Customer Reviews

A+ Certification Training Guide (Exams 220-221, 220-222) (4th Edition)

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

My first exposure to the A+ certification was 1996. I had no clue what it was. I asked a friend of mine, who managed a training center and associated service department, what A+ was. He told me it was only good if I wanted to work on the inside of computers. Since I was a Contract Novell Instructor and Microsoft Trainer, it had no value. In his words, "Don't bother with it." I ignored his advice, because I saw A+ as a possible arm of my training business. I began searching for a good self-study route and a good curriculum that I could use for classroom instruction. During this period, there were few options. I only wish that the A+ Certification Training Guide was available when I started out. I finally found a text that was available in 1997 and got certified.

Five years later I am still training others in Novell, Microsoft, Prosoft and CompTIA technologies and searching for the best curriculum. A+ is highly regarded today as one's initial certification in the IT arena. Most solution provider companies require their employees to be A+ certified within six months of hire. Without a doubt, the A+ Certification Training Guide is the curriculum of choice for instructor-led training and for those seeking the A+ certification by going the self-study route.

The A+ Certification Training Guide, by Brooks, is a comprehensive, up-to-date text that will thoroughly prepare readers for the latest edition of the A+ certification exams. The new A+ exams test on the Windows 2000, Windows NT and Windows 9x platforms, Pentium II and Pentium III processors, and associated system boards. Upgrade paths and Networking are also emphasized. All of these topics are thoroughly covered in this New Riders Training Guide. This is without a doubt the only textbook one will need to pass the exams required for the A+ certification.

Some other readers have commented that this text is too massive- close to 1200 pages- for this certification. My reaction to this is quite simple, better to be over prepared than under prepared. This text is not only a certification preparation source, but also a fantastic resource for service related issues. One need not read every page, line-by-line, to prepare adequately for the A+ exams. The A+ Certification Training Guide has a Final Review section that offers the reader a synopsis of hardware and operating system facts that one should absolutely know for the exams. Additionally, there are 2 short practice exams in this Final Review section. I am not a fan of Supplemental CDs so I did not even look at the data on the accompanying CD.

The layout of the text is great, graphics are professional in quality, and the organization of testable topics just makes sense. Scattered throughout the text Brooks has sidebars called Test Tips. A reader, with several of years of hands-on computer experience, who wants or needs to pass the A+ exams, can page through Brooks' text and focus on these Test Tips. Combined with the Final Review sections, those with years of experience will find themselves able to conquer the A+ exams. Don't be surprised, however, if while you are focusing on the Test Tips and Final Review you don't find a great deal of useful data and practical information. Tables such as Table 1.1 and Graphics such as Figure 1.107 are practically pertinent and invaluable for the exam.

This is the best and most complete book for A+ certification preparation that I have discovered in 5 years. I know as the ranks of the A+ certified grow, this text will be on the shelves of every certified technician. I am glad that I have it in my library and my students will have it in theirs.

A+ is the foundation certification for all technicians and I personally think should be required for every technician. You need and want the most accurate and up to date material available and this book certainly has all that. I think the timing is a little late with all the other books already out there.

The manual has over 1100 pages and covers each exam and all domains. The author has put the exam objective map right in the front of the book. Part 1 of the book covers the hardware and part 2 covers the operating systems.

The chapters have a domain breakdown and review before you begin and there are hundreds of exam tips throughout the entire text. Each chapter has review questions and something I found very interesting, exam challenges throughout the chapters. The challenges are not as easy as you might think and they do provide a way to track what you are learning.

Each chapter also include additional web resources to further the study process, another add-on to the book I found useful. Finally there is practice exams in the book for each exam.

Included in the book is the Prep Logic testing engine and the Prep Logic website does have more exams available. While you can take this book into a self study environment, the formal classroom is where this belongs

I purchased this book while just walking through the store and browsing. The illustrations are abundant and detailed. The level of knowledge that this book teaches you is high but it is (similiar to other reviewers) overkill for the A+ examinations. I took both exams after studying with this book and working for around a year in IT and got a 815 on the OS and 831 on the hardware. The book is great to cover everything you would EVER need to know as a PC technician. I found that NT 4 was the majority of the OS questions and this book includes information along with Windows 2000 where other books focus on 2000 primarily. I say that it is a valuable addition to any IT professional's computer library.

Having had a hand in the review of the book this text is vastly improved over the previous 2 editions. Major changes and updates were made to the manuscript and the results were outstanding.

Part 1 of the book is the Core hardware section and the breakdown of the motherboards, memory, hard drives, cd-roms and other computer hardware is excellent. Brooks has put together a book that rivals all others.

Part 2 is the Operating Systems section with coverage of DOS, Windows, 95, 98, NT workstation and 2000 Professional. The breakdown is by exam objective there is more material here than is required for the exam.

Finally part 3 the Final Review loaded with study and exam tips to ensure you have more than enough information to pass the exam on the first try. There are step by step exercises and this book would work well in classroom setting.

The cd-rom comes with 150 questions and you can unlock 650 more for a small fee. Although for the price of the book I think this should have been included. The cd also has 44 lab exercises to coincide with the text. Overall a very good value for the money.

Wow, Passed both examed with better than 900. After failing the O/S exam using someone elses material I found this book to get right to the point for the exams. I would recommend it to anyone looking to pass A+ on the first time out.

First of all, if you study this book and learn everything it has to say, you will pass the A-plus. If you order and study ANY of the A-plus exam guides you will pass the A-plus. You will not ACE the A-plus from this book. As near as I can tell, there is no study guide that will help you ACE the A-plus. If you want to do that you have to buy several study guides and study them all, as well as check out the assistance available on the web. However, this is a big, heavy expensive book and I expected more of it. What it does do - it will teach you how a PC works, how to build one, what the options are, how to fix one. As far as core hardware, this book is guilty of giving you far more information than you need for the exam. Its good for a real world repair guide and reference, but it may overload the entry level technician with just too much information. What it doesn't do - It hasn't been updated for the Windows 2000 focus of the new A-plus exam. It mentions Windows 2000 when it can, but clearly as last minute updates as it was going to press. Its woefully inadequate about this operating system. It is also out of date in many other areas of lesser importance but which still could cost test points (for example - it states that Novell NetWare does not support IP protocols - this information is about four years out of date). It also makes statements about Windows 95/98/NT/2000 that are just incorrect, just wrong. Its clear that the authors are less knowledgeable about operating system software than they are about PC hardware. The last disappointment is the self-testing CD included with the book. The testing program has had the guts ripped out of it, but for a substantial fee you can obtain the secret code to restore it to full functionality. Its of very little value and follows the technical errors made in the text. Again, the book does have enough correct information to get you through the A-plus exams with a passing grade. But a number of other books found on Amazon do the same thing at lower cost.

This book contains everything you'll need to know to pass the A+ exam! At over 1,000 pages, it should! I read this book and was totally impressed with not just the text, but also the photos and screenshots. The glossary also weighs in at 30 pages, a must for those of us who need a little more explanation on certain terms. If you are trying to pass the A+ exam, I'd say this could well be your one and only stop for book purchases.

When I first picked up this book, I thought that I would get something covering the objectives line by line. What I got was a larger work that gave me all the technical info and references to be successful with the test. It just didn't give me "the answers", it gave me knowledge, and then I used the knowledge towards my exam success. My biggest complaint was the electronic test engine. I was hoping this would be more geared towards getting me through the exam, and it just fell short in terms of covering the objectives, and the question content wasn't very good. I decided to go with the A+ TestPro from CertificationCorner.com. Between using this book and the Test Pro software, I made it through just fine. Thanks Charles.

Although this book was laid out following the guidelines of the CompTIA A+ test it at times provided erronous information, or too much information about things that you don't need to know about to pass the test, especially in the OS section. I had to research a lot of answers and questions that didn't sound correct to me. Luckily I have a few years experience with the MS operating systems and could see a lot of the mistakes. The CDROM was almost worthless, the radio buttons would appear one time and then disappear at others, and you would have to use the Tab key to navigate around the test and hope you pressed the enter key at the correct time. They also wanted more money to "un-lock" the adaptive test. There were a lot of answers on the CD that differed when you went to the book. So which was right? I would have to take time out and research the question on the Internet. I wanted to take the test before 1 Sept and just barely made it (848 hardware/710 OS). If you decide to use this book, have another close by and compare answers.

Ok guys I did allot of review reading and I used this book for My A+ Tests. This test covers the new core 220-201 & OS 220-202. I read this book cover to cover. I bought the extra test questions (offer). I gave my self 3 weeks and read the whole book in 2 weeks, studied the tests up and down and passed. My test scores were Core = 831 and OS = 742 (min core pass was = 683, OS Min Pass = 614). This is the only book I used and I used allot of free study guides from the Internet. I also printed out all the cd additional Info for studying too. (I don't recommend it unless you have a kick butt Printer there's over 2000 pages of stuff) I give this book 5 because I Passed, If you know nothing about A+ or computers You will need addition help with the os side but the tests and the free internet will get you through no problems...