Tips to study for A+
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carrcomp
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I would suggest buying a couple of junk towers and work on them.
Brush up on wireless connectivity setup and troubleshooting.
And, if you have the money, get LabSims A+ course. You can do it on your computer and it has alot of practise tests, videos and activities to help you out.
grayfoxcomputing
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I took my A+ tests two years ago after working on computers for over 20 years so Your Mileage May Vary. I found it "easier" if you get a good study guide (search Amazon) and create flash cards - put the question on the front and the answer on the back.
I had about 100 flash cards that I studied up until 15 minutes before the test. I'm a visual learner so the act of writing the information down helped me to retain it (i wrote the same flash cards 5 times - one set per week before the test). OCD - yes but it worked for me.
Practice tests are good too just make sure that you don't buy the first one you find on the Google results page. Read some reviews. I agree with carrcomp - LabSims makes a good product.
Read the reviews on the products before committing your hard-earned cash. Not every book or practice test you find is going to be worth it, just like computers in general.
I had about 100 flash cards that I studied up until 15 minutes before the test. I'm a visual learner so the act of writing the information down helped me to retain it (i wrote the same flash cards 5 times - one set per week before the test). OCD - yes but it worked for me.
Practice tests are good too just make sure that you don't buy the first one you find on the Google results page. Read some reviews. I agree with carrcomp - LabSims makes a good product.
Read the reviews on the products before committing your hard-earned cash. Not every book or practice test you find is going to be worth it, just like computers in general.
Encrypted Existence
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My advice is to focus on wireless networking and peripherals for sure. My experience with the A+ exam was that there were absolutely no questions asked on a lot of the material that I studied the most but that is just my experience. Go to the Comptia website and get yourself a copy of the objectives and use those to study from. Professor Messer's videos were a great help to me as well. I also used the Jean Andrews A+ book to study. Good luck!
dond
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Just be sure the training materials are current. The labsim course and a book ihave from a few years ago are quite different. The materials should have questions about USB connections.
carrcomp
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Yes, and LabSim stays current. I used it when I was going through college to prepare for my cert. Worked out really well.
jrl2222
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I think someone on here posted this site.
It has videos, quizzes, study resources, Etc. Free!
http://www.professormesser.com/
It has videos, quizzes, study resources, Etc. Free!
http://www.professormesser.com/
colonydata
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i would say that 80% of the material on the A+ tests if your a competent tech you should have no problem with as a lot of it is just common sense. the other 20 percent is basically just knowing how comptia wants you to handle different situations.
i found both exams to be fairly easy.
i found both exams to be fairly easy.
NETWizz
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I just took the tests and "Winged it." it was all pretty easy to be perfectly honest. The weird questions were those about IRQs and Laser Printers (in my opinion).
Provided you know that:
Toner is the ink of a laser printer...
That if you see repeated artifacts on paper that usually means a bad imaging drum (often part of the toner)...
and that if the toner flakes off or can be scratched off with a finger nail that the fuser is bad... you got the laser printer section covered.
As for the IRQs, just read a really old table from the MS DOS days. Also figure out Which COM Ports were used for what.
Provided you know that:
Toner is the ink of a laser printer...
That if you see repeated artifacts on paper that usually means a bad imaging drum (often part of the toner)...
and that if the toner flakes off or can be scratched off with a finger nail that the fuser is bad... you got the laser printer section covered.
As for the IRQs, just read a really old table from the MS DOS days. Also figure out Which COM Ports were used for what.
colonydata
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when did you take it? i dont remember having any questions about IRQs in 2009.
printing was another thing that was foreign to me.
Computerpete
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A good idea would be take the Cisco IT Essentials course it prepares you for the A+ as it covers the same topics
jrl2222
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Haven't taken it yet but every prep test I have taken has had the laser printer stuff on it and IRQs. Always thought that was odd because I know alot of great computer techs that have never repaired a laser printer. And who really deals with IRQs anymore except in very rare occasions.
mattastechservice
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I haven't taken the A+ test yet, but I can say that "CompTIA A+ Certification" by Michael Meyers is a good book and comes with a CD. I know in my area and I can't say the same for others, but where I can take a majority of my IT tests has 1-on-1 training for a PRICE, practice tests for a reasonable cost, and of course your certification tests.
Funny thing is since were on subject about testing. I forgot when I worked for this tech temp agency I had access to 3,000+ training sessions for whatever I wanted to study in. I'll have to check to see if I can still log in and see what the name of it was.
Funny thing is since were on subject about testing. I forgot when I worked for this tech temp agency I had access to 3,000+ training sessions for whatever I wanted to study in. I'll have to check to see if I can still log in and see what the name of it was.
