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A+ OS notes
A+ Certified Today - For once I'm going to give people help and some direction rather than just say 'I passed!!' for the 1,000,000th time on this forum.
Core - 4/30/04, score 588
OS – 2/5/05, score 604 (I just whizzed through it because I was sick of studying and didn't know what else to concentrate on. So I took the test not really caring if I fail because I just wanted to know what type of things I need to study for when I do a retake. Turns out I passed it. I guess being in the industry for 2 yrs helped. I must know more than I thought)
For once I'm going to give some direction to people on what areas to concentrate on for the OS exam. I also have a ton of notes from after I took the hardware test in April 2004. I might post some notes on what type of things to study for the hardware test in the future (if I get enough people interested).
FOR THE OS TEST YOU MIGHT WANT TO CONCENTRATE ON SOME OF THE THINGS LISTED BELOW. I'D LIST MORE BUT I DON'T THINK IT'D BE FAIR TO EVERYONE WHO HAVE ALREADY PASSED BY DOING EXTENSIVE STUDYING AND PREPARATION. THIS IS JUST A GUIDELINE. NO QUESTIONS ARE EXACT AS TO WHAT WAS ON THE TEST AS THAT WOULD BE CHEATING.
For 20-302 know all types of dos commands. It was 30% of the exam!
- Read up on the procedures to get to change to classic start menu in XP
- Read up on the order in which to install dual boot operating systems
- Read up on secure money transactions over the internet (i.e. SSL and Https://)
- know when to shut off virus protection ( I can’t remember the 4 possible answers, but one was ‘when you install software’ – I know that was the wrong answer though, oh another possible answer was ‘when you back up email’ – another wrong answer… I think)
- I’d recommend knowing the boot order files (in order) of NT/2000/XP and a basic definition of each file (i.e. ntdetect, boot.ini, etc)
- Command to create boot disks for all operating systems (98, 2000, XP, NT)
- Read up on how to set default printer
- If you have a problem booting after you upgrade your system to dual boot – what’s most likely the file you have to modify
- Read up on dual boot systems – how to do it, recommended ways to do it
- What file reaches out to get the boot.ini and bootsect.dos (ntldr??)
- Again, read up on all types of dos commands, especially how to run programs in dos, like upgrades (winnt32.exe??) and troubleshooting tool commands
- Know emergency repair commands and the recovery console dos command
- Know what winnnt32.exe /cmdcons
- Know the autoexec.bat can modify the way your OS starts different programs in different orders
- Know command to show all archive files in a directory, know the switch to do it. It’s either –h or /h for the switch.
- Know in every operating system what to type in the start, run box when trying to get to the command prompt. For XP it’s ‘cmd’ for other OS’s it is different. Do your research!
- Know the differences in regedt and regedt32
- Read up on windows catalog and the windowsupdate website
- Read up on the things you can do in the task manager
- Read up on how many logical partitions can you have on an OS?
- Read up on troubleshooting applications and printers (like if a user's documents aren't printing, what's the first step to take?) - shut off spooling? Not sure, read up on it as I said.
- Read up on if you install a video driver and can't see anything on the screen. What to do?
My final recommendation. Do updated practice tests. I did the Prologic 10 question demo before I took the test and there were 1 or 2 questions extremely similar to what was on the real test. I'm sure there are other good practice sites.
Good Luck!
Core - 4/30/04, score 588
OS – 2/5/05, score 604 (I just whizzed through it because I was sick of studying and didn't know what else to concentrate on. So I took the test not really caring if I fail because I just wanted to know what type of things I need to study for when I do a retake. Turns out I passed it. I guess being in the industry for 2 yrs helped. I must know more than I thought)
For once I'm going to give some direction to people on what areas to concentrate on for the OS exam. I also have a ton of notes from after I took the hardware test in April 2004. I might post some notes on what type of things to study for the hardware test in the future (if I get enough people interested).
FOR THE OS TEST YOU MIGHT WANT TO CONCENTRATE ON SOME OF THE THINGS LISTED BELOW. I'D LIST MORE BUT I DON'T THINK IT'D BE FAIR TO EVERYONE WHO HAVE ALREADY PASSED BY DOING EXTENSIVE STUDYING AND PREPARATION. THIS IS JUST A GUIDELINE. NO QUESTIONS ARE EXACT AS TO WHAT WAS ON THE TEST AS THAT WOULD BE CHEATING.
For 20-302 know all types of dos commands. It was 30% of the exam!
- Read up on the procedures to get to change to classic start menu in XP
- Read up on the order in which to install dual boot operating systems
- Read up on secure money transactions over the internet (i.e. SSL and Https://)
- know when to shut off virus protection ( I can’t remember the 4 possible answers, but one was ‘when you install software’ – I know that was the wrong answer though, oh another possible answer was ‘when you back up email’ – another wrong answer… I think)
- I’d recommend knowing the boot order files (in order) of NT/2000/XP and a basic definition of each file (i.e. ntdetect, boot.ini, etc)
- Command to create boot disks for all operating systems (98, 2000, XP, NT)
- Read up on how to set default printer
- If you have a problem booting after you upgrade your system to dual boot – what’s most likely the file you have to modify
- Read up on dual boot systems – how to do it, recommended ways to do it
- What file reaches out to get the boot.ini and bootsect.dos (ntldr??)
- Again, read up on all types of dos commands, especially how to run programs in dos, like upgrades (winnt32.exe??) and troubleshooting tool commands
- Know emergency repair commands and the recovery console dos command
- Know what winnnt32.exe /cmdcons
- Know the autoexec.bat can modify the way your OS starts different programs in different orders
- Know command to show all archive files in a directory, know the switch to do it. It’s either –h or /h for the switch.
- Know in every operating system what to type in the start, run box when trying to get to the command prompt. For XP it’s ‘cmd’ for other OS’s it is different. Do your research!
- Know the differences in regedt and regedt32
- Read up on windows catalog and the windowsupdate website
- Read up on the things you can do in the task manager
- Read up on how many logical partitions can you have on an OS?
- Read up on troubleshooting applications and printers (like if a user's documents aren't printing, what's the first step to take?) - shut off spooling? Not sure, read up on it as I said.
- Read up on if you install a video driver and can't see anything on the screen. What to do?
My final recommendation. Do updated practice tests. I did the Prologic 10 question demo before I took the test and there were 1 or 2 questions extremely similar to what was on the real test. I'm sure there are other good practice sites.
Good Luck!
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mark_piza
Member Posts: 53 ■■□□□□□□□□
Thank you jstar3 for the very useful information. I am taking the OS exam this coming Friday, and I am a bit nervous, even though I am studying very hard and doing very well on practice exams.
I will let you all know how I go...
Congrats and well done on passing too!
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Optionsjstar3
Member Posts: 8 ■□□□□□□□□□
Good luck on your exam. I was just on CompTIA's website and I looked at their 220-302 sample questions. I've noticed 2 that are extremely similar to questions on the real test. As far as the other 8 questions, the whole test are questions like them.
Check it out.
http://www.comptia.org/certification/a/samplequestions.aspx -
Optionsjanmike
Member Posts: 3,076
Congrats on the A+ cert, jstar3!"It doesn't matter, it's in the past!"--Rafiki
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OptionsBigO1120
Member Posts: 110
Thanks for all the info! I'm taking the A+ in 2 weeks and this will definitely help me better prepare for the exam.A Thing Of Beauty Is A Joy Forever
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Optionsmark_piza
Member Posts: 53 ■■□□□□□□□□
I passed OS today with a score of 757!!
Thanks for all the tips and advice guys!! -
OptionsTranscenderMichael
Member Posts: 187
Congrats!TranscenderMichael (at hotmail.com)
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