Customer Reviews

Mike Meyers' A+ Certification Passport, Third Edition (Mike Meyers' Certficiation Passport)

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I am MCSE, A+, and CCNA certified and used this book as part of my preparation for the CompTia A+ exams.

This book presents a decent overview of the CompTia A+ exam objectives, but lacks sufficient detail to actually pass the test without supplementing the material. I have provided 2 recommendations at the bottom of this review.

The book covers both areas of the exam (hardware and OS), and provides a CD with tice tests. I noticed the review questions at the end of each chapter lacked worthwhile explanations, which necessitated searching through the text to figure out why you may have missed a particular question.

This book overall presents a decent, but minimal, overview of both the hardware and operating system exams and should be used in conjunction with Mueller's "Upgrading and Repairing PCs" classic (ISBN: 0789727455), and Exam Cram's book (ISBN: 078983043x).

Mike Meyers' A+ Certification Passport is mostly useful for experienced computer technicians who know the information already but need to refresh their understanding of certain topics or memorize specific information before taking CompTIA's A+ exams. That said, this book only covers the very basics of computer hardware and software as it applies to the A+ exams. For a more in depth understanding of the subject matter refer to Mike Meyers' All-In-One Certification Guide.

Good Points About the Book:
- Short to the point chapters that can be read and understood within an hour's time.
- Alerts and sidebars that inform the reader to issues stressed or not stressed in the A+ exams
- Easy to read, conversational style relation of the material that helps move the reader along from topic to topic.
- No overblown explanations or analogies of any topic.
- Included CDRom that contains practice tests for both the software and Hardware exam. (Many online resources are also available via the Internet. Just do a search for "COMPTIA FREE TESTS" at your favorite Internet Portal to find them. Careful, some sites are much better than others.)

Bad Points About the Book:
- Useless travel theme that does nothing to aid the reader.
- Objectives of the CompTIA test are not laid out for the reader within the chapters as one might expect from a "Cram" book like this. (Go to CompTIA's web sit for more information about exam objectives)
- Unless you are an experienced computer tech this book will not prepare you for the exam.
- No cram sheet included with the book for last minute preparation. Why?

Again, I am awarding the 4 starts because it is a good refresher for an experienced computer technician, newbies should look more in depth books and get lots of hands on training before attempting the real tests.

If and when you are confident that you are ready for the actual tests, take the provided practice exams. If you can score 75 to 80 percent correct the first time you take both practice tests you will very likely pass the real exams. Notice I wrote the first time. If you fail the practice tests the first time you take them, be sure not to review the answers to the questions. If you failed them, you were not ready to take the tests so reviewing the answers will ruin the effectiveness of the practice exams for when you need to come back to them.

Good Luck

After being disappointed by the "A+ Complete Study Guide" book (see my review there), I picked up this book. Immediately I saw in it the answers to three questions I had missed when taking the hardware exam for the A+ certification, such as the cable required for the latest EIDE hard drives. This book is definitely more up to date.

It didn't take long to cruise through the well written chapters on operating systems technologies. It was very pleasing to feel that I was ready to take the second part of the A+ exams so quickly. I scored an average of 86 on the end of chapter practice tests, reviewed all the chapters again and then scored higher.

Then, I pulled out the includeded practice exam CD and took the test there. I scored a 56%! What happened!

Here's what happened, most of questions asked weren't covered in the book. Or, it appears this way. I can't tell for sure since the book's index is weak and there is no searchable copy of the book on the CD. Here are a couple examples. Yes, the book talks about MEM.EXE and it role, but says nothing about its options. Nor does it talk about the FDISK options available. Yet, questions about these options are on his practice exam. More importantly, I found these types of questions on the A+ test.

Did I pass the test? Yes, scored an 804 (600 is passing). In order to do so, I went into the web and took every practice exam I could find. These exams give answers and often explanations. I doubt just taking the exams themselves would enable anyone to pass the test as they do not provide the foundation knowedge needed that the book provided. However, the exams will bring to light all the smaller things that the book just breezes past. I spent as much time on these exams as I spent in reading the book. That is what it took to get me to the point where I was scoring decently on the exams.

The book just does not cover the material in the depth required.

If you frequent any of the IT forums on the net, you will find that the name of Mike Meyers is often mentioned in the matter of A+. There is a reason why folks and his A+ Passport lends credence to his already impressive line of books. I found the A+ Passport to be an excellent primer before taking the A+ exams. Included with the book is ExamWeb's A+ testing software on a CD. I found the questions to be on the easier side of things so reader's may want to look into finding online testing resources. In A+ Passport, Meyers covers everything you'll need to know for the exams from printers to connector types and IRQs to SCSI. You will be increasing your chances of successfully becoming A+ certified by reading this book. For those breaking into the IT field, also consider picking up Meyer's meatier text, the A+ All-in-One.

I wish people would take the tests before rating these books.

My scores are 810/900 and 840/900 for Essentials and 602 respectively. Passing scores are 675 and 700 with 100 being the minimum.

I bought this book and A+ Certification All-in-One Exam Guide, Sixth Edition (A+ Certification All in One Exam) by the same author. I also bought the exam vouchers from them which came with 300 practice questions. Both books come with practice questions both in the books and additional ones on the accompanying CDs. However, the CDs and the downloaded questions were mostly repeats and nothing like the actual exams (same goes for the books).

I have over twenty years of tinkering with computers. I was an aerospace engineer and an Oracle database programmer. I just wanted to get this Certification for kicks. There is a lot of fluff in both books which has nothing to do with the exams. Neither book really tells you how the actual exam questions are like. Actual exams are generally much simpler and test you mostly on your broad knowledge rather than the fine details (the exams does not ask which socket Pentium II uses, but it does ask what does a series of long beeps mean after you boot up). If you know the basics and understand the logic, you will pass. You still need to know some details, but they are not the hard ones. There has to be better book out there.

Even though I already knew 80% of the subject matter, I studied real hard. There is more stuff in the other book worth knowing though (not for the test). But personally, fluff puts me to sleep. Just keep it brief and to the point and pertinent to the test, that's what the books are selling.

If you buy these books, make sure you already have some experience in the field and that you really study these books like a text book.

If you're going for your A+ Certification, and have a good working knowledge about PC hardware and software but want to brush up a bit before you shell out the $280 for the A+, then buy this book!

It is written for those with some experience in IBM PC hardware and software so if you don't have any experience then you may want to get another book. HOWEVER:

The book is wonderful! It is easy to read, highlights important collections of facts (such as what devices are associated with which IRQ's) so they are easy to find, and Mr. Meyers gives you a huge pic warning you that the next topic that he covers is virtually guaranteed to be on your A+ exam (and he's right).

The enclosed CD-ROM is also a very nice addition that comes with several practice questions. For $20, you can purchase an upgrade, which gives you access to more questions, plus an array of tools which go over your tests with a finetooth comb showing you exactly what you need to work on. I purchased this upgrade and I'm really happy I did as it showed me exactly what areas I needed to review and which ones I did not thus saving me a lot of time.

So if this book is so great then why the 4 stars instead of 5? Unfortunately, Mr. Meyers also leaves out a couple of minor topics in his book that you may be quizzed on (like loopback tests). The questions on the CD-ROM mentions these tests but nowhere in his book does he ever mention it thus I had to go elsewhere for the info.

Be that as it may the 1 or 2 topics he failed to cover are entirely overshadowed by the clear, consise and easy to read writing style as well as the usefulness of this book as an excellent reference guide even after you attain your A+ Certification.

If you have a decent working knowledge of IBM PC soft/hardware and want your A+ then BUY THIS BOOK!

This book is a study guide for the A+ Certification exam. Like the exam, it is organized into 2 parts, hardware and operating systems. The text is quite easy to read compared to other technical guides of its type. The book is clearly a study guide, and would not be very useful as a guide for fixing hardware or software problems. The chapters and information are quite concise and geared towards letting the reader know what kinds of topics and questions might appear on the exams. Nevertheless, Meyers does include comments based on his own experience with computer work that seem quite useful. Each chapter identifies exam objectives and includes exam tips as well as sample questions and answers. The book includes quite a few high quality photographs that are very useful for clarifying information. The accompanying CD-ROM has two sample exams, one for hardware and one for software. Users can choose to view answers and explanations for the exam questions. I had no problems installing the exam software on my computer in Win2000.

Overall, I found the book somewhat useful, but not perfect. There were a few areas where I needed more information that goes beyond the simple review format found in the book. In several chapters, at least one of the review questions covered material from another chapter. I wasn't sure, but it seemed that the topics of a few of the questions from the CD-ROM exams weren't mentioned in the book at all. If you already have pretty good knowledge about computer hardware and operating systems and you are looking for a concise A+ test review guide, this book may help you. But if you are looking to learn more about how hardware works and how to upgrade hardware yourself, it might be better to look for a book with more in-depth coverage.

So any interested in COMPTIA certifications, the A+ has undergone a revision and leave it Mike Meyers to once again lead the pack in creating a great prep tool for the exams. The Passport series is great addition to the material needed to pass the exam.

If you are looking for the go to book this is not that book, what this book does is cover each objective by giving you a good overview of the material and pointing out the finer details of the exam. The book is made of the person who is in need of material to make sure they have covered everything before taking the exam.

The book has over 625 pages filled with explanations and pictures, I think that some of the pictures could have been in color to give the reader a better understanding of the material, but it does not detract form the overall presentation of the information.

The book is divided into 2 sections, first is the Core hardware and the second is the Operating Systems. The material is technically accurate and up to date so there is no need to worry about studying the wrong information.

There is a cd included has practice exam material for the final preparation tool. Couple this book with Mike Meyers All In One Guide and you have the unbeatable combination. Overall since I have been teaching A+ Mike Meyers is the name to trust and this makes studying a whole easier.

The A+ Exam has changed since I took it about three years ago. Since there is a need for each technician to make sure they are current with exam new books are required. Also if you are in pursuit of the certification it is a good idea to have a book that can help you out to give you that final prep you'll need. Either way this may the book to get a hold of.

Mike Meyers is the most respected name in the A+ Certification arena and this is another example of how he has taken the opportunity to help you out. The 500 plus page manual starts of with the Hardware exam covering topics like COM/LPT ports, keyboards, mouse, video, audio, NICs, modems, USB and SCSI.

From there you'll covers exam objective like ESD, and Safety, EMI and hazard material, motherboards, power supplies, memory, buses, processors from the Pentium to the Pentium 4, although I think coverage of the older CPU might also be helpful.

Different types of RAM such as DRAM, SRAM, EDO and FP, IDE and SCSI hard drives, I/O Addressing, IRQs and finally DMAs. Installation, configuration and troubleshooting, portable, printer and networking round out this section.

In the Operating Technologies section DOS, Windows 9.X, NT Workstation and 2000 Professional are given their coverage. Again adding Windows 3.X could only help but does not subtract anything by being left out. Networking and troubleshooting finish out this section as well.

There is also a cd included with 2 practice exams and overall this book does cover each objective very well. Used with Mike Meyers All in One Certification guide you may just have the unbeatable combination.

I used this book along with The A+ Exams Guide to study for both A+ exams, and passed both the first time. I found this book to provide a very good review for the concepts, but I did think the questions were a little bit lacking compared to the real thing. I would highly reccomend this book as a supplemental study tool, but not as the only one unless you have a LOT of experience already.