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loserboy
August 9th, 2006, 05:19 PM
I failed the second part of my A+ exam today, It sux, i was really happy cuz I passed the 1st part.... now i feel stupid


I know theres gotta be alot of people here who have taken it and passed....so did you go to school, self study, guess at it? just curious what eveyone else did and if they remember their score.

dabear
August 9th, 2006, 05:20 PM
Please elaborate; what is this a+ exam thingy?

Biltong (Dee)
August 9th, 2006, 05:25 PM
Dunno what the A+ exam is, but perhaps it is time to have a fresh and positive outlook on life.

One of the first things to go should be the name...

DoctorMO
August 9th, 2006, 05:34 PM
I think it's a UK qualification. not have more than a GCSE in Maths I couldn't say for sure though.

Brunellus
August 9th, 2006, 05:38 PM
I'm guessing it's an IT certification of some sort. Cisco, right?

G Morgan
August 9th, 2006, 06:20 PM
I think it's a UK qualification. not have more than a GCSE in Maths I couldn't say for sure though.

The UK A-Level qualifications outside of Scotland are AS and A2. An AS + an A2 = an A-Level. As for GCSES, the top qualification is A* rather than A+. The A* is a statistical tool designed to make the elite group look smaller than they actually are (the average grade gap is 7% but the gap between A and A* is around 18%, you don't have to be a mathematician to realise what this means) justifying the one size fits all basis of our system.

Anyway the OPs location is clearly not the UK ;).

Iandefor
August 9th, 2006, 06:25 PM
For people who don't know what A+ Certification is, it happens to be an IT certificate.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CompTIA

Lord Illidan
August 9th, 2006, 06:29 PM
That sucks, man.
I got the A+ when I was 13. I practiced a hell of damn lot of sample tests. The first part was easy, I was already practicing alot on my pc :).

The second part, yeah I passed...just about. Very hard. And very windows focused.

Don't panic, it's not the end of the world. You might have had a bad day. Take a lot of sample tests, you'll find plenty of free ones on the net, and retake it.

Terracotta
August 9th, 2006, 06:29 PM
For people who don't know what A+ Certification is, it happens to be an IT certificate.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CompTIA

I'd fail :|

loserboy
August 9th, 2006, 06:37 PM
oh heh sorry I wasn't thinking about you guys not knowing what it was....

anyway as mentioned its a It certification... kinda entry level, its really pretty easy if you've had experience with all the parts on the test.

they test you about DOS, win 9x, Me, NT/2000 and xp....problem is I never did much in DOS except for like install doom and wolfenstein or corridor 7 (i as like 9yrs old). Iv'e never touched NT and Barely used 2000.

so with the exception of all that I did great lol

Terracotta
August 9th, 2006, 06:41 PM
oh heh sorry I wasn't thinking about you guys not knowing what it was....

anyway as mentioned its a It certification... kinda entry level, its really pretty easy if you've had experience with all the parts on the test.

they test you about DOS, win 9x, Me, NT/2000 and xp....problem is I never did much in DOS except for like install doom and wolfenstein or corridor 7 (i as like 9yrs old). Iv'e never touched NT and Barely used 2000.

What do you need to know dos for? They'd better ask about Bash :p, now bashing MS is something i'm very good at :mrgreen: .
But well I think I'h have the same problems as you, just not experienced enough with the environments they test.

Lord Illidan
August 9th, 2006, 06:41 PM
Yeah the hardware part was easy. It's the OS part which starts getting picky. Ah, well, don't give up!

bigken
August 9th, 2006, 06:55 PM
hang in there bud they changed from when I did it a few years back it was adaptive testing then now have to answer every bloody question dont give up like lord illidan says try and some test sample and learn from them ;)

loserboy
August 9th, 2006, 06:58 PM
Yeah the hardware part was easy. It's the OS part which starts getting picky. Ah, well, don't give up!

thanks, I know i'll get it, i'm just bummed out for the day

I think what happened is I spent way too much time studying hardware thinking it was gonna be impossible, then I was tired of studying when I got to the OS.

Some of the stuff they just throw in randomly is soooo stupid - "if theres an order for a 21" monitor but its on the top shelf what do you do?"

bigken
August 9th, 2006, 07:02 PM
just out interest how much did you pay for the test when i took it was £100 plus vat total £117.50 not a cheap thing for 20 mins of rattling your brains

Lord Illidan
August 9th, 2006, 07:06 PM
"if theres an order for a 21" monitor but its on the top shelf what do you do?"

Well, what do you do?? This question is really stupid!

bigken
August 9th, 2006, 07:09 PM
get a step ladder lol :cool:

Lord Illidan
August 9th, 2006, 07:15 PM
just out interest how much did you pay for the test when i took it was £100 plus vat total £117.50 not a cheap thing for 20 mins of rattling your brains

Yeah, for that amount of money, the quality of the test leaves much to be desired. Also, it has the dangerous effect of making you think you know everything, when in fact, you are just scratching the surface.

bigken
August 9th, 2006, 07:20 PM
ye I remember when I took mine I was shaking as could not afford to fail
the hardware test I passed 1st time and it only 4 minutes this was on the adaptive then when I took the OS test it took and 20 mins as I had to answer all the Qs but gald to say I did pass :D

loserboy
August 9th, 2006, 07:58 PM
just out interest how much did you pay for the test

it's $153 US for each part...def not something I wanted to spend more than once, also when I went for the 1st one i thought that it included both tests.


Well, what do you do?? This question is really stupid!

lol I know, I think the options were

You are a technician in a warehouse you have an order for a 21" monitor but its on the top shelf what do you do:

a. ignore the order

b. tell someone else to do it

c. wait until you are reminded to do it later

d. wait until you can get some help from someone else to get it down

Edit obviously i put d.

mips
August 9th, 2006, 08:01 PM
I don't want to sound condecending but the A+ cert is as easy as it gets. It's something you should be able to do blindfolded with one arm behind your back. The same goes for microsoft certs.

Maybe just study a bit harder next time or try and interpred the questions a bit better. Could have been a case of the nerves.

bigken
August 9th, 2006, 08:02 PM
You have could said tell the client/customer to come and get it them selves
:-\"

loserboy
August 9th, 2006, 08:12 PM
A+ cert is as easy as it gets

I don't disagree with you.

but I don't absorb things very well through book study, hands on is the way i remember things, anything pertaining to XP or 9x I had a perfect score on, but as i said i really don't have much experience with the other OSes. I realize the close similarities with NT/2000 and XP but when it comes to finding utilites or just menu placement, I have never even looked at an NT machine before even though I know I could make my way around on them if i was using one.

mips
August 9th, 2006, 08:49 PM
In that case install New Technology 4.0 ;) Cisco certs on the other hand can be a biatch, just try CCIE if you have the $$$ to spare, might take a few tries and some of the proctors could be a bit more friendly than hitler ;)

loserboy
August 9th, 2006, 08:52 PM
In that case install New Technology 4.0


I know I prolly should :)

DoctorMO
August 9th, 2006, 09:17 PM
I have no interest in proving I'm Microsoft lacky to be quite honest I'd prefere to just go out there and ride on my good references.

I once did an MOCA in PC hardware, I think I was 13.

loserboy
August 9th, 2006, 10:04 PM
I have no interest in proving I'm Microsoft lacky

i hear ya..

honestly i'm just doin this stuff on my spare time, I don't have an IT profession, I'm a sales manager for a company that distributes commercial and industrial generators. But I want to get all of the relevent prelimanary certs in case i'm able to change careers one day. (A+, Net+ Linux+, MCSE, etc.).
Now that I use ubuntu though i'm thinking about ditvhing the ms stuff.

Lord Illidan
August 14th, 2006, 11:52 AM
i hear ya..

honestly i'm just doin this stuff on my spare time, I don't have an IT profession, I'm a sales manager for a company that distributes commercial and industrial generators. But I want to get all of the relevent prelimanary certs in case i'm able to change careers one day. (A+, Net+ Linux+, MCSE, etc.).
Now that I use ubuntu though i'm thinking about ditvhing the ms stuff.

I dunno about that. Even though I love Linux a lot, I still think about getting an MCSE or MCSD..because those are the ones recognised by the industry. Sometimes, you have to put aside your likes and dislikes.

And disregarding my dislike of Microsoft as a company, their .NET product is world class. It beats anything that Linux has to offer, imho.

bjweeks
August 14th, 2006, 12:50 PM
i hear ya..

honestly i'm just doin this stuff on my spare time, I don't have an IT profession, I'm a sales manager for a company that distributes commercial and industrial generators. But I want to get all of the relevent prelimanary certs in case i'm able to change careers one day. (A+, Net+ Linux+, MCSE, etc.).
Now that I use ubuntu though i'm thinking about ditvhing the ms stuff.

Not sure what career you want to change to but A+, Net+ and Linux+ are really useless for a good paying job.

%hMa@?b<C
August 14th, 2006, 01:39 PM
no way in HELL i'd pass that
I'd pass the linux portion, but fail miserably the Win9x/DOS (never used it, I'm only fifteen)

bjweeks
August 14th, 2006, 01:43 PM
no way in HELL i'd pass that
I'd pass the linux portion, but fail miserably the Win9x/DOS (never used it, I'm only fifteen)

Not that hard ;)

Edit: Oh, if we are talking about A+, I'm almost 100% sure that it doesn't have a linux part just hardware and DOS.

Lord Illidan
August 14th, 2006, 04:21 PM
Not sure what career you want to change to but A+, Net+ and Linux+ are really useless for a good paying job.

They do fill up your CV though. I mean, it thus give some proof that you went and studied something.

Linux+ is hopeless though. I got the latest book recently, hoping to learn something. Bahh.. Most of it I already knew thanks to experimenting. I only needed to learn some more bash..

I would still do it, though, one more cert is good. I mean..yes they are expensive, but if they can land you a well paid job, who's complaining?

By far the worst is ECDL, imho...My sister did it. I did it too...5-10 minutes each exam, it was that easy.

mips
August 14th, 2006, 09:43 PM
They do fill up your CV though. I mean, it thus give some proof that you went and studied something.
...
I would still do it, though, one more cert is good. I mean..yes they are expensive, but if they can land you a well paid job, who's complaining?


If I was interviewing you I would not pay much attention to certs. I've come across so many certified people in my life that actually know shite. Anybody can pick up a book and pass a simple exam.

I recall a environment where I worked in and when the shite hit the fan the problem landed up in the lap of a guy that had NO certs and he fixed it. So much for all the A+, Network+, MCSE certified staff... What he had was logic reasoning, common sense and problem solving skills ;)

John.Michael.Kane
August 15th, 2006, 01:10 AM
mips has a point. the cert's are only good if the interviewer takes them into account,and the cert holder know's how to apply each cert he/she may have along with his/her logic reasoning, common sense and problem solving skills.

Any knowldge one gathers in life be it book knowldge or hands on,is only good if it's being applied right.

daniel of sarnia
August 15th, 2006, 01:28 AM
mips has a point. the cert's are only good if the interviewer takes them into account,and the cert holder know's how to apply each cert he/she may have along with his/her logic reasoning, common sense and problem solving skills.

Any knowldge one gathers in life be it book knowldge or hands on,is only good if it's being applied right.

That's vary true, I did CCNA in high school and out of the hole class only me and one other guy (he happened to be a linux user too) knew how to apply it. Out of 24 people we were the only ones to pass the exam. It really shocked me, because as other people had already said the cert like ccna, a+, linux+, and net+. But to my friend that failed the A+ you have to know dos to have any hopes of passing it, even through they do not even support it anymore.

loserboy
August 17th, 2006, 08:08 PM
Not sure what career you want to change to but A+, Net+ and Linux+ are really useless for a good paying job.

I'm not trying to say that those will land me a good paying job, in fact if i change careers, I will be the owner, so i guess technically I don't need them, i'd like to have them and the sticker and piece of paper that they provide. :)

Lord Illidan
August 17th, 2006, 08:21 PM
Not to mention that some or indeed most interviewers want to see a certificate. You sort of prove yourself to them.

adam.tropics
August 17th, 2006, 08:27 PM
Not to mention that some or indeed most interviewers want to see a certificate. You sort of prove yourself to them.

Absolutely, certificates serve a purpose as they often help 'get the foot in the door'.

loserboy
August 17th, 2006, 09:58 PM
exactly

bjweeks
August 18th, 2006, 03:31 AM
Not to mention that some or indeed most interviewers want to see a certificate. You sort of prove yourself to them.

Please note I said "good paying job".