Getting A + Certified

Well I got the word last week. I have to be certified A+ by end of December to keep my job. Apparently it is Department of Defense wide now. No pressure at all is there?

So I'm going to get the Myers book and I have already enrolled in the skillport (DOD) online training.

Started reading this forum and it already has proved useful.

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dancreaney

I read the Mike Meyers book and used the CD practice questions that came with. I took the tests after one month of study and had no problems. Your level of experience plays a role, but if you have a year or two of helpdesk work under your belt and you read the book it should work out for you.

This guy has free A+ training videos, also very handy Professor Messer

rogue2shadow

dancreaney wrote: »

I read the Mike Meyers book and used the CD practice questions that came with. I took the tests after one month of study and had no problems. Your level of experience plays a role, but if you have a year or two of helpdesk work under your belt and you read the book it should work out for you.

This guy has free A+ training videos, also very handy Professor Messer

Very true!

I took the exams last week; they weren't to bad

I have three years of professionally fixing comps and took two classes through my local community college. I also used these books:

Amazon.com: A+ Guide to Software: Managing, Maintaining, and Troubleshooting

Amazon.com: A+ Guide to Hardware: Managing, Maintaining and Troubleshooting (9781435487383): Jean Andrews: Books

I also glanced at the Sybex book. The Cengage practice quizzes that come with the books really help with memorizing things like DMA/IRQ/SCSI ID order etc.

Overall you got this!

steve13ad

Without violating any Comptia's non-disclosure agreements, what is the Practical like? I'm planning getting my A+ and I'm very curious about that portion of it.

Devilsbane

6 months is more than enough time to prepare for and take A+. I was "studying" for about 3 months. But when it comes down to it, I really only spent only about a week to a week and a half of actual prep.

I was also going off of prior knowledge, so don't just expect that you can do it in a week if you haven't been exposed to the stuff before. But 6 months should be plenty of time.

Devilsbane

rogue2shadow wrote: »

Amazon.com: A+ Guide to Software: Managing, Maintaining, and Troubleshooting…

Amazon.com: A+ Guide to Hardware: Managing, Maintaining and Troubleshooting (9781435487383): Jean Andrews: Books

I used the previous edition of these books (for the 2006/2007 objectives) for my hw/sw class in college. Not the best books I've ever read, but they do contain valuable information.

If I did it again, I wouldn't buy them. Didn't find them that helpful for the test, and found mistakes that I deemed to be unforgivable.

But maybe the new editions are better, I know a guy who swears by her books.

Deathgomper

I just finished Myers book yesterday and was quite happy with the layout. Plan on taking both exams within a month from now.

It kind of bitter-sweet that you have to get certified. One hand you'll have a cert for life if you complete it on time; flip side is that your forced to get it or loose your job.

Hope everything works out for you.

rogue2shadow

steve13ad wrote: »

Without violating any Comptia's non-disclosure agreements, what is the Practical like? I'm planning getting my A+ and I'm very curious about that portion of it.

I would say definitely take the 701 first. Both tests seemed very similar. I felt the 701 was more scattered in accordance to the objectives and the 702 was very focused on the individual application of skills listed in the 702 objectives. Most people I've seen have gotten better scores on the 702 surprisingly enough.

Tyrant1919

Are you military or civilian?

If you're military, they have to provide you the training and voucher. Civilian, well you're stuck.

biker_dude

Tyrant1919 wrote: »

Are you military or civilian?

If you're military, they have to provide you the training and voucher. Civilian, well you're stuck.

I'm civilian. I heard that they will provide vouchers up to 3 tests. We are on our own after that. I'm counting on taking it just once since I have a 5 hour round trip drive to Seattle.

The only training provided thus far is access to Skillport website.

Somnipotent

Both exams are fairly simple in scope. The practical exam is just that, practical application of the concepts. I thought it was a bit tougher than the essentials exam. It's kinda funny how many questions on laser printers you get though.

Devilsbane

Somnipotent wrote: »

It's kinda funny how many questions on laser printers you get though.

I spent hours researching printers for the A+. Especially laser. You know how many times I've used that..... 0

dancreaney

My old job called for a good deal of laser printer knowledge, especially HPs. They did a lot of printing and had a lot of printers. Each day at least a couple would need a service call. It paid to know how to fix them as that would be quicker than calling in the external company and would get the user off my back. That helped with the exam.

Devilsbane

dancreaney wrote: »

My old job called for a good deal of laser printer knowledge, especially HPs. They did a lot of printing and had a lot of printers. Each day at least a couple would need a service call. It paid to know how to fix them as that would be quicker than calling in the external company and would get the user off my back. That helped with the exam.

To me at least, printers are a whole different beast. I can do some general troubleshooting of printers, but that is about it. If any major work need be done on one, it is best to pass it off to someone who has been specifically trained to fix them. I agree they should be on A+, because A+ is a broad entry level cert, and everyone in computers should know the basics of working with them. But no general IT person is going to be expected to fix a Laser printer when the formatting is wrong.

Laser printers are specifically target on A+ because thats what corporations use, which means that is where the money is. Just like how Cisco doesn't train you to work on linksys routers (although most of the information does pertain to them). But from most corporations that I have come across, there is a specific team that takes care of printers.

Where I work, I can work connectivity issues, or help users add printers. But if there is something physically wrong with the printer, I just need to be able to get a general description of the problem, and create a ticket for the print team to investigate.