A+ Exam Revision Update Process Starting

CompTIA is starting the exam revision process for the A+ certification.

I just recently received an email from CompTIA requesting that I take
part in the "Critical Incident Analysis Survey" for A+.

While obviously I can't divulge the contents of the survey, it does look
like a substantial revision of the exam objectives are in progress. This
also falls in line with CompTIA's past policy of trying to have an
approximately 3 year lifecycle for exam objectives. This puts A+ due for
an update in 2006 since it was last updated in 2003. Network+ was just
updated in 2005 after last being revised in 2002.

<speculative mode on>

Based on past my past experience with CompTIA and their exam revision
process, it looks like we are at the very beginning of the process. The
process is typically an 8-10 month process. My guess is that new
objectives will be published in the next few months (Spring '06) to take
effect approximately 6 months later (Fall '06).

The existing exam(s) probably aren't going away any time soon. Typically
there is a "cutover period" with both sets of objectives running in
parallel. Then a few months after the new exams are in effect, the old
exams are retired with the entire process being about a year from start
to finish.

CompTIA also tries to time the introduction of new exam objectives to
coincide with academic schedules and to accomodate publishing concerns.
This is especially important after the way they botched the process two
revisions back with A+. I think they learned their lesson then. The
schools, publishers and authors were *all* up in arms back then.

<speculative mode off/>

I've only seen one other source report on this, and that is CertCities.

Here is a link to the article:

http://www.certcities.com/editorial/...itorialsID=986

Bottom line, anyone thinking about getting their A+ should look to get
started now so they will have plenty of time to get certified under the
current objectives. Remember, the certification *doesn't* list the
version of the exam you certified under, just that you are A+.

Cheers!

John
--
John P. Dearing
A+, Network+, Server+
To reply: Just drop "YOURPANTS" in my address!

John P. Dearing

Thanks for the information John, interesting.

--
Edward A. Weissbard
El Paso, TX

"Life is easy with eyes closed"
-----------------------------------------------
"John P. Dearing" <> wrote in message
news:nnLGf.10687$In4.9521@trnddc06...
> CompTIA is starting the exam revision process for the A+ certification.
>
> I just recently received an email from CompTIA requesting that I take
> part in the "Critical Incident Analysis Survey" for A+.
>
> While obviously I can't divulge the contents of the survey, it does look
> like a substantial revision of the exam objectives are in progress. This
> also falls in line with CompTIA's past policy of trying to have an
> approximately 3 year lifecycle for exam objectives. This puts A+ due for
> an update in 2006 since it was last updated in 2003. Network+ was just
> updated in 2005 after last being revised in 2002.
>
> <speculative mode on>
>
> Based on past my past experience with CompTIA and their exam revision
> process, it looks like we are at the very beginning of the process. The
> process is typically an 8-10 month process. My guess is that new
> objectives will be published in the next few months (Spring '06) to take
> effect approximately 6 months later (Fall '06).
>
> The existing exam(s) probably aren't going away any time soon. Typically
> there is a "cutover period" with both sets of objectives running in
> parallel. Then a few months after the new exams are in effect, the old
> exams are retired with the entire process being about a year from start
> to finish.
>
> CompTIA also tries to time the introduction of new exam objectives to
> coincide with academic schedules and to accomodate publishing concerns.
> This is especially important after the way they botched the process two
> revisions back with A+. I think they learned their lesson then. The
> schools, publishers and authors were *all* up in arms back then.
>
> <speculative mode off/>
>
> I've only seen one other source report on this, and that is CertCities.
>
> Here is a link to the article:
>
> http://www.certcities.com/editorial/...itorialsID=986
>
> Bottom line, anyone thinking about getting their A+ should look to get
> started now so they will have plenty of time to get certified under the
> current objectives. Remember, the certification *doesn't* list the
> version of the exam you certified under, just that you are A+.
>
> Cheers!
>
> John
> --
> John P. Dearing
> A+, Network+, Server+
> To reply: Just drop "YOURPANTS" in my address!

Edward A. Weissbard

> Bottom line, anyone thinking about getting their A+ should look to get
> started now so they will have plenty of time to get certified under the
> current objectives. Remember, the certification *doesn't* list the version
> of the exam you certified under, just that you are A+.
>

John,

I'm one of those publishers, and agree with all your speculation. Well, I'm
less optimistic about the time frame...the CIA is not always done because it
is expensive, and it adds time to the process. The CIA needs to be complete
before the SMEs meet to write objectives, then the item writing, then the
beta, then a cut score analysis, etc. I'm betting a beer on 12 months from
now.

From CertCities: " broad-based skills beyond the basic technical
fundamentals, and CompTIA aims to include these options in the new A+ "

What, Customer Service returns? Did they forget why they eliminated that
several years ago? Oh wait...nobody is there from several years ago. <groan>

-John O

John O

Edward A. Weissbard wrote:
> Thanks for the information John, interesting.
>
> --
> Edward A. Weissbard
> El Paso, TX

You're quite welcome.

Information is always better than no information.

I'll keep the group posted as I get more details.

John
--
John P. Dearing
A+, Network+, Server+
To reply just drop "YOUR PANTS" in my addy!!

John P. Dearing

John O wrote:

> I'm one of those publishers, and agree with all your speculation. Well, I'm
> less optimistic about the time frame...the CIA is not always done because it
> is expensive, and it adds time to the process. The CIA needs to be complete
> before the SMEs meet to write objectives, then the item writing, then the
> beta, then a cut score analysis, etc. I'm betting a beer on 12 months from
> now.

You're probably right. It could happen sooner but probably later,
especially if they decide to do a larger re-write of the objectives than
they did in 2003 which I felt was an "evolutionary" change to the
objectives rather than a "revolutionary" change like what happened back
in 2000-2001.

One important thing to remember, is that exam changes are usually times
to coincide with Academic schedules. That said, it's unlikely that they
would make a change effective in the middle of winter. We could
concievably be looking at new objectives going into effect in 2007.

At this point, only time will tell.

> From CertCities: " broad-based skills beyond the basic technical
> fundamentals, and CompTIA aims to include these options in the new A+ "
>
> What, Customer Service returns? Did they forget why they eliminated that
> several years ago? Oh wait...nobody is there from several years ago. <groan>

Good grief! That's the *last* thing they need to bring into the exam.

The A+ certification should be about technical competence, not "touchy
feely" things like customer service. Those things are just too
subjective to be accurately and reliably tested against.

Once again, just my $0.02.

John
--
John P. Dearing
A+, Network+, Server+
To reply just drop "YOUR PANTS" in my addy!!

John P. Dearing

>
> One important thing to remember, is that exam changes are usually times to
> coincide with Academic schedules. That said, it's unlikely that they would
> make a change effective in the middle of winter. We could concievably be
> looking at new objectives going into effect in 2007.
>
> At this point, only time will tell.

Exactly. We banged on them for YEARS to pay attention to academia, and only
recently have they done it. I don't see a huge rewrite on this....the
hardware technology hasn't changed all that much. The OS exam needs cleaned
out badly...it's gotta be time to let go of Win 95, NT4 and SCSI.

<snip>
> The A+ certification should be about technical competence, not "touchy
> feely" things like customer service. Those things are just too subjective
> to be accurately and reliably tested against.
>

I agree, but what else could Neill be referring to? It's got to be something
coming out of the advisory committee.

-John O

John O

> Information is always better than no information.

How dare you buck the prevailing attitude!

smackedass

smackedass