What is the best way now to study for the comptia a+ exam

[aman2499]

I want to know what the best way is now because i heard that some of the testing materials have changed

[brenan999]

Find a resource that works for you. Just like different teachers in school some are better for you then others. It all comes down to how the information is presented. Doesn't matter if it's online, a book or some ancient stone carved tablets; if they aren't presenting it to you in a way that you can relate it does no good to you.

[Mooshi]

Take everything you know about modern computers, forget about it and study ancient tech no one should still be using in a production environment. Also printers. 

 

It's been awhile since I looked at A+ material, but last time it was embarrassingly outdated. 

[Acolyte_of_PC]

They recently redid and released new Comptia A+ test 220-901 and 220-902 back near the beginning of this year. Most of it is a general blanket of technology and how it all works, none of it is cutting edge. Its designed to get you up to date on what a standard company and home user would be using to operate on a daily basis.

[Mooshi]

19 minutes ago, Acolyte_of_PC said:

They recently redid and released new Comptia A+ test 220-901 and 220-902 back near the beginning of this year. Most of it is a general blanket of technology and how it all works, none of it is cutting edge. Its designed to get you up to date on what a standard company and home user would be using to operate on a daily basis.

My girlfriend's mother who is in her 60's has a slimline HP from years ago that would run circles around the pieces of trash we have at our work. From experience, most companies are the absolute worst at getting their employees something usable that doesn't feel like surplus computers from a middle school with a low budget. 

 

Replace "standard"  with "cheap ass"  and its no wonder A+ material is what it is. 

[SnowyMus]

On 11/6/2016 at 1:14 AM, Mooshi said:

Take everything you know about modern computers, forget about it and study ancient tech no one should still be using in a production environment. Also printers. 

 

It's been awhile since I looked at A+ material, but last time it was embarrassingly outdated. 

I remember taking a course that was based around the A+ book. Some of it is pretty useful information that is still quite relevant. However, you rarely hear of things like northbridges and FSBs outside of your AMD FX build (which is somewhat outdated anyway). It also talks about PCI, serial ports for printers, and other ancient Egyptian artifacts. Nowadays, you have people who are making videos about their young children building computers (usually with a little help).

[Mooshi]

5 minutes ago, Kavawuvi said:

I remember taking a course that was based around the A+ book. Some of it is pretty useful information that is still quite relevant. However, you rarely hear of things like northbridges and FSBs outside of your AMD FX build (which is somewhat outdated anyway). It also talks about PCI, serial ports for printers, and other ancient Egyptian artifacts. Nowadays, you have people who are making videos about their young children building computers (usually with a little help).

While it doesn't have to be bleeding edge, I can only remember last I took A+ materials and how ancient it was. Honestly, I feel the basics should be how to build a PC and how to comfortably troubleshoot them/how well you can identify an issue.

 

There are vendor specific certifications for those cheap companies (like mine)  that has Celeron based Dell Optiplexes mixed in with some core 2 duos. 

[_Seagate_]

I am currently learning myself and the two things that's helping me the most is doing practice exams and getting my hands on an old textbook, the official 2005+ one and I have taken that and put it to very good use. Get an old textbook, the Jean Andrews (Fifth Edition) or get a current one and just read through it, highlight sections you aren't familiar with and google things that aren't in the book, those practice exams will help you get an idea of what you should study. Good luck