self learning 4 me

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having weighed up all the comments left to my previous posts i have decided to buy the books and do it myself, i feel however my basic knowlege needs to be brushed up first, the course i was intialy looking at had 5 modules covering the basics, before starting the a+ and n+ materials, can anyone recomended a good book or books to bring up to this level, i am planning to set up my own lab and build a custom pc as my primary computer and an older cheap one as my second system . any advice on books would be appreciated.

 

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Well since you going for the A+ and Network+ i have been using two books for the A+ and got another for the N+ but these are highly recommended:
Guide
A+ Certification All-in-one Exam

Sybex A+

For N+
All-In-One Network+
Sybex Network+

The All in one books are the best around in my opinion but like many others i refer to use more than one source but thats up to you.

You might also want to look at Ebay - you can pick up PCs for next to nothing!

good luck!

 

You could buy a book that covers ECDL and study for that cert. Have a look at www.ecdl.co.uk for info on the exams etc. There's a couple of reasons for this.

1 - It will focus you on goals - the exams. Self study can easily lead to apathy without focus and goals.
2 - It will get you up to speed on the basics of IT and popular IT applications that are used in all IT departments.
3 - Its a commonly used intro course on many classroom based packages, so you'll end up going down the same route as those that have paid thousands, but with no time pressure and little cost.

You'll need to find a copy of MS office somewhere. MS may have time limited demo copies available. If not, I'd consider paying for an ECDl course with hands on with the s/w- they are so cheap .. cheaper than a copy of the software itself. Of course, you may already have a copy and if so... cool...

 

Also for A+ etc... make sure you download and print the official exam objectives and keep them close. You can then tick off topics as you study. One thing I hate is wondering if I've covered enough or not. Being familiar with the objectives helps. Also, use the study guides at websites like www.mcmcse.com as a sort of quick reference of the facts - vital for memorisation, but not for understanding, thats where books etc come in.

Lastly, there's a guy called Tcat Hauser, who has, in the past, given away an electonic copy of his A+ study books - dunno how good they are, but free is always a bonus. If you can find a copy ... great...

hope that helps

 

good advice clyde, i will check what my local college does, it may take longer this route, but i will save ££££££'s and it should get more satisfaction from doing it this way. i do have a lot of basic skills already, but not hardware skills, ie building, upgrading and fault finding hardware this is where i need to focus my brushing up. but ECDL will be a good idea to cement my present skills.

 

nothing to stop you buying a book on A+ and working on the h/w section for fun as you do ecdl.. ecdl aint that challenging.. so you ought to have time.. worth doing though for goal setting, achievement etc and helps you get back into study mode!

 

As Clyde said

 

just a wee bit of advice mate, i'm by no means the most self-diciplined person in the world but i still, sit down every night and read thru my a+ books.

having said that, i've been registered with learndirect for ecdl for about.....4-5 months!

very boring tutorial voice used and very boring to work thru full stop.

however it is easy so it shouldn't be a problem!