Current Events > Studying for CompTIA A+. Any advice?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I've been using Professor Messer's videos. It's a lot of technical terminology that's kinda hard to wrap my head around.

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Not familiar with that person but skip any long text or videos.

Take whatever sample tests they have until you can answer then just by glancing at the question. Over and over until you can literally click through it.

At that point most test preps will include enough of the actual questions youll either ace it or be able to get most with no effort. Any other questions will be similar to what youve done.

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divot1338 posted...

Not familiar with that person but skip any long text or videos.

Take whatever sample tests they have until you can answer then just by glancing at the question. Over and over until you can literally click through it.

At that point most test preps will include enough of the actual questions youll either ace it or be able to get most with no effort. Any other questions will be similar to what youve done.

I figured I could do it that way, but I figured it be best to enhance my understanding of the material too

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RchHomieQuanChi posted...

I figured I could do it that way, but I figured it be best to enhance my understanding of the material too

Ive passed dozens of tests for Microsoft, Redhat and Vmware certs and while I suppose it might differ for a hardware based cert Ive yet to have anything from a test come up in real life.

If anything focus on the specifics of how a machine starts and goes through POST as thats something that will remain relatively unchanged over time. And maybe anything that covers a large number of the questions.

Otherwise dont waste your time. The one thing you want to be absolutely certain of is that you pass on the first attempt.

And answers will stick in your brain somewhere between short and long term memory the way I recommended. If its actually useful youll remember it.


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divot1338 posted...

Ive passed dozens of tests for Microsoft, Redhat and Vmware certs and while I suppose it might differ for a hardware based cert Ive yet to have anything from a test come up in real life.

If anything focus on the specifics of how a machine starts and goes through POST as thats something that will remain relatively unchanged over time. And maybe anything that covers a large number of the questions.

Otherwise dont waste your time. The one thing you want to be absolutely certain of is that you pass on the first attempt.

And answers will stick in your brain somewhere between short and long term memory the way I recommended. If its actually useful youll remember it.

Gotcha...I'll try that method then

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@CableZL

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RchHomieQuanChi posted...

I've been using Professor Messer's videos

I used him back in the day when I needed to cram for a Security+ cert my new job required. Everything he mentioned in his videos were on the exam. He teaches you the exam and the concepts in very simple way. Really like the guy but his Security+ playlist was over 100 videos. I watched about half and passed.

divot1338 posted...

Ive passed dozens of tests for Microsoft, Redhat and Vmware certs and while I suppose it might differ for a hardware based cert Ive yet to have anything from a test come up in real life.

This is true. IT certs are bs.
I've come to learn those vmware certs are for sales people, not actual techs. I don't need to memorize the requirements to install vSphere. I can just look at the install guide when the time comes.

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BlazinBlue88 posted...

This is true. IT certs are bs.
I've come to learn those vmware certs are for sales people, not actual techs. I don't need to memorize the requirements to install vSphere. I can just look at the install guide when the time comes.

In my experience, Cisco certs are very good at teaching you what you had to know in the real world. The tests are generally based on knowledge you would need in real situations.

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As someone who just got their A+ certification last month, I'll tell you how I studied for it.

First, I went through all of TestOut (a website/platform for IT learners) course called PC Pro. It was ok, fairly easy, but lengthy. Next, I went through all of the exams in CompTIA's A+ book. Those questions were hard, I read about half of the book roughly. Then I went to examcompass and took about half of all of their offered quizzes, again, harder than TestOut. Then I took my exams and passed. Some of the big things, at least for my exam as all exams are gonna be different, were knowing the specifics of 802.11 standards, identifying parts and slots by sight (ideally you want to know all of the components of a motherboard and their expansion slots etc), knowing the CompTIA troubleshooting method, knowing the steps of laser printing (There's a good acronym for this called "People can eat donuts to feel clean" [processing, charging, exposing, developing, transferring, fusing, cleaning] ).

Just note that the first few questions when you go to take the exam are "performance" based, they will be drag and drop and/or a lab simulation similar to what's offered on TestOut but not as high of a quality. They will not show you if you have done the correct steps or selected the correct options to get the answer right, so you need to be confident in your knowledge. These are weighted heavily. Then there will be roughly 75-85 questions after these. You do have the option of flagging questions for later review. Standard test taking strategies apply, e.g. Don't overthink, Go with your first instinct for answer UNLESS you can really justify the change, rule out the answers that are obviously wrong to help selecting the correct answer.

The questions can be wordy, with some answers being quite similar, so the best answer isn't always the clearest.

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CableZL posted...

In my experience, Cisco certs are very good at teaching you what you had to know in the real world. The tests are generally based on knowledge you would need in real situations.

Cisco certs are a whole different thing man. Should have clarified that. I wish I cared about networking enough to get into it. They certs that are worth it from both the knowledge and direct career advancement. Certs regarding most infrastructure(OS and VMware) for example are bs.

AWS certs are currently worth it for the career advancement but the market is becoming flood with the associate level ones. Soon people will need the advanced ones in order to turn heads.

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It might also help to use spaced repetition programs like Mnemosyne or Anki to help memorize acronyms or word definitions that you're not familiar with. I was able to pass the tests the first time without them, but it probably would have sped up my study time.

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How long did it take some of you to pass the exam? I'd ideally want to be ready to go by the start of next year (like January/February-ish)

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RchHomieQuanChi posted...

How long did it take some of you to pass the exam? I'd ideally want to be ready to go by the start of next year (like January/February-ish)

See my post above for how I studied. I studied for it from roughly June to October.

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RchHomieQuanChi posted...

How long did it take some of you to pass the exam? I'd ideally want to be ready to go by the start of next year (like January/February-ish)

Got my security + after studying for two weeks. Keep in mind I already had 4 years of IT experience at that point.

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I studied A+ material and "CompTIA A+ Certification All-in-One Exam Guide" like what 6 yrs ago and was recently thinking about how a large amount of the material was completely irrelevant even when I was learning it

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IllegalAlien posted...

I studied A+ material and "CompTIA A+ Certification All-in-One Exam Guide" like what 6 yrs ago and was recently thinking about how a large amount of the material was completely irrelevant even when I was learning it

Well I guess it's good that I won't need it too much on an entry-level job.

I'm only getting it for the cert because I have zero IT experience and nowhere in Houston is hiring someone without a certificate

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I definitely need to get into this mindset. I'm looking to make the jump into IT as well with no prior knowledge (I know a good bit already just from messing around and helping family but not enough to say I'm a professional) but finding the time to sit down and study is difficult. I'm trying out the Google IT cert right now but not sure how useful that is for finding job opportunities.

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RchHomieQuanChi posted...

Well I guess it's good that I won't need it too much on an entry-level job.

I'm only getting it for the cert because I have zero IT experience and nowhere in Houston is hiring someone without a certificate

NinjaWarrior455 posted...

I definitely need to get into this mindset. I'm looking to make the jump into IT as well with no prior knowledge (I know a good bit already just from messing around and helping family but not enough to say I'm a professional) but finding the time to sit down and study is difficult. I'm trying out the Google IT cert right now but not sure how useful that is for finding job opportunities.

no shame, I actually gifted my copy of that A+ book to one of my best friends. IMO seems like a decent way to break into a respectable salary range

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IllegalAlien posted...

no shame, I actually gifted my copy of that A+ book to one of my best friends. IMO seems like a decent way to break into a respectable salary range

IMO, that's really one of the biggest goals with getting IT certifications. Make dat money, even if a lot of the subject matter on the exams don't cover real-world stuff.

Meraki is a fucking simple networking platform, but I've still seen the City of Austin hiring for $80k/year for a Meraki engineer.

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IllegalAlien posted...

no shame, I actually gifted my copy of that A+ book to one of my best friends. IMO seems like a decent way to break into a respectable salary range

How long did you study prior to the exam? I own a copy of that book and the accompanying videos.

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If you can put a computer together, make it work after a bad update, and hook up a modem, you know everything you need to pass.

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Possible to get a decent IT job just getting these certs and not spending tons of money on college classes?

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doomcrusader posted...

Possible to get a decent IT job just getting these certs and not spending tons of money on college classes?

From what I've heard, yes.

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doomcrusader posted...

Possible to get a decent IT job just getting these certs and not spending tons of money on college classes?

You can study on your own. For Cisco certs, the Cisco Press books range from $50 to $70 and I believe the first exam is about $250.

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TC, after going through whatever material you're using, practice tests, practice tests, practice tests. Comptia will often throw at you multiple answers that are correct but you need to know which method they think is best.

doomcrusader posted...

Possible to get a decent IT job just getting these certs and not spending tons of money on college classes?

Comptia or MS certs? Gonna be hard to get a foot in the door without at least an associates too. Cisco certs? Most definitely, but they're a lot harder to attain.
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voldothegr8 posted...

TC, after going through whatever material you're using, practice tests, practice tests, practice tests. Comptia will often throw at you multiple answers that are correct but you need to know which method they think is best.

Yeah I bought Professor Messer's exams yesterday. I've been going through it just to see what I already know and what I need to study up on.

And also, I already have a 4 year degree (though it's in Communications). Will I be good with that and a cert? And last question, if I want to go down the programmer/developer path, which certs are recommended?

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RchHomieQuanChi posted...

Yeah I bought Professor Messer's exams yesterday. I've been going through it just to see what I already know and what I need to study up on.

And also, I already have a 4 year degree (though it's in Communications). Will I be good with that and a cert? And last question, if I want to go down the programmer/developer path, which certs are recommended?

Bought? Isn't all of his stuff just on Youtube?

Yeah that should be enough. The associates doesn't normally have to be in IT.

There aren't really certs for the Programming field. If you are looking to get into that then you just need to roll up your sleeves and learn the shit out of whatever language you want. Then build a portfolio with examples of things you've built. Also if you want to get into Programming then I think the A+ cert is a waste of your time. There are lots of career paths within the IT field and not all of them cross streams.

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