Planning to go for Comptia A+

Discussion in 'A+' started by whacky1, Jul 19, 2009.

  1. whacky1

    whacky1 New Member

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    So i am planning to go for this Comptia A+ cert in the hope it will get me an IT job with a career ladder.

    About me:
    23 years old
    Done an AVCE in ICT (B,C)
    Did BSc Hons CompSci (Pass 1st year, failed 2nd year) now dropped out
    No working experience in IT.

    From this the only jobs that I can go for would be low level stuff helpdesk, technical support etc.
    These jobs usually expect you to have relevant working knowledge unfortunately I don't.
    And don't have the qualifications to say that "I can" do the job.

    What I am hoping is if I pass the Comptia A+ it will at least get me an interview and then
    hopefully I have the X factor.


    Anyway questions:

    What free material do you recommend?
    What paid material do you recommend?

    Any other Certs that a beginner should be looking at?

    Any one else like me, no working IT exp but "good" with computers?

    How long did it take you to prepare for the first exam?

    Anything else you want to tell me?
     
    Certifications: sdf
    WIP: gdf
  2. Kitkatninja
    Highly Decorated Member Award 500 Likes Award

    Kitkatninja aka me, myself & I Moderator

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    Hi

    Just as long as you remember that no cert or qual will guarantee you a job, especially in this current climate.

    Everyone has to start somewhere. Even though I already had my HNC & NVQ I started on a helpdesk, workshop and field service rotation.

    The A+ will help, but like I already said, it won't guarantee you a job. One thing to also work on would be your soft skills.

    Just do a search in the A+ part of the forum, there are lots of free resources like:
    Cramsession, Professor Messer, ProProfs and the local library.

    There are various CBT's around like CBTNuggets, Learnkey, etc.
    Practice exams from very good vendors like: Boson, Preplogic, Measure Up, Transcender, etc...
    Books from authors like Mike Meyers and James Pyles.

    IMO, the other certs would be: the Network+, the MCDST and maybe even the MCTS: Vista

    We all started somewhere :)

    You really shouldn't judge your progress with anyone else's as everyone is different and has different levels of experience, some people would have taken a couple of weeks to over a year.

    Hope this helps :)

    -ken
     
    Certifications: MSc, PGDip, PGCert, BSc, HNC, LCGI, MBCS CITP, MCP, MCSA, MCSE, MCE, A+, N+, S+, Server+
    WIP: MSc Cyber Security
  3. whacky1

    whacky1 New Member

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    Did a practice test A+ 220-601 from comptia website
    Only ten questions just got the one wrong (identify the class of the IP addy) if I learnt about classes would got 10.

    Any way more questions:

    Is that the difficulty of the actual exam?

    If you remember, what was the hardest question for you 220-601?

    Any more places which give free tests which is close to the actual exam difficulty?

    If i watch all the professor Messer videos Will he provide me the "answers" to the exam?
    (He covers all the objectives but does he mention everything i need to know for the exam or are there some things which you should know by experimenting if you get me)

    In the exam will it ask you what does ___ stand for?
    (Do I need to learn all the acronyms or should i just read over it a couple times and then just mark the one that Ive heard of)

    Is there anything that i need to memories of by heart ie laser printing process, something about COM HEX numbers?

    on the Proprofs website Home > Schools > CompTIA > A+ Certification (A Plus Certification)
    It has "A+ Practice Questions: A+ Core (Hardware)" and "A+ Practice Questions: A+ OS"
    Are those for the 220-601 Essentials or were they the previous syllabus and not needed the the 2006 one

    Sorry for all the questions
     
    Certifications: sdf
    WIP: gdf
  4. BosonMichael
    Honorary Member Highly Decorated Member Award 500 Likes Award

    BosonMichael Yottabyte Poster

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    Unfortunately, we can't tell you. Before you take the exam, you have to sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) that states that you won't disclose what you've seen on the exam - and if you do, you can get decertified for life. Not worth the risk.

    With free, you tend to get what you pay for (or less), with only a very few exceptions. What Ken told you are just about the only free sites with any legitimacy or helpfulness.

    If you want GOOD training materials, those will cost you money. I don't work for free, my friend! :)

    The "answers"? No. This isn't high school. He'll probably teach you a lot of the content that will help you answer questions on the exam (as well as content that'll help you be a better tech). But he's probably not going to "teach you the exam".

    Hopefully, that's not what you're looking for. If you are, you'll likely stumble across a cheating tool that can be found on the Internet called "braindumps". Those will also get you decertified for life. Again, they're not worth it. Stick to legitimate study sources like the ones Ken mentioned above.

    I would study Mike Meyers A+ All-in-One Sixth Edition. That's more-or-less what you need to know. Anything further, I can't tell you. :)
     
    Certifications: CISSP, MCSE+I, MCSE: Security, MCSE: Messaging, MCDST, MCDBA, MCTS, OCP, CCNP, CCDP, CCNA Security, CCNA Voice, CNE, SCSA, Security+, Linux+, Server+, Network+, A+
    WIP: Just about everything!
  5. SexySand

    SexySand Bit Poster

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    Took me about 2 months total to study for the exams. Wanted to make sure I passed as the price was high. Of course it helped me immensely that I have had 2 years of IT Administration experience so far. My recommendation are A+, Net+ then to Microsoft certs if that is the route you want to take. gl
     
    Certifications: A+
    WIP: N+, S+, MCSA, CCNA
  6. jameister

    jameister Bit Poster

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    I decided to go for the Cerco Intensive Training Course. This was recommended to me by a friend and certainly looked far more appealing then all of those other intensive courses out there stating that after qualifying with an MCSE they can then guaranteeing a job at the end of the course. Problem with those is most of it is theory without any actual or very little practical knowledge. The Cerco course is hands on, fault finding, problem solving and actually working on everyday tasks that you would get involved in your first job in the IT world. They also garantee you with a job as they are a recruitment agency as well.

    I got my 1st job after 2 weeks of completing the course, it was contract work but good enough. At was basically installing new desktops and backing up data with various companies in and around London. After doing this for 1 month I landed my 1st proper job working in the City for a large corporate company as an IT support Engineer and have been here now for 2 and half years.

    A lot can be said for experience rather then just letters after your name, but that said the qualifications help to back this up your experience.
     
    Certifications: CCSN, A+, Network+
    WIP: 70-680

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