A+ Certification Kit, Second Edition [Hardcover]

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0782123805 | ISBN-13: 978-0782123807 | Publication Date: July 29, 1998 | Edition: 2nd

Save $15 on the complete kit for the new (1998) A+ certification exams! This box set contains the A+: Core Module Study Guide (2nd Ed) and the A+: DOS/Windows Study Guide (2nd Ed). Each book provides detailed coverage of every objective defined by CompTIA for its exam.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 1456 pages
• Publisher: Sybex Inc; 2nd edition (July 29, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0782123805
• ISBN-13: 978-0782123807
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 8.2 x 4.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,153,339 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Is it wrong to really, REALLY enjoy your work? I love working in Information Technology, and living in a never-ending world of puzzle boxes. My primary interests are security, networking and databases, but pretty much anything tech-related is a magnet for me.

Each of these books was a great opportunity to work with interesting, talented folks and learn more about writing as a craft and publishing as an industry. Among other things, I have come to have great respect and admiration for editors. Their job is not for the weak or meek.

Probably the best part of this process was the day each new book arrived from the printer. And it was really pretty surreal to get a Mandarin Chinese translation of book I had co-written!

I had taken a break from tech writing (kids take up an amazing amount of time), so there are no Server 2008 / Windows 7 series books here. I am back at the keyboard again, though, and am currently working on a number of projects dealing with IT security.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Keep looking...there are better choices than this., August 31, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: A+ Certification Kit, Second Edition (Hardcover)

First, the good news. I passed both the core and the Dos/Windows exams by using these books. They offered very detailed information and presented it in an easy to read and generally understandable format. I would agree that the books' "intermediate" difficulty rating is accurate.

However, (You knew that this was coming) I would not recommend them as a good prep for the A+ Exams. My principal criticism is that the core module is riddled with flaws, errors, and innacuracies.(One can obtain a list of corrections, all three pages, from the Sybex website. The corrections are listed under "errata"). Additionally, because these texts are fairly detailed, they tended to include a lot of extraneous information that was not reflected on the exams. Examples would be the complete resistor color code, hexadecimal numbering system, lists of various manufacturers beep codes and error codes specific to a particular make or model. Also in the core text are chapters on networks & customer service, neither of which is even covered of the core exam. (O.K., customer service is covered but the answers are not scored and they do not count towards your score).

Dos/Windows...not much better. A lot of step by step by step on how to install windows 3.1 & Win 9x. "When the next screen asks for disk 4, remove disk 3 from your floppy drive, insert the disk labled #4...press any key or enter! See diagram below!)

I would look for a more concise text and then supplement it with internet resources like cramsession and its related links for a more complete test prep.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The Rating as high as "1 star" is only for nice packaging., November 10, 1999

By 

John Alesso (Palmdale, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A+ Certification Kit, Second Edition (Hardcover)

Most technical books have a certain level of innacuracy due to the fact that nobody's perfect. This book is riddled with them. Most of them are cases of a schizophrenic book contradicting itself. About half of the errors can be found at Sybex's website. A person serious about studying for any certification should get study guides from at least two different perspectives. By this I mean two different books, not one book with two different personalities.

Sybex is well known for high quality publications. How did this one get past your technical editors? It only seems to get worse with newer revisions.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars easy to read, but has a lot of mistakes, June 21, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: A+ Certification Kit, Second Edition (Hardcover)

This is a great set, but watch out for mistakes! It covers everything in great detail. The CDs have the same questions as inside the books.