087

i have computer prep cd. that has practice tests on it. adaptive and regular tests. and of course i have done the meyers practice tests. and i have an element k cd with practice tests on it.
the school has test out, and measure up practice tests i use also.

i can ace the meyers test and the measure up adaptive test at school. but i am having a tough time on the computer prep and the test out tests. i am thinking they are way harder than they should be, plus they have MCP material on them to. which is what i am taking right now and hoping to have soon.

i have my OS test scheduled for thurs.

jpmcginty

why advise is two fold:

1) study the syllabus that Comptia provides. There are things on it that I have never heard of nevermind about used. This is what they will test you on. Remember there are many ways to solve a probem but perhaps only one for Comptia. Go through it and know the names of files and there relationship.

2) Be prepared to fail. Its not the end of the world and finance permitting you can sit it the followiing week, which I would recommend and if you fail that you have an automatic one month cooling of and regrouping period. The reason why I say this is there will be questions that will be vague, will conflict with your real knowledge and questons which are far harder than your practise ones.

With these two pieces of advise you should be half way there. The A+ OS can be one of the most awkward tests as it has the possiblility of covering so much but its only 30 max and what you gain is far hghher than what you lose by not doing it.

Beast404

I know how you feel. I passed the A+ Core with almost an 800. Friday I took the OS half and scored a 596. 4 points from passing. The passing score for the Core test, by the way, is 596. I'm out for blood now, though, so things are going to go my way next time

Know the start-up process and DOS better than I did I really think the Meyers book is more helpful for the OS Technologies part of the test than the book I mainly studied from (Osborne) was.

jpmcginty

that is harsh as I bet you got a few dodgy questions...

Beast404

I underestimated the importance of higher and extended memory (3-5 questions on that) and specific commands and their location in specific DOS files. There was one question I never had heard of, though. How do you disable a startup program from the splash screen while windows loads (the scenario was that the program in the startup folder was corrupt and causing problems)? The choices were
Shift
Esc
Tab
Control
Alt

I guessed, I think I said Esc.

Webmaster

The answer is Shift...

trick000

I think shift also stops the autorun on the cd-rom drive from autorunning when you put in a cd.

bellboy

the objectives for the exams are what comptia wants you to know. practise tests can be used to assess your depth of knowledge. not all writers of comptia practise questions are comptia certified, but m$ or cisco certified - hence the questions may not be written in a comptia style or could go into greater depth.

refer to the objectives on a regular basis, especially when taking practise tests. if you don't know the answer or understand the question, try to see if it relates to anything on the objectives. if it does, try searching the internet or bringing the subject up in this forum.