How to practice hands on for A+?

I am starting to study for A+ on my own. I bought the cert guide by Mark Edward Soper, Scott Mueller and David L Prowse. I do not have any practical experience working on PCs or Networks and I don't want to just study for the exam with the book, i want to practice hands on. What equipment or kit should i get?

I would appreciate any advice or suggestion.

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Cisco Inferno

sid101 wrote: »

I am starting to study for A+ on my own. I bought the cert guide by Mark Edward Soper, Scott Mueller and David L Prowse. I do not have any practical experience working on PCs or Networks and I don't want to just study for the exam with the book, i want to practice hands on. What equipment or kit should i get?

I would appreciate any advice or suggestion.

check out freeaplus.com
great videos.

also, just start clicking everywhere in windows xp/7 etc to learn about its features.

for practical help i would suggest tinkering with old pc's (5+ year old)to know what goes where, what is what etc.

and pretend youre going to buy a new pc together with the latest parts on newegg.com to learn more up to date standards and interfaces.

JoshD779

Not sure what you've got to spend but one thing that was extremely valuable hands-on experience for me was to build a new desktop system. I'd never done it before and researching different components and configurations, then assembly and OS install/config really helped me connect with the material. I also used LabSim and the Mike Meyers A+ All-In-One guide.

jamesleecoleman

I think that ordering a couple of old towers and couple of old laptops would help you out. So you can take them apart and learn how to put them back together. Especially with the laptops because you will most likely have to go online to look up the manual on how to take the laptop(s) apart and put them back together. This will help you learn how to read the layout of the laptop later on.

CodeBlox

For me, hands on was an old Pentium II I had lying around. When I started my A+ studies, the thing didn't work. When I had just about finished A+ studies, I had learned enough to fix the thing and even make improvements

The system had a Pentium II (Slot-1 CPU slot) 128mb of RAM which I maxed out now at 384mb LOL. It's got a 200GB 7200RPM PATA drive which I had upgraded from the 60GB 5200rpm drive and it runs XP. I use this as a file server on my home network

bigmantenor

As some other posters have said, building a system would help you greatly. If that is out of the question, then working on an old junker would be good too. Also, looking at the Windows-based tools that are tested on (i.e. Event Viewer, Device Manager, MMC, command line tools/switches, etc.) would help you greatly.

sid101

Thanks everybody for your replies.

Financially my situation is pretty tight. I am starting my first phone help desk job on Monday.

I would definitely love to build a new Desktop System. Any idea how much that can cost? In the meantime, i am planning to get a old desktop and laptop to work on. What would be a good place to buy that? I can only think of eBay and how much should i expect to pay for them?

TimCor

Hi Sid,
I live in Lakeland and I also have just started studying on my own to get my A+ Cert.
I was wondering if you might like to get together and maybe do some studying together or something.

Let me know,
Tim

ddojew

sid101 wrote: »

Thanks everybody for your replies.

Financially my situation is pretty tight. I am starting my first phone help desk job on Monday.

I would definitely love to build a new Desktop System. Any idea how much that can cost? In the meantime, i am planning to get a old desktop and laptop to work on. What would be a good place to buy that? I can only think of eBay and how much should i expect to pay for them?

I had the same problem before. Try finding any thrift stores around your area. They will normally sell desktops for around $20-$36 bucks.

poszeone

here is something i am doing ...go to frys, it's a big computer store and spend time there looking at things and asking question (sometimes the poeple there dont know anything) .

sid101

Thanks everyone.

ddojew i will try the thrift store this weekend, its a good idea.
poszeone, there is no fry's in Florida.

Tim we can do something together. How can i contact you? I am wondering if there is any way to send message on this techexams.net

Corndork2

Id definitely recommend grabbing a couple old (or new depending on budget) PC's and start taking them apart and putting them back together. Start with a broken one first if possible, so you can get a feel for things without fear of breaking it.

Once you can build the hardware, start with basic windows installations and drivers.

It also wouldn't hurt to grab a cheap old printer (can be had on craigslist for ten bucks)

When I did my A+ I had no problems with the PC sections of the test, but the printers section was brand new. It was simply just a piece of hardware I don't use, don't have, and don't really care about. However it is on the test. Don't forget printers and peripherals!

TimCor

sid101 wrote: »

Thanks everyone.

ddojew i will try the thrift store this weekend, its a good idea.
poszeone, there is no fry's in Florida.

Tim we can do something together. How can i contact you? I am wondering if there is any way to send message on this techexams.net

Sid, I sent you an email with my email and phone number.