A+ certification and what did I use to study

I know most of you aren't IT professionals or looking to be. However, I did want to review what resources I used to study for the A+ exam I took last week. I still have one more test to go..but the first is passed so these recourses did help.

 

I only focused on one book, too cheap and lazy to buy more than one. I used CompTia A+ certiciation Study Guide, sixth edition by Jane Holcombe and Charles Holcombe (and yes..I'm counting this towards my reading count since I technically did read it). Overall I think it's a good book. They are good at pointing out some things and telling you that you have to know it. However don't think you can just know that stuff and pass, you do have to know others. I just like that they at least give you some pointers. I did have some issues with the index. When I would take practice tests and then try to look something up to read about it, I couldn't always find it in the index, so that was annoying. There is a practice test at the end of each chapter. This is great to test your knowledge and get you some practice in but don't rely only on these tests to pass! I thought the chapter summary and two-minute drill were good refreshes.

This time around I used uCertify for my practice tests. It is kinda expensive, but they do offer a money back guarantee if you don't pass. So the company does stand behind their product. I used this for over a week, taking at least one exam (usually more) every day. I would print the ones I got wrong and study them, then the next day I would attempt the test again. Then I would move on to other exams and do the same thing. So towards the end I had a huge stack of paper with questions and things I needed to study and I would gradually get that stack down. I also like that you can review your wrong answers and they explain why the correct one is correct and most of the time explained why the wrong choices were the wrong choices. I found this extremely helpful. There are a total of 8 practice tests that each have 50-60 questions. There is also an interactive quiz that boasts 190 questions. You can do a custom test too. There are also flash cards to help you study and figure out what you do know and what you need to do more studying on.

I also used exam cram for practice exams. It's the exam cram CompTia A+ practice questions. They split the practice questions up for each exam and for each objective. So you know if there is one objective you are really weak on and if there is one that you are confident with.

I also found a couple of websites with loads of info. Proprofs.com is a website full of info. Lots of people get on there after they have taken the exams and tell you what kinds of things to expect. You can also post your own questions if you have any. However, I've been trying to use it this week to get some info on my next exam and it keeps having trouble. So hopefully they will figure it out soon. The Professor Messer is a great place for video instruction. I thought this one was helpful because the videos show you what different things look like and how they work while the Professor is explaining it all to you. Since I don't have the opportunity for hands-on experience, I thought this was a great help.