What materials did you use to pass A+?

Chrono · March 2012

Hello everyone, I currently have the A+ Meyers guide (7th edition...is this latest edition?). I will go through this book thoroughly and take the practice materials on the CD. Is this book alone sufficient?

What other materials should I purchase? (what did you use). I have experience working on computers but want to ensure I get a top score.

Also what are 220-801 and 220-802 - they different from 701 and 702?

Thanks

Novalith478 · March 2012

I used the Exam Cram book by David Prowse. It seemed to do the trick for me.

Patel128 · March 2012

There is also the free videos from Professor Messer (Professor Messer's Free 220-70x CompTIA A+ Training Course | Professor Messer - CompTIA A+, CompTIA Network+, Certification Training). The 220-801 and 220-802 is the new test. I looked it up a while back, and from what i got from my research it will not start for a while. Even if is does Comptia will give like a 9 month period that the 701 and 702 will be also still open. I think they are doing that with the Net+ too.

quinnyfly · March 2012

I used the Jean Andrews book and Exam Cram, also some reference to the ProProfs website that was accurate at the time (2007) but I have no idea about now?

N2IT · March 2012

quinnyfly wrote: »

I used the Jean Andrews book and Exam Cram, also some reference to the ProProfs website that was accurate at the time (2007) but I have no idea about now?

Jean Andrews has a great book. +1

zrockstar · March 2012

By the way, the Exam Cram was just on Pearson's e-book of the day for $9.99. I picked up a copy and it looks really good and easy to get through. You might want to keep checking on that site because it seems like most of the e-books of the day make it back around pretty frequently.

Darril · March 2012

Chrono wrote: »

Also what are 220-801 and 220-802 - they different from 701 and 702?

Thanks

This is the next version of A+ exams but CompTIA has not published dates on when they'll go live. At this point, only 701 and 702 are relevant. If you're studying now, you should be finished with 701 and 702 before 801 and 802 are live.

ptilsen · March 2012

zrockstar wrote: »

By the way, the Exam Cram was just on Pearson's e-book of the day for $9.99. I picked up a copy and it looks really good and easy to get through. You might want to keep checking on that site because it seems like most of the e-books of the day make it back around pretty frequently.

I passed all my Comptia triad with Exam Cram, but people on TE have recommended other books a lot. For Security+, I see constant praise for Darril's book. For A+, I've seen various recommendations. If I had to do it again, I'd probably try Exam Cram once more. The material could have been written by Comptia; the book was cheap; it was not too dry, and I did pass each of my exams on the first attempt.

dalegribble · March 2012

I want to jump in on this thread with a similar question:

Are any of these three books better than the other?:
Comptia A+ Cert Guide by Soper/Mueller/Prowse
All-in-One Exam Guide by Mike Meyers
Exam Cram by Mueller

Are any of them less complete than the rest?

Thanks

Mrkali · March 2012

I used Mike Meyers All-in-One Exam 7th Edition book, the practice tests included with the book, the CompTIA practice tests, the study guides/practice tests that came with the getcertify4less.com voucher purchase, and flash cards.

Ivanjam · March 2012

I used the free online videos from Professor Messer’s 220-701 and 220-702 CompTIA A+ Training Course plus the following books:
(1) CompTIA A+ Certification All-in-One Exam Guide, Seventh Edition (Exams 220-701 & 220-702) by Michael Meyers
(2) Mike Meyers' Guide to Supporting Windows 7 for CompTIA A+ Certification (Exams 701 & 702) (All-in-One)
(3) CompTIA A+ 220-701 and 220-702 Practice Questions Exam Cram (4th Edition) by Patrick Regan

Chrono · March 2012

Which A+ materials go over what we need to know about Windows 7? My Myer book does not cover it.

ECM · March 2012

I used Cert Guide (Soper, Mueller, Prowse) and the supplemental Supporting Windows 7 for Comptia A+ Certification Mike Meyers). I passed 701 with a score of 822 and 702 with 797. I have been out of the IT field for nearing 4 years and had 7-8 years of experience mostly in desktop (Windows 3.11 to XP), Windows Sever 2000/2003 administration, and major applications support.

I spent 61 hours studying over 17 days along with taking each of the three practice exams once. I read the Cert Guide once through and covered about half the chapters a second time based on chapter test question scores and the number of page flags I had in each chapter. The Windows 7 book I read twice as it is a short book and I'm not sure it was all that useful considering my question draw on the exam.

Mrkali · March 2012

Chrono wrote: »

Which A+ materials go over what we need to know about Windows 7? My Myer book does not cover it.

wikipedia.org for Windows 7 minimum install requirements. Other than that if you know the in's of Vista you pretty much know any questions pertaining to Window's 7.

Mike Meyers offers a Win7 supplement to his book available on amazon if you want to feel safe, though.

valondon · March 2012

Used Jean Andrews and Exam Cram... Exam Cram is good enough, hated Jean Andrews' book. Mike Myers is worse

biker_dude · March 2012

I think Exam cram is all you would need. It's all I used to pass the A+.

dajohnso · March 2012

I used Meyers All-In-One book, Total Seminars Voucher/Practice Exam combo, Exam Cram book. I passed the hardware part with flying colors but these study materials didn't hit DOS commands and paths to get to a certain item through various Windows systems for the software exam. Be sure to find additional study material to go over the DOS commands.

Bryzey · March 2012

I passed 701 last week. Currently studying for the 702.

Using Testout which I am finding is great for the 702. I found it to be very boring and did not complete it for the 701 and went on to find an alternate study materials.

In saying that though I must give credit where credit is due. For the 702 I am finding Testout to be great, the demonstrations are be highly useful and the labs are kind of fun. I would definitely recommend them for the 702.

I have read Mike Meyers AIO 7th ed and David Prowse Exam Cram ed 5 books. I found exam cram to be a really good read for the 701. Mike Meyers gives you a lot of information but I found it to be incredibly long and dry. Exam cram gets straight to the point.

Professor Messer videos are free and really useful, he also has some study groups at the bottom of the page that go for an hour or so each and go much deeper into topics based on student questions.

Find what works for you by trying multiple resources, most places offer samples. Books on Amazon usually allow you to read the first chapter etc..

DATV · March 2012

biker_dude wrote: »

I think Exam cram is all you would need. It's all I used to pass the A+.

Wow I can see that all of you recommend "Exam Cram" , Firstly I read a part of CompTIA A+ For Dummies, I liked but too simply. Reading in other pages , I saw the comments that the people made about CompTIA A+ All-in-One Mike Meyers I have just read the first two chapters and It seems good ! but here I can see that many of you recommend Exam Cram and state that it is enough , please who can give me that book because I don't find it on internet , thanks.

If there are some erros in my writing , sorry and please try to understand me becausae I'm from Latin America , exactly from Peru.
I hope that you can help me ! Thanks again.

techsistausa · April 2012

I passed 220-701 today with a 845/900. I used the Mike Meyers and also Professor Messer's Videos. I take the other portion next week. The last practice test I took, which had 576 questions, I scored 960/1000 so I think I am pretty ready. I found taking practice test after practice really helped. I plan to take a 576 question practice test every day up until the day before the test.

gadav478 · April 2012

I used the Exam Cram book and it was all I REALLY needed. I didn't pay for anything after researching all of the options, I went to my good old local library and picked it up, simple. I did actually pick up other books: Mike Meyers' Passport 220/701 book and a 220/701-702 book of practice questions. They were good simply because of the difficulty of exam questions on the CD's (all three books included CD's by the way). I flash carded the information I didn't have down cold through experience so I would be ready for the exam. But all you really need is the Exam Cram and an additional book with just questions to test your conceptualization, not memory.

What materials did you use to pass A+?

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