Passed the 801, but surprised by score...

A pass is a pass, but I was surprised that I scored 740/900. I thought I had a better grasp on the content considering the minimum pass is a 675. I know that I can't discuss any specifics, but I felt that some of the questions were worded poorly, or that they could be subjective. There were definitely not enough of these to make you fail the test if you have a good grasp on the knowledge, but I can only imagine that these questions can be the difference between a 750 and 800+.

In any case, I'm looking at the 802 next Monday. That Network+ book is sitting on my desk waiting, but I don't dare start to read it lest I decide to slack on my review for the 802.

Anyone who has yet to take it, I highly suggest flash cards (MemoryLifter is awesome). I used the Sybex A+ book and read it front to back, a chapter or more per day, and highlighted everything that could be a potential question. Then, I took all the practice questions/tests and determined my deficiencies. Those went into MemoryLifter (~150 questions) and before I knew it, I had memorized the CPU sockets, ports, speeds of various technologies, and a variety of other topics quite easily.

Total preparation time for me was ~3-4 weeks of reading (took some days off), and 1 week review for the 801. Likewise, I will review for 1 week for the 802. My only background was a high school computer electronics course that prepared us for the 5xx versions of the test back in 05-06'. I haven't done much since then, so the hardware had changed quite a bit!

All the best for those taking it soon.

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Snow.bros

Well done on pass!!! with all that hard work you put in you deserve it.

SteveFT wrote: »

A pass is a pass, but I was surprised that I scored 740/900. I thought I had a better grasp on the content considering the minimum pass is a 675. I know that I can't discuss any specifics, but I felt that some of the questions were worded poorly, or that they could be subjective. There were definitely not enough of these to make you fail the test if you have a good grasp on the knowledge, but I can only imagine that these questions can be the difference between a 750 and 800+.

Don't know how well you perform on a hands on performance based question in the exam, but i was also surprised like you with the score at the end of the exam because i came well prepared for the exam and i was confident i would get excellent results but i discovered that i wasn't prepared at all for the performance based or simulation questions at the beginning of the exam, i got poor results in the performance based questions which affected my overall exam score, maybe you could have experience the same issue. I don't have any knowledge on how you can get prepared for those performance based questions for the A+, just to make sure try and find out how you can get prepared for those type of questions for your next exam and good luck!!!

nXPLOSi

Congrats on the pass!

Best of luck with the 802 next week!

SteveFT

@Snow.bros

I know we can't really talk much about specifics, but I didn't think the performance-based were too bad. My problems were more along the lines of those in the security and BIOS vs. software change domains. I found these questions to have multiple correct answers, at least in my mind. I know they are looking for the BEST answer, but these questions could be subjective unless they were clearly defined in a book by the creator of the test.

Other parts of the test were pretty objective. You either know what this port or piece of hardware looks like, or you don't.

--chris--

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You just confirmed my fears lol.

Ive been taking the Exam Cram end of chapter/bonus quizzes as i finish chapters, and also taking the quizzes with all the chapters ive read up to now every couple of days. Ive run into a few ambiguous questions similar to what you have described...i thought it was just the people who made these quizzes.

Ive seen a few people mention the sims really slowed them down or tripped them up, is there any good way to prepare for those aside from hands on experience?

MeatCatalogue

When I took my A+ the wording was beyond atrocious. I had "identify the PCI slot" type questions and the pictures were so pixelated I had to guess. Its sad to see comptia has made no improvement in this department in 12 years!

SteveFT

--chris-- wrote:

You just confirmed my fears lol.

The hardware practical portion is pretty reasonable if you have opened up a computer, know what the hardware looks like, etc. I'm not giving away any secrets here, but in a practical portion you can only expect to see different types of ports, interfaces, etc. If you have put together a few computers, or repair them on a regular basis, you shouldn't have too many issues.

While taking the exam questions probably works fine, I also read my book thoroughly and used flash cards as I said before. I can't imagine anyone could score <675 if they read the book front to back and reviewed it for a few weeks. My questions were probably a combination of my weakest material possible. They could not have put together a harder test for me with A+ material and I still passed because I was strong enough in all of the other topics.

Like I said before, I wouldn't stress too much. If you are truly well prepared, you will pass in spite of the potentially subjective questions. These questions are really only the difference between a high score (800+) and passing. Those poorly written questions are sometimes just a matter of luck. Someone with no computer knowledge has just as good of a chance.

MeatCatalogue wrote: »

When I took my A+ the wording was beyond atrocious. I had "identify the PCI slot" type questions and the pictures were so pixelated I had to guess. Its sad to see comptia has made no improvement in this department in 12 years!

I had a question that was pretty awful. I spent 2-3 minutes reading that one question. Sometimes I think they try to dumb it down for people that are not proficient in English, but in the process they make it more difficult to understand for those of us who are.

DAVIS NGUYEN

Congrats on the pass !

gadav478

Congrats!
I suggest on your next exam to grab practice questions (legitimate ones, NO BRAIN ****) from multiple resources to get a bigger pool of questions. When I took my A+ and N+, I went to the library, grabbed books on the topic (Mike Meyers, Exam Cram) and used the CD's in the book to test my knowledge. It's free so why not? Your flashcards method is awesome as well. Maybe you can combine and get a more robust question set?

shart1971

Congrats on your pass!

Polycosm

"Choose the best answer" tests tend to get a lot of complaints in general, and I usually don't think much of it because those kinds of questions usually don't throw me, but having taken the 801 exam yesterday, I have to say that you guys were totally right. The problem is that sometimes what's "best" is truly arguable. For example, when the exam asks what object X does inside of device Y, do you pick: A) the answer which describes what object X does very specifically in all devices in general; or

the answer which explains in very simple, shallow terms the purpose of putting an X inside of a device Y? Answer B is better at explaining the relationship between the primary (X) and secondary (Y) subjects of the question, but Answer A goes into far more detail about the primary (X) subject.

Luckily, there were relatively few questions like this. There were a lot of questions with more than one right answer, but most of the time a clear reason could be given as to why one was better or more complete than the rest. If you really know your stuff, it's not going to sink you. I was given a question with a very clear typo as well, but one can hope that those are part of the "unscored" subset of questions which are presumably still being vetted.

I went in thinking I had a legitimate shot at pulling 100% (based on practice test scores) and wound up with 786. I'm certain that I aced the simulation questions, which I know are a common culprit for worse-than-expected scores. I attribute about half of my gap to poorly-worded questions, and the other half to just not knowing my stuff as well as I thought I did. Hopefully this post doesn't come off as a bitter reaction to my score, but rather a cautionary bit of advice for anyone planning to take the exam. The exam is mostly very fair, but make sure you are well above the passing line on your practice exams before you sit for the test!

Now, onwards to exam 802.

Snow.bros

Congrats on pass !!!

Polycosm wrote: »

"Choose the best answer" tests tend to get a lot of complaints in general, and I usually don't think much of it because those kinds of questions usually don't throw me, but having taken the 801 exam yesterday, I have to say that you guys were totally right. The problem is that sometimes what's "best" is truly arguable. For example, when the exam asks what object X does inside of device Y, do you pick: A) the answer which describes what object X does very specifically in all devices in general; or the answer which explains in very simple, shallow terms the purpose of putting an X inside of a device Y? Answer B is better at explaining the relationship between the primary (X) and secondary (Y) subjects of the question, but Answer A goes into far more detail about the primary (X) subject.

Now, onwards to exam 802.

I agree sometimes some question like that can get you confused, these type of question scare me especially for the coming future higher exam because when you practice for these exams you get 90-100% scores but when you test the real thing you get those thank god i passed scores, i am thinking maybe one day i wont be lucky because its like you feel like you are prepared but you are not prepared enough, but you know practice practice makes perfect.

All the best for your next exam its less confusing maybe you might scoop a better score good luck!!!

SteveFT

Polycosm wrote:

Now, onwards to exam 802.

I'm glad I wasn't the only one. As you and I have both stated now, it certainly won't sink you, but they do take you by surprise when it comes to scoring.

The 801 has me prolonging my studying of the 802. I'm pretty sure I've spent too much time studying for it, but at least I have familiarized myself with the topics to the point where I won't be forgetting them a week later.

I wish you all luck on the 802.

SteveFT

I passed the 802 today after waiting longer than I would have liked to. I passed with a 778/900, which I was happier with. I still felt the same way as the first test at times. There are the obvious questions that only have one good answer, but plenty of questions where they are looking for the "best" answer. That being said, a lot of these questions might have been passed by figuring out what CompTIA wants as an answer. I'm sure that more practice tests would have helped. I only took the end of chapter questions and few practice exams that came with the Sybex book.

Good luck to everyone taking it soon!

Snow.bros

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Well done congratulations on pass!!!!

Slithy

I was surprised by the 801 Simulation questions - they seemed pretty comprehensive - whereas the multiple choice were mostly easier than the practice tests i had been working on.

You used no resources except the Sybex book for 802? I'm about to study for that myself and already used Sybex for the 801

Snow.bros

@Slithy congrats on pass and good luck on your next exam!!!!

SteveFT

@Slithy

Correct, I only used the Sybex book. I think the biggest strength of using multiple books, or practice tests, is that you see the questions worded differently. I was a bit surprised by the simulation questions on the 802. I would definitely suggest being comfortable with command prompt.

Slithy

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I'll do my best on command prompt (may look for more resources to help test myself on that stuff). Glad to know you didn't need other books than just the Sybex to get through it.

Leisy

Congrats on the pass. As far as the poorly worded questions, the 801 and 802 are still fairly new, I believe. It will take some time to weed them out. I passed the 701 and 702 in the last week you could take them, to avoid poor questions and the simulators. CompTIA's simulators are garbage. During my N+ the test admin had to restart the testing program twice because the simulations locked up. xP

Good luck on your future certs!

SteveFT

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I'm hoping that won't happen for me. I'm 8/20 chapters done for the N+, so I'm hoping to take it in 2-3 weeks.

ratbuddy

@=Leisy

This is probably a stupid question, but what's a 'simulator question?' I also saw 'performance questions' mentioned above, what does that mean?

Slithy

Rat: Here is a video for you to watch related to the exam CompTIA Exams: The Candidate Experience - YouTube .

Performance questions are non-"multiple choice" questions that are most likely either some form of matching (like identifying hardware by visual) or by completing a simulation(probably completing some form or software objective whether through a common utility or command prompt).

ratbuddy

Thanks, it makes sense now.

I know my way around the command prompt thanks to using DOS from ~1987 till ~1996, but I better give myself a refresher. I couldn't remember the 'change attributes' program, all I could think of was chmod

ThomasHohner

I watched the Pro Messer Vids and did Exam Cram on my own time. My boss signed me up with SkillPort and I'm 3/4 the way through. Allowed to study a hour a day on company time.

Anyone else do the Skillport through Global Knowledge? If so how well did it help for the exams?

I have to take A+,Net+, Security+, HIT, Server+ all within the next 2 years. My coworker got promoted to Manager and he thinks myself and the other person in our department should have all of those certs. (He has none, weird i Know). Hell their paying!

P.S. I'm a Clinical Applications Specialist and SQl query writer so the hardware stuff has thrown me a little.

shortygirl

Leisy wrote: »

As far as the poorly worded questions, the 801 and 802 are still fairly new, I believe. It will take some time to weed them out. I passed the 701 and 702 in the last week you could take them, to avoid poor questions and the simulators.

That makes sense.

To the OP- Congrats!

Kie.

You have installed the CPU and HS/Fan assembly, what should you do next?

A. (obvious wrong answer)
B. Boot the Computer
C. Plug in the Fan
D. (obvious wrong answer)

'Correct' Answer - third letter of the alphabet.

Seriously? If you've installed the CPU and HS/fan assembly then surely plugging the fan in is part of that installation.

Another thing that the book gets wrong is about using magnetic screwdrivers, it is a myth that these will harm magnetic HDDs or components in modern computers.

kevinsmith5

I think avoiding magnets of any sort inside the computer case is just something Comoros considers a wise precaution. Not sure you can blame examcram for presenting things the way Comptia sees them.