Depression (failed the OS, yesterday)

travisl1211

I need to address all of those who have failed the an A+ exam. What kind of feeling did you have afterwares and how did you deal with it for the rest of that day you took the exam? I felt dumb as hell, afterwares because I am going to school for the A+, I have enrolled in a 4 week course and for the first three weeks we spent time on the hardware, it is the kind of school that, were you can take the exam when you feel like you are ready. I took the hardware and passed, but the software they did not really spend that much time teaching us and I am in the hole like $1500.

So I took the other rout and tried studing on my own, so I got the tech notes off this board, downloaded the exam objectives from comptia, got the Mike Myers 5th edition, and got his virtual lab teacher (all 11 cd's), got the Actual test and copied out all 220 pages of question, studied like a mad man going threw all the objectives one at a time, got an extra computer and loaded 98 and 2000, just to get a feel back to what they were like again. I studied for like a month after I completed my so called A+ class, and I got a 494 on the exam out of a possible 900, you needed 505 to pass and I couldn't get that.

I have my B.S in computer science, plus I am a network admin for this insurance company, and I have been in IT for like 5 years, and this exam is for a tech who has 6 months experience? I am just 24. I am not blaming anyone but it seem to me that I should get my money back form the school. I am trying to study for my MCSE, and CCNA and i have to have these by 2006. So, for all the people that did fail th exam what are some of the thing that you did to bounce back and take it again and pass, because I am at the point were I need to pass this thing the next time around, and I don't have 30 days to wait.

Noods

Your problem may be that your attitude is getting you down. Chill out a little. However much you may need to pass, the world wont end if you dont. Being positive will help you objectively study and answer test when the time comes.

Use a study method that forces you to repeat or write down answers. Flash cards helped me a lot with my CCNA. They also help you narrow down what you ned to study. Good luck!

mobri09

Your being extremely hard on yourself. Its not like you totally bombed the test, you were just a couple of points off. I think you should study, be confident and get plenty of rest before going in..good big breakfast as well. Remember everyone fails in life...thats how you succeed..by learning from your mistakes. Good luck and let me know how you do next time

garv221

Its just a test.

angry_monkey_show

Yea, failing sucks. I failed as well, and am looking to retry again hopefully in a couple weeks, if that long. And if you've searched the same sites as me, one piece of advice keeps coming up --hands on study. This is unbelievably true. The OS stuff is extremely hard to get out of a book. This is where being enrolled in an institution of some sort may be an advantage. I am going to a tech school, and just having junker PCs around to set up, break, fix, install OS's on, etc. is a great tool.

And yeah, attitude has a lot to do with it. Just keep your head up, man. You're on the right path.

Plantwiz

travisl1211 wrote:

I have my B.S in computer science, plus I am a network admin for this insurance company, and I have been in IT for like 5 years, and this exam is for a tech who has 6 months experience? I am just 24. I am not blaming anyone but it seem to me that I should get my money back form the school.

I don't see any reason the school should provide you with your money back because you failed the exam.

Perhaps they may allow you to repeat the course, but it is going to be difficult to prove that they failed to 'teach' you the material.

There are a lot of aspects to A+ that (IMO) far too many people feel are a mere walk in the park.

Having a CS degree as well as Network experience may NOT provide you enough training for A+. You'll run into different problems than you will for stand alone systems as well as simple networks. It is likely you'd pass NET+ or other MS exams no problem, but then again NET+ is a vendor neutral exam and with limited exerience, you may not have had the pleasure of working with some of the older technology equipment.

Review the areas your A+ examination summary highlighted. Break down those areas a little further and try to explain them to someone else, make flash cards, find old equipment to work with and install OS's on. Get as much practice/experience as possible and follow that up with reading.

A+ is more than an 'entry-level' exam. Give it a try again in a month or so.

If we can help you with any topic, post it in the A+ forum and we'll do our best. You didn't miss it by much, so you're likely almost ready to try again.