Cybex V. Meyers?

Discussion in 'A+' started by Pheonicks56, Feb 12, 2009.

  1. Pheonicks56

    Pheonicks56 Kilobyte Poster

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    So I have been studying my Cybex book for the past couple of weeks and have gotten about half way through the 601 part of the book and am feeling somewhat confident. My question is this, would I be more prepared for the test if I had gotten the Meyers book or will I be okay with finishing the Cybex?
     
    Certifications: BSIT, AAIT, A+
    WIP: Network+
  2. TwoToneTony

    TwoToneTony Bit Poster

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    I can't speak for the Meyers stuff though people here seem to praise it. I use the Sybex book as my only hard copy source and sailed through my essentials exam yesterday :D

    I don't know how up-to-date Meyers is but there was some stuff in the exam that I swear wasn't in my book.
     
    Certifications: A+
    WIP: N+, MCSA?
  3. Pheonicks56

    Pheonicks56 Kilobyte Poster

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    I'm extremely happy that you say you sailed through the essentials, how much IT knowledge did you have before you started to study and how long have you been studying at this point?
     
    Certifications: BSIT, AAIT, A+
    WIP: Network+
  4. TwoToneTony

    TwoToneTony Bit Poster

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    Thanks :D Well I've done about 3 or 4 weeks at say 15 hours a week. But I'd say most of my knowledge comes from hands-on experience but not in a work environment. Basically from what I've learnt by building/ maintaining mine and friends' PCs since 1996. I'd say 2 thirds of the knowledge I had to get me to pass the essentials exam was experience. I learnt some more by reading the Sybex book and of course refreshed the knowledge I had. It felt very much like a vocational exam and feels good to get some credit for that experience. However there were gaps in my knowledge and the Sybex book and the CD that came with it for practice exams did the trick.

    Although I worked in IT for a couple of years after leaving school (AGES ago), it was obviously so out of date to be useless now. Keeping your knowledge current is as important as learning in the first place, that's the whole reason why I find myself needing to get some certs at the age of 38 :D

    At one point during the exam though, after marking several of the first few questions for review, I got a sinking feeling and was sure I'd fail... happily I was wrong.

    I don't know about you but when I was taking the practice exams, I never took as much time as I was given and never marked any questions for review. I let the timer on the real exam run down to zero while checking all my answers.
     
    Certifications: A+
    WIP: N+, MCSA?
  5. ledzepploid

    ledzepploid Bit Poster

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    does it cover the ACDC cert your studying for tony?
     
  6. Evilwheato

    Evilwheato Kilobyte Poster

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    I think both books are great in the their own right. Each book by themselves should be enough to pass you through the exam, with the aid of questions and online resources. I agree though that there was some material that wasn't in Mike's book that was in the Sybex book- but it would (likely) happen the other way also.

    The thing I notice (more with the N+ books than A+) was that Mike explained each of the parts individually and in most cases pretty simply. He uses more analogies to explain idea or concepts.
    The sybex book seems to give you the facts- probably why it's a lot shorter!
     
  7. soundian

    soundian Gigabyte Poster

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    I don't want to dent your confidence but if you're only halfway through the 601 part of the book you haven't got to the tricky bits yet.
    I think I mentioned somewhere else that I think Sybex is the best book for more experienced people, such as twotonetony above, and Meyers is the best for the relative n00b. If you have enough prior knowledge that you're finding Sybex is just filling in the gaps then stick with that.
     
    Certifications: A+, N+,MCDST,MCTS(680), MCP(270, 271, 272), ITILv3F, CCENT
    WIP: Knuckling down at my new job
  8. Pheonicks56

    Pheonicks56 Kilobyte Poster

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    I wouldn't say I have a ton of experience, I built a gaming PC a couple of years ago, and have a huge amount of problems with it, but have tried to get the maintenance up on it. I have been keeping my head into the new hardware and software when it comes out and I understand a good bit of the information. A lot of the concepts are new to me in the Sybex book but I am following along fairly well, mostly I think I'm going to have a hard time remembering some of the older CPU and RAM specifications. At the moment I'm just cruising through the book highlighting half of it, then I'm gonna go through the flash cards on the CD and then review what I've read and highlighted in the book and knock out some practice exams, hopefully I should be ready in about a month for the Essentials at least.
     
    Certifications: BSIT, AAIT, A+
    WIP: Network+
  9. greenbrucelee
    Highly Decorated Member Award

    greenbrucelee Zettabyte Poster

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    Mike Meyers is the leading authority in compTIA A+.

    Never use one study material as some books may miss out on what others don't.
     
    Certifications: A+, N+, MCDST, Security+, 70-270
    WIP: 70-620 or 70-680?

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