Need advice on self-study

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Yep. I have been looking for a quite a while for a "cheap" and "quality" TP in IT sector. I had been unlucky until i found this great forum yesterday and got registered at once. Spent a lot of hours surfing forum and looking for info on what course to start and what TP to choose.
Finally, i made up my mind to do self study on CompTIA A+ 220-601 and then probably to move on 602.
In my self study i am going to use Professor Messer videos, also planning to buy a book of Mike Meyers A+ all in one 6th edition.
Q. What other good books and/or materials are there to be of a good assistance to me?

Feel free to give your opinion or advice, as i have just started, but some of you guys who did it yourselves would know all hidden stones in this river.

 

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www.proprofs.com is a free legit web site that has free practice exams for the A+ (most free practice exams are illegal), the Mike Meyers book also comes with a free practice exam CD.

But if you want a quality set of practice exams to gague your reddiness for the real exams visit www.boson.com and purchase their exams for the 220-601 and 220-602.

If you could get a spare PC or do not mind taking the one you have to bits and reinstalling the hardware then I would recommend getting PC Technician street smarts by James Pyles.

 

The A+ All-in-One Sixth Edition by Meyers and the PC Technician Street Smarts by Pyles is definitely the way to go. And although I believe that high-quality practice exams are a worthwhile investment, my opinion is obviously biased.

 

you have every reason to be biased since I own other paid for practice exams for the A+ I can 100% say that the other providers should take a lesson from Boson in how to produce high quality material.

 

Can I recommend a TP?

 

if you want, we told you before no one is against TPs here apart from the extortinate prices they chage and bollocks they speak (thats was a joke by the way).

 

Joke taken

It all depends on how much he wants to invest.

Over the last month, I have been doing extensive research on different TP's, the way they do it and how much they charge.

Ok, the cheapeast way is to self study, but I have information on most TP's and yes, the bollox they talk about is there in abundance, but not all are like that.

There are some good guys out there, its just a shame they get tarred with the same brush.

MrM

 

I think that you are already on the right lines with Professor Messer and the Mike Meyers book. There are also a few more training videos on YouTube or video.google.com. Search under CompTia

You mention that you will do the 601 and then probably move to the 602. The study and exams for these are much the same only with a slight change of emphasis in certain areas. So when you are reading Mike Meyers AIO or looking at Professer Messer you are in fact studying both. Therefore, my advice would be to go for both exams at the same time. I did mine on consecutive days and it worked for me.

Good luck.

 

Sure you can I hope it is not going to be something like McKenzy or Joskos? D
I had a call from Joskos TP (Microsoft Golden Certified Partner as well as Cisco), but when i found out that they are going to charge me about 6k for doing - i think it was MCSE, not quite sure, but i was shocked with the price and cancelled the interview. Plus they assured me of being placed in IT environment straight once i complete the course. As far as i am concerned no certificate can actually guarantee that you find a desired job at once.
This week I had a call from McKenzy agency (TP), but when i started digging on internet about it i've also come to the same conclusion (thanks to this forum again ;)) - hell no i am going to put my self in deep debts.
Only one solution so far - self study, self commitment, self found job. Don't care how long it is going to take me, but i'm going to be there one day ;)

Thanks to all of you for useful tips and comments. Keep posting
Buying some crap comp is a good idea, as well as some tools to work on it ^^

P.S. Silverfox ;) good idea

Ohh, nearly forgot - the main question. As far as i know i need to do 500 hours of hands on / lab work before i can actually think of taking any exams, is that true? If so, where can i actually do that, since i work in a completely different field.

 

You don't NEED to do ANY hands-on/lab work... you can just go in and take the exam cold, if you want.

SHOULD you get hands-on experience before taking an exam? Most certainly! But are you REQUIRED to do so? Heck no.

Just set yourself up a small network at home... you'll do fine.