Is this anything like the real thing?

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Hi. I've just taken the A+ core training exam from

http://www.freeexamproject.net/

didn't attempt the OS.

It's a 90minute, timed multiple choice exam. To anyone who's actually sat the exam, are the Q's of a similar standard?

Thanks.

 

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I haven't opened the link but there might be a problem with your question if you are asking folks who have taken the exam to violate their non-disclosure agreements by revealing the content on the exam. Have I misunderstood what you are asking?

 

Hi Trip.

I'm pretty sure it's not a braindump or anything like that.

What I was wondering is, are the questions of a similar standard to what could be expected on the day? Or are they too simplistic/difficult?

If that is in violation of the agreement then please delete & accept my apologies

Thanks.

 

Aurelius,

I don't see how this question is asking anyone anything wrong. It is a fair question that asks only if the questions are of the same standard, i.e. on par with, a Comptia test. I fail to see how this could possibly violate a non-disclosure agreement.

As I run only Linux anymore I can't answer your question for you, or I would. They designed these exams to work only under Windows.

 

im also studying for my a+ and want to write core in the next week or so... umm had a look at your link and i found the questions easy did the first 20 or so and got 2 wrong now if its cause i know the stuff or cause they easy questions is another matter... i would think the way they have the exam set out is what we can expect eg what is 'A' and some pictures showing various hardware and identify 'A'.

Good luck with your exams thou!

 

I stand corrected, Aureilius. Guess I can be too cautious sometimes. Since zimbo took the A+ recently, I think his opinion would be the best. If he says they are "too easy" then you can bet the real exam will raise the bar.

 

I've now taken the time to look at the 'freeexam' system and also the A+ Core exam.

1) As this is a user-contributed project it will be like 'open source' software - very variable.

2) The exam layout is generic, and not very similar to CompTIA's layout. IMHO the closest approach to the CompTIA look and feel is from TotalSeminars - Mike Meyers company. As an addendum to this - while doing the Core exam I hit 'end exam' by mistake. No warning was issued and you couldn't undo this!

3) The Core exam ( or the part I did - I managed about 3/4 before I hit 'end'!) seems to be different in feel to the CompTIA exam I did recently. There were *far* more picture questions than in that exam, and some questions required you to type an answer - whcih I havn't seen happen in either of my A+ exams.

4) The distribution of question areas was different as well. The real exams I took surprised me with the emphasis on networking, something I have not seen in *any* of the practice exams. This free test had far more questions on printers than I remember in my real exam.


Harry.

 

Well, this is one problem with practice exams. I know someone who had a whole lot of printer questions on their A+ test. There is such a large pool of questions that Comptia draws on that it's impossible for any one practice exam to give an accurate representation of any one actual exam. Plus, at least when I took the exam, it was made in such a way that if a person missed a question on one subject they would immediately get hit with more questions on the subject. The only way at that time to get an actual exam that tested over a very wide subject matter was to answer everything correctly. That way the test wouldn't zone in on some area of weakness that you have.

 

I believe, correct me if I am wrong, that this known as an adaptive exam. I seem to remember that the A+ stopped being adaptive at some time in the past.

I assume the increased emphasis on networking in the exams I took in the last fortnight represent the increased importance of the subject since this version of the exam was first designed.

Most of the 'test' exams I tried were of a similar age to the objectives, so would not reflect this shift (if my supposition is true - of course!).

Harry

 

That's very possible. Comptia may very well have moved away from the adaptive exams. That's why I stated things the way I did, but that doesn't mean that any two tests from Comptia will still have the same emphasis. The MCSE exams are not adaptave, or weren't anyway when I took them, and no two of those exams are alike either. I know guys who took the same tests I did around the same time I did, and the material they were tested over was sometimes much different than what was on my test.

It's done so that you can never know exactly what you're going to be tested on when you go in for a test. You know that any of the material is fair game, but there just aren't enough questions on any one test to cover all the material in depth. So, one test will cover on subject much more thoroughly than another one will.

 

Thanks for the replies guys.

I probably should have put a bit more thought into the Q, since it involved actually downloading & taking the test to reply to it. So thanks for that.

Yeah, that was sort of my problem, I took the test & got 75% with about 72 mins left.

I generally got the I/O address Q's wrong & one or two 'regurgitation of fact' areas were weak also, I crashed on the laser printer Q's also . I suppose it at least highlighted my weaknesses.

Otherwise I felt it must have been a bit easy to really reflect upon the true exams.

So I'm taking it that the layout is roughly similar but the Q's will be slightly harder & may hone in on your weaknesses or be slightly less general.

Thanks again.

 

If you really don't want to get taken by surprise, I'd recommend you get the Transcender A+ practice tests. They will be as hard or harder than the Comptia test and will written just as confusingly.

 

Cheers ffreeloader, since cash is a tad tight at the mo' , impending Xmas & such, I'm trying to live up to your username & go for the freebies at the mo'

I'll look into it, see if the chancellor of the house approves it

So where'd I put that belt..

Just kidding

 

LOL. Well, when it comes to free tests I've found that with them you get what you pay for most of the time. Someone here recommended the tests in the back of the Mike Meyers book. Well, I found that they weren't very similar to the questions in the real tests. They were much easier.

There's a reason you have to pay to get good practice tests. It's very hard to write good questions, and harder still to write ones that can look like they have a couple of answers, but in reality have only one correct answer. It takes money to pay people to write those questions because it is a time consuming process. I've written just enough questions to know how hard it is, and if I were to write questions again I'd want to be paid for that kind of painstaking effort.

 

I downloaded the core test and finished it with 70 minutes left.
I got a pass of 72.5% and I haven't finished the MM book yet!

I don't know if it's similar to the real thing but I can say it is useful to point out areas of weakness, for me I have to make sure I pay close attention to the laser printers chapter and recognise what types of ram are from their shape. I was surprised that I got all the i/o addresses and irq's correct, I just seem to remember them.

I think doing a combination of tests and read up on the areas of weakness will be better than trying to remember what the answer is to wrong questions.