My Training Academy

[Len Dananey]

Hey

A friend just told me he wanted to do the CompTia A+ exams so wants to learn. I told him to get Mike Meyers book and read that and then book himself, rather than that he said he was considering booking with these https://www.mytrainingacademy.org.uk/courses/comptia-courses/comptia-a-220-901-220-936.html#

Now I may be wrong but it seems all this company does is give you practice tests and probably an online booklet which you need to work through, then seperately you need to book the 2 exams and pay yourself for them. Am I right in thinking that this company are charging near £200 for pretty much nothing? You can get all of the info and practice tests online I have seen them. Just need some advice so I can stop him please.

 

[Beerbaron]

This is an entry level course. You should be able to grab the text book and watch vids on cybrary.it. No need to pay for it.

 

[Minibiker]

I learnt a lot from watching ProfessorMesser on YouTube... I'm still not the smartest of people but it taught me a lot watching his videos and jotting down notes

 

[dowie]

Sounds like a waste of money then again I'd have that view for most basic IT training or indeed similar entry level courses like basic regulatory exams required for people working in finance etc... lots of this stuff is below university level and can be learned easily from books/other learning material. You certainly don't need to hand over £200 for study materials for a qualification as ubiquitous as that - there are much cheaper books and free resources out there, I'd wager there are second hand courses/mock exams on eBay or elsewhere too... In fact this is hardly say the Lord of the rings boxed set etc.. it is a book you're going to learn from then probably not use again - I'd pick up a few second hand on amazon/ebay, see which ones you like and then toss them to a charity shop afterwards.

Tuition is perhaps useful for really theoretical stuff - which is why people do masters degrees or attend taught courses in the first year of a PhD etc...

It can be marginally useful too if an employer is paying for the whole thing and/or you're doing something really, really dry - for example I don't find accountancy stuff particularly fun so hats off to the people who formally study that **** in the evenings or on weekends with the aim of becoming chartered - that's where something a bit more social like evening classes by BPP or some other training provider could be handy.

 

[Len Dananey]

Cheers guys will let him know, he does have a degree or Foundation Degree I think in Computer Science and a few other courses he did, but wants to get into IT, he is great with computers and hardware, have been building with him for years. Will tell him to read up a little and just book them.

 

[mattyfez]

Yeh I bought a compTIa hardware course book way back when IDE drives were still a thing.

I quickly realised that I knew it all already, mostly from reading the hardware sections of this here forum lol!

 

[Zefan]

I did my A+ back in early 2016. Professor Messer on YouTube, then research/practice the exam objectives you aren't as familiar with.

After doing that, do the practice exams at examcompass and crucialexams. This will give you a better idea of where your strengths and weaknesses lie, and allow you to focus your energy in the most worthwhile areas. If you can obtain some resources from somewhere else, this will really help at this stage, I had pluralsight so got the great Timothy Warner course which was really enjoyable to listen on my commute. Following this, a quick run through the practice exams again (having forgotten the qurstions/answers by that point) will help give you confidence in your ability to pass the exam, and use the flash cards on the sites listed above to scrub up on any last minute areas that require work.

Zero point in paying for tuition unless you're completely dreadful at self-study or find it impossible to concentrate outside a classroom environment.

:edit: if he is already in to PCs/has completed a foundation degree it will be all just revision, even less reason to go for a course. If he's intending on going for further certification,has any experience whatsoever and has an idea about where he wants to specialise I really wouldn't bother with A+, unless he's very nervous about the self study/certification exam process. In those cases, it's a good "baby's first cert" to break oneself in studying something familiar instead of having to learn both how to teach yourself and new technical areas but otherwise I'd just crack straight on with something more valuable and challenging.

 

[Len Dananey]

I did my A+ back in early 2016. Professor Messer on YouTube, then research/practice the exam objectives you aren't as familiar with.

After doing that, do the practice exams at examcompass and crucialexams. This will give you a better idea of where your strengths and weaknesses lie, and allow you to focus your energy in the most worthwhile areas. If you can obtain some resources from somewhere else, this will really help at this stage, I had pluralsight so got the great Timothy Warner course which was really enjoyable to listen on my commute. Following this, a quick run through the practice exams again (having forgotten the qurstions/answers by that point) will help give you confidence in your ability to pass the exam, and use the flash cards on the sites listed above to scrub up on any last minute areas that require work.

Zero point in paying for tuition unless you're completely dreadful at self-study or find it impossible to concentrate outside a classroom environment.

:edit: if he is already in to PCs/has completed a foundation degree it will be all just revision, even less reason to go for a course. If he's intending on going for further certification,has any experience whatsoever and has an idea about where he wants to specialise I really wouldn't bother with A+, unless he's very nervous about the self study/certification exam process. In those cases, it's a good "baby's first cert" to break oneself in studying something familiar instead of having to learn both how to teach yourself and new technical areas but otherwise I'd just crack straight on with something more valuable and challenging.

He has never worked in IT but is great with hardware, so thought getting the CompTia certs would be a good start? What do you think guys what should be do? He loves hardware like I do and wanted to get involved in IT at some level and work his way up I guess.

 

[Zefan]

I would (and did) just do A+ anyway, regardless of the fact that I had experience that made it irrelevant to my CV. I hadn't experienced cert exams before and was unsure how well I'd be at disciplining myself to study, so it was a good place to start for me. After completing that and Net+ I became really very good at both of those things, which put me in a good position to confidently tackle harder certs from Cisco. In reality, the A+ in itself really isn't going to light anyone's fire beyond employers looking to fill first line support/help desk roles, and any relevant experience in a similar role will trump it/make it close to irrelevant aside from maybe acting as a tie breaker between candidates.

 

[Len Dananey]

I would (and did) just do A+ anyway, regardless of the fact that I had experience that made it irrelevant to my CV. I hadn't experienced cert exams before and was unsure how well I'd be at disciplining myself to study, so it was a good place to start for me. After completing that and Net+ I became really very good at both of those things, which put me in a good position to confidently tackle harder certs from Cisco. In reality, the A+ in itself really isn't going to light anyone's fire beyond employers looking to fill first line support/help desk roles, and any relevant experience in a similar role will trump it/make it close to irrelevant aside from maybe acting as a tie breaker between candidates.

Ok great, will tell him to book the tests and learn, he will likely pass anyway he is pretty clever. Think he needs to learn more about pin count on cables and network commands etc though which he usually comes to me for. If he fails can he just book in again or is there a wait period?

 

[Len Dananey]

He just booked his exams, 220 1001/220 1002 @ total £234. Cheaper than doing it with this training website I guess aslong as he passes hehe.