Working up to the 801 & 802 A+ Exams: Any Advice?

NoobBot

I'm currently taking a year long "Computer Support" class at a vocational school right now (it's a very self-paced, self study program) and I'm not sure how to build up the knowledge to pass these two exams. My class is using the "Mike Meyers' Comptia A+ Guide To Managing and Troubleshooting PCs, Fourth Edition" for the aforementioned tests.

I understand that it's hard to give advice without knowing the said person's aptitude, so I'll explain to the best of my ability. When it comes to using any Windows OS (mostly XP and 7), I can find my way through the Start menu and the control panel better than most people I know. As for hardware, I've not learned much beyond knowing about hard drives, optical drives, USB connectors, audio jacks, ethernet ports, and various common peripherals.

Although my knowledge is lacking compared to most techs, I do feel that I am somewhat proficient with what I know already. I take pride in the fact that I learn topics rather quickly, which is why I am hoping to obtain my certification by the end of August this year.

I intend to read the above book from beginning to end, but figured that I could use some advice as to how I can study to retain what I've learned and not end up with a cert, but no skills to back it up. Anything material on the test that might be worth focusing on while I study? I hope to go on to get my Network+ and so on, but I have to start somewhere. Sorry about the length, but I would greatly appreciate any advice from some more experienced techs. Thanks in advance.

michael4422

Professor Messer, CompTIA A+, Network+, Security+, Linux, Microsoft Certification Training

Helped me pass A+ and N+. A good supplement. I used Mike Myers books too. Had zero real experience. I'm mac user!

DoubleNNs

Also watch the Professor Messer videos.

Beyond that, the only real way to retain the material in the A+ is to try to get your hand on some hardware, get a job in IT, or start getting other certs. A lot of the info on the A+ is really just memorization and might not be needed in whatever tech role you want to pursue. The real gold the A+ gives you is a foundation to the IT universe (think of it as an Intro to IT course - or IT 101) as well as providing you w/ basic but essential troubleshooting skills.

A lot of people might consider this bad advice, but don't worry too much about retaining EVERYTHING on the exam. Simply try to understand as much as you can and know everything well for the exam itself. Once you've passed the exam, try to hone in on what part of the A+ material you liked the best and start learning more about that subset. If you still can't figure out which part you liked by the time you've finished, consider picking up a few more basic CompTIA certs (CompTIA trio).

The book you have + Profesor Messer, writing out charts for memorization, and some minimal hands-on experience w/ hardware should eb enough to Ace both tests by the end of August if you keep up w/ the studies.

Good luck! And welcome to the forums!

Darril

Welcome to the forums, noobbot. In addition to the other advice people have given you here, I'd suggest you find some practice test questions so that you have an idea of what to expect on the actual exams. From what I remember of the book you're using, it has questions that are focused for a classroom environment. While that is useful to learn the content, you might find the the actual exam questions to be a little different.

NoobBot

Thanks, you guys! I'll definitely look up some of Professor Messer's work and get right on that. I appreciate the input and I plan on putting it to good use. This forum seems to have a pretty supportive community, which is great for newcomers like myself.

Snow.bros

Hi Noobot, i suggest you download exam objectives from the CompTIA website and try using different study materials, that really helped me to aid in understanding and practice makes perfect just so you know what you might be tested on. Good luck on A+ and N+!!!!!

binarysoul

Practice, practice, practice. You can read tonnes of books and spend years in school, but if you don't do things practically, there is no point.

I personally dislike Mike Meyers books; they're written for middle-aged secretaries who often call the tech to help them to turn off CAPS key. I was skimming one of his books and the guy spends pages after pages to talk about Right-click.

So don't pay too much attention to books; get your hands dirty and use books as secondary not primary learning tool (for Meyers books i would say use it as 'triatory' soucre).