My goal for the A+ Views & advise

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Hello all ill try and keep this short and sweet.

Im in the process of going for the A+, I have been looking at may site and cources and as you all know are pretty expencive. Apon coming across this site today i have decided to do this by self study and will be getting some books on it today 1st one being A+ Certification All-in-one Exam Guide.

My 1st question would be when taking do the exames do you have to do all the modules 220-601/602/603/604. or is it a select number you choose from. this is a site that I was planning to use and by looking at them I was under the impression you had to do all. http://www.comptiauk.com/comptiaa+.html

I prob be posting again to find out where you book for the exams but ill wait till im fully into things first.

Can any one say what sort of time frame this could take with say 5-10 study a week.
I have done basic level 1&2 city & guilds pc repair/support so i do have knowledge.

I must say from early reading this forum seems to have some sound advise and if i never came across it i dont think i would have chosen this route, I was almost set to take out a loan to pay for a course dodged a bullet there.

 

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You'll need to do the 701/702. The 601/2/3/4 retire at the end of this month.
Hopefully you'll read this before ordering a book.

 

thank you I would not have noticed that. So are many site out of date now.
Are there any recommended new books to look at yet.

Just had a quick look on smiths and I take it this is the right book now.
http://www.whsmith.co.uk/CatalogAndSearch/ProductDetails.aspx?productID=9780071701334

 

I recommend A+ All-in-One Exam Guide Seventh Edition by Mike Meyers and PC Technician Street Smarts Second Edition by James Pyles.

 

Thank you, by the sounds of it thats the one I have linked so ill grab that after work and get the next one a a week or 2 one i get paid.

 

Also, be sure to check out Professor Messer's free training video's at:

http://www.professormesser.com/free...essers-free-220-70x-comptia-a-training-course

 

Hey all. I inquired into computeach yesterday which is how I found the forum. Well they have just called me explaining how they work and the cost etc. Just wanted to get your views as it sounded better than I thought.

Welltbe cost is £1500
But they said it's a 12 month sort of contract thing so I can do the a+, msdst, mcsa and mcse. Or as many as I can do in 12 months.

Plus they said they have the cv writhers and companies that they use to get you into work.

What do you guys think.

Ps shop never had the book yesterday gutted will orde online

 

1500 £

Why don't you try doing it the pure self-study way first?
If you use the Mike Meyers' AIO book, which explains everything very well, and the Professor Messer video's you'll also get a good training.

Heck, for that kind of money you can probably buy every A+ video training out there

 

what he said ^ plus the fact that you shouldn't be doing the MCSA and MCSE since you have no direct experience as a network administrator or systems engineer.

There are certs for people with experience and certs for people with no experience (that experience in a job not at home).

Having high level certs when you have no experience can make it harder for you to get a job because you are expected to know what you are doing.

 

The way they pitch is sounds good (ive had the same conversation with them) but realistically how many of that little lot would you expect to pass before your 12 months is up? Realistically if you are starting from scratch A+,N+ and MCDST (which retires early next year). If you are not coming at this from a basic starting point you may even squeeze one or two of the MCSA papers if you are lucky?
The way I look at it, you can do the A+,N+ and MCDST for much less than £1500.
If you are capable of doing that lot and an MCSA, let alone an MCSE in a year, you should be teaching the course not paying for it!
Get yourself a couple of books for the A+, if it doesnt work out for you then your outlay is going to be less than £50, and you could still use your books if you signed up with Computeach or anyone else.

As for the CV advice, i ager it would be no more useful than a book from the library, online search tips, people on here or a friendly recruiter would give you for nothing. From reading on here and elsewhere the job finding service doesnt seem to be much use either.

Save your money, or at least try another route first.

 

I think you don't need to spend £1500 on a training course.

 

Save yourself the money and self study. I spent 35 pounds on mike's AIO, another 25 or so for james Pyles' book, and about another 25 for the exam cram and that is all i had. Having access to the net helped quite a bit as well as different forums.

 

How long do you think it will take to pass with self study.

 

As long as it takes you to understand all the concepts. No more, no less. And that time is going to be different for everyone. Everyone is different, with different prior experiences and knowledge and ability to retain new information and other distractions and prior commitments and responsibilities.

It simply takes as long as it takes.

In truth, I would be doing you a disservice by telling you how long you should take. Let's say I were to say that you should do it in 3 months (and I'm not saying that, by the way). If you don't feel like you're ready in 3 months, you'll feel like you're under pressure to get it done, artificially forcing you into the test center before you're truly ready. After all, you've been TOLD it should take you only 3 months! On the flip side, if you feel ready in a month, you'll be wondering what you're missing, artificially causing you to delay your exam and overstudy, when you could have been done with it. After all, you've been TOLD it should take you 3 months!

See what I mean?

Just study it until you feel like you're ready. If you want to be sure, there are companies (like my own employer) who sell practice exams that can show you whether you're ready for the "real thing" or not.

Hope this helps.

 

Haha. Fair play on what you said there so let's aim for 3 months. Only kidding. On so of the brief info I have seen so far it look slot like what was covered in my city and guilds level 2 so I'm Hopi g it won't take to long. Think what will take the longest is getting work after it's all don't and where to go from there I guess.

I have only really noticed the MCSDT today and that's only because computeach told me about it.

They made it out like that was something that had to be done.

I'm thinking now that my route will be A+ > N+ (not sure if class room or lab work is needed for that yet or if this can be done by home study like the A+) > MCSE.

 

I said earlier the MCSE is for people who are ALREADY systems engineers it will not help you if you have no experience in that area. Microsoft recommend you have 12-18 months experience as a systems engineer before attempting the MCSE.

 

yeah thats ok. Im not saying i want to jump right to that but thats where i want to get to in the end.

ie after A+ ill apply for help desk posts, and build up to tech from there. really im using the A= to get my foot in the dore so to speck.

but i would much rather be out and about off site fix and help than stuck on a phone.
from there its a case of building what i need to get to a nice pay but also some thing that i would enjoy doing and networking seems to be it.

this is the right road im going down is it not.

 

See that long string of certs in my sig? Every one of them was gained through self-study and/or real-world, on-the-job experience. I have yet to take a course for any of them.

 

Yep that would be the idea but it could be a long time before you get to that level, you just need to keep trying.

I am nowhere near the MCSA never mind MCSE although to be honest I am not sure I will even go for the MCSE.

 

wow that is a long list of stuff you have there Boson. How long have you been in the field if you dont mind me asking.

@Green, yeah its a long way to go and only just starting. but if its where i want to be I just got to put the time in, gain what ever i can and soak up every bit of information that i can. life is one big lesson and its up to us to learn what we can from it.