Am I out of luck?

I took the 270 question A+ core hardware practice exam on mcmcse.com yesterday. I scored 60%. I am taking the hardware exam on Saturday. I plan on studying like heck before then, but how bad of shape am I in? Also, what percentage correct do you need when taking the actual exam?

OC

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jescab

GOOD LUCK dude.......

lordy

I personally schedule exams after reaching 85-90% in the practice tests.

I think that 60% might be too little to get through an exam but I don't know much about A+ honestly.

ocriggins

Wow that bad. Good thing is that I know what I have to study on. Seems like most of the questions I am having problems with are the printers, scsi, irq, and p/o and dma channels. Good news is that I have the IRQ's down now. I will try the exam again on Thursday and report back. I always work well under pressure, so let's hope it works out.

I will go out and get that Mike Meyers book too. Any other advice?

OC

Plantwiz

If these are not items you have worked with and are learning them from a book, I'd look at getting some hands-on practice prior to scheduleing an exam.

Things seem pretty easy when you apply them to real life situations....but that's just me

Good luck.

Plantwiz

Good luck.

ocriggins

I have been building and troubleshooting computers for about 5 years. I acutally run the IT for a small company. I built it from the ground up including the network, domain, vpn, and phone system. I have the hands on experience with most of this stuff. All of my experience and skills are self taught, so for the exam all I need to do is memorize certain stuff and get on board with how to handle some of the questions. I have been putting off the A+ exams for a while that is why I just decided to schedule them and cram in all the knowledge I can. The 60% I scored on the practice exam was before I even looked at a book. What advice would you give for a good study source besides this site and practice exams?

OC

Plantwiz

Life experience
CompTIA's objectives
This site
Meyers Book

ocriggins

Cool, got it covered. Thanks a lot for your help. Report back after Saturday.

Thanks
OC

kevozz

Did you check out the technotes?

ocriggins

I checked out the technotes too. Are those fairly up to date? Also too, I know the A+ exam is 80 questions. How is the grading? Is it by percentage?

OC

Slowhand

I'd say that 60% is a very borderline score. If you're lucky, you might get the brunt of the questions you know. Then again, keep in mind that the A+ tests are adaptive, which means that they'll hit you with stuff that you get wrong, again and again. If you answer a question about, say, the registry wrong, you'll begin to get more and more questions about the registry. This can be the deathknell for someone who isn't really well-prepared.

My advice is to call up your testing center, and ask them if there's any way you can reschedule the test for a week or two later, and get to studying like you never have before, if you want to pass it the first time around.

ocriggins

Ok, study like heck last night and took the mcmcse.com test again. Scored 70% this time. I am in no way taking for granite that this test will be easy, but it seems like everyone is saying I am screwed. Good thing is that I am pushing hard trying to nail stuff I don't know. I got the IRQ down pat and most of the networking. Working on the socket types and SCSI now. The newer stuff I am more familiar with so at least I have that going for me. I guess my plan is to keep on studying and redoing practice exams. I also have a transcender practice test--how is that one? I have heard that the A+ are no longer adaptive as well.

OC

ocriggins

Well I went out and picked up both Mike Meyers books--the all-in-one and the passport. I read halfway through the hardware section so far. It's definitely a lot of detail especially with the CPU and RAM. Question though, is the passport as a good as a reference as the all-in-one. Since I am running short on time should I focus more on the passport book?

OC

Slowhand

The real difference between the Passport and the All-In-One is that the Passport is really more of a review book. It's very much like the ExamCram books, (but I like the Passport series a bit better.) It has all the information you need to pass the test, for the most part, but it doesn't give any real detailed information about each subject. It's best for use as a review book, once you've already read the All-In-One and done some studying.

And yes, you were right, it's no longer adaptive, which is probably a good thing in this case. As far as the trancender test, I've never used it, but I'm sure it can't hurt to use as a study-helper. Every little bit helps.

wayzer

I wrote the same exam last night after studying for the last day. I received 73 % which I don't think is to bad for someone that hasn't been cramming long.

I am in the same boat of having to write it in a short amount of time. My question is much the same and I am sure it sorta has been answered in this thread, but I would like to know at what point do you consider yourself ready.

If I get 90 % on this test am I ready? And I guess it is progressively easier to get a better mark on this test because it only asks the same questions time in and time out.

Any input is appreciated.

Brad

ocriggins

Reading through Mike Meyers book he says you should test at 80-85 percent before taking the exam. Hope that helps. Not sure if it means anything but I took the 10 Comptia sample questions and I got them all correct. Another thing is that I have been tackling each part I am having difficulty one at a time. From the first practice exam I took, I looked at where I was struggling most and made a checklist. I have gone down the line one by one. It seems to be working. I think my real world experience is helping too, because I seem to be able to pick up on questions that don't require straight memorization.

OC

wayzer

Mike says you should get 85 percent on what test? Is there a test out there that we all should be taking and striving for 85 percent? I have been taking the test suggested on this site and I recently scored 77 percent on mcmcse.com site and 100 on the comptia.com site. Now if these were the site to be judge on, I would be really close to being ready.

Can anyone provide a response to this?

My man areas of study must be IRQ's, DMA's, CPU's. I can't believe they expect you to memorize all the CPU combinations. Any tips on remember these?

Thanks,

Brad

ocriggins

Took the exam today and passed with a 718!! I have to admit that I was pretty worried going in with only a week of studying, but I pulled an allnighter and crammed big time. Couldn't of done it without the help of everyone here in the forum.

Btw, the exam was pretty weird. I got a lot of networking questions. I had like four on RJ-45 connectors, three or four more on cat wire, and a couple more on modems. I spent so much time memorizing all the CPU sockets, cache, bus, and stuff, but I didn't have one question on any of it. I only had one scuzzy question too. Anyway I am glad to be done. Time to start studying for OS Technologies next Saturday. First some beer and then sleep though.

OC

falcon2099

ocriggins wrote:

Took the exam today and passed with a 718!!

Congrats! Seeing as though a pass for the 220-301 is 515/900, a 718 is a pretty good score. I'm actually about a week or two from writing mine... wish me luck!

Plantwiz

ocriggins wrote:

Took the exam today and passed with a 718!! I

Congratulations

Slowhand

Congrats on the passing score. Good luck with the software exam, man. Just remember to go over the old DOS commands and registry info, and you should do just fine. Most things are common-sense, but those were the ones that threw me for a loop. (Then again, I've been thrown for a loop on a lot of things. Heh, heh, heh. . .)

sys_teck

advice: practice practice practice....untill you get minimum 90% on the practice test. more you read and practice more chances you have to pass both A+ test.

Good luck

ocriggins wrote:

I have been building and troubleshooting computers for about 5 years. I acutally run the IT for a small company. I built it from the ground up including the network, domain, vpn, and phone system. I have the hands on experience with most of this stuff. All of my experience and skills are self taught, so for the exam all I need to do is memorize certain stuff and get on board with how to handle some of the questions. I have been putting off the A+ exams for a while that is why I just decided to schedule them and cram in all the knowledge I can. The 60% I scored on the practice exam was before I even looked at a book. What advice would you give for a good study source besides this site and practice exams?

OC