Taking the A+ Hardware Tomorrow

Thacker

Hey everyone, great website and information source you've got here. Found it tonight searching google for practice tests on the A+ Exam.

I am scheduled to take the A+ Core Hardware exam tomorrow.

I ordered a good package from online retailer for prepartion on the A+ Exams. It came with videos of all the lessons, online tests.. and some hands on things to do at home. I feel pretty prepared for the test.

Anything in particular I should look out for or be afraid of? I am sure this has been covered before, sorry if it has.

I am 18, turning 19 the 17th of this month, and am trying to secure an entry level tech job somewhere. I am located in the Atlanta, Georgia area, any advice on finding something to start out with?

From the A+ exam I plan on doing the network+ exam. I feel pretty confident I could pass it tomorrow if I needed too, however I am waiting to do it shortly after the A+ exam is finished.
Also, any recommendations on where to go from here? What certs I should focus on, what type of jobs should I look for.. ETC.

Thanks for your help,
Brandon Thacker

Thacker

Took the full practice test, 270 questions from mcmse.com and scored a 74%. Plan on reading the technotes tonight and tomorrow before the test.

ScarletLace

First of all, I'd like to welcome you to this site and good luck on your A+
Core Hardware exam tomorrow.

In regards to what you should be afraid of,it's hard to say as you are the
only one that know the topics that are your strengths and the ones that are your weaknesses.

Each person gets a different set of questions so you may or may not get a lot of the questions that you do not like. One way to find out if you're ready, is to go through each objective and ask yourself this question "If I get a question on this topic,will I be able to answer it?"
To the ones you reply no, are the ones you should work on some more.

But you seem quite confident, that means you have studied very hard, so don't worry too much, you'll do fine. Get some rest tonight and don't overstress yourself.

As for the order to follow in your studies,it depends on what field you want to get into.

I notice this order at the front page of the discussion forum for Comptia courses:
A+ Core Hardware
A+ OS Technologies
Network+
INET+
Server+
Security+

You don't necessarily have to follow this order.

Some people do for example:
-a+,network+,server+,MCP(70-270),70-290,mcsa
-a+,network+,ccna
-a+,network+,security+,server+,some microsoft courses,some cisco course like ccna
-a+,network+,70-270,mcsa
-a+,network+,INET+,Security+

There are tons of different order to choose. It really doesn't matter, it's your personal
choice and the career you choose.

ScarletLace

Well... 74% is not too bad a score considering it's the first time you did the test on mcmcse.

It would be good if you had the time to do lots of other practice tests and score in the 85-95% region.

But its ok since you already scheduled your test. I wish you all the best. Don't overstress yourself tonight.

Thacker

ScarletLace wrote:

Well... 74% is not too bad a score considering it's the first time you did the test on mcmcse.

It would be good if you had the time to do lots of other practice tests and score in the 85-95% region.

But its ok since you already scheduled your test. I wish you all the best. Don't overstress yourself tonight.

Still awake. Don't have to take the test until 3pm tomorrow eastern time however.

I am scoring 85+% on other tests, such at the one that came with the discs I have, through www.quickcert.com. Out of a total of 400 questions I missed 10. Alot of them from memory however.

As far as jobs go, I've been applying like mad on monster, and career builder.

Any advice on that?

Also I live in a pretty small town, would creating a buisness card for general pc repair, spyware removal and the like be beneficial to me? If I was to get a few local buisness's to put it out for me.

thanks for your time

jescab

GOOD LUCK dude.......

Plantwiz

Thacker wrote:

Out of a total of 400 questions I missed 10. Alot of them from memory however.

Fantastic!! Another person who can read and memorize.

If you in fact understand objectives and not merely memorized a few 'answers' then by all means - forgive my sarcasm. I've recently ended a relationship with a co-worker who was A+ Certified, yet he managed to NOT understand anything (or very little) about computer hardware. Just because things plug in....doesn't make them compatible.

My point, (and my more recent disgust with a guy who merely fact memorized his A+ book) is that I have worked with at least 3 people who felt THEY were competent to assemble and troubleshoot PC's. Fact was, there were NOT. One even decided that "it's OK that the mobo touches a piece of metal....'cause it's only metal and that won't hurt it, right?" Wonder why he never managed to get his box stable before it went to the client.....thank goodness it never made it to the client!

Thacker wrote:

As far as jobs go, I've been applying like mad on monster, and career builder.

Any advice on that?

Never used them and never considered using them. I'm a bit more old fashioned in my job search approach. Perhaps another member of this site has experience with them.

Thacker wrote:

Also I live in a pretty small town, would creating a business card for general pc repair, spyware removal and the like be beneficial to me? If I was to get a few local business's to put it out for me.

thanks for your time

I personally am not a business card collector. Certainly not from someone who isn't in business. If you have been working on systems and you are competent in the work you perform - your clients can vow for your skills. Perhaps it is time. Frankly, I keep my contacts in my address book (electronic) for work, and don't keep little cards laying around - gets too cluttered. Just my opinion.

I don't carry cards either. Tried it once in my career. They tend to become wasted little pieces of paper laying about trade shows or stuffed into someone's desk.

For some jobs and some people, it works very well. Just doesn't fit me. If your working on non-networked boxes (residential) then you may find that a calling card will improve your word-of-mouth potential.

Thacker

I passed today. With a score of 606... not great but not horrible either. Horrible would be failing.

I understand your disgust with those that just memorize the materla, instead of "learning" the material. I find however that some things can only come from memorization. Easiest way for myself to learn is to link something with another thing.. an example is this. Memorizing the IRQ list, I made a priority list in my head, and started memorizing the table. Priority 1 would be the system timer... since it is most important it gets 0... the highest on the list. Next would be the keyboard, computer cant do much without an input device so I considered that high priority... yadda yadda. I memorized that table... but is that a bad thing? No. I also memorized the laser printer process.... which it how it should be done. Same for every other printer. I dont have much experience with different types of printers, but there isnt any way for me to have any experience unless I buy each one of them, break them.. and then fix them. Thats not cost effective.

Thanks for your reply however, starting my A+ OS Studying tomorrow.

ScarletLace

Congratulations on passing your exam Brandon!

About memorization, it is not a bad thing in itself because when you memorize you have the knowledge in your head.

And knowledge when combined with understanding of the underlying principles,is better.

You need both to be able to apply your knowledge in practice in order to gain the experience you need to be a good technician.

All the best in your OS studies!

Plantwiz

Correct, some list just need to be memorized.

My comment stemmed from

Thacker wrote:


Out of a total of 400 questions I missed 10. Alot of them from memory however.

Answering questions correctly because the answer was memorized from so much repetition is not good.

If it was meant that of the 400 questions, most were IRQ/DMA, etc...that are required to be memorized to some degree...this would be a different story. Taken as it was written, it didn't seem to be the case, hence my comment.

Again, if you know the material and you work with it daily and have for some time....congratulations on your pass