2011 Practice Exam Vendors

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Hi All,

Having looked through previous posts, due to their age, most of the recommendations for practice exams seem to recommend companies that don't appear to have updated their exams to cover any new content. Had a look at the Boson and Preplogic sites as examples...

I'd be grateful if anyone knows of quality exam prep software that covers all the latest objectives for the A+ exams - I don't really want to lay out hard earned cash and find it doesn't include all I'll need to be prepared for the exam.

Many thanks,

Steve

 

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Hi and welcome to CF - i would completely recommend Boson. I used them for my A+ and were by far the best I've used, however probably one of the most expensive.

 

Transcender offer a A+(2011) as well as A+(2009). Why they don't just offer 2011 I don't know.

You also need to take into account that the websites may not have been updated when the exams were. Boson claim there practice exams are based on "the published objectives", but also say somewhere else that it is the 2009 objectives. They can't both be right as the published objectives would be the current 2011 objectives.
I would contact them if I were you, ask them if their exams cover the current objectives. After all, it wouldn't be good business for Boson to offer

if their product wasn't up to date.

 

Thanks guys - will get onto some of the individual companies and see what they have to say.

 

I just returned from the EXAM center 15 minutes ago and boy am I PO'd at Boson. I spent hundreds of $ for their A+ 2009 versions 220-701/702 practice exams. Spent weeks mastering those, and then went in to take the 701 exam (which the header on the exam also stated was 2009). I barely skimmed by with a 715, and most of the questions asked (I would say 90% or more) were NOT covered in any of the practice exams. It is surprising how quickly confidence can become dread. I don't know what I'm going to do now about 702. I don't trust Boson to provide me any solid study materials.

I've also sent Boson an email chewing them out for their misleading practice exams. If you take all 3 exams, mix them up, randomize them, master them, you tend to think that the material itself has been mastered. Not the case here. If it weren't for my own personal experience I would never have been able to pass this.

If someone out there has a suggestion to better use Boson than just for the practical exams then I'd like to know. I want to get A+ certified - I have 30 years now of hardware experience, and 12 of customer support. I can not attend a course because the basic level of most of the instruction would bore me to tears.

Let this serve as a warning to anyone wanting to use the Boson practice exams as a method of mastering the 220-701. Don't rely on them.

 

I've generally heard good about Boson. I remember a couple of Boson guys used to hang around here.
I've never used Boson yet because: (a) I'm not made of money, and (b) my company tend to give us MeasureUp stuff.

Just to say, acpiper: I might be reading your post wrong, but it looks like you're saying you studied from the Boson practice exams. Just to say I seriously wouldn't recommend this. Once you've done each test a couple of times you can't help just remembering all the answers. And given how CompTIA like to update the questions every now and then, memorising practise-test questions probably won't help much.
Personally I would always get some kind of study material to go through first and THEN master the practise tests. And put the two together to pass.

MeasureUp was invaluable for passing some Microsoft certs I took. But I would seriously NEVER have passed from MeasureUp alone. No Way. Practise tests don't have enough content to teach, they're best used for testing understanding of stuff you've learned from somewhere else. To help you spot gaps.

From the sounds of it, you've got plenty of experience but I'm betting there are a few gaps. A few things you've never had to do or use. Your exam results slip should tell you where you missed marks (it'll list the objectives where you answered wrongly). See if you can spot a pattern, figure out the bits you don't know. Given that you've spent hundreds already, I won't ask you to buy anything, instead just watch whichever of these A+ videos are relevant to you.
The 702 is really an applied version of the 701, so if you plug the gaps you should be okay.

 

I have loads of egg on my face. I castigated Boson for my near failure at the 701 exam. As it turned out the Boson Update executable had been quarantined by my SOPHOS software - treated as malware. Once I discovered and authorized it - updates ensued, and all of the old references that CompTia had abandoned (Windows 98/NT, serial ports, IDE, etc) also stopped appearing in the practice exams. In addition, new stuff started showing up: Windows 7 stuff, usb, sata, SSDs. Now, THAT's more like it.

BOSON - I really wish I could take back the remarks that I made. If I could I'd remove the review that I made above - it was based on ignorance and mis-directed anger.