Struggling in my studies, frustrated
Hello everyone!
I'll start this with some pedigree info. I'm a community college student pursuing an associates degree with a focus on IT. I've only taken one class this semester (my first class) and it centers around basic hardware and software fundamentals. Before the class, I didn't know what a heatsink was. I have very limited knowledge and understand regarding computing.
The class was too easy, though. Exams and labs were multiple choice, all featuring extra credit (except for the final), and basically felt like my instructor was trying to make sure we all passed. I never once felt challenged, and that is a problem. I made a 98-105 on each exam (he always offered two 2.5 point extra credit questions) and finished his 50 question tests in about 6-10 minutes each time.
So I decided that I am probably going to learn all of it on my own, which is discouraging. I own Jean Andrews "Guide to Managing and Maintaining Your PC" and Mike Meyers "All-in-One" book. They are great resources, but I am just finding all of the information to be overwhelming. I feel as though I am being given puzzle pieces but I don't know how to create the whole picture, just pieces here and there.
My main problem stems from multiple issues. Information retention, comprehension, and not knowing what exactly is crucial information and what is just something that will not show up on the test or effect me in my career.
Like, do I need to know every throughput speed of the outdated PIO and DMA modes? Do I need to know the details of every RAID configuration even though some of them are obsolete or simply not needed?
Then there is the issue of information being presented in different ways, which sometimes is nice as I am getting multiple perspectives, but also issues like Jean Andrews calling the floppy disk connector a Berg connector and Mike Meyers saying it is called a mini connector. Okay, which is it? What do people actually call it?
All I want to know is exactly what will be on the A+ exam. That is it. I want to know how to troubleshoot any computer problem, and also have a rich understanding of how computers operate.
The Mike Meyers book recommends that I read the book once, like a novel, and then go back and read through it again, this time just skimming and highlighting ideas that seem important. He claims that things that were once not so clear will seem clear the second time around. I trust that, but, reading 1,500 page text twice sort of seems nightmarish. I'm willing to do whatever it takes to understand though.
I watched 10-12 Professor Messer videos on the 801 objectives. He does not seem to give good information, I learned nothing new from watching the first dozen or so videos. It seems as though all of my study resources will either give me too little information, or too much, or perhaps what I consider "too much" you guys consider easy to handle. For the chapter on hard drive technologies, I made note cards for each section on each ATA standard, writing down everything important and re-reading what I wrote down. Then I forget it later. All I could really tell you (I hope I'm at least right about this..) was that ATA-2 introduced support for non hard-disk drives, that ATA-7 introduced the fastest Ultra DMA and SATA at the same time, but really that's about it. I don't remember the different speeds, I don't remember where double word DMA was introduced, and I don't really even remember what was special about ATA-3. I remember it being something... maybe it was the standard that allowed two controllers to support a new maximum of 4 devices. I don't know. As you can see, I am not retaining everything, but I don't know if I should be spending 30+ hours re-reading 1 chapter and studying flash cards over and over and over, because my main goal is to simply read the entire text, and THEN dive into the hardcore 30+ hours studying one simple idea until it makes sense, memorizing every single socket and it's processor families, etc.
What really rubs the salt in, though, is this article I read a few days ago about a 12 year old boy in South Africa who has an A+ certification. It motivates me, makes me think "I can do this" but also makes me wonder if I've fried my 27 year old brain from smoking pot for 14 years and taking psychedelics, etc.
Maybe I'm dumb, maybe I'm over my head and should stick to entry level food service and retail. I feel like I'm floundering.
This is both a rant/vent and a cry for help (advice, really). I'm hoping someone who found themselves feeling similarly once before can offer some guidance, or someone can show me some books I haven't seen or.. I don't know. I need help!
I'm looking at the Exam Cram book(s). I read a review by a "former mechanic" who claimed that he was working on cars one minute and then a few weeks after studying this Exam Cram book, he passed both exams for the A+. Then I read reviews by instructors and professionals in the IT field claiming that the book is perfect for people who have an intermediate understanding of the A+ material, which excludes me.
Dear god somebody help me.
