WeaponX 0 Report post Posted July 18, 2006 Hi, I want to take my A+ Certification Exam some time this year. I have a question on the study materials though. I took a look at the CompTIA site here to see what study materials they recommend. I see that some of the books they recommend from Amazon are very old. Will they be good to study from? I heard that the A+ exam changed a few years ago and I'm not sure if this will have any impact.Thanks. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
iGuest 3 Report post Posted July 18, 2006 To be honest, this is quite a useless qualification and still not highly recognised. It may allow you to step into higher qualifications, but it's quite a waste because you don't need any practical experience to pass this, it can be acquired by not going to any training institute, and just booking the external exam. All you need to pass this is have read a book on A+ and you can get away with it. This is why I don't look at CompTIA's wasted A+ exam, and if anyone else is considering doing this, DON'T, do something that will get you somewhere.Depending on what you're wanting to do, if it's computer technician, you need Trade certificates or Vendor certificates, not necessarily University degrees, unless you're set on higher goals and competing against other companies.I guess Trade certificates would be different around the world, so I'll just outline the ones I know of that can help, EST A, which is a Trade certificate that lets you work on Small Electrical Appliances, not just computers only, but does help you understand a lot more and safety measures, etc. Also diagnosing problems with the PC can be made easier if you know what you're doing, most people ignore the electronic side of computers, which is not a hard thing to do, and does not mean a motherboard is permanently dead.Then for Vendor specifics, things like RHCE/MSCE, CISCO, etc can get you far. There's also OEM certificates which you can gain servicing agent status for brands of computers like Acer, Dell, Toshiba, IBM, HP/Compaq, etc which you usually go through those companies to gain this.As for A+, the changes are only those that reflect newer MS (sigh) Operating Systems and newer hardware, if you're uptodate with these things, it doesn't matter how old the book is, as long as you know how to work these newer operating systems, etc. There's not really a big change in procedures etc, so these remain the same.Cheers,MC Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
WeaponX 0 Report post Posted July 18, 2006 Yeah, I heard this exam is not that difficult at all too, but I want to take it since it's just a one time deal. Don't we have to take these exams in order to take the higher ones like CCNA later on? After taking A+ I was thinking on going to Network+ then the Microsoft ones (MCP, MCSE, etc.).I'm sure most of the questions on the exam will be easy, but since this is my first time taking it, I will get one of those books recommended by CompTIA (maybe the Sybex one).Thanks mc Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
