What is the Best Way to Prepare for the A+ Certification Exam?
[Posted 4 June 2013 by Kathy Yale]
The field of information technology (IT) is one of many occupations that benefit from professional certification. Obtaining professional credentials provides confidence to both prospective employers and clients that an IT professional has received proper training and is competent to work in the IT field. Total Seminars provides a range of examination preparation materials for the CompTIA A+ certification and other IT certification examinations.
Overview of the Comptia A+ Examination
Successfully completing the CompTIA A+ certification examination is important for anyone who wishes to be employed as a computer technical support specialist or computer repair technician. The basic certification process includes two separate examinations that cover a full range of computer hardware and software repair, installation, networking and troubleshooting. The examination is administered at testing centers throughout the United States. Each section of the examination is 90 minutes in length, and no reference material or notes are allowed during testing.
General CompTIA A+ Examination Guide
As part of a complete array of test preparation materials, Total Seminars offers a general CompTIA A+ guide, the All-in-One Examination Guide. This comprehensive guidebook, authored by expert Mike Meyers, is broken down into chapters and reviews all the material that might be included on the CompTIA A+ examination. The book also includes diagrams and pictures, as well as information about the examination itself. A CD accompanying the book contains several additional lessons and helpful bonus material.
Practice Tests
A great way to prepare for any examination is by taking one or more practice tests containing similar questions presented in the same format as the test itself. Practice tests can alleviate fear of the unknown while helping a student prepare more effectively. Total Seminars offers a set of CompTIA A+ practice tests comprised of realistic questions presented with the same time constraints as the actual examination. The practice tests are computer based and also available on CD.
Specialized Examination Guides
In addition to the general CompTIA A+ certification, certification examinations are available in numerous IT specialties. Total Seminars offers guidebooks and other material designed to prepare test takers for several of the most popular specialized certifications, including Network+, Strata IT and Security+. These study guides are written and presented by experts in each respective field and may be available in video or textbook format. Practice tests for each specialized examination may also be purchased.
Bundle Packages
Package deals are available that include many of the top-selling Total Seminars books and videos. The “Ultimate Arsenal” combines either the Mike Meyers Network+ Course or the All-in-One Guide with the Practice Test package, while other packages bundle test preparation material with examination vouchers good at VUE testing centers. These packages save money while providing the knowledge that a future IT expert needs to become certified.
Total Seminars is a leader in preparatory material for the CompTIA A+ and related IT certification examinations. Preparatory courses and guides are available for purchase using a convenient on-line checkout system. Course demos are also available at the Total Seminars website. The IT field is constantly evolving and the CompTIA examinations are frequently updated to reflect these changes. Total Seminars is committed to staying ahead of the curve when it comes to new information and CompTIA examination updates. An individual seeking IT certification can find everything needed to prepare for their examination at Total Seminars.
Grab Some Color!
Adding color to printing enables you to do a lot more with a document than simply printing in black. You can add emphasis to specific text, for example, or add small graphics. When it comes to printing a chart, on the other hand, color pretty much makes the chart come alive.
For years, the only cost-effective color-printer choice for the SOHO environment has been ink jet printers. Those of you who have taken our classes know my opinion about the ink jet rip-off market, with replacement cartridges costing upwards of $1000 per gallon. (Seriously. Do the math.) But the primary alternative, color laser printers, have been so expensive that most families and small businesses simply couldn’t afford the initial cost, even if the lifetime cost was substantially less than for an ink jet printer.
Dell just broke that paradigm with the announcement of the Dell C1790nw at a whopping $134.99. Blink. Close your mouth. It’s on sale today, so if you’re in the market for a printer, go here:
Or, if that long link is broken in your browser, try here:
http://tinyurl.com/dyqt2z6
My immediate thought was that, like ink jet printer manufacturers, Dell would fleece consumers with the cost of toner cartridges, but that appears not to be the case. Dell offers two levels of cartridges for the C1790: the 700-page and the 1400-page. (There’s also a 2000-page version, but only for black.) Prices:
- Black (700) – $50
- Magenta (700) – $56
- Cyan (700) – $56
- Yellow (700) – $56
____________________
- Black (2000) – $70
- Magenta (1400) – $70
- Cyan (1400) – $70
- Yellow (1400) – $70
LPT1
It seems that every time I think it’s safe to ditch content from my CompTIA A+ classes, CompTIA resurrects a zinger. One of my students recently (on the 801 exam) got a question on parallel ports, or more specifically, on LPT1. Here’s the scoop on these long-dead ports.
Early PCs offered only one built-in port, a round DIN connector for a keyboard. All other expansion devices (mouse, printer, joystick, speakers, etc.) plugged into ports of various types installed via expansion cards. The two most common ports were serial ports and parallel ports.
We used serial ports for mice and modems, primarily, and parallel ports for just about everything else. Both types of ports required assignment of specific system resources that were standardized throughout the IBM PC universe and thus got names associated with them.
It was assumed that each PC would have up to two serial and two parallel ports that would get assigned resources as COM1 and COM2, and LPT1 and LPT2, respectively. Most technicians and users called the serial ports and parallel ports by their resource names, so “serial port 1” was “COM1,” for example.
Both serial ports and parallel ports have gone away from modern PCs, but a few old devices that need them refuse to die. My office still has an HP LaserJet 4, for example, that was made before printer companies realized the money was in toner and ink. It just keeps working. And it connects to a parallel port.
If you find yourself with a legacy device that needs a parallel port, you can find a few expansion cards at my favorite store, Newegg.com. Chances are you’ll assign LPT1 resources for the port. (Just in case you get asked about such things on a CompTIA exam in your near future.)
Technical details:
• Parallel port = 25 pin female D-sub
• LPT1 = I/O address 378 and IRQ 7
• 8-bit
CompTIA to Add DOS Questions in A+ Update
CompTIA announced today that they would be adding questions covering Microsoft’s famed Disk Operating System, released in 1981. “After much internal deliberation, we at CompTIA decided that the way forward is backwards. There are literally twos or threes of situations where an extensive knowledge of DOS would be vital for a modern PC technician.”
The spokesperson then continued, “For example, what if an A+ technician fell into a wormhole in the time/space continuum and had to find work fixing computers in the mid-80s? We at CompTIA strive to prepare our students for the unpredictable temporal topology that they’ll have to deal with every day as a certified technician.”
CompTIA also pointed out that DOS, a command-line operating system, is still used today in many businesses that have been cut off from communication with the outside world for the past 30 years. “It may surprise you, but a significant portion of our client base is in what we like to call ‘chronologically isolated communities,’ such as North Korea and Alaskan fishing villages surrounded by impassable glaciers. Also: survivalists who have been living in underground bunkers since the Cold War.”
This move, in addition to affecting current A+ students, may point the way towards a shift in CompTIA’s future plans for A+. At the press conference, CompTIA stated that they were also working closely with the Amish community to see how their technology needs could be addressed. Again, the CompTIA spokesperson, “We feel that an important part of studying technology is learning that technology is viewed by many as an immoral conceit condemned by God. While it’s impossible to know whether or not using technology is a sin, we at CompTIA are increasingly of the opinion that the chance is not worth taking. Future A+ updates will reflect this changing philosophy.”
Zombie RAM: SIMM Sticks Linger
One of my students ran into a question on the CompTIA A+ Certification 801 exam the other day that had me scrambling for a Web search. The question asked about the type of memory used on a SIMM. What? SIMM? I haven’t talked about SIMMs in class or in print for a decade.
Historical scoop: We used single inline memory modules (SIMMs) back in the days when the fastest processor was an Intel 486 running at a whopping 66 MHz. Seriously. Today (read: since Intel came out with the Pentium CPU) every computer uses some kind of dual inline memory module (DIMM). A SIMM has identical electrical contacts on both sides of the stick; a DIMM has contacts that are unique on each side.
When my student mentioned the SIMM question, my response was historical: fast page mode (FPM) or extended data out (EDO). Those were the two memory technologies used on SIMMs. He just shook his head.
The SIMM question gave as possible answers only modern RAM types, like DDR or RDRAM.
An extensive Google session later revealed an obscure (to me) printer-only memory module on a SIMM . . . and it uses SDRAM. Here’s a link, in case you’re curious:
http://www.provantage.com/intermec-technologies-1-971134-001~7ITCA168.htm
Don’t miss this question when you take the CompTIA A+ exams!