A+ Certification

[mrmann14]

I am thinking about getting my A+ certification. Who here has it?

How was it? How long was it? All that stuff

 

[leglez]

I am halfway to mine I took mine through my high school all we did all hour was read documents and then do labs over the documents. It has been fairly easy so far. I have to take the 2nd half next year and I am finished.

 

[ddviper]

Could you pass it with general AT knowledge or would you really have to study?

I got a video guide for Net+, but am waiting to take my A+ before I got for the Net one.

-Got answers?

 

[leglez]

I did A++ Hardware with basic knowledge because the documents we had to read told us everything that was on the test. So you probably would want to do some studying

 

[mrmann14]

Originally posted by: leglez
I did A++ Hardware with basic knowledge because the documents we had to read told us everything that was on the test. So you probably would want to do some studying

What Documents were they? We are doing the Cisco stuff at school, how much does that help?

 

[PsychoMadMan]

I got mine about 2 years ago come end of july. I dont think they've changed the test since then I took the 2003 version. I took a 10 week course at my local community college over the summer when I was in high school. The course helped me some what on the hardware portion but majorly on the OS portion. We used the Cisco book(which didnt help much) and Faster Smarter A+ Certification(Helped ALOT!). My prof gave out to all the class all of his old out dated A+, N+, Server+ books that he had to us I got a couple A+ book which also helped.

How hard was it- hardware wasn't very hard except for some of the random NT4 compatibility questions(didnt/dont have much experience with NT4). OS was fairly difficult study and memorize minimum system requirements for all oses from 9x-XP(including NT4 and 2000). I remember haveing about 4-5 questions just on minimum system requirements.

If you got anymore questions I can help from what I remember. Good luck :beer:

 

[mrmann14]

Originally posted by: PsychoMadMan
I got mine about 2 years ago come end of july. I dont think they've changed the test since then I took the 2003 version. I took a 10 week course at my local community college over the summer when I was in high school. The course helped me some what on the hardware portion but majorly on the OS portion. We used the Cisco book(which didnt help much) and Faster Smarter A+ Certification(Helped ALOT!). My prof gave out to all the class all of his old out dated A+, N+, Server+ books that he had to us I got a couple A+ book which also helped.

How hard was it- hardware wasn't very hard except for some of the random NT4 compatibility questions(didnt/dont have much experience with NT4). OS was fairly difficult study and memorize minimum system requirements for all oses from 9x-XP(including NT4 and 2000). I remember haveing about 4-5 questions just on minimum system requirements.

If you got anymore questions I can help from what I remember. Good luck :beer:

How many questions, and what is considered a pass?

 

[imported_michaelpatrick33]

There are total 200 questions for the A+ tests (100 Core and 100 OS). Obviously there are two tests that must be passed. They don't tell you how many questions are passing but give you a point total. For example, 515 points out of 900 is passing.

 

[pukemon]

Dunno how much the test has changed over the past few years, I did mine back in 1998. I remember the test being generally easy - they emphasized a lot on non-PnP "legacy" hardware which you don't really see much of these days. Not a problem for a relative old timer like me, I've been working with PC's since the mid 80's. They also seemed to ask some fairly useless printer maintainance questions that weren't worth much to me - the printer repair questions were the only ones I missed on the exam.

I found Network+ to be not that much more difficult. Security+ is the most difficult of CompTIA's exams.

 

[Ghouler]

I did mine in 2003. It was not difficult but I have done all past exams I had on a CD that came with a book. I did not quite study the book thou
They were asking some stupid questions about legacy hardware and e.g. I had to memorize memory addresses ranges for devices on 0-15 IRQ.
Not sure why but there was question on this in the test.

Try to get some past questions and do them to check how fast you are.
In fact I did not manage to answer all questions because I was short of time.

 

[JackBurton]

That is a retarded test. I had to take it because employers were looking for me to have it. So I walked in with no studying and took both parts in I believe it was under 20 mins (adaptive test). I came pretty close to getting perfect scores too. My opinion is, if you can't pass the A+ test, you shouldn't be in IT. And if you're not going to be in IT, there's no need to take it.

 

[burntfish]

make sure you know the details. they also ask you alot of old legacy stuff like com ports and IRQ nubmers

 

[Looney]

Originally posted by: PsychoMadMan
I got mine about 2 years ago come end of july. I dont think they've changed the test since then I took the 2003 version. I took a 10 week course at my local community college over the summer when I was in high school. The course helped me some what on the hardware portion but majorly on the OS portion. We used the Cisco book(which didnt help much) and Faster Smarter A+ Certification(Helped ALOT!). My prof gave out to all the class all of his old out dated A+, N+, Server+ books that he had to us I got a couple A+ book which also helped.

How hard was it- hardware wasn't very hard except for some of the random NT4 compatibility questions(didnt/dont have much experience with NT4). OS was fairly difficult study and memorize minimum system requirements for all oses from 9x-XP(including NT4 and 2000). I remember haveing about 4-5 questions just on minimum system requirements.

If you got anymore questions I can help from what I remember. Good luck :beer:

They absolutely did change the test last September. It's quite different now.

 

[mrmann14]

Originally posted by: Looney

Originally posted by: PsychoMadMan
I got mine about 2 years ago come end of july. I dont think they've changed the test since then I took the 2003 version. I took a 10 week course at my local community college over the summer when I was in high school. The course helped me some what on the hardware portion but majorly on the OS portion. We used the Cisco book(which didnt help much) and Faster Smarter A+ Certification(Helped ALOT!). My prof gave out to all the class all of his old out dated A+, N+, Server+ books that he had to us I got a couple A+ book which also helped.

How hard was it- hardware wasn't very hard except for some of the random NT4 compatibility questions(didnt/dont have much experience with NT4). OS was fairly difficult study and memorize minimum system requirements for all oses from 9x-XP(including NT4 and 2000). I remember haveing about 4-5 questions just on minimum system requirements.

If you got anymore questions I can help from what I remember. Good luck :beer:

They absolutely did change the test last September. It's quite different now.

Could you please explain the new stuff on it?

 

[HardWarrior]

I got the A+ cert about 5-years ago. The test isn't hard, if that's what you're asking.

 

[pkme2]

I got my A+ certification about 6 years ago and have been helping students get theirs for the past 2 years. The testing has changed and studying is required to pass. Scott Mueller's Upgrading and Repairing PCs, 17th Edition) is an excellent reference source.
You need to cross reference materials to understand their uses.

I recommend the A+Certification Exam Test Learning CD (2006 Version)

You can do whatever but classes are the best way to study, or if you're capable on doing on your own, good luck.......

 

[Remedy]

Originally posted by: Looney

Originally posted by: PsychoMadMan
I got mine about 2 years ago come end of july. I dont think they've changed the test since then I took the 2003 version. I took a 10 week course at my local community college over the summer when I was in high school. The course helped me some what on the hardware portion but majorly on the OS portion. We used the Cisco book(which didnt help much) and Faster Smarter A+ Certification(Helped ALOT!). My prof gave out to all the class all of his old out dated A+, N+, Server+ books that he had to us I got a couple A+ book which also helped.

How hard was it- hardware wasn't very hard except for some of the random NT4 compatibility questions(didnt/dont have much experience with NT4). OS was fairly difficult study and memorize minimum system requirements for all oses from 9x-XP(including NT4 and 2000). I remember haveing about 4-5 questions just on minimum system requirements.

If you got anymore questions I can help from what I remember. Good luck :beer:

They absolutely did change the test last September. It's quite different now.

The test didn't change last Septmeber. It was last revised in 2003. The next revision will be in October of this year.

New A+ with electives. If you're going to take the test, now would be a good time to do so.

 

[Ghouler]

Originally posted by: JackBurton
That is a retarded test.

I wonder when did you take it?
From what I see here by 2003 it was indeed very easy.
Mine was not that easy (Autumn 2003),
but still easier then any MCP I took in terms of
study load required to pass.

 

[jlbenedict]

Originally posted by: JackBurton
That is a retarded test. I had to take it because employers were looking for me to have it. So I walked in with no studying and took both parts in I believe it was under 20 mins (adaptive test). I came pretty close to getting perfect scores too. My opinion is, if you can't pass the A+ test, you shouldn't be in IT. And if you're not going to be in IT, there's no need to take it.

Umm.. no $hit..
If I couldn't pass the ASE certification, that means I shouldn't be an auto mechanic, right?

Everyone has their own skills and abilities.. If someone can't pass the A+, then I guess being a certified computer technician isn't their calling. Just because you "walked in without studying" and passed it, doesn't make you elite or god.

Your post is nothing more than an attempt to wave your e-penis around and throw crap in this thread.


Now back to the original topic; I have the A+. Took it back in 2001.
Passed it; not a high score.. but well above the minimum.

I recommend the newest Michael Meyers All-In-One study book for the A+.
If you have some hardware knowledge and IT experience, this will fill in some of the gaps. I only recommend the book to study, because these A+ and Network+ tests always throw some dumb questions on there, that you will never know or experience unless you read it out of a book.

 

[Looney]

WTF, you guys are right. The exam was revised in 2003, i thought it was 2005.

 

[Oyeve]

I took mine around 1997 or so when it was harder. Now its a breeze. I had question pertaining to fuser functionality and laser alignment and all sorts of old stuff like EDLIN ( I loved EDLIN, still use it!), its so easy now.

 

[Skeeedunt]

I thought A+ was a joke?

 

[Remedy]

Originally posted by: Skeeedunt
I thought A+ was a joke?

It's a joke in the sense that whoever writes the exam has very little conception of the real world scenarios that happen with PC's. How many times or when was the last time did you actually look up the memory range or checked and IRQ for a problem on a PC? Very rarely do technicians even do this with latest APIC.

On the other hand, In order to become HP or IBM certified or even Dell certified, you must have an A+ cert as a prerequisite to take their test.

 

[Avalon]

What format are the questions on the test in?

 

[Remedy]

Originally posted by: Avalon
What format are the questions on the test in?

Multiple choice Adaptive.