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28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent source for exam study., February 8, 2005
This review is from: A+ Certification Training Guide, (Exam 220-301, Exam 220-302) (5th Edition) (Paperback)
I purchased this book to use for a+ exam prep (2003 objectives) after conducting a lot of research on Amazon.
My background: 8+ years of application development, technical troubleshooting, production support and PC/server maintenance experience.
My story: I am working on filling out my resume with more hardware and networking training. Before my a+ studying I was very weak at hardware related topics but somewhat proficient in Microsoft Windows OS topics. Now I am stronger in both areas.
I used two books for a+ test preparation.
A+ Training Guide, Fifth Edition by Charles J. Brooks (this book)
A+ Certification All-in-One Exam Guide by Michael Meyers, Scott Jernigan (please see this book on Amazon for my review)
I really liked this A+ Training Guide because it was very detailed and it presented most of the material in concise tabular format. This made it easier for me to compare and study various items side-by-side. It included VERY helpful and clearly documented exam tips in each chapter, comprehensive study questions for each chapter and numerous tables of related data were provided for comparison. I found the two preplogic exams, which were also included in this book, to be very valuable preparation as well.
I read this entire book one/two chapter(s) at a time over a period of time. As I covered each chapter, I worked through the practice questions at the end of each chapter making sure to understand the details surrounding the ones which I missed. Once finished with this I took both preplogic exams in the back of this book. I was careful to study the items and explanations which I missed on the practice tests. I then went back through each chapter, studied the Exam Tips items more comprehensively, and took detailed notes relating to each exam tip item.
This was my favorite book to use for studying because of the direct, concise, tabular layout and format. This is purely a personal preference thing; however, I believe that both books helped my exam preparation and ability to learn the actual topics in different ways. Both books contained numerous practice questions, for study and for the exams, and the more questions you can use to learn the material the better off you will be in preparation for the actual tests.
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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
"Fifth Edition" still plagued by hundreds of errors..., November 11, 2004
This review is from: A+ Certification Training Guide, (Exam 220-301, Exam 220-302) (5th Edition) (Paperback)
The good...
The book is solid content-wise and quite comprehensive IMHO. Additionally, I found the content on the media included with the book to very useful. In some cases it even makes up for the short comings of the book. While the included version of PrepLogic testing software is an out-of-date trial, it is MUCH better (IMHO) than the "full / current" version of software offered at the vendor's website. Unfortunately, you can't that buy that version. You also get an electronic version of the book too. This package provides loads of great questions, realistic practice exams, hands-on labs to try and video footage.
The bad...
While this just my opinion, I object to the wording / vagueness of certain questions in the book. Since this is a learning tool, being more verbose would have been helpful IMHO.
I would have preferred to have been provided with the "Fifth Edition" instead of the "Fourth Edition" of the ebook since it's more convenient to tote along than the huge tome of a book that it is. Not to mention that the "fourth" edition totally ignores XP. However, this may not be an issue for you since the ebook is really just a bonus item even though you're still paying for it.
The ulgy...
Both the ebook and the printed version in this package are riddled with hundreds of typos of various sorts. This is no exaggeration and I am "not" referring to grammatical style or semantics here. I didn't go looking for them, they're glaring unavoidable misprints.
The most noticable ones were in the end of chapter review tests! This certainly raised certain quality control concerns in my mind. Since the book wasn't cheap, the least they could have done was try to ensure it was error-free. I have read many technical books and can't recall a book in which I encountered such careless editing. It really mars what could have otherwise been a "great" book.
Conclusion:
I would still suggest purchasing it, but you might wish to excercise the following cautions...
1) Be prepared for the huge lack of proof-reading.
2) Don't expect to read the provided e-book and have it match with or be as comprehensive as the real book.
3) Don't try to "upgrade" to the full version of the provided software. Instead you will need to replace it with the more current version of the software.
4) Definitely DON'T pay FULL price for it at your local bookstore! Buy it at a discount here or wherever!
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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Update to my 25 Jan 2004 Review, April 30, 2004
This review is from: A+ Certification Training Guide, (Exam 220-301, Exam 220-302) (5th Edition) (Paperback)
I just passed the A+ Oper Sys Technologies 220-302 scoring 637 (Passing Score: 505); and on 8 Mar 2004, I passed A+ Core Hardwr. 220-301 scoring 586 (Passing Score: 515). These new exams can be very challenging --CompTIA seem well-focused on raising the value of their A+ Certification, indeed. Charles Brooks' 5th ed. Trng. Guide, Marcraft A+ Cert. Concepts & Practice tests(ExamGear2), Measure-UP, and Prep-Logic exam simulators, and Jean Andrews' A+ In-Depth guide (used as a reference) all contributed to my success. It must be said that C.Brooks' trng. guide's Fast Facts + Practice Exam at the back of the book are excellent warm-ups an hour or so before the actual exam! There were, of course, 6% - 9% questions on the exam that were not in either stdy. guides, this is to be expected as CompTIA introduces, unannounced, beta questions on their A+ exam --beta questions do not +/- affect one's score; even so, I believe that if one were to use quality study resources, one should do good. The A+ Training Guide 5th ed. and J.Andrews' A+ IN-Depth are my newest references for some time to come. I'll give the nod to Brooks' guide for A+ cert preparation because it's closely aligned/keyed to each Domain objective whereas the other isn't. I also began work on my Network+ Cert. using the Network+ Trng. Guide (by Mike Harwood) which appears to be another winner. Que publishing seems to be on a winning streak with these two. Ps. Many people are failing this new A+ exam, so prepare well! It's virtually impossible to overprepare on this one.
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