Need advice for studying for A+ cert

Greetings everyone! I received my AS (Associates of Science) degree in IT last May and so far I haven't been successful in finding an IT job. I'm also still in school (working on my BS degree), still working a part-time dead-end gig & I perform a lot of chores at home (live with 3 other family members & 2 dogs, lots of cleaning up to do). So I have a lot of things going on in my life & don't have the time to study the whole day daily.

Nevertheless, I have been having trouble adequately studying for this exam. The book I've been using is the CompTIA A+ Complete Review Guide by Sybex (ISBN: 978-0-470-48650-4). The book contains 10 chapters, with the first 6 covering the A+ Essentials part of the exam and the last 4 covering the Practical of the exam. The book also contains a CD that has a Glossary of key terms, a test engine and "flashcards" that contain 75 questions each for both the A+ essentials & A+ practical exams.

I've been reading through each chapter & taking notes as well as answering the chapter review questions. However, I don't feel prepared at all for the exam. I'm more of a "hands-on" kind of learner & I learn by repetition. I'm really not sure what I'm doing wrong.

I'm focusing on the essentials exam first but I feel like I'm not making any progress. Should I study the key terms as well as the "flashcards" for the A+ essentials exam? Or should I just study my notes over & over again until it becomes second nature? I really desire to receive this cert and any advice/helpful input would be greatly appreciated.

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Comments

Bryzey

Are you studying for the 701/702 exam or the newer 801/802 exams?

If you are studying for the 701/702 there is a lot of cross over I found. However the 701 I feel focuses more on key terms and memorising certain things in the exam objectives where as the 702 focuses more on the troubleshooting side of things.

I found the 701 more difficult due to being a hands on type of guy. What I did to help my learning experience is get an old computer or 2 and pull them apart and put them back together a couple of times. Then as I finish reading a chapter about say the power supply I would take out a real power supply and point out certain things such as the connectors etc..

Take my opinion with a grain of salt though, everyone will have a different experience.

Just remember that the A+ is designed as an entry level type of cert though so it is fairly simple. Just relax and take your time with it. The issue is the massive amount of content to learn that can potentially trip you up. So read your book a couple of times go over your notes and do some practical stuff on a real machine and you should be fine.

It took me almost a year of studying to feel ready for the exam(I work full time and also did a diploma in that time). I would suggest getting a second book and to check out Professor Messers videos which are free.

Ivanjam

Have you tried watching Professor Messer's videos for a change of scenery?

Prophet of Crom

@Bryzey thanks for the reply. Whoa, I did not know CompTIA released a new iteration of the exam (the book I'm using is for the 701 & 702 exams). Can you take either exam separately, like take the 701 exam and take the 702 exam say two months later? Just curious. Thanks for your advice though. I really appreciate it.

Ivanjam wrote: »

Have you tried watching Professor Messer's videos for a change of scenery?

Thanks for the link. I'll definitely check out those videos.

Ivanjam

@Prophet of Crom - you can take the 2 exams on the same day or two months in between exams. Just remember that the 701/702 expire on Aug. 31, 2013.

Prophet of Crom

removed unnecessary quote from previous reply

Oh ok. Thanks. When I do get certified (in the 700 series of A+ certs) before the expiration date, after the exams expire will that make my cert null/void and require me to take the exam again? Just wanna make sure.

Nevertheless, thanks a lot for introducing me to Professor Messer. I hope his videos greatly aid me in studying for both exams. Also forgot to mention, I have two books from my Associates program CompTIA A+ Guide to Hardware & CompTIA A+ Guide to Software. Both books contain LabConnection CDs. The Hardware CD is mostly practical labs though. Both books are by Cengage btw. Just thought I should mention that.

Ivanjam

You are A+ certified whether you take the 700 exams or the 800 series (see this link). Professor Messer is great as an introduction to the A+ and you can also watch his 701/702 videos. I am not familiar with the two books you mention but Amazon.com does have a good list of A+ resources.

TCainnn

How well do you study?
I am studying for the A+ cert as well and I'm a hands on learner.
What I've been doing is taking apart my computer and studying all the different ports on the motherboard and
that has been very helpful for me. If you are good at reading/taking notes, I would suggest you do that and also try to
add some hands on experience to your study habits.

Prophet of Crom

removed unnecessary quote from previous reply

I'm currently studying for the essentials exam first, then once I pass that exam, I'll go on to study for the practical exam. I'm taking notes from the chapters (chpts 1-6 of the A+ complete review guide book I have is all about the essentials exam, chpts 7-10 covers the practical exam). I also have two LabConnection DVD (they were packaged with the 2 books I needed for 2 classes in my AS program), however I can't use them at this moment (need to contact technical support for an issue I'm having).
I'm essentially just reading through the book & taking notes, plus studying key terms.

Bryzey

Something worth doing is printing off the exam objectives and map them out to your written notes to ensure you have not missed anything in your studies.