Going to take A+ exam soon

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Hi all,

I've had an interest in computers since I was a young teenager I am now 25 and want to fore fill my dream in working in the IT industry, I really regret not doing this sooner and i've had quite a bad part of my life from the age of 22-25 where everything fell apart im now trying to get back on my feet again and get a good career and to do something I really enjoy doing!.

I have been self studying for about 6 months now just going over the a+ books and videos etc and feel pretty confident on the hardware side just need to really get some more software side revised as a bit rusty with it.

Now my question is can I just take the hardware side of the exam for now or am I best waiting for when im ready with software also?.

I read on here I can find my local test centers at the website pearsonvue.com, am I right a+ is comptia?, is that the correct one?. I am in Kent Dartford and it says my local is about 9 miles away.

I have been offered the exam fees by an education course im currently on which im very greatful for and they have said I need to pass onto them the test centre and prices of the exams to I can take them, I read it's around £100 per exam and they say they can pay upto £300.

Also I have put my name down for cisco training as they asked me if I was interested in taking the course and I said yes, does anyone have any advice on if its ok to go onto cisco after a+?. Im prepared to work hard at this as it's all I want to do!.

Many thanks
Ellis.

 

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Welcome to CF.

Yes you could do it like this, and it's probably a good idea as you can then focus on a single exam at a time.

Yes that's right. You can also take CompTIA exams at Prometric centers as well. http://www.prometric.com/CompTIA/. You never know, there could be a closer Prometric center than Pearson.

That's good that they will pay for it. I believe the cost per exam will be about £115. It seems to indicate that is the cost on the Pearson Vue site http://www.pearsonvue.com/vouchers/pricelist/comptia.asp#Aplus

Personally I think it would be a mistake if you started to try and tackle Cisco courses until you had some experience under your belt. The Network+ would be far more suitable as a next step after the A+. It's a good cert that will stand you in good stead for future studying / certs.

 

Many thanks Modey, thats very helpful and thankyou for the welcome.

Thanks to the forum im now using A+ Certification All-in-One Exam Guide - Sixth Edition as recommended here, it's amazing how each guide/study manuals go into different depths then the last, I was using the training videos CBT nuggets and guides and theirs are different, so im doing as directed to use different resources then just the one.

I will take your advice and focus on N+ after A+, but ill keep my name down for cisco anyway to show an interest, as they said the courses have a long wait anyway.

 

Sorry to add but can anyone tell me the recommended time to study each day?, I think I burnt myself out today studying about 7 hours and I then just freak out and think im taking too much in and will forget some of it.

 

It's different for every person. I put maybe 2-3 hours a day into just the reading part of things, and I usually do this over a period of 3-4 days after which I take a break of 1 or 2 days.

This weekend, I did +6 hours a day as I felt motivated.

It's important that you don't burn out or you'll begin to hate that which you study. We humans typically are able to concentrate very well on a single thing for a duration of 20 minutes or so, after this your concentration begins to wane, so it's important you put in short breaks if you decide to do a few hours of studying in the evening for example.

I might read/fiddle around with a lab for half an hour, then I make myself a cup of tea, have a chat with someone or check some news on the net, and 15 minutes later I'm ready to rock again. Just be careful and try not to study too late, the body needs a good 8 hours sleep to be rejuvenated, and there's nothing worse than waking up at 2pm after spending too late studying and then feeling like crap as you just wasted the better half of a day with no fresh air, sunlight, or whatever might stimulate you a bit.

Make sure to cut back on the burgers too (well, fast food in general) and eat lots of fish, veggies and other things which help your brain to absorb all the information. A half hour jog in the morning can also boost yoûr overall energy levels and does wonders to your concentration levels.

 

You shouldn't do 7 hours thats alot of studying and you will burn yourself out and possibly forget or over analyse questions like I did. I still passed, I nailed the IT tech exam with 900 but only just passed the essentials exam.

You can do the exams in any order you wish.

You can buy discount vouchers (international vouchers for the uk) from www.gracetechsolutions.com for £107 each and you use them instead of a credit card when booking the exam with pearsonvue.

You wont need a course if you are doing all that studying

 

There isn't separate hardware and software exams. Iirc about 20% of each exam is on the operating system, and most hardware is only configurable through software anyway. The good news is that once you're ready for one exam you should be ready for both.

I'd advise little and often for your studying as well. Mixing up my study material format works for me, e.g. take notes on one section of the book, then watch a vid, then do some flashcards etc.
Because of the seemingly endless list of facts you need to know for the A+ I think flashcards are a must for most people.
Experiment with how you study, you'll soon find out which ways work best for you.

 

Many thanks, i'll shall take all into consideration!.

 

You're likely YEARS away from starting to work with Cisco routers... I doubt the courses have THAT long of a wait. Remember, being overcertified is NOT a good thing!

Welcome to the forums!

 

Ok thanks, noted!, and thanks for the welcome!.