A+ Certification

I

IanSMK

Weaksauce
Joined
Aug 12, 2004
Messages
127
hi, i went to a tech school like 4 years ago to take the courses that would teach me what i needed to get A+ certified. For the most part i have kept up with hardware and the way technology is going, but at the time i never got my a+ certification, so i was wondering if any of you guys know how i go about that now. i now live in NY and not in florida where i took the courses, but from my understanding u can just walk in and take the test. So is there any websites that can serve as a refresher? and how do i find out where and when i can take an a+ certification test. im guessing a good percentage of the active posters on here are a+ certified, thanks and i thought long and hard what thread to put this in, dont flame me too much. thx
 
My experience with standardized tests like this lead me to suggest grabbing a test prep book from Amazon and just read through it. Check out the sample questions, usually they come with a CD with practice tests. No matter what you "know" they always word things differently than you'd expect or put something you're not prepared for on the test, and a little prep before hand will save the trouble of re-taking it. Just my $0.02.
 
kirbyrj said:
My experience with standardized tests like this lead me to suggest grabbing a test prep book from Amazon and just read through it. Check out the sample questions, usually they come with a CD with practice tests. No matter what you "know" they always word things differently than you'd expect or put something you're not prepared for on the test, and a little prep before hand will save the trouble of re-taking it. Just my $0.02.
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I quote the man with the same video card as I :cool:
 
I seriously doubt more than 10% of [H] Computer professionals have it.

I was forced to sit in the classes for it in college. Computer Configuration or something ridiculous.

My advice, learn all you can about different systems. No idea what you want to do, but getting most of the operating systems down pat is something that will definately help you in the future.

You can pickup an A+ book from Borders. Most of them are insanely huge, much larger than my CCNA and CCNP books.

If you have an AS/Bachelors, an A+ is worthless to you.

A+ will only get you a job with no other credentials on the Bestbuy Geeksquad, etc.

Way below your level. Aim higher.
 
Its a waste of your money I promise you. I unfortunately bought the book and CD and it has been a total waste. College is the only way.
 
browse through a book or 2 at the bookstore to make your decision. id say buy one of the books, and afterward sell it on ebay. hell, buy one on ebay, then resell when you have completed the test.
 
My teacher invested money is Test Kings courses for just about every Comptia test and I can say I passed all the tests with flying colors. And I didnt read any books (besides a 1000+ page A+ cert book freshmen year which I regret now) and had no trouble. Their practice tests are very close to the real thing... ;) ;)
 
Goran said:
My teacher invested money is Test Kings courses for just about every Comptia test and I can say I passed all the tests with flying colors. And I didnt read any books (besides a 1000+ page A+ cert book freshmen year which I regret now) and had no trouble. Their practice tests are very close to the real thing... ;) ;)
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So you didn't build multienvironment systems, you didn't deal, hands on, with various internal printer or computer issues, you probably didn't learn the intricate differences between NT and Win kernels..

Like was said above, getting the +A, or most low level certs now, is useless. They mean nothing.

People get braindumps and testking exams and memorize them. They learn nothing.

I really hope your teacher didn't just give you the testking curriculum and tell you to study it. He should be fired if he did. Actually, that sounds like every public school teacher I had, so I wouldn't doubt it.
 
woah woah woah hahaha

im in college with a math major and hope to move onto information science and technology or nanoscience, but right now for the summer i need a job, and id like to just get paid by bestbuy to reformat computers all day and add ram, but i cant do that without the certification, plus an internship i want to apply for is all pretty much that, working with networks and such... and i wanted to put A+ certified on my application to just let them know that i do have SOME computing background.
 
I disagree with those saying it's worthless. If you have 5 years experience as a network admin, yes of course it is, but as a college student I think it's something definitely worth the cost. If you've got an A+, Net+, maybe even MCP when you start trying for CS/Engineering internships it will help. With the competition for them every little edge is crucial. Plus bench tech jobs as you said.

I recommend Mike Myers All in One. Probably the most popular A+ book and should be able to get you certified fairly easily if you prepare.

Edit: Also, check about the possibility of getting a few hours of ellective credit for it. Some places will do it, some won't.
 
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itsmikey said:
So you didn't build multienvironment systems, you didn't deal, hands on, with various internal printer or computer issues, you probably didn't learn the intricate differences between NT and Win kernels..

Like was said above, getting the +A, or most low level certs now, is useless. They mean nothing.

People get braindumps and testking exams and memorize them. They learn nothing.

I really hope your teacher didn't just give you the testking curriculum and tell you to study it. He should be fired if he did. Actually, that sounds like every public school teacher I had, so I wouldn't doubt it.
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I wouldn't say a A+ cert is useless my uncle works for adelphia well time warner now but its was a requirement for the job don't know if it still tho.
 
You can take the test either through Thompson Prometric or Pearson Vue. Google for their page and you'll be able to find testing centers in your area. I recommend going with Perason Vue if possible because Prometric is like a root canal if you ever need to call them about anything.
 
let me get this right, to work at bestbuy on Geeksquad or CompUsa tech, u need A+ cert, i could see if your doing more than just hardware install n such, but u referred to installing ram, formatting hd's etc.. fairly simple stuff, hmm, i too was thinking of joining either BB or Comp, just to get more under my belt other than my side pc building biz.

im in florida, and plan on buying a book on A+ and find somewhere to take the test, places around here want to charge 800-1600 for training and test,pffft, when i heard i can get the book for $30-50 and test is $300 roughly.
 
dwilson041781 said:
let me get this right, to work at bestbuy on Geeksquad or CompUsa tech, u need A+ cert, i could see if your doing more than just hardware install n such, but u referred to installing ram, formatting hd's etc.. fairly simple stuff, hmm, i too was thinking of joining either BB or Comp, just to get more under my belt other than my side pc building biz.

im in florida, and plan on buying a book on A+ and find somewhere to take the test, places around here want to charge 800-1600 for training and test,pffft, when i heard i can get the book for $30-50 and test is $300 roughly.
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Dunno… when I talked to one of the guys working for BB, they said A+ wasn’t required to work for GeekSquad.
 
a+ is not required to work at bestbuy, it is however required if you are a dept senior, supervisor or onsite technician. If you are a regular PT or FT then its not required.
 
oh wow, its not required? so the people that fix computeres...technichally...can be anybody that just applied? and it costs how much for any little thing from them? thats some 0 moral robbery going on...but i guess some people will pay for a 'safe' company name to install a dvd drive
 
I just took the hardware test portion of it last week actually. From what I can tell, its the really basic things. Like most of the questions were basic troubleshooting questions. Some of the wording makes you think a little. I still have to take the software part.

The troubleshooting questions just asked basic steps you would take to isolate the problem, like asking, "Bobs CD player doesnt work anymore, what would be the FIRST step to troubleshoot it." Basic questions like that. If you know your stuff, then you should be fine. It asked me like one IRQ number and one processor type questions. The rest were basically troubleshooting.
 
I have a big A+ book with a test CD, and the practice questions are either insanely stupid or insanely hard, because they're about hardware that's seriously out of date. When was the last time anybody here needed to know what the 8th pin on a serial port was used for??
 
Slartibartfast said:
I have a big A+ book with a test CD, and the practice questions are either insanely stupid or insanely hard, because they're about hardware that's seriously out of date. When was the last time anybody here needed to know what the 8th pin on a serial port was used for??
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LOL

Only question I remember that was absurd as that about old hardware was on a AT motherboard how do you plug the 2 power connectors together. Put the 2 red sides in the inside, Put the 2 black sides on the inside. It did ask about the AT and ATX form factor specifications do like size.
 
I used the Exam Cram books and a Microsoft book on A+. I found the test very easy, I got both parts done in about 30 minutes. I scheduled my test through Prometric, theres another place too but I foget the name, you have to schedule the tests through them and take it at an authorized testing center. At least thats what I did about 5 years ago when I took it.
 
I am in college now for Computer Network Engineering... and Im taking the A+ class right now. Its the most rediculous class Ive ever had. I look at forums during the entire class and then take the tests, its so boring.
 
I know the topic of this post is deviating a bit...
But as a guy who's been fixing computers on a daily basis for 10+ years, A+ is a joke.

It's to the point where if people have an A+ certification, I dont hire them because I assume they didn't know shit about computers and they went to learn it by taking a course. From personal experience, the real computer techniciens are mostly self-taught and have learnt everything from experience, trial and error and research.

Most of the A+ people I see dont know the first thing about computers, so they end up working at Best Buy or Staples and do windows reinstallations for $70 an hour.

When i'm hiring new people, I look for previous work experience & hands on stuff. If the guy knows the newest computer hardware, can to build a machine in 20 minutes and has fixed over 100 machines already, he's the one I will hire.

That being said! For bigger companies, if they are looking for "certificates", you would need to have them. Mind you, i'd probably just say I have them to get an interview, and then prove my knowledge face to face.
 
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