what is the point?

Discussion in 'A+' started by nn, Aug 18, 2010.

  1. greenbrucelee
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    greenbrucelee Zettabyte Poster

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    I dont think it matters wether it interests you or not, if you need to know that stuff to pass the exam and lay the foundations for further knowledge then you have to learn it.

    I dont give a crap that all the routers in a segment need to reach convergence before everything is hunky dory but I know why and how it happens to make a network segment work.
     
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  2. JonnyMX

    JonnyMX Petabyte Poster

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    And when you're on a job trying to fix Internet connectivity and can't Google?

    :dry
     
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  3. SimonD
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    SimonD Terabyte Poster

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    Why do you need to learn it? Because it makes you a better technician, pure and simple, it's not about the bleeding edge, it's about the technology that everyone is likely to have somewhere (an old Intel 603 or 604 Xeon based server or dot matrix printer... and yes they are still out there). The reason you 'should' learn about the older technology is because it is STILL out there somewhere and chances are you will run into it (2 years ago I was working for a company that still had NT4 domains, 8 years after the release of Windows 2000).

    If you're unwilling to learn about the older technology not only will you suffer because of it but you also run the risk of looking silly infront of people who did bother learning about it.
     
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  4. DC Pr0Mo

    DC Pr0Mo Kilobyte Poster

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    Phone a friend, ask the audience.

    I see your point, but the chances of me being at a job that has no internet connectivity and i need to know off top off my head the clock speed. I/O speed, speed rating, pc speed rating of a DDR2 ram stick or the I/O Base address and IRQ number of a com3 port are slim to none.

    Anyone who is a+ certified and knows this stuff without having to check it up, fair play to them, but to me it is knowledge that would disappear as soon as I pass the exam, not saying i wouldn't use it, but would definitely verify it before acting on it.

    Not saying it's stuff you shouldn't learn or be aware of, just not get tested on.
     
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  5. DC Pr0Mo

    DC Pr0Mo Kilobyte Poster

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    When comes to the exam, you need to know it, agree with you on that. But I would say in your response to convergence that in IMO it is the same as knowing there are different types of Ram, CPU, and the compatibilty that come with that rather than knowing how many individual IP packets are sent during convergence. (Although that sort of stuff does interest me a hell of a lot more)
     
    Last edited: Aug 18, 2010
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  6. greenbrucelee
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    greenbrucelee Zettabyte Poster

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    not everyone goes into network though. If your carerr was a field service tech or you worked in a computer shop building,upgrading and selling computers then you would have to know about hardware and compatabilty and in anycase like I have said many times before isn't it wise to know the full picture instead of the tiny pixle in the bottom?

    When I first got interested in IT when I was 16/17 I wanted to know what does cpu do, how does the cpu do it, how does the ram work with the cpu, how do both work with the software and how does the software work with the hardware. If you dont want to know that as the basic stuff then why are you interested in IT?

    That is a question I will not understand the answer to.
     
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  7. DC Pr0Mo

    DC Pr0Mo Kilobyte Poster

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    You have picked me up wrong m8. I never said I was not interested in anything you have just mentioned.
     
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  8. Fergal1982

    Fergal1982 Petabyte Poster

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    What DC is saying, is that whilst he feels you should be tested on your ability to understand those little details (clock speed, transfer rate, etc), and how they affect things, you shouldn't necessarily be tested on the specific details of a specific model.

    Its something I kind of agree with. Understanding it is important, but knowing the clock speed of a P4 isnt something I personally would put at the top of my priority list, regardless of the field I worked in (unless it was R&D for processor manufacture perhaps). That said, ranges are probably important. Knowing that the clock speed of processors from 10 years ago was about half current, or things along those lines.

    An analogy. I loved history at school. But i'm **** with dates. I just cannot remember dates - hell I struggle to remember my mums birthday without being told. You would think that would make me **** at history, but not so. I found that its not important to actually know the specific dates an event happened for exams/essays, etc. What is important is being able to place those events into a timeline correctly (ie knowing what order the events happened relative to each other), and being able to give them a rough time period (I found that "The latter half of the 1800's" was perfectly sufficient). As a result, history was one of my top grades at standard grade level.
     
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  9. greenbrucelee
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    greenbrucelee Zettabyte Poster

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    I see what he says know I just guess I am the kind that like to try and learn it all, apart from programming in C# I just can't get my head around it even though I have tried many times.
     
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  10. karan1337

    karan1337 Byte Poster

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    Remember buddy: KNOWLEDGE IS POWER!
     
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  11. pwd_directory

    pwd_directory Bit Poster

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    Negative
     
  12. Sparky
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    Sparky Zettabyte Poster Moderator

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    No, not pointless.

    It will help you talk technical to other technical people rather than calling a PC a hard drive. :biggrin
     
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  13. DC Pr0Mo

    DC Pr0Mo Kilobyte Poster

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    Had user tell me the modem was broken today (It was the whole base unit that had been smashed on the floor). Also had a user tell me that she forgot the password for the monitor :D
     
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  14. dmarsh
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    dmarsh Petabyte Poster

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    I think exams should test understanding of concepts, ideas, processes. Maybe sometimes they should test lose categorisations as fergal mentions about dates.

    I agree there appears too much of a bias towards testing on little used facts in some CompTia exams.

    This is lazy exam writing to me.

    The best tests should not test memorization they should test comprehension.

    Someone who is good at cramming can pass a memorization exam, even people with good memorization and comprehension will forget little used facts over time, its the natural way the brain works.
     
    Last edited: Aug 20, 2010
  15. gosh1976

    gosh1976 Kilobyte Poster

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    In response to the last poster I believe that Comptia is actually moving in a direction taking them away from the number of pure memorization and more towards testing someone's mastery of the concepts and their comprehension. I took the A+ back in 2001 I believe it was and if I remember correctly their was a huge amount of memorization and a lot of it was about out of date technologies. Seems like from what I've read they are moving away from that stuff.
     
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  16. nn

    nn Nibble Poster

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    thank you, that’s what I was trying to say before some people on here tried to provoke an argument with negative responses.
     
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  17. Fergal1982

    Fergal1982 Petabyte Poster

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    Yeah, but that still doesnt change the fact that if you want the exam, then you have to study what they tell you to study, not what you think is worth learning.

    I fully agree, as you can see, with the sentiment that its better to test understanding, rather than specific model numbers, but I didnt write the exam and, until the exam is changed, the objectives are what they are.

    Sure you can ignore that information if you like, but if you get a slew of those questions on the exam and fail, you only have yourself to blame.
     
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  18. nn

    nn Nibble Poster

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    Yes fergal and i hear you and take all that on board. But at the end of the day I asked a question on this forum just the same as other people do, and was met with negative feedback from some senior members which I found rather upsetting and unnecessary. Hopefully if nothing else this post will make people think about the way they respond to new users questions. End of story and thanks for your help!
     
    Last edited: Aug 20, 2010
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  19. BosonMichael
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    BosonMichael Yottabyte Poster

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    Dude, you were the one who tried to provoke an argument, going way out-of-bounds by alleging that I use the forum to promote my employer's products. :dry I answered your question, and that's what I got from you... totally uncalled for.
     
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  20. Josiahb

    Josiahb Gigabyte Poster

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    Yup, although some of the responses to your original question may have come across as a bit harsh the only person I've seen looking for a fight in this thread would be you nn.
     
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