Prep for 801/802, any other ideas besides what im doing?

I lack the 12+ months of field experience the exam objectives specify. I have read Mikey Meyers A+ book, but it was 4-5 years ago and for a different A+. The meat of that book is still relevant, but there is a lot of new stuff. Ive been reading (about 1/2 way through) the Exam Cram 801/802 book and recently got the Exam Cram 801/802 practice question book and CD. Ive also been watching proffessor messer videos on the subjects im fuzzy on, taking notes on the important stuff and then going back over the notes. I put 1-2 hours in 5-6 days a week.

I think when i get closer to the testing date (TBD) ill integrate flash cards to brush up on hardware terms and certain windows utilities and services i have a hard time with.

Any other suggestions? I dont learn the best from just reading, which is why i have mixed in the videos & notes. The practice exams help make sure im proficient in the chapters i just read but they dont seem to help much beyond that.

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zxshockaxz

It sounds to me like you're on the right track. I used an over price college text book for mine, along with testout's labsims. If you're really wanting more "hands on" training, the labsims are great, but expensive. I don't think they're necessary, but they are helpful. I would just pop open your computer case and start playing around with it. Read a chapter, then go practice what it talked about.

--chris--

zxshockaxz wrote: »

It sounds to me like you're on the right track. I used an over price college text book for mine, along with testout's labsims. If you're really wanting more "hands on" training, the labsims are great, but expensive. I don't think they're necessary, but they are helpful. I would just pop open your computer case and start playing around with it. Read a chapter, then go practice what it talked about.

I was thinking of cruising craigslist looking for cheap/free computers, trying to fix them up and documenting the process on a wordpress site i setup. I think it would accomplish two things 1)Get me hands on with repairing/replacing hardware and 2)i could use it like a portfolio. When you have no experience in the field, i think anything like this has to help bolster a resume.

Im not sure if it violates the NDA, but what kind of sims are on the exam? Are they multiple choice or actual simulations of a desktop and/or CLI enviroment?

--chris--

Answered my own question:
CompTIA Exams: The Candidate Experience - YouTube

Good video for anyone who has not sat for a comptia test, answered a lot of questions for me.

Slithy

zxshockaxz wrote: »

If you're really wanting more "hands on" training, the labsims are great, but expensive. I don't think they're necessary, but they are helpful. I would just pop open your computer case and start playing around with it. Read a chapter, then go practice what it talked about.

I'm interested in what kind of objectives would be expected for the performance-based questions. I am moderately familiar with all the the hardware elements but worried about whatever control panel/command line objectives they could ask for. Do Labsims cover this type of practice for 801/802? Better yet, are there any more reasonably priced products that do?

--chris--

Slithy wrote: »

I'm interested in what kind of objectives would be expected for the performance-based questions. I am moderately familiar with all the the hardware elements but worried about whatever control panel/command line objectives they could ask for. Do Labsims cover this type of practice for 801/802? Better yet, are there any more reasonably priced products that do?

In the video i posted above it shows an example of what you might see in regards to a sim using the CLI. In the video, it asked that the user navigate to "my documents" and edit a file to make it read only. I have been focusing on the CLI commands much more, as well as ID'ing hardware, knowing throughput, generation differences, windows utilities, windows upgrade/install requirements and the networking basics. The security stuff comes easy to me for some reason, as well as the hand held/mobile stuff that makes up a tiny fraction of the test.

I know using/implementing CLI commands in a sim will be the rough spot for me.

--chris--

Ive finished the Exam Cram 220-801/802 book, and I have a good grasp on everything. I can tell where I'm fuzzy and where I can simply re-read and lightly skim over to get familiar again.

Anyone have some tips for remembering all the Windows utilities, CLI commands and switches and the migration tools? Those are my worst areas by far.

Second worst is remembering all the Windows versions and their differences.

If it wasnt for them, I would be scheduling the exams for next week.

amigo23

--chris-- wrote: »

Answered my own question:
CompTIA Exams: The Candidate Experience - YouTube

Good video for anyone who has not sat for a comptia test, answered a lot of questions for me.

Chris, can you please pm the video? It is private. Thank you.