Customer Reviews

The A+ Exams Guide: (Exam 220-301), (Exam 220-302) (TestTaker's Guides)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Anytime there is an opportunity to enhance my classes with material that will help in passing any certification track then I will be the first to try it. I have read and used material from Chris Crayton in the past in the A+ and Security+, so I can say that the material is technically accurate and up to date. His latest effort is certainly no exception.

As anyone knows tackling the A+ certification has the task of passing two exams, one for Hardware or Core and 1 for Operating Systems and the new OS exam has gone beyond all the others. Each chapter covers the objectives from start to finish. Now if you are looking for the be-all end-all book, this is not that book. However if you looking for a prep tool that hits the major points, and nails them on the head than this book is one you need to pick up.

The book does have pictures, but they really need to be in color to fully understand what is being asked to point out, overall there are pictures of just about all hardware that is pertinent to the exams. The author has certainly put together a reference manual that will give you a real boost in passing the exam on the first try.

One this book also has is the practice exams on cd rom which gives over 500 questions between the book and the cd. Another standout point for the book is the OS section, while most books cover the OSes; this book does a great job on NT, which is lightly covered in most other books.

Overall Chris Crayton has certainly done his part with this release, now you have to do yours.

This book was useful in helping me study for the exams. I bought 4 books to study for the exam including: The "Exam Cram2" bundle, "Scott Mueller's Upgrading and Repairing PCs", "The 80/20 Guide to Acing the A+ Exams", by Jean Andrews, and this book. The 'Exam Cram2' books I barely used. I got good use out of this book as the number one study guide. The '80/20' book was also very useful and the testing software it comes with even more so as it has some questions that are the same as on the actual exam. Scott Mueller's book is a must hardware reference for any PC Tech anyway and I used it as a definitive reference to look up concepts I felt needed to be further explained. Overall, all the books I got are worth getting except maybe the "Exam Cram2". I didn't read most of that book so it might not be so bad but I just found the others better to study with.

Many people have said that using only one source for these exams is not a good idea. I agree with them! This exam guide is good, but nobody should use it as their only guide. Christopher Crayton organizes the topics well, and especially for the OS test, having the operating systems in a chapter of their own helped. But, whoever reviewed the material for typing errors, grammer, etc. didn't do a very good job. Also, some of the answers to his sample questions were wrong.
I used this guide as my only source for the hardware test and barely passed. I have many years in the IT industry, yet barely passed. I switched gears and used this guide and the Cramsession material, plus some other sample tests for the OS test, and did much better.
One guide cannot cover it all. The tests aren't a pushover, so please do use this guide, but also use other resources as well.

This was the 3rd Book I completed in preperation for the A+ exams. I took and passed in April 2004. This book has a lot of great information combined with test questions. The CD provided is another rendition of the exact same questions that are in the end of each chapter. Useless. As far as the needed information required to pass the exam. This book won't do it. You really need a good understanding of Networking, Wireless, Fiber Optic, NT 4.0, 2000 and XP. Unless you are currently in a job utilizing this info everyday, hands on will be the best training I could recommend. During the test I encountered quite a few questions that I personnaly never came across in any of the 3 books I read. The 3 that I read were the top choices at the time. The test encompasses a wide variety of info, OS's, peripherals etc...
1 book will not give you enough in depth detail you need to pass this exam. I was brand-new to the industry as of 2001. Never touched a PC. Began studying on and off for a year and a half then the objectives changed, requiring me to purchase more books. Mike Meyers A+ second Edition was the first book. then Exam Cram by Sybex was the second and A+ Exams Guide the 3rd. Those combined with multiple PC builds, experimenting on different OS's and supplemental (periodicals, magazines)readings got me by. Good Luck!

If you look through the 10 reviews (at the time I am writing this) you will notice that three of them were authored by "A Reader from The Hamptons". The reviews read like they were written by the same person and it makes you wonder if Mr. Crayton (or his mom) lives in the Hamptons!

I do own a copy of the previous version of this book, which was entitled "A+ Adaptive Exams". That book was very brief when it came to tutorial material, but the book was praised by reviewers as having practice questions that were a lot closer to the ones from the real exams than appear in most books brought to market.

I haven't followed through on taking the exam yet, so I can't verify that personally.

In any case, the phony reviews make me a little hesitant about the book at this time. The book may be an excellent resource, but the phony reviews have slowed down this "Reader from NYC" in purchasing one particular "Certification Book From The Hamptons".

Well not exactly.........
The users who appear to be disgruntled about the book, obviously are taking the A+ certification exam for the wrong reasons (i.e. self-afflituation, higher pay, etc). Real "LEARNING" students of the A+ certification would have taken immediate acknowledgment of the use of this book. I used another resource for my study guide, but used this as an exam readiness book, 2 weeks prior to me taking the exam. I felt this book cleared all the gray areas that I had using my other resource. This is an excellent book and though I used another resource, any one could pass the exam with only this book. Believe me on this one.

Note: Dont ever,ever,ever use the Exam Cram 2 Exam Questions book. If there's any book out there preparing you to FAIL the exam, its this one. I stopped reading halfway after realizing the amount of mistakes it had.

I purchased this book because, at the time, it was the only one I could find covering the recent CompTIA A+ test revisions. Sadly, the editors seemed in such a rush to get this out to print that they missed several detrimental mistakes and typos in the book AND on the CD. I find this to be inexcusable, ESPECIALLY since it has been out for several months and no errata has been presented by the publisher. Choose this book at your own risk!!

This book will help you pass the both exams especially if you are new to the A+ exam although the info is not very detailed,if you are trying to aim for higher score or more understanding of how things works, I would suggest you aim for something else like the "A+ All in One", which it cover much more details than any others that I have seen.

This book really did what it promised! It helped me pass both A+ Exams. It's funny. All the other reviewers are complaining about the book but they all said they passed the exam using it! What's up with that? I liked the book. It taught me the basics and got me certified all for about half the price of other guides that where all published before the new exams. Way to go everybody!!!!
A very satisfied and A+ Certified!!
Thanks!!!

I used this text as my sole study source for the CompTIA 2003 A+ exams and passed both on my first try. That's the good news. The bad news is that after taking the tests, I didn't feel that this text adequately prepared me for these exams. I was asked several questions on items that were not even covered in the text (IPv6 and Subnet masking for starters). There is also at least 2 questions in the chapter review questions that list the wrong answer. I also discovered at least one wrong answer on the practice exams. Overall, I would say that this is an average study guide but I can not give it a strong endorsement.