Hi Im new about to take the test and need help!!

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Hi guys/gals I have been studying for my A+ for about 4 months now and feel im ready for the hardware exam.

My downfalls seem to be the following at the moment
IRQ's, I/O Addresses, Post error Codes and Dma Channels

I have maps of IRQ's, I/O addresses but would appreciate a little chart for Dma channels.
The post error codes I have are:
100-199 : System board failures
200-299 : Memory failures
300-399 : Key board failures
400-499 : Monochrome video problems
500-599 : Color video problems
600-699 : Floppy disk errors
1700-1799: Hard disk problems

Admittidly taken from a post I just saw

I also have the ami bios bleep codes. Should I remember the Award/phoenix ones too? I hope not as phonex codes could fill a bloody book!

Lastly I have been using transcender A+Core cert and have been getting around 700 800 out of 900 but it keeps saying Fail

I thought over 500 out of 900 was a pass, can anyone elaborate on this one please?

Cheers, can't wait to get my self out of this shitty job!

 

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Greetings JonDaDon .
The Pass mark for the A+ Hardware Exam is 515/900
Pass mark for the O/S Exam is 505/900.
As for all the IRQ,DMA,IO Addresses the method i used was just be repetative with them,keep going over and over enough times and eventually i remembered

 

Cheers for the reply! I have read through the mike myers book twice, the second time making notes, I read my notes over and over and also recorded them to mp3 with 2 hours of silence at the beginning and started it when I went to bed. Seems to work a little but keep waking up!

Im crap at percentages, what is the Percentage of 515/900 I worked it out at 57%, that can't be right surely?
I thought it was 80% to pass, their way of working this out is confusing the hell out of me


BTW have added my chart for I/O addresses Dma Channels IRQ's and Post error codes. Hope This will help me pass.

 

The reason why Trancender is 'failing' you is that (as far as I know) it starts off with a default pass score of 100%. You have to manually set it to something lower in order to pass, or get 100%.

I used it for my A+ and set it to 80%, I figured anything higher than that was a reasonable indication that I was doing ok.

 

Couldn't find an option for changing the default pass rate

 

I've never heard of anyone passing a TS with 100%. If your hitting 80% or higher like Modey said then you should be ok. I have tech friends that are in the field and won't sit an exam till they can pass a TS pratice exam with a 80 or above. Good luck with your exams.

 

Once you have selected your subject after Trancender loads (ie A+ Core), then goto the OPTIONS menu, and pick PREFERENCES. In the prefs window, one of the first things you should see is a box marked 'My Passing Score'.

Just change the number in that box to whatever % you are happy with.

 

I sat my A+ Core a 2 weeks ago, I used transcender and the Meyers book. I found the Transcenders very good, during the exam I got asked about 3 questions to do with IRQ/DMA/IO Adresses, and none on POST error codes, but its different for everyone.

And as for the score, it says at the start of the exam not all the of the 80 questions will be counted as they are testing questions for future use.

But anyway I think you should do fine....and good luck

 

I took it that there are 80 Questions which are marked (count towards the exam) and the few that normally you think "what is this in here for" is for their research. Could be wrong!

Good luck with the exam. One tip Is don't review every question like I did in the core - because when you go over them you have second thoughts about questions that were probably marked correct in the first place
Just mark the ones you really aren't sure. Best of luck

 

Cheers Guys, I averaged my score out of about 3 different A+ suites, (exam drills is pretty good and free!) and im getting around 88%

I got till the end of next week till I take it, want to be averaging 90%+ by then as Im really limited for cash atm and need to pass 1st time!

By the way my Transcender A+ Core Hardware Cert does not have them options

Also can someone please answer this? If the pass rate is 550 out of 900 is that just 61% if so thats really to low!

 

Hi Jon,

The pass for the Hardware is 515 or 58% (515 divided by 900) and the OS is 505 or 56%.

Don't forget the objectives
and all the very best with the exam.
The idea behind the prep tests are if you can consistantly get 80-90% say three times in a row then even if you get the most awkward questions in the exam you will still be OK.

Good luck

 

Cheers Mate wish my own friends were as supportive!

Expect to see me back nagging for questions when I take the os exam in 6 weeks! (why didn't I find this place earlier?!)

BTW how long before the A+ exam is swapped to 2005 or 2006?

 

Also I have been looking for IRQ's and what their functions are and I/O address maps. Different places all have them slightly different. This is what I have

IRQ I/O Address Device
0 0040 System timer
1 0060 Keyboard
2 * Cascade to IRQ 9
3 02F8 Com2
3 02E8 Com4
4 03F8 Com1
4 03E8 Com3
5 0278 Available (Usually used for sound Card or LPT2)

6 03F0 Floppy Controller
7 0378 LPT1
8 0070 Real Time Clock (RTC)
9 * Cascade to IRQ 2
10 Available/ SCSI 1
11 Available/ SCSI 2
12 Available/ PS2 Mouse
13 00F0 Math Co-Processor
14 01F0 Primary Hard Drive Controller

15 0170 Secondary Hard Drive Controller

When using IRQ 2/9 IRQ 2 is the number that will be used and Is usually the Video Card


Is this accurate enough, I hope so as I've memorised it now!

 

Ok, as jay_man pointed out, there are 80 questions on the exam but not all of them are scored and counted towards the end result. These are only for research purposes and will be used to design new questions in the future, they are tested out first to see if they are too hard or too easy and then the difficulty of the questions will be raised or lowered.

Personally I found the PrepLogic test banks to be harder than Transcenders. I was avereging 75-88% with TS and only 70-75% with PL. The pass mark for the PL tests were set at 95% and for TS at 85%.

My advice, just go do it.