A+ vs MCDST

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Hiya folks


im studying for me A+ and im looking for work for 1st line support and i keep on stumbling across roles want experience in microsoft MCDST

I juat wanna know whats the difference is and why most people are going for the A+

 

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I think the difference is the A+ doesn't really focus on the indepth functions of windows xp,it mentions xp plenty of times but if someone asked you to set up group policies and additional user accounts it's something you would cover in the mcdst not the A+.

MCDST focuses on all the tools available to you within the operating system,and the A+ doesn't go to this depth of understanding.
The A+ is much more enjoyable and easier than the microsoft course in my view.

I think the reason plenty of people are doing the A+ is because of the wide variety of topics covered,10 subjects as opposed to two subjects for mcdst,the low cost to learn the subject,the fact you can start as a beginner on the A+,a beginner would be lost quite quickly on the mcdst.

 

The A+ is vendor neutral which means it can cover topics that include learning about IBM, APPLE, MICROSOFT and the hardware and OSes associated.

The MCDST covers how to support xp and the apps that run on xp.

 

Personally, I disagree with the idea that the MCDST is harder than the A+.
Admittedly I haven't finished it yet, but as far as I've got (most of the 271), it's essentially an XP instruction manual you memorise. A LARGE amount of the stuff I've 'studied' in it so far is just stuff I'd already found while snooping around Windows. If you're naturally the curious, poke-about-your-OS type - the 271 really just consolidates a lot of stuff you'll already know, and points out some things you may not have come across/needed yet.

I'm not saying it's bad, just that I'm finding it more a test of endurance and memory than anything else. Despite this I have certainly learned some useful things from it. It IS worth doing.

Whereas, the A+ gave me the knowledge/confidence I needed to build this computer. I can look at a machine now and know pretty much at a glance what everything is and what it does. I can make educated decisions about purchasing parts for a machine. About optimising and upgrading. It gave me the grounding I needed to start playing around with networking. It got me over my Hollywood infatuation with Laptops! And most importantly, nowadays if something in my computer stops working, I don't have to fork out £50 to have some bloke at PC World tell me it was a SATA cable come loose!

Personally, I found the A+ more challenging in the sense that there was far more I learned from scratch. There was a lot more to take on and understand, and a bit less to memorise.

 

I find it harder,not everyone will find it more difficult than the A+.I was building and repairing pcs about 7 years ago so a lot of the A+ i already knew before i began studying.

The only parts of the mcdst i find easy are the bits that the A+ already covers,and a few of the obvious and basic subjects,i never made a habit of browsing all the functions of xp,which is why i'm finding it difficult.
As well as that i find the microsoft way of questioning boring and tiresome to read,whereas with the A+ i could race through the test questions and get high marks.

I'm confident of passing my next A+ exam,not at all confident about the mcdst exams.

 

Ah, I see. Put that way, I totally agree!

 

Is MCDST a multi-choice exam format like A+ or different?

 

yes, I don't think it has any simulations in it like other MS exams but it is multiple choice.