A+ Preparation Question

taternuts666

So I have been studying for the Network+ exam for the past couple months and I'm ready to take it now however I have to wait until the last week of July to do so. This is because I will be reimbursed for the exam by my employer after 7/20/12. I'll then be starting WGU on 9/1/12. Since I have an entire month of waiting until the Network+ I thought I would start studying for another exam and I thought the A+ would be a good one to study for. Do you think this is a good idea? Do you think 1 month is enough time? I was thinking about taking both exams at the same time if possible.

I've been a PC tech for 5+ years however never done any "formal" PC tech training.

What are some of your views on this?

paulgswanson

Have you tried taking the practice exams on Comptia's website?
I personally didnt find the A+ 2009 that hard they actually slimmed it down quite a bit from the nightmare that it used to be. Like you I had no formal A+ training just work experience. Take a few Transcender trial practice exams and see how you do. If your above 50%+ then I'd think 1 month study would be fine.

Darril

With five years as a PC tech, you probably could take and pass the exams in a month. I'd suggest you download the objectives from CompTIAs website and see if there's anything that looks wildly unfamiliar. If there are many unfamiliar topics, this may slow you down, and you may miss your goal of passing Network+ by the end of July.

Another option may be to take a higher level exam rather than a lower level one. For example, if you go for Security+, you'll find that a lot of that material crosses over with Network+ and while you're studying it for it, you'll also be reinforcing some Network+ topics.

Good luck.

FloOz

im sure with all your experience you can pass the A+ quickly. The A+ is two parts though so i wouldnt recommend taking the n+ and a+ on the same day. thats a lot of questions to have to think through and it will lead to dumb mistakes. good luck

taternuts666

Thanks for the advice guys. I just found out that you need a voucher for each of the A+ tests which means it costs over $300 to get A+ certified! I thought 1 voucher was for both A+ tests. Maybe I will just go ahead and study for it and then once I start WGU in Sept I will just get the vouchers from them ASAP and then go take the tests within the first month there. That's alot of money to come up with all at once ($243 for the Net+ and $336 for A+ = $579 in 1 day).

Plantwiz

@taternuts666

You do not 'need' a voucher. A voucher may reduce the cost per exam, but you are free to simply sign up and take the exams your registered and paid for through Prometric or PearsonVue.

If you were to use a voucher (like one from the link on our left-hand column) you may receive some test prep materials as well as a discount for your exam. The better the discount, the more quickly they expire. If you are patient, you may find a deal.