alternative route to certification?

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ok, reading betwwen the lines most people would say the best way to get certified is by self learning, which is what i would be doing with one of the training providers, because of my limited knowlege, where would i start if i wanted to go out and buy the books and materials to get my A+ and Network+ and what about cisco, i have been told that cisco certfication is also a reqd qualification to have. mick

 

Do as Arroryn suggests, and have a look in the fourms on these boards you will find that a lot of your questions will be answered in some way.

As an alternative If I wanted to go out and get my A+ say, I'd probably go to Amazon, type in A+ and see the results.

 

been to amazon and found books on certification by Mike Meyers, is what your suggesting, i buy the books and take the exam once i am confident i can pass.

 

Yes, and no.

Buying the books and reading will only get you so far, what you need to be doing is applying what you are learning from the books. For this I would suggest that you get hold of a couple of PC's and build your own Lab, insatlling hardware into the PC's, installing windows, wiping the PC's then doing it over and over again.

You will find that most good books come with labs for you to try out included with them.

Once you feel totally comforatble with the topics I would suggest you get hold of some exam simulation software (my recommendation is Transcender ) and take the practice tests to see where your knowledge lies. once you feel comfortable with the test scores go and schedule the real thing.

Good luck to you in what ever route you decide.

 

Fastrhino,

Do just as Simon says, practice, practice, and read Mike's all in one book and you will be fine. Don't forget there is always someone lurking around this forum!
I would advise picking up a 1Ghz with say 512 of Ram to dual boot 9x, 2000 and XP if you can. There is nothing like having the image in your mind when you are at the test centre and you have a "how do you get to properties for your printer" type question.

Best of luck. You can do it!

 

this may sound stupid, when you say labs do you mean i have to set up my own labratory, so i bisicaly perform all kinds of experiments on my electronic lab rats till i am ready to take the exam. is this why NITLC told me i would need to buy 2 computers to practice on. i have laptop at the moment so i would to get a couple of desktop sytems.

 

if you know anyone who runs an IT dept or owns a business, ask 'em if they have any spare old PCs they no longer need. Otherwise, use ebay.. great bargains to be had there! Get yerself an el cheapo switch and bobs yer uncle.. you can play with the s/w and h/w till the cows come home and practice what you read about...

 

I'll just say this here: a person can read and study out of a book until the cows come home, but if you don't do the hands-on work of actually "getting your hands dirty" with what you're studying... well, when you get into a real world situation you're not going to believe how lost you will feel. Everyone around you will notice it too. It will stick out like a sore thumb.

Computing is one job that requires hand-on to really understand what's happening. I think it's because computing is so abstract out of a book. Everyone I know has to have the concrete experience of actually putting the abstract into practice to really "get it".

 

LOL

sorry Clyde i have to ask cause im really curious... translate this please?? i got my own translation and im just curious as to how you mean it?

 

This thread is pinned at the top of the A+ forums, mate. It should help get you started.

http://www.certforums.co.uk/forums/thread3707.html

 

Fastrhino...

Nice to see another Bolton lad on the forum, I am originally from Astley Bridge myself.

Anyway, I am also going for my A+ and I think the best thing to do is build yourself a lab at home if you can. If you already own a laptop then depending on the spec you could put x amount of OS's on there to mess about with. Then try and get hold of an old machine and put the older OS versions on that.

Like most people say on here, reading books won't stand you well in the future. You could learn how to drive a car in theory reading a book but you wouldn't do as you need to physically be able to do it.

Main thing is don't rush yourself into the exams - Practise until you are confident that not only could you pass an exam but you could walk into a job the following Monday and know what to do.

Good luck with it all mate

 

*G* It means that all will be ok...