CompTIA A+

I was literally just 2 weeks away from taking my A+ exam on the company, when they folded lol.

Did anyone else take the practise exam, only to find that nearly all of the questions were to do with laser printers? That threw me somewhat!
 
Don't go to those education institutions, they are all a scam, just do what I did, bought some law books, read them and put law degree on my cv.

If you want you can donwload some mock bar exams and just do those.
 
JHeaton said:
Does that mean you can't self-study for VCP?
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Correct, which is why I say their testing practices irritate me but they (try to) ensure at least that people who hold their qualification are of a certain standard. Sure you can pay to go to the course and sit there and sleep the entire time but anyone who pays £1.5k+ to do that is a moron.
 
Monserrat said:
I was literally just 2 weeks away from taking my A+ exam on the company, when they folded lol.

Did anyone else take the practise exam, only to find that nearly all of the questions were to do with laser printers? That threw me somewhat!
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You would be surprised how big a section printers are in the exam. I did mine in the late 90's (can't remember the exact year) and I honestly don't think much has changed :p
 
ubern00b said:
Correct, which is why I say their testing practices irritate me but they (try to) ensure at least that people who hold their qualification are of a certain standard. Sure you can pay to go to the course and sit there and sleep the entire time but anyone who pays £1.5k+ to do that is a moron.
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Well, that sucks. :(
 
Buying the test from test king is only to give you a feel of the questions if you wanted to take the real exam at extortionate costs. I would not be able to afford to take an exam, especially nto the likes of cisco or similar. I said that about A+ because it is relatively basic, if you say to someone who works in IT that you have an a+ that is considered imo the bare minimum of knowledge of someone who works in IT. Even without the stamp from comptia. I never said that you could do the same with cisco or microsoft or vmware certs. I was just pointing out that you can get the tests to practice and learn the material, which helps. Regardless of paying for certification if you can complete the tests honestly then you can feel confident that you know the material and when you go for a job you should be that much more confident, which imo is the actual point of tests and so on. Not so you can be all flash with a bunch of acronyms at the bottom of your email signature, but so you know the material.
 
You implied it from your previous post, following on from saying "I have an A+ on my CV even though I don't actually have it" and then you posted the VCP 5.0 testking link.

The fact of actually having these qualifications is so that employers know who they are employing and that they have been tested to know the material for the job they are employing you for. I wouldn't go to a doctor who "just read the books and is confident in doing a triple heart bypass". You are going to say its not a valid comparison but I work in the NHS where some systems I look after directly effect patient care and if the proverbial hits the fan and I have to sort it out there can be lives on the line.

Not to mention too that what you described earlier is fraud anyway.

Qualifications shouldn't be looked at as "a bunch of acronyms after your name" but rather an investment in your chosen career path. If you can't see it like this then there is no hope for you, you carry on doing what you are doing and I wish your employers and future employers luck.
 
lol I did a module on compTIA a+ for a module in my extended year of doing BSC Computing. Its **** easy and it was multiple choice, don't worry about a thing you would score 90% at least.
 
Well going for heart surgery and migrating some vmware guests is a bit different. I would have no problem hiring people without any certifications. I am not against certifications. If you want to go and take a test at a £100-1000 then go a head, it can only help your career.

IT certs are a joke they ask irrelevant questions and often fraudulently fail people to get them to re do the test. I have heard so many stories about waste of money certification programs over the years.

I have also run in to people with certs that passed the multiple choice and learned it like a parrot and stick the acronyms at the bottom of their signature but real world wise are useless.
 
groen said:
I have also run in to people with certs that passed the multiple choice and learned it like a parrot and stick the acronyms at the bottom of their signature but real world wise are useless.
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Is your IQ below the national average?

You just suggested that the OP download the exam answers from Test King, whilst suggesting that you might do the same for VCP5. Now you suddenly have a problem with people memorising brain dumps?
 
I only suggested using test king as a way to learn the material. If you download the demo you will see what i mean, you can sit there at home and get asked questions about the material and go and find the answer in your books or on your test set up or google. This imo is a great way to learn. Even if you don't pay for the real tests.
 
We are fully aware of what TestKing is and how it works. The fact is they are actual questions from actual exams and don't teach you to think for yourself, they provide you with the answer and the "parrot fashion qualification" you mentioned earlier is thus born.

They are not a great way to learn, they are merely a way to pass exams by not actually doing or understanding any of the work.
 
I did mine many many moons ago... about 10 years. It wasn't the hardest exam I've taken, all I did was read the chapter about laser printers (CCWDTF - see I still remember) and resistors, but I do have a strong eduction in computing.

Is it worth doing a course? no.. as unless it's a computer company, I don't think many company's ask for it,

is it worth reading the book and sitting the exam? it all depends if you want a solid understanding on electronics and computer architecture then yes. My mate started it; and it has changed a lot since I've done it.

I'm shocked by the people that suggest using testking and other exam cramping material, yes it will get you to pass the test as the questions are them are so close to the real ones. But unless you understand the material, employers and employees will work out quickly that your a paper tiger.
 
groen said:
I only suggested using test king as a way to learn the material. If you download the demo you will see what i mean, you can sit there at home and get asked questions about the material and go and find the answer in your books or on your test set up or google. This imo is a great way to learn. Even if you don't pay for the real tests.
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Test questions don't always cover every single topic so if you learn based just on the questions to an exam you will miss out on certain areas. In my opinion one of the better ways to study is by using CBT nuggets, which has worked out well for my for my CCNA and my Microsoft exams that I have done so far. Not only do they cover the material in depth and walk you through examples but they also talk about real world uses.
 
If you've already got some background knowledge it will not take you long to get through the book. Personally I'd
say that a few weeks to prep for the exam is plenty (again, depending on current knowledge and amount of free
time you have).

What type of role are you interested in? The A+ is really just a starter cert and isn't in-depth enough to help you
get anything more than a basic technician role from what I can tell. Having said that, I've met a fair few people who
started out like that and have done pretty well for themselves.
 
Totally not worth what you were going to be paying for it, and and I'd only see it worthwhile if you wanted a job in IT although it is pretty basic ****. It hasn't gotten me anywhere, the exam took me bout 15 mins to complete with 95% pass rate
 
I have completed the A+ under sixth form when I was in further education. all paid for me and the exam reall was a piece of p**s
 
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