Mac Support Essentials - Online Training?

yf13

Does anyone know if there are companies other than Apple that offer online training (maybe video training) for the Support Essentials exam? I've been looking all over and Googling like crazy but can't seem to find anything.

Thanks!

eToThePiIPower

Not sure how much it counts as "online training", but there are a couple of good apps I used in the Apple App Store that include study and test features. Pretty much all my studying was limited to these two apps (plus experience), and I just passed my ACSP today with a 94%.

The better of the two for actual training is the one that goes along with the Peachpit book (which itself is available as an eBook), Test Yourself for Mac OS X v10.6 Support Essentials by Pearson Education. When used in study mode, each question has a Learn feature that explains the answers in pretty good detail. Tests are 30 questions, selected randomly of a pool of 200. Eventually some of the do repeat of course, but I found that they tracked extremely well to what was on the test and predicted my score pretty accurately.

The other app is by Amsys, called simply Snow 101. It doesn't have a Learn function to explain the answers so it isn't as good for training. But it does have more questions than the Pearson app, and it lets you choose how many to go through at a time. I suggest using the app at the end of your studies (either with the Pearson app alone or in combination with the Peachpit book), and doing a full 86 questions at a time to mimic the real exam. Again, the questions tracked extremely well to the actual test and my scores in practice runs tracked well with my true score.

Depending on how much experience you have with Mac desktops already, this may be all you need. I didn't need the Peachpit book (although I do have it, I just skimmed through it and did the review quizzes at the end of each chapter), but I have about 8 years working with Mac desktops so your mileage may vary. If you don't have much experience with Mac Support, I highly suggest the Peachpit book. Pay careful attention to the chapters on the command line, system startup, everything to do with permissions, and any topic that comes up in the two apps; I can't stress enough how much those two apps tracked to actual test questions.

Remember, the exam only needs a 73% to pass, and there's partial credit on multiple-choice questions, so it's pretty forgiving. If you're getting high 80's to 90's on the practice apps and you understand why the answers are what they are, you'll probably do fine. Good luck.