Printers/Scanners on A+

Hi guys, I will begin studying for the CompTIA A+ certification soon. In the few practice tests I took, I saw a LOT of questions pertaining to printers and scanners. Do printers/scanners have a strong presence on the exam? Also, how hard are the two tests when compared to Security+ or the CCNA?

Thanks!

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Comments

Plantwiz

What sort of real experience do you have working with the items that are covered on the objectives for the A+? How much time in your current IT position vs. how much time altogether?

Do you have a lab you are working with? Or are you only using books? Which books?

NotHackingYou

I have been in IT for almost 7 years. I have about 2-3 years of heavily mixed hardware/software experience. For the past four years I have worked mostly on the software side. I still spend some time diagnosing and repairing common hardware issues like bad RAM, hard drives, ect.

I am familiar with just about everything on the exam objectives except the printers. I have access to just about any equipment needed at my work.

Darril

Knowledge about printers is very important for PC technicians on the job and the exams reflect this.

I know you'll be taking the 701/702 series exams but as a comparison, the 801 exam has a completely seperate domain on Printers covering 11 percent of the exam, and about 4 percent in the 802 exam dedicated to troubleshooting printers. This equates to about 11 questions on the first exam and 4 questions on the second exam.

It isn't as easy to give numbers like that for the 701/702 exams but you do need to have a good understanding of the primary printer types used within IT including laser, inkjet, thermal, and impact including their differences, how to install them, how to troubleshoot them, and some of their characteristics. There is often a focus on the laser printing process. The idea is that if you understand the process, you're bettter able to troubleshoot problems. I don't think you'll see much on scanners though - maybe one or two questions.

You'll find the tests are much easier compared to the Security+ and CCNA exams from the perspective of the question types. However, there is a great breadth of testable knowledge.

Good luck.

NotHackingYou

Thanks, Darril. That's what I was looking for.