A+ Exam

Hi All,
I have a few questions about the A+ exam. I have the Mike
Meyers Certification Passport Book for A+ Certification. Looks as if it was
made in 2002 according to the copyright. I've been in the field doing Help
Desk Support for roughly 200 users for 4 years now. When I started, we were
using Windows NT 4.0, then I had Windows 2000 on my machine briefly, before
upgrading the entire company to Windows XP. It may sound silly, but since I
haven't been in school for 5 years, im a little worried about taking the
test. On to the questions. 1) Should I get the new Mike Meyers book? 2) Do
the questions match real world experience or are they more book type
memorization questions? 3) Do you think the book I have along with my
experience and practice exams from www.passitnow.com will be enough for me
to pass the test?

Thank you for all of your help.

The Worry Wart

Anthony Coletta

Anthony:

I just took and passed both exams recently. I used Mike Meyers All-In-One
3rd edition (which covered the 2001 objectives) and Mike's Passport 2nd
Edition (which covered the 2003 updated objectives). In addition, I used a
study guide published by Sybex (A+ Complete, I think). This also covered
the 2001 objectives. I also have 12 years experience behind me. (The
reason I used texts covering the old objectives is that I had them sitting
on the shelf for a long time, and didn't get to them before the update).

If your Passport doesn't say 2nd Edition on the cover, you don't have the
newest.

The questions were a pretty good mix of real world (this is the problem,
which of the following is the correct solution) and memorization (what is
the fastest throughput for a given flavor of SCSI, what is the distance and
speed specs for bluetooth, what is the FSB speed for this processor).

There were several questions on manuvering in the different flavors of
Windows (how do you access modem properties in 9x, how do you change network
settings in 2000, where do you adjust ??? in XP).

I think you are going to want an updated text - either Meyers All In One 5th
Ed. for comprehensive coverage (my recommendation) or the 2nd Ed Passport
for the condensed version.

I can't say as to if the passitnow questions are very good - been too long
since I looked at them.

One other item I used - I bought vouchers for the exams (saved about $45 US
on each exam). When I bought the vouchers, I also got a CD with eleven
50-question sample tests for each module (core and OS - 22 tests total).
The tests used questions that were similar in style to what I found on the
real exam.

I got my vouchers at Meyer's web site www.totalsem.com. The only caveat is
that their vouchers only work at ProMetric test centers in the US - was not
a problem for me. In addition, there are some good discussion boards at
totalsem.

Hope that helps, and good luck.





"Anthony Coletta" <> wrote in message
news:cREkc.1561$IG1.42854@attbi_s04...
> Hi All,
> I have a few questions about the A+ exam. I have the Mike
> Meyers Certification Passport Book for A+ Certification. Looks as if it
was
> made in 2002 according to the copyright. I've been in the field doing
Help
> Desk Support for roughly 200 users for 4 years now. When I started, we
were
> using Windows NT 4.0, then I had Windows 2000 on my machine briefly,
before
> upgrading the entire company to Windows XP. It may sound silly, but since
I
> haven't been in school for 5 years, im a little worried about taking the
> test. On to the questions. 1) Should I get the new Mike Meyers book? 2)
Do
> the questions match real world experience or are they more book type
> memorization questions? 3) Do you think the book I have along with my
> experience and practice exams from www.passitnow.com will be enough for me
> to pass the test?
>
> Thank you for all of your help.
>
> The Worry Wart
>
>

MadDogH

Anthony Coletta wrote:
> Hi All,
> I have a few questions about the A+ exam. I have the Mike
> Meyers Certification Passport Book for A+ Certification. Looks as if it was
> made in 2002 according to the copyright. I've been in the field doing Help
> Desk Support for roughly 200 users for 4 years now. When I started, we were
> using Windows NT 4.0, then I had Windows 2000 on my machine briefly, before
> upgrading the entire company to Windows XP. It may sound silly, but since I
> haven't been in school for 5 years, im a little worried about taking the
> test. On to the questions. 1) Should I get the new Mike Meyers book? 2) Do
> the questions match real world experience or are they more book type
> memorization questions? 3) Do you think the book I have along with my
> experience and practice exams from www.passitnow.com will be enough for me
> to pass the test?
>
> Thank you for all of your help.
>
> The Worry Wart
>
>

I agree with MadDogH, try to get an updated text...

I recently passed the HW test with no trouble using some older texts and
what I thought was a newer one: A+ Certification Study Guide, 5th
Edition by Michael Pastore (c)2003, McGraw Hill.

I was a little surprised there were questions on the real exam on topics
not covered by this newer text or even listed on the 2003 CompTIA
Hardware Exam Objectives such as bluetooth speeds, WLAN standards and
terminology and IPv6 addressing architecture; there was even a IPv4
subnetting question.

Other questions were just too vague (such as bus speed for an Athlon XP
model, with two possibly correct MHz answers listed: the actual speed
and the effective speed.)

IMHO, with four years of field experience, you should be fine.

Best of luck,

Michael J. Apollyon

"Anthony Coletta" <> wrote in message
news:cREkc.1561$IG1.42854@attbi_s04...
> Hi All,
> I have a few questions about the A+ exam. I have the Mike
> Meyers Certification Passport Book for A+ Certification. Looks as if it
was
> made in 2002 according to the copyright. I've been in the field doing
Help
> Desk Support for roughly 200 users for 4 years now. When I started, we
were
> using Windows NT 4.0, then I had Windows 2000 on my machine briefly,
before
> upgrading the entire company to Windows XP. It may sound silly, but since
I
> haven't been in school for 5 years, im a little worried about taking the
> test. On to the questions. 1) Should I get the new Mike Meyers book? 2)
Do
> the questions match real world experience or are they more book type
> memorization questions? 3) Do you think the book I have along with my
> experience and practice exams from www.passitnow.com will be enough for me
> to pass the test?

I'd get the newest version of the passport book. Given your experience,
that should be sufficient. As for the questions, I think the hardware
questions generally lend themselves more toward "memorization" whereas the
software is very "real-world." While you could probably know the
significance of slave/master jumpers without ever settings them, it's
doubtful you'd know how to change the Computer Name on Windows XP or Windows
98 unless you've actually sat down and practiced.

Patrick Michael

Anthony,
I'll just paste two past post here that I think would help with your
questions

----------------
Like others have said, have at least two sources of
text book/practice tests.
Everyone seems to have some bias that makes one
area very clear and another less so.
Two other good sources besides those already
mentioned are "ExamCram" and "A+For Dummies."
Both are available at any large bookstore.
Both cover material for the
current exams.
[Note: for U.S. English exams, the current versions are
"220-301: A+ 2003 Linear Core Hardware Exam"
&
"220-302: A+ 2003 Linear OS Technologies Exam"]
Both books are thorough (ExamCram a bit more so),
easy to follow (For Dummies a bit more so),
include many examples, practice questions
(ExamCram has both chapter summary questions and practice tests)
, and include CD's.
Good luck.


================
"Anthony Coletta" <> wrote in message
news:cREkc.1561$IG1.42854@attbi_s04...
> Hi All,
> I have a few questions about the A+ exam. I have the Mike
> Meyers Certification Passport Book for A+ Certification. Looks as if it
was
> made in 2002 according to the copyright. I've been in the field doing
Help
> Desk Support for roughly 200 users for 4 years now. When I started, we
were
> using Windows NT 4.0, then I had Windows 2000 on my machine briefly,
before
> upgrading the entire company to Windows XP. It may sound silly, but since
I
> haven't been in school for 5 years, im a little worried about taking the
> test. On to the questions. 1) Should I get the new Mike Meyers book? 2)
Do
> the questions match real world experience or are they more book type
> memorization questions? 3) Do you think the book I have along with my
> experience and practice exams from www.passitnow.com will be enough for me
> to pass the test?
>
> Thank you for all of your help.
>
> The Worry Wart
>
>

J. Q. Etuo, MSCE 2003, A+ 2003

.... and here's the other one...
-------------------

I just completed my A+ this week.
As the others have said, if you are in the
U.S. taking the English version of the tests,
they will be linear.
That means you will be able to go over the 80 questions
as much as you like until your 90 minutes runs out.
The current U.S. English versions of the test are:
"220-301: A+ 2003 Linear Core Hardware Exam"
&
"220-302: A+ 2003 Linear OS Technologies Exam"

Try to take your time reading the questions carefully,
but don't take much time answering them on the first pass.
There will be a check box available at the top of every
screen to mark the question for review.
Taking time to read and reread the
question carefully will help avoid incorrectly
answering the questions simply due to missing a double negative
(such as "which of these is not unnecessary...") or overlooking the
"check all that apply" instruction.
However, when it comes to pondering which answer is best,
give yourself the luxury of spare time and try to pick
an answer quickly on the first pass.
One of many reasons for this is that often a later question will reveal
useful information or at least jog your memory with regard to
some earlier point.

Mark for Review any question you have any
unsettling feeling about even if you think you answered it correctly
but found something in its wording that seemed weird.
Often on the second or third pass you'll discover that the question
is using misleading phrases to try to throw you off the topic.
Don't despair if you seem to be marking a lot of questions for
review on the first pass. Even with careful reading there's no reason
you can't answer all 80 questions with your best guess in just over a hour.
That'll leave you at least 20 minutes to carefully consider the marked
questions again.

Most questions make no mention of "Pick two" or "Choose all that apply" etc.
For these there is only one best answer.
If you see a multiple choice response that includes a phrase
you're unfamiliar with just scrutinize the other responses
more. Often eliminating bad
responses is enough.

The exam supervisor will check your picture id and at least one other id.
There will be a legal form to sign and a sign-in book.
All your "stuff" should either be left behind (like in your car)
or you will have to give it to the exam supervisor to lock
away or hold onto for you. By "stuff," in particular,
I mean electronic items
(like cell phones and calculators),
paper items (notebooks and pads), and most personal items
that can store stuff (like wallets and purses); though, it's
best not to try and figure out what might be a
possible exception to these banned items unless
you have a special need
(like medicine, in which case you
should let them know ahead of time).

They will provide you with a clean writing
surface (paper or wax board) and a writing implement
(that's right, you can't bring your own pens).
After taking both tests I can tell you I had no real need for the wax sheet
they gave me. It was reassuring to
know I could jot a note or two down, but it
hardly mattered.
One practical use for this sheet that I've
used on other (not Comptia) exams it to quickly jot
down some important route memory items right at the beginning of the exam.
These bullet type "must remember" items are
not that important on Comptia's exam, but
you may already be aware from practice tests you've
taken that there are a couple things that
you tend to invert or otherwise mix up in your memory over and over.
If it's a short list, you might want to try memorizing
off a (small) cram sheet minutes before the exam; then,
jot them down on the provided wax sheet
just after the exam begins.

Please don't be rattled when a question appears that
seems to have nothing to do with any part of any
book you studied. Just calmly do your best as
always, eliminating the usual
one or two really bad answers
then move on. Know that there may be a couple
of "experimental" questions on the exam
that won't even be counted against your score,
but there is just no way to know which
questions these are.
Scoring is a mystery. No one seems to know for
sure what a score means or how it's determined.
Apparently, questions that ask for more than
one answer count more in some way, but I don't really know.
If all the questions counted the same (let's say they were all valid,
choose-one, multiple choice questions)
then a rough, rule-of-thumb, estimate would be that you
need to get 44 of the 80 questions correct.
So, you're doing well if you feel dead certain about 50 questions.
That means even if you mark 20 to 30 for review, you have an
excellent chance so long as you budgeted your time well
enough to really go over those review questions thoroughly.

Good luck !


=============
"Anthony Coletta" <> wrote in message
news:cREkc.1561$IG1.42854@attbi_s04...
> Hi All,
> I have a few questions about the A+ exam. I have the Mike
> Meyers Certification Passport Book for A+ Certification. Looks as if it
was
> made in 2002 according to the copyright. I've been in the field doing
Help
> Desk Support for roughly 200 users for 4 years now. When I started, we
were
> using Windows NT 4.0, then I had Windows 2000 on my machine briefly,
before
> upgrading the entire company to Windows XP. It may sound silly, but since
I
> haven't been in school for 5 years, im a little worried about taking the
> test. On to the questions. 1) Should I get the new Mike Meyers book? 2)
Do
> the questions match real world experience or are they more book type
> memorization questions? 3) Do you think the book I have along with my
> experience and practice exams from www.passitnow.com will be enough for me
> to pass the test?
>
> Thank you for all of your help.
>
> The Worry Wart
>
>

J. Q. Etuo, MSCE 2003, A+ 2003