Whats the best way to study for the A+?

[TheLizardMan]

A lot of people say that the Michael Meyers books are the way to go. But I have heard that the A+ has recently been updated so that the Michael Meyers books no longer cover even 1/2 of what is on the A+ any more.

Could someone give me a pointer as to what book and online material I should start reading?

Thanks,
Alex

 

[percboy]

Just curious, what can getting A+ certified these days do for you job wise. I studied for it a couple years ago and all I heard I would get offered was salesmans jobs (Besy Buy , CompUSA) and building rigs for small local shops ($8 a hour).

 

[RelaxTheMind]

Im guess that depends on where you live. If you plan on getting your other comptia certs down the line you can get a ~$15-20 with an A+ degree and network+ alone.

I jsut got recertified beginning of february. just to do it. didnt need to study at all as the questions on the A+ exam tend to be redundant and pretty common sense if you ask me.

I would say touch up on the operating systems part especially dealing with system files and shortcuts.

kinda stupid how they ask questions about shortcuts. oh and for hardware if u didnt look i would study up on printers. I missed i think one or two for the stupid printer questions.

At the bookstore they have those pretest ones where it just asks you questions and gives you answers to them in the back of the book. keep doing those and you will pass it with ease. (Do you have a Barnes & Noble near you?) And they are usually up to date with the latest tests.

 

[TheLizardMan]

Yeah what RelaxTheMind said. An A+, N+ or S+ will get you an entry level $15-20/hr job. But believe it or not some places require one of these certs along with 4yrs experience and a CS degree. Some places that don't require it will just put you above Joe Smith just because you have a cert. But if you have 10 years with configuring cisco routers and managing 1000 workstations, an A+ wont help you at all since you are way past that.

As far as the comptia questions go. IMO they ask the question the most retarded way they can and most unrealistic way they can. They make it more of a "if you study the book you will pass" rather than "if you have real world computer knowledge you will pass". Since I do better with hands on knowledge, the comptia tests give me a headache. So I'm just looking for the easiest straight forward book that will ask me questions in the format that comptia writes them so that I know what to do when I am presented the question.

 

[WPFossil]

Try the Sybex book. Their books usually leave you over-prepared for a cert, which is a good thing.

 

[BT7990]

Agree on the Sybex books and with all of the above. It is a great cert for someone who is just starting in IT. If you have experience tinkering and have built a few machines, the test should be a breeze.

 

[WPFossil]

Originally posted by: BT7990
If you have experience tinkering and have built a few machines, the test should be a breeze.

You need a little more experience than that. The cert requires two exams, one solely focusing on operating systems. You really need to read a study guide to pass it - although it's not hard once you read through the material.

 

[Zugzwang152]

I've been debating dropping the money for an A+ as well... Of the practice tests I've taken, the hardware half is by far the easiest IMO.

 

[LiLithTecH]

The simple fact is it looks good on your Resume, which helps the clueless
HR and Recruiting people differentiate between prospects who can read
and retain and those that can not.

In the Real World, it is not of much use.

I had one individual who had CNA, CNE, CCNP, MSCE, Net+, A+ certifcations and
could not even phyically setup a PC let alone configure and maintain one.

 

[WPFossil]

Originally posted by: LiLithTecH
I had one individual who had CNA, CNE, CCNP, MSCE, Net+, A+ certifcations and
could not even phyically setup a PC let alone configure and maintain one.

He probably use cheats (commonly referred to as braindumps) to get his certs. Anyone who actually earned all those certs you listed would have to be pretty knowledgeable.