Complete Guide to A+ Certification [Paperback]

Michael Graves (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1418005665 | ISBN-13: 978-1418005665 | Publication Date: June 13, 2005 | Edition: 1

The Complete Guide to A+ Certification covers everything you need to know to pass both the Core Hardware Exam and the Operating Systems Technologies Exam of CompTIA's A+ certification program. With its easy-to-read style, The Complete Guide to A+ Certification serves as a good training manual and will serve as a valuable reference long after your certification is hanging on your wall. The text examines basic components of computer hardware systems, as well as how to upgrade and troubleshoot computers. Both Windows and Linux operating systems are covered. This guide includes practice exam questions, as well as separate glossaries for terms and acronyms. Each chapter is highlighted with "buzz-words" helping to increase readers' technical vocabulary. Exam notes and sidebars help explain related issues in detail.

Product Details

• Paperback: 1140 pages
• Publisher: Delmar Cengage Learning; 1 edition (June 13, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1418005665
• ISBN-13: 978-1418005665
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.4 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,579,950 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Thorough but confusing at times, September 25, 2005

By 

J. Willis (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Complete Guide to A+ Certification (Paperback)

Please note that I have just started to read the book(on Chapter 3 now), but with only 1 review listed, I figured it would be helpful to others who are looking for an A+ guidebook.

About me: I am someone who is well versed in computer hardware(I build computers as a hobby for friends/family), but have never taken any courses that would give me the "paper" necessary that jobs require now-a-days to get into the tech world. I was looking for a book that was written recently so it was not out of date(Michael Meyers' book looked promising but was written in 2003 and there are some recent negative reviews that turned me off on that one).

It is clear that the author knows his subject and the conversational style is easy to read through. It is also clear based upon the comments he makes that this book is not merely a bunch of one-off chapters glued together to make a quick buck. A lot of work has gone to make the book easy to work through and it shows. There is also a ton of reference material in the appendix of the book. The beginning of the chapter lays out what A+ Objectives are going to be discussed and the chapter ends with a series of questions(short answer, multiple choice, etc..) and a collection of important terms previously sprinkled through the chapter discussion.

However, there are times where the author does not thoroughly discuss a topic enough or uses confusing terms. I have had to hit the internet(wikipedia, about.com, whatis.com) for information/clarification a bit more than I would like.

One example would be his definition of a "thread" and a "process" for Operating Systems:

Quote:

"A thread is any particular series of instructions that must be run from beginning to end."

"A process is simply a single grouping of code that must be run from beginning to end."

End Quote.

He then states that for the exam you should really know the difference between the two. Which would be fine, but those definitions are almost exactly the same. Granted all I had to do was type "difference between thread and process" on Google and read the first result, but it still is a bit frustrating.

Based upon the numerous reviews I've read about the various A+ books for sale and now my experience with this text, I don't think there is a single text that is going to satisfy all of your studying needs. I *do*, however, think that this book combined with a number of online info sites(again Google will help greatly) will get you to where you need to go.

Given my criticisms, I'm still glad I purchased the book. It's an excellent foundation for learning more and it's more up to date than any other book I've seen on Amazon.com.

I will update this review once I have completed the text and taken the OS and Hardware exams.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What's so confusing?, November 6, 2005

By 

Robert Davis - See all my reviews

This review is from: Complete Guide to A+ Certification (Paperback)

I'll have to admit, I probably wouldn't have chosen this book at first blush simply because I had never heard of Michael Graves. However, since it was required reading for a class I'm taking, I had no choice. Unlike the other reviewer, I don't find it confusing at all. In fact, it's probably the most lucid book I've got on the subject. Sure, there are a couple of examples like the one he pointed out. What 1000-page book DOESN'T have an occasional dinger. If you were to nitpick Mike Meyers' book, your review would be longer than the book. Every page is riddled with that sort of thing.

What I like about this book is that many of his explanations are accompanied by examples or analogies from outside the computer world to clarify what he's talking about. Meyers simply tells you an IRQ is an electrical signal that notifies the CPU there is data to be transmitted, and that an I/O address is the devices address. Graves points out that IRQs aren't used just by devices, but by the CPU, the OS and the applications as well. He then goes on to use an analogy whereas the IRQ is a doorbell letting the CPU know there is data to be sent (or vice versa) and the I/O address points out which door is supposed to be answered.

Graves' writing style is much easier to swallow than ANY of the other textbooks I've got, regardless of discipline. I'm delighted to see that next semester's networking class is using one of his books there, too.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It did the trick, January 21, 2006

By 

ChapinCinci (Cincinnati, OH USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Complete Guide to A+ Certification (Paperback)

When I decided to go for my A+ certification, I searched for helpful books and noticed that they were all huge (and expensive), so I wanted to find the ONE right book. In short, this was it.
Having now passed the A+, I can recommend this book. It's not perfect, but the author's approach is to over-prepare you. It not only prepared me for the test, I learned a lot. His sense of humor was welcome during reading, though I would have him can the attempts at humor in the on-CD test questions; when sitting for a practice test, I want it to be as realistic as possible. The editors should have made sure the index and glossary were more complete.
Other reviewers of A+ books often complain about how authors dwell on old technology. Know this: The A+ asks many questions on what you and I would probably consider obsolete gear and operating systems. I was surprised by the extent of questions on ISA, NT & SIMMS.
I searched Amazon, looked through some books at Borders, and then ordered two from my library. I could not locate this book locally and even had to request it via inter-library loan. I'm glad I did. When it came due, I ordered this book through Amazon. I was surprised by how vapid some books are. They're counting on the covers to sell them. I judged them by comparing each books coverage of RAM memory, a common topic. What a HUGE difference there was. Also, some books have only about 1/4th devoted to the operating system portion of the test (which I later found to be the more difficult part.)
The organization of the book made it easy for me to pace my studying. I began in early October, took and passed the hardware test around Thanksgiving, then took and passed the OS portion just before new years. This (and Wikipedia.org!) were about the only resources I used.
The videos on the CD were the best of those I saw, but frankly all of the books just put these in for marketing purposes. On a CD, you can only fit minutes-long videos of topics that need hours. If you learn best by listening to someone talk, take a class.