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A+ Cert


The Sorrow

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Study, study, study! And don't stop with your A+! Is this for high school/vocational school, or the full CompTIA certification?

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Study, study, study! And don't stop with your A+! Is this for high school/vocational school, or the full CompTIA certification?

ITs not that hard, relax, just know your stuff and youll be fine, you might want to look into other certs as well

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Study the entire book, and be sure that you actually understand the material. After that I recommend checking out a few practice exams, only once your acing those do I recommend you taking the exam.

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The unfortunate truth is you have to know all of the old hardware that those A+ cert books have listed even though nobody uses them anymore. Also, be ready for the most obscure question on the most random thing as getting one of those wrong can really hurt your chances of passing.

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I'm going to post this because someone sent me a PM, and I think my answer may help anyone else looking to go for their certs. Here was their question and my reply, but it goes for anyone looking for more help with A+, and Net+, or any comptia and vendor certs in general.

http://hak5.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=13027

Hey saw that post. I am going for my A+ solo (no help from school or companies on paying for it. I know it cost up the butt) What do you think about Network + Cert? Does that hold as much as A+ does?

A+ is definitely something you will want. Its a broad cert that many places want you to have at a minimum when looking for a job in IT support. Especially entry level Help desk and pc repair shops. Net+ is sort of a skill above A+, but I wouldn't say better than A+. Net+ alone probably won't get you a job by itself, but combined with another cert or skill, will definately let people know that you know your stuff.

I took my Net+ first because I am now in a Cisco class, and 100% of the Net+ class applies to the Cisco fundamentals and networking in general. The only bad thing about Net+ course is its not really a hands on type of course. You don't actually go in and touch routers and hardware, just a few commands for windows and linux to know where to look for things like your mac address, IP address, Default Gateway, and things like that to debug networking problems at the pc end. A+ at least shows you how to make an ethernet cable, and the different types, like Cross over, rollover, and straight cables, while Net+ just explains the wiring setup for each.

Net+ covers the OSI model in great detail, making it easier to understand the different protocols and how the hardware works, and at what level they function when trying to trouble shoot issues on the network. Its Vendor neutral, which means it covers the core fundamentals of networking, and not specific to anything like Microsoft alone, or Cisco alone, but applies to all vendors since they follow the core fundamentals of networking. Being that networking is a set of standards and rules, these apply to all vendors, so its good to have under your belt before going to the next level.

One thing the Net+ is great for though, is preparing you for that fork. I call it the fork, because once you have the Net+, you will be better prepared for one of two paths. The Microsoft MCSE path, or the Cisco CCNA path. Without Net+, some of the things in the other two paths can be difficult to understand and you would have to relearn it anyway to get through the other classes/certifications. I have some people in my CCNA class that never took the Net+ class, and they are having trouble with the basics of networking, and I was able to breeze through much of the Cisco stuff, like subnetting and the OSI model, understanding Layer 2 and 3 better and what hardware works at each layer.

If anything, get your A+ and Net+ together and you will have a much better chance at landing jobs doing pc and network setups for home office and small business tech support. There are always jobs for contractors who make house calls doing that type of work, and its a good starting point.

* If you want a discount on your certs, go to preplogic and look for rexam vouchers. You can save a ton of money depending on what deals they have. They also have practice exams. Sometimes they have bigger discounts than on other days, but they also expire in shorter times. Most vouchers are good for a year, while others only give you a two week period to take the test, but those ones will be a larger discount off the exams.

http://www.preplogic.com

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If your school/teacher hasnt ordered pratice test software you should look at A+ MeasureUp tests. They've helped me get my A+/Net+/Sec+. If you can pass those than I'd say you're ready for it. Its good to learn the material as best as you can, but there comes a point where you really just going to haft to memorize facts (espeically with the older stuff nobody even uses anymore thats still covered on the exams). Notice I said exams. You need to pass two exams to get the A+ cert. One of them well deal with commands/hardware (tech stuff) while the other well for the most part require you to know how to interact with customers based on common secnarios an IT worker would face.

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