Customer Reviews

CompTIA A+ 220-701 and 220-702 Exam Cram

5 star:		(36)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I used this and the A+ Complete Study Guide by Sybex, passed the 2009 tests no problem. Probably could have just used this book alone, but then again I've been working with PCs for a few years. For people that are new to computers, I recommend this AND the Sybex book. Read this book last.
The best things about this book are:
- Hands-on explanations. The author builds a computer as the book progresses and shows actual components. Very current stuff.
- Great test questions. There are hundreds of test questions, no additional purchases necessary. The questions are really good for prepping for the real exam.
- Support website: The author runs a website where he answers questions, etc... and helped me with a PC issue I was having!
This book is not as thorough as the A+ complete book (I guess being a "cram" has something to do with it) but it did cover everything I saw on the exams, and there were a lot of things in the book that I didn't know, great extra pieces of knowledge.
All in all, great book, I'm very satisfied with my purchase, and should get my bonus at work since I'm now A+ certified.

I just passed both exams today 701, 702 (2009 objectives) using this book and Mike Meyer's All in one Guide (sixth edition... 601, 602). Also checked out Professor Messor's FREE! A+ videos... I just wanna say that if you study this exam cram book and nothing else you are almost gauranteed to pass the Essentials exam! The Practical test however seemed to be much more difficult and would definately require some type of study guide to go along with this book. After all it is an exam cram book and is not meant to cover everything. For what is though I'd definately give this book 5 stars as a lot of the essentials 701 test questions seemed to have come straight from the book! Thanks David for writing a comprehensive book that is helping me get to where I want to go... Definately worth the price!

Use this book and the CompTIA A+ Cert Guide from Pearson/Que. If you are taking an A+ course, you should read this book after you are done reading the book used in the course.
After reviewing some of the study guides available for the 220-701 and 220-702 A+ exams I found that many of them were simply rehashing old information. Many of the books were just slightly modified new versions. Not so with this ExamCram book. This book is completely new (although it is considered the 4th edition). It focuses on the new objectives only. The content is to the point, accurate, and the test questions are excellent, plus the author has a bunch of support content on his website as well, so I gave this book 5 stars.
There are some very illuminating pieces in the book, and the chapters get right to the heart of the matter. It's 600 pages (which includes 200 printed practice questions) which would seem like a lot, but if you look at the CompTIA objectives, they are around 20 pages each! Just for the objectives! Although 600 pages, it's a pretty quick read, plenty of pictures, tables, illustrations, etc...
Practice exam questions are very good. The CD has 2 practice exams as well (additional 200 questions). If you have some experience with computers, and if you follow the instructions in this book, the CompTIA exams should be fairly easy for you. If you are new to computers, I recommend the CompTIA A+ Cert Guide by Pearson and then use this book as the cram before the exam.
Different people seem to be getting different types of questions on the real exams, I suppose this has to do with the random pick of questions from the test bank. Some see more than expected on wireless protocols. Others say they see a decent amount of security questions. Many agree that there are a lot of customer service and safety oriented questions. Know your A+ concepts before going into the exam. I don't recommend simply memorizing questions, because you may get hit with questions you have never seen, and the only way to get them right is by having a thorough understanding of the material.

This is the only book I used to study and I just took both exams today and passed. I received an 820 on the 701 exam and a 795 on the 702 exam. I have about 10 year's computer repair experience, but this mostly comes from repairing my own computers and my friend's computers. I am also Security + certified, which did come in handy for a few exam questions.

How I studied? I read the book from front cover to the back cover (skimming over the things I already knew). I signed up for the test three weeks ago and read the book within the first two weeks. The last week consisted of taking the tests a number of times until I felt I had mastered the material. I also went through the exam cram sections and made note cards of all the information that I would need to memorize (data transfer rates, class a-c addresses etc..). I carried the note cards around with me and skimmed though them about 3 - 4 times a day.

I do have the following suggestions: Make sure you not only know the correct answers on the practice tests, but also know why the other answers are not correct. You will see similar questions on the exams, but they will be worded differently.

There is a section in the back of the book giving a checklist on how to prepare for the exam. This is a great checklist. If you have some experience and you use this book, you should pass these tests with no problems.

Breaking into IT is not easy. The A+ certification is viewed by many as the foundational cert to have, it was for me. The Exam Cram series is awesome. It takes your knowledge level from 0 to 50 without getting you lost is the process. If you buy one book to study for the A+, this is the book to have!

Let me start this review by saying that my goal was to pass the exams, that's it. I wasn't worried with my exact score, just that I passed, which I did easily. It's a good thing too, because some of the questions on the real A+ exam leave you scratching your head and saying "who came up with this question?" Some of the questions are vague, and a few appear to have secondary possible answers. It is what it is, a multiple choice test, not a hands-on test. Some of the questions on the practical application exam were a bit more difficult, and did call into question some hands-on knowledge.
If you are new to the field and want to become A+ certified, I recommend taking a course and "tinkering" on some computers at home. By "tinkering" I mean putting in some serious hours to understand how computers really work.
I didn't have the resources to do it, but I recommend building the same or like computer that the author builds during the book. I already had a pretty close approximation and tearing it down and rebuilding it really helped me to understand some of the concepts, and some of the questions on the practical application exam.
I also didn't want to know about every little detail of computers, there is only so much room in my head, so for me, this book was perfect. Some of the other A+ books at the bookstore just had too much information and talking. If I need a particular detail in the future, I'll look it up on the Internet or in the Upgrading and Repairing PCs book.
Anyways, very good book, glad I bought it, gave me exactly what I needed for the exam.

I highly recommend this book to anyone going for the A+ exams.
There were some great bits of material that I could never find a solid answer to in other books. For example, a definitive answer on how to take care of and clean LCD screens, and the FSB was described in a way that makes sense to me, but still very technical, during chapter 2 and 3 the light bulb went on several times. Security chapter was a real eye-opener also, and helped for some of the real test questions on the exam. When you get this book, pay attention to the Exam Alerts, and go through the exam questions and answers in depth, they will definitely help prepare you for the exam. I've read several of the Exam Cram/Exam Prep books and this is my favorite. I've employed several of the techniques described in the book at work and they have been very helpful. Excellent support site as well.

I used only this book past both tests, if you are planning to use only this book to prepare for the two exams, here are my recommendations:


Read the whole book, even if you think that you know the subject, you'll most likely learn something new.
After the completion of each chapter, do the practice questions at the end of it.
once you have gone through the whole material, take the 100 questions for each exam towards the end of the book, until you start scoring 80% or more consistently.
Take the questions on the CD, and apply the same 80% concept.
if you feel week on any topic, go back to the book and review the material.
There is also a cram sheet at the beginning of the book, that resumes what the author thinks were most important for the test, I used it for quick refreshment of certain topics.

If you can pass all 4 exams provided in this book with 90% accuracy before heading to the test center, you will pass.

If you are already an IT person, skim through each chapter and make sure you can answer the questions at the end of each chapter. There is no reason to read the entire book. If you get a question wrong, go back and re-read just that section.

If you are not an IT person, read the book in its entirety.

The material covers both the CompTIA A+ exams. It's definitely not thorough enough to get by the test without having something else to supplement to go along with it. It definitely fits the bill as cram material. It gives you a good chunk of important material. The presentation is great and offers a lot of real world scenarios. The included bonus CD could be a bit more fleshed out, but you get what you pay for. One star deducted just for a bit of missing information that could have been included (IRQs, memory addressing, security paradigms, etc.). Pair this with the Sybex CompTIA A+ Complete and you've got a winning strategy.