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Cheap A+ classes

plastick

Golden Member

anyone know the cheapest place to take the A+ cert classes?

my college offers the 2 for $145 each.. but that suxors
 
You really don't need the classes. Just get the book and you'll be fine. It's a pretty damn simple test.
 
WOOPS.... I meant the TESTS.. not classes... yeah we had classes for $175 and I said screw it ill take the tests.... so, "tests" not classes.....
 
Originally posted by: plastick
so i get 5 replies in 3 seconds after my question, but now that i revise, I get nonE! ...pooh

That's the going rate for the tests unless you can get a voucher.
 
okay thanks. I was hoping there would be some cheaper place to take it... like online for $100 er whatever... oh well... A+ cert is not that impressive... 😕
 
Originally posted by: plastick
okay thanks. I was hoping there would be some cheaper place to take it... like online for $100 er whatever... oh well... A+ cert is not that impressive... 😕

It's a scam is what it is. Too bad a lot of entry level support jobs basically require it until you get a degree.
 
i wonder how many of you that say its "super easy" actually have it, really found it that easy, realize its two tests, or could even pass them. Not that its extreme or anything, its not calculus, but it isnt just easy.
 
Originally posted by: TechBoyJK
i wonder how many of you that say its "super easy" actually have it, really found it that easy, realize its two tests, or could even pass them. Not that its extreme or anything, its not calculus, but it isnt just easy.

I took the A+ Cert Exams, and CCNA Cert Exam a few years ago in HS. The CCNA exam was exponentially more difficult than the A+ exam, and looking back on it now, the CCNA exam wasn't even that hard compared to college classes.

The A+ Cert is an entry-level, basic certification. Simple as that.
 
Originally posted by: BigJ
Originally posted by: TechBoyJK
i wonder how many of you that say its "super easy" actually have it, really found it that easy, realize its two tests, or could even pass them. Not that its extreme or anything, its not calculus, but it isnt just easy.

I took the A+ Cert Exams, and CCNA Cert Exam a few years ago in HS. The CCNA exam was exponentially more difficult than the A+ exam, and looking back on it now, the CCNA exam wasn't even that hard compared to college classes.

The A+ Cert is an entry-level, basic certification. Simple as that.

im not arguing A+ vs. college classes. I crammed A+ in two weeks, both tests and did rather well. but it isnt something that 98% of people can just walk in and pass. There are to many particular things that Comptia wants to see answered "their way".
 
Originally posted by: TechBoyJK
Originally posted by: BigJ
Originally posted by: TechBoyJK
i wonder how many of you that say its "super easy" actually have it, really found it that easy, realize its two tests, or could even pass them. Not that its extreme or anything, its not calculus, but it isnt just easy.

I took the A+ Cert Exams, and CCNA Cert Exam a few years ago in HS. The CCNA exam was exponentially more difficult than the A+ exam, and looking back on it now, the CCNA exam wasn't even that hard compared to college classes.

The A+ Cert is an entry-level, basic certification. Simple as that.

im not arguing A+ vs. college classes. I crammed A+ in two weeks, both tests and did rather well. but it isnt something that 98% of people can just walk in and pass. There are to many particular things that Comptia wants to see answered "their way".

Which is why you just get the book, gloss over it, and take the test.

I guess since this is Anandtech, I figure that most people are fairly intelligent and computer literate. Or at least have the mental capacity to study for and pass the test. Maybe I'm wrong in doing so.
 
Originally posted by: BigJ
Originally posted by: TechBoyJK
Originally posted by: BigJ
Originally posted by: TechBoyJK
i wonder how many of you that say its "super easy" actually have it, really found it that easy, realize its two tests, or could even pass them. Not that its extreme or anything, its not calculus, but it isnt just easy.

I took the A+ Cert Exams, and CCNA Cert Exam a few years ago in HS. The CCNA exam was exponentially more difficult than the A+ exam, and looking back on it now, the CCNA exam wasn't even that hard compared to college classes.

The A+ Cert is an entry-level, basic certification. Simple as that.

im not arguing A+ vs. college classes. I crammed A+ in two weeks, both tests and did rather well. but it isnt something that 98% of people can just walk in and pass. There are to many particular things that Comptia wants to see answered "their way".

Which is why you just get the book, gloss over it, and take the test.

I guess since this is Anandtech, I figure that most people are fairly intelligent and computer literate. Or at least have the mental capacity to study for and pass the test. Maybe I'm wrong in doing so.

no, i just dont want someone that is financially concerned getting the idea that the test is cakewalk, spending their money only to fail. The test does merit study and review.
 
the A+ does teach you useful information. i recently ran into a problem at work that dealt with the loading of a PXE device boot loader (don't worry, that's not A+ material). it kept running into errors that are attributed to config.sys, autoexec.bat, himem.sys, and emm386.exe. do you know what those files are? do you know what they do? do you want to sound like an idiot when the intern asks you what those files are and you don't know?

it's really not so "simple" stuff. the hardware stuff is beneficial -- IRQ interrupt issues arise all the time in an administrative work environment, and the software stuff definitely teaches you information about your OS that you wouldn't even know about unless you studied it or had some hands-on work experience with it -- but still, A+ gives you a very good detailed explanation that basically covers "everything you needed to know but were afraid to ask."

reading a book is definitely helpful and will probably have you certified. you don't really need the hands-on experience for A+ (although working with hardware installs may help), but you might want hands-on for something like an MCP (prerequisite to MCSE) in win2k3 server administration.
 
Originally posted by: BigJ
Originally posted by: TechBoyJK
Originally posted by: BigJ
Originally posted by: TechBoyJK
i wonder how many of you that say its "super easy" actually have it, really found it that easy, realize its two tests, or could even pass them. Not that its extreme or anything, its not calculus, but it isnt just easy.

I took the A+ Cert Exams, and CCNA Cert Exam a few years ago in HS. The CCNA exam was exponentially more difficult than the A+ exam, and looking back on it now, the CCNA exam wasn't even that hard compared to college classes.

The A+ Cert is an entry-level, basic certification. Simple as that.

im not arguing A+ vs. college classes. I crammed A+ in two weeks, both tests and did rather well. but it isnt something that 98% of people can just walk in and pass. There are to many particular things that Comptia wants to see answered "their way".

Which is why you just get the book, gloss over it, and take the test.

I guess since this is Anandtech, I figure that most people are fairly intelligent and computer literate. Or at least have the mental capacity to study for and pass the test. Maybe I'm wrong in doing so.


Had I taken it 10 years ago, the A+ would have been a cake walk. I'm currently in process cramming for it and there's a bunch of sticklers, especially on the OS side of things that can really kill your score.

10 years ago when I first started messing around with this stuff I was writing my own boot disks and working in DOS on a daily basis. Plus all you had to worry about was Win95 (or 3.1) and DOS on the OS side of the eam.

Now you have to know the differences between 95, 98, ME, 2000, NT 4.0, XP and DOS. When was the last time you worked with a config.sys or autoexec.bat file and knew what lines you would encounter in each of those files?

Trying to remember the ways of navigating to different settings under each OS can get difficult when you don't have the desktop sitting right in front of you.

Little things like just changing the computer name in each OS are slightly different. Or knowing the exact path you go through to get to the TCP/IP properties under each OS can get tricky.

The hardware part is just memorization (IRQ's, cable types, connector types, I/O addresses, ect), but the OS side has really gotten increasingly difficult because of so many legacy questions lingering around on the test still.

It's actually sad that I have to take the thing. There's so many people applying for jobs at the moment that something as trivial as the A+ exams (or the network+, ect) are just one more way to weed out apps. If you don't have it, you don't even get a chance for an interview.
 
If you go to cramsession.com, you can buy discounted vouchers.

😉 Figured someone ought to actually answer your question, as opposed to debate how worth an A+ cert is.

On a side note, my card came in the mail yesterday (woo hoo). My work paid for a week long class, of which I slept through most of it. The day of the test(s), I spent about an hour reviewing before each. You need about 60% to pass.

the OS isn't hard per se, but it is "quirky". That's as best as I can describe it. vi_edit is on the money in that the "difficulty" lies in the fact that you now have to know some of the subtle differences between 7 different OS's.
 
Originally posted by: codeyf
If you go to cramsession.com, you can buy discounted vouchers.

😉 Figured someone ought to actually answer your question, as opposed to debate how worth an A+ cert is.

On a side note, my card came in the mail yesterday (woo hoo). My work paid for a week long class, of which I slept through most of it. The day of the test(s), I spent about an hour reviewing before each. You need about 60% to pass.

the OS isn't hard per se, but it is "quirky". That's as best as I can describe it. vi_edit is on the money in that the "difficulty" lies in the fact that you now have to know some of the subtle differences between 7 different OS's.


Thanks dude. You are an A+ forum dude!
 

Do the questions change much on the tests? I ask because I have been going to Techiwarehouse.com and looking at the FAQ and tutorials for the A+ exam.. im only using these to get an idea of what the tests are like and to review..

I also have some cd's from my college class books from when I took computer classes.. they actually have Comptia A+ cert practice tests and stuff..

i suppose using these 2 sources and just reviewing my books, I should be able to do well yes?
 
Originally posted by: plastick

anyone know the cheapest place to take the A+ cert classes?

my college offers the 2 for $145 each.. but that suxors

The A+ tests were simple. If you have done any kind of hardware tech work and are familiar with Windows, you'll do fine.
 
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