Customer Reviews

A+ Exam Cram: Pass the New A+ Certification Exam Expected to Go Live July 1998

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(30)
3 star:		(15)
2 star:		(14)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I took the first exam 3/4/2000 and passed it with a 77. This book help me some, but I recommend studying at least two more books. Besides this one I used A+ for Dummies and A+ Core Module by David Groth. All of these books had errors and if you're new it may be confussing. In the exam there were about 20 questions not related to the books I used to study, the only thing that help me was my experience as a Technician. Just to name a few examples Each book had a different definition for PCMCIA!, and I wonder which definition is the right one! .PC Memory Card International Association?, Personal Computer Card Industry Association? or Personal Computer Card Interface Adapter?. The other one was PCI. Peripheral Component Interconnect or Peripheral Component Interface. Another thing; and this was on the real exam, Just remember that Pentium Pro does not have MMX as well as for the 486's, 386's etc. Only on P1 W/MMX and PII & PIII. My suggestion to the one who want to become A+ is to buy a Dictionary of computer terms and stick to it for a more solid definitions on anything. Walter C. Feel free to ask me anything dcaff@netzero.net

Strength: __1. Overall, well condensed material, very informed Authors. __2. Particularly good in the Hardware (Core Service Tech) material. __3. They consistently highlighted subject areas that they found represented on actual Tests. __4. A good working reference book on the operating systems Start-Up processes.

Weakness: __In the Microsoft/Windows material, there was much more detail on DOS than on Windows 95, but the Test was mostly on Windows 95.

Much of the detail presentation had detail jumbled together between DOS and Windows in areas where technically they are distinct. It would have been less confusing if the information had been organized in a more linear fashion with respect to the evolution of the DOS/Windows operating system.

The Mother board drawing in the Practice exam had labeling that contradicted the same drawing in the text. Plus, one error in the Practice Exam answers where they called a strange drawing of Keyboard Socket the Power Supply. (this is a confirmed error with respect to the drawings and available answers that appeared on the actual test.)

Troublshooting and Diagnostics lacked technical material. Book offered mostly elementary non-technical concepts. Like act confident when your confused.

The practice exam in the book was more simplicitic than the actual exam. Several of the exam questions required examining complex relationships learned from experience and not covered in the book.

Items in Test > Not in the book. __1.Must know CPU socket names and numbers matched to Specific Intel CPU's. 2 questions on this. __2. Basic Modem AT command set: 4 questions, nothing in book.

Not mentioned as subject matter: __1. Must know EXPLICITY (click by click)the Windows 95 navigation paths to infrequent settings in the Device Manager, Control Panel Appletts, and changing file attributes in Explorer. I read book in 4 days and got 84 an 85 on the two test. The book added about 50% to my hands-on experience.

I passed my Core on 10/11 and DOS on 10/26. I am not here to knock Exam Cram. It is a good book, just a bit lacking in picture demonstrations, and a lot lacking in information on specific item topics when it mattered most. Use it as a supplement to whatever text book you use for your class (hopefully not Exam Cram). I also used A+ Certification for Dummies, very good book, ignore the name ending of the book, as long as you know you are not dumb no problem. Use the website Cramsession.com, go to Links, A+, many sites you can print and carry around with you (Bellows, Exam Notes, Study Guide, etc.)to read during your lunch time; also do the free practice tests online, and study, study, study, especially for the DOS exam. You have to think real hard and dig very deep in your brain to work out some of the scenarios to get the correct answers. Go to the exam with confidence and don't underestimate it, it's very tricky. Good luck!!

Do not be fooled into thinking this book is going to cover all the topics on the A + Certification exams ; I know for a fact that it doesn't. I recommend using A + for Dummies ; if you are looking for another "cram" book. The "Dummies" book has more accurate information , but Exam Cram covers materials not mentioned in A + for Dummies. PLEASE do not be tricked into listening to other people complain about how outdated the materials in this book seem to appear. The latest A + exam was put out more than 2 years ago. You would therefore note that it's not going to included ANYTHING relating to Pentium III and very little about Pentium II. The exam is suppose to cover older materials like 3.1 and Windows 95. Windows 98 is not on the exam at all. Don't look at this book for a reference into everything you are going to need to know. It's an absolute must you take as many practice exams from different sites like Cramsession and Coriolis. Overall, this book was not bad . Again, do not use this by itself . It even had wrong answers for the practice test. Stay sharp.

Windows supports a maximum of 256 characters for a file name, whoever was quoting 260 was quoting an incorrect number.

I think it is important to realize that any one book is not going to prepare you for any of the exams.

If you are serious about becoming certified I would recommend using as many resources as you can in order to get the highest score on the exam you possibly can.

The sources include CBT (Comptuer based training), books, the Internet, and others that have taken and passed the exams.

Personally I prefer CBT because its an interactive form of learning and also lets you work at your own pace and keeps it interesting while you learn.

Please remember people that just because someone in another book quotes one thing does not mean they are correct, verify all information if possible.

Jason Sheets MCSE, MCP, A+ Certification Holder.

I was disappointed with this book, but still recommend using it as one of your tools. It does have many errors, and they are not just typos. You really need to compare with other books to find the right info, which is frustrating. The Core material is good, and I picked up some info after having read Meyers. However, I found the DOS/Win material confusing and disorganized within each chapter. I have extensive experience with both DOS and Win 3.x, and found myself going to general reference books for info (Dan Gookin's DOS books, Fred Davis' The Windows 3.1 Bible - both fantastic, by the way). Dummies is another cram-type book, and I found it to be MUCH better (even for DOS/Win). There is an Exam Cram A+ Practice Test book, too, and that is much better (see my review on Amazon). I passed last week with 98% Core, 96% Dos/Win. I'm sure this book helped, but not too much. Buy it, but use it as just one tool in your toolbox. Good luck!

I've been working as a computer technician for about a decade now, so this is the only book I bought to help me brush up on the A+-related topics. While I passed both exams with no problems, I was a little disappointed with the fact that modem strings and CPU socket types were not covered in A+ Exam Cram, although they appeared a number of times on the core exam.

Most of the explanations are clear and concise and address the major issues. I found that having the answers immediately after each end-of-chapter question was helpful, as long as I remembered to cover up the answer before looking at the question. (While this method is far from perfect, I think it's better than having to look up the answers in the back of the book, and much better than including the answers on an accompanying CD, as some Coriolis books unfortunately do.) A few chapters are introduced with a chronological history of the topic, which can often benefit novice readers. While the authors state that this information is not on the exam, much of it seems superfluous for an "Exam Cram" book, and is probably better suited for an appendix. Jones and Landes also use some very strange non-technical analogies that are generally more confusing than helpful.

Unfortunately, the practice exam is hard to take seriously: a few of the questions are ambiguous, others contradict the information in the preceding chapters. There are a couple of other errors in the book (mostly numerical), but it otherwise reads well. If you think you know most of the material before studying for A+ and just want to focus on the topics covered, this should be the only book you'll need.

Unlike most people who take the A+ Certification, we were both advanced computer users without much experience with DOS, Windows 3.x and Troubleshooting. When we both got laid off (in the same week from different companies) we decided that we needed to get some education in a field that may be a little more stable. We purchased almost every book on the market regarding A+ Certification and read each one of them (some were absolutely useless). We found that the A+ Exam Cram gave a great overview of many topics covered on the exam and some good sample questions. The other book was Michael Myers A+ Certification Exam Guide.

Using these two books together we were both able to pass the exams (and did quite well) and both of us feel that we have a very solid understanding of the fundamentals of DOS, Windows 3.X, Windows 65 and NT. We are very pleased that these two books are on the market and hope they are used by anyone who wants to pass the A+ exam on the first try. The Exam Cram book does not include all of the information covered in both exams so we recommend you purchase at least one other book, preferably the Michael Myers book, and you will have your bases covered. No, we are not getting any money for this, we just did lots of research and many, many, many hours studying and do not want anyone else to waste their time!

I recently took the CompTIA A+ certification tests and I quickly realized that if I'd relied on the info in the Exam Cram book, I would have failed.

What is missing:
- Full background explanations: Example; Their summary of the evolution memory is seriously lacking and difficult to understand. Basic fundamental concepts are not spelled out or simplified for the beginner.
- Lack of diagrams: Some concepts can be easily explained by showing a diagram, but this book lacks the creativity to do so. Abstract concepts often require graphical assistance to ensure the notions are conveyed, but out of 500+ pages, less than 20 graphics are used. This means that in order to see what they mean when they speak of OS windows or control panels, you will need to find machines running DOS, Win 3.1, Win 95, 98, NT and 2k, or you'll have to imagine it.
- Depth on important topics: Concepts critical to being a computer technician are skimmed by. No discussion on different pin structures of RAM, local network issues or memory. Spills a few facts and expects the user to make sense of it.
- Their test questions lack relevance: The paltry sum of exam questions at the end of each section *really* don't prepare you for the exam questions. Their softball questions, where the test can and will try to throw you some curves.

I bought the book to review, but if I was a beginner, I would have failed. A better book to try is the "A+ Certification Bible". Much more in-depth and explanitory, especially of the abstract concepts.

My advice is to consult several books, but if I could only choose one, this wouldn't be it. My advice; spend the extra bucks and get the A+ certification bible....you'll walk into the test MUCH more prepared.

I have reviewed this book and found a large amount of errors in it. If you looking for a good book for after thought knowledge (After the test) this this would be a good buy at the $1-5 store. If you going into the test COLD (not knowing anything) look elsewhere for the book of knowledge. This one will just confuse you more than you need to be.
In addition I did not see a whole bunch of the exam test questions that were questions out of this book.