Status
Not open for further replies.

rcfant89

Distinguished
Oct 6, 2011
546
3
19,015
I have been studying the practice tests for the A+ certification from http://www.examcompass.com/index.php/comptia/a-plus-certification/free-a-plus-practice-tests.html:

d9f54506c431c04d612fb8a069b20bb7.png


I was wondering, assuming that I know 100% of these answers, how well should I expect to do on the test? I.e. would some/most/all of the questions be exactly the same or is it the general concepts?

I don't see how this:

cdf78519f575981b1bf13ded35fe8efa.png


would be helpful to know if it wasn't exact. There are many questions on these exams such as "what is the capacity of a floppy disk (ans: 1.44 MB although the technical correct answer is 1.4 according to miscrosoft).

My point and question is, since most of these questions are exact bits of data, it seems to me that it would be very hard to be well prepared for the test if it was full of concepts rather than exact bits of data in the form of questions.

If you know 100% of these 10 quizes (250 questions total), can you expect a 100 on the A+ certification exam? Can you expect to pass? Thanks.
 
If you know 100% of these 10 quizes (250 questions total), can you expect a 100 on the A+ certification exam? Can you expect to pass?
Sounds like you're simply trying to memorize questions/answers in hopes that you'll see them on the test. That's not how it works. The pool of questions is MUCH larger than 250. You're going to need at least some knowledge of the subject matter to pass the test.

There are also some ambiguous questions:

1. "How many devices are supported by a single SCSI controller?"

The answer they are looking for is 15. However, that is only correct for wide SCSI. The older narrow SCSI only only supports 7. The question is ambiguous because it doesn't specify wide/narrow.


2. "What is the capacity of a floppy disk?"

The answer they want is 1.4MB. However, that's only true of a 3.5" HD diskette. There are others still in use (3.5" = 720KB, 5.25" = 1.2MB or 360KB). This question is ambiguous because, like the previous question, doesn't specify. Note: an actual "floppy" disk is either 7" or 5.25" (we're talking PC world here). The 3.5" form factor is more correctly called "diskette".
 

CDdude55

Distinguished
Everything on the test should be referanced to in the books, the main A+ and Network+ books always start with assuming you know little about how computers work and even have a table at the front of the books referencing to how many hours you should study based upon how much actual experiance you have working with computers. I am actually currently in the process of (at least attempting to) studying to take the A+ test (took it once before a long time ago an almost passed).

It's hard for a test to cover the entire scope of a subject, as long as you know generally how a computer operates and how different protocals work you should be fine. It's simply a general computer knowledge test, they don't need yo to go into much detail on anything,

Also the answer to the Blu-ray disc question is 25GB and there is no differance between Microsft saying it's 1.4MB vs 1.44MB, it's still the same answer. It's generally written as 1.44MB is most places, so i would go with that if both 1.4 and 1.44 are on the same question as an answer.
 

rcfant89

Distinguished
Oct 6, 2011
546
3
19,015
@Ex-bubblehead: "Sounds like you're simply trying to memorize questions/answers in hopes that you'll see them on the test. That's not how it works. The pool of questions is MUCH larger than 250. You're going to need at least some knowledge of the subject matter to pass the test. "

Yeah that's pretty much right but it is what I have available to me. What would you suggest? P.S. I have built my own PC before and I took a couple computer classes in college. That's about the extent of my hands on computer exp. I do read a lot of computer stuff online as well.

@cddude - which book is the main A+ book? Is there one that is recommended or you just mean any basic A+ book?


And lastly, it's a 2 part 200 question exam correct? A+ essentials, 100 questions, Practical application 100 questions, is the whole certificate exam, right?
 

CDdude55

Distinguished


The ones written by Mike Meyers, here is the lastest book for test 801 and 802: http://www.amazon.com/CompTIA-Certification-Edition-220-801-220-802/dp/007179512X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1362321688&sr=8-1&keywords=a%2B

And yes the exam is in two parts and both must be passed to be certified. You do need to know a bit more beyond how to build a computer and basic computer components, they even give you a few troubleshooting questions where the questions are posed as a situation between you and a customer/coworker and you must pick what is the best solution to there computer problems. They'll go into things like the 802.11 standard and different encryption methods like WEP and WPA2 all the way over to Windows settings and printer technology. Having the ability to build a machine will only help you so far.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.