about performance based testing

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hi i am going to do 220-801 exam on thursday, can anyone who has done it roughly tell me how many performance based questions are there e.g is it half multiple choice and half performance based, or is it mostly multiple and a few performance based. also what kind of performance based question come up in 220-801.

any feedback appreciated thanks. looked through this forum but no one who has taken the test has given feedback abt this

 

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I believe the questions are randomly selected out of a massive pool of possible questions. Could be wrong though.

 

Not sure on this one, its been a while since I did mine and I only got 3 that were performance based. They were very new back then so Im guessing things have changed a little now.

 

What would be the best way to prepare for the performance based questions for someone who has no hands on experience?
I can see why they have included the performance questions, but my concern is, the reason I'm taking these exams is to make me more employable because I have no hands on IT experience, coupled with the fact the exams are bloody expensive should you fail is making me slightly nervous!

 

While I appreciate your desire to improve your employment prospects, if we take you literally, then you have made no attempt to actually perform the objectives in the syllabus, in which case, achieving the A+ will greatly misrepresent your abilities. In other words, even if you passed the examination tomorrow, would you have confidence in yourself as a proficient technician out in the real world in front of employers and customers?

Experienced members here will echo that the purpose of certification is to validate understanding and prove capability you should have already attained through practice or experience; and therefore, to give your potential employer confidence that you can hit the ground running come Monday morning.

I'm not certain you do see the reason for these simulation based questions, or else the answer to your question here would be self-evident. Performance based testing is an alternative format to improve the effectiveness of these tests in measuring your actual competency, not just your factual retention and recognition skills. This helps providers further ensure the credibility of these certifications by better assessing that successful candidates are ready to take on the responsibilities of a given job role.

My suggestion would be to invest in a cheap old computer and components and start practising as much as possible the things you want to be certified in. Perhaps also find out if there are any vocational courses in PC maintenance being offered locally to supplement your learning if you can make time to attend classes. After that, you might be surprised to find that these questions are easier than the traditional multiple choice type because they are closer to the visual way in which we actually learn to do things.

 

Perhaps I was a little vague, what I mean by no hands on experience is that I have no relevant work experience of IT support / PC maintenance. Obviously I can build my own PCs, upgrade, troubleshoot etc, I have been doing so for a number of years, otherwise I wouldn't be aiming for this qualification.
What concerns me is whether they would expect knowledge only someone who does this sort of thing for a living would have, which obviously I don't have because I don't yet do it for a living, hence me wanting to get this qualification so I can.
Clearly I'm not very good at putting my point across, maybe I'm getting concerned for no reason

 

Joe,

The A+ is considered to be an entry level certification, have you taken any mock tests and what have been your overall result... as long as your hitting 90%+ on average then you should be fine.

The best advice is just to go in to the exam room feeling confident, if there are any areas that you feel negative about then go over them again... on the day I took my exams, I started to read through all my notes over and over again which got my mind in a muddle, but then once the questions came up I was fine. Yes I didn't get 100% correct, but not many people will, a pass is a pass and I am sure that if you have put the revision in then you will be great.

Good luck and let us know how you get on.