A+ Certification Advice

[veg1992]

what's this about 2 exams you have to take? my friend went to a vocational school for a A+ hardware class...took one exam, and got A+ certified..so how are there 2 exams??

To become an Comptia Certified Technician, you have to take A+ Essentials and A+ IT Technician

I intend on doing all of them by the end of summer..

I hope to get A+ Essentials done by the end of next week and IT Technician by the end of next month

 

[wafflehammer]

what is the difference between A+ and comptia A+?

 

[veg1992]

Tbh I don't think there is anything.. its just a bragging rights thing

 

[Lexluethar]

A+ is the same as CompTIA A+. I promise you CompTIA would throw a fit if someone had an A+ certification that was not theirs.

A+=CompTIA A+.

 

[wafflehammer]

A+ is the same as CompTIA A+. I promise you CompTIA would throw a fit if someone had an A+ certification that was not theirs.

A+=CompTIA A+.

if they are the same thing..why take 2 exams to get 1 cert when you can take 1 exam and get the same cert?

 

[Lexluethar]

Maybe i didn't read enough into this thread, I appologize.

The CompTIA A+ exam consists of 2 exams, one core exam and one of three other exams. This is relatively new, since their 600 exams came out in like 2006 or 2007. The one exam you are talking about is the old exam where you only used to have to take one exam and be A+ certified.

I just read someone asking the difference between A+ and CompTIA A+ and I was just saying that more than likely they are talking about the same exams since CompTIA probably ownes the rights for any exams called A+.

If you take any exams which are before the 600 level exams (yes people are still allowing you to take these outdated exams) you only have to pass one exam and you are certified. Now you have to take two SEPARATE exams to become CompTIA A+ certified.

I believe the previous posters friend probably took a class for one of the previous exams in which you only had to take one exam. Some vocal schools MIGHT have something setup with CompTIA where they just take both exams at once, but every class i've seen lately you have to take two exams. You pay one fee, you take one class, but at the end of the class you take two exams.

 

[deneb829]

The A+ (and Network+) are both have alot of varied questions. There is so much information on the exams that it is really difficult to study everything.

I was working for for a technology company on their helpdesk - way, way back in 1996. They handed me a stack of books weighing over 20lbs and said "All techs have 90 days to get their A+ of they're fired." That was just too much information to absorb in that time, but the thing about the A+ and Network+ exams is that while they cover many, many subjects, they do not go into much detail about a subject - unlike the Microsoft exams where they cover topics in great detail.

The question are general and for the most part, having a solid year of experience will make a huge difference. I took a few practice tests and found where I was lacking - back then (for me) I needed work on laser printers and DOS (yeah ... the OS portion was DOS and Windows 3.1). I just glanced over the portions that I knew and scored around 90% for both parts.
By the time I took the Network+ in 2006, I was in my 12th year in IT with over 6 years of networking. The main things I needed to study for that exam were Novell and cabling standards - nothing like having to memorize how far 50ohm coax cable will go (185m I think? ). Again, if you have a working knowledge of networks (IP, subnets, DNS, DHCP, etc) you won't have a huge problem.

Ultimately, the more experience you have the easier you'll find the CompTIA exams. Honestly take a practice exam (honestly meaning: one time and don't look up the answers or give yourself credit for someting you remember after you saw the answer - you'll only be doing yourself a disservice). Focus on the areas you didn't know well and review the areas you are more fimilar with as the exam approaches.

The Microsoft exams are completely different. If you have never taken one be prepared for some serious work. Years working with server 2003 made little difference when it came to having to know intricate, rarely used parts of Windows (i.e. backup, system monitor, etc).

Good Luck

- deneb

 

[Lexluethar]

The A+ (and Network+) are both have alot of varied questions. There is so much information on the exams that it is really difficult to study everything.

I was working for for a technology company on their helpdesk - way, way back in 1996. They handed me a stack of books weighing over 20lbs and said "All techs have 90 days to get their A+ of they're fired." That was just too much information to absorb in that time, but the thing about the A+ and Network+ exams is that while they cover many, many subjects, they do not go into much detail about a subject - unlike the Microsoft exams where they cover topics in great detail.

The question are general and for the most part, having a solid year of experience will make a huge difference. I took a few practice tests and found where I was lacking - back then (for me) I needed work on laser printers and DOS (yeah ... the OS portion was DOS and Windows 3.1). I just glanced over the portions that I knew and scored around 90% for both parts.
By the time I took the Network+ in 2006, I was in my 12th year in IT with over 6 years of networking. The main things I needed to study for that exam were Novell and cabling standards - nothing like having to memorize how far 50ohm coax cable will go (185m I think? ). Again, if you have a working knowledge of networks (IP, subnets, DNS, DHCP, etc) you won't have a huge problem.

Ultimately, the more experience you have the easier you'll find the CompTIA exams. Honestly take a practice exam (honestly meaning: one time and don't look up the answers or give yourself credit for someting you remember after you saw the answer - you'll only be doing yourself a disservice). Focus on the areas you didn't know well and review the areas you are more fimilar with as the exam approaches.

The Microsoft exams are completely different. If you have never taken one be prepared for some serious work. Years working with server 2003 made little difference when it came to having to know intricate, rarely used parts of Windows (i.e. backup, system monitor, etc).

Good Luck

- deneb

100% true. Taken the A+ exams (yes you have to take two now) and they were cake walk compared to the Vista certification I took. I've been studying for server 2008 now for a while and i'm dreading the exams.

 

[Astay]

****, So would trying to get certification in all of MCSE Exams 70-290, 70-291, 70-293, 70-294 be worth it since there is such thing as server 2008 out there. I'm feeling so over whelmed but i should have expected getting into this career track to be a lot more than a CompTIA A+ exam plus a few MCSE exams.

would it still be worth getting all those older server certs?

thanks

 

[oldskool]

Well it would depend on what your goal(s) are. For example, do you use Windows Server 2003 in a job capacity ? I would just keep focused on what you goal is, and get a feel for what certs you think you need based on talking with others that have similar jobs if you can find someone to talk to about it, checking job requirements, etc.