A+ Certification Practice Questions Exam Cram 2 (Exams : 220-301, 220-302) (Exam Cram 2)

The A+ certification is the most popular certification program in the world, certifying more than 500,000 individuals since its inception in 1998. These exams certify readers knowledge of basic computer hardware and operating systems. This certification is extremely popular because it is essential to anybody who requires a baseline set of skills or competencies: high school students, technicians in your company's IT support group, even the delivery-truck driver who wants to explore a better career opportunity.

The A+ Practice Questions Exam Cram 2 provides readers with nearly 1,000 practice test questions as well as complete answer explanations, giving readers the perfect complementary tool for their A+ studies. Features relevant Exam Notes to heop readers score better on the tests, plus the ever popular `Cram Sheet` tearcard, which is used for last-minute cramming.

User review
Exam Cram2
Great series of books. Very helpful in passing the A+ exam. Delivered exactly as promised. I would definately recomend this to anyone!

User review
Helpful but not comprehensive
I will be honest - I've got about 3 years on the job experience in tech support and I was required to pass A+ as a condition of my current employment. So, I got this book because it had the same goal: pass the test and be done with it. It does it make it quite clear that the authors do not expect this will be your only resource for taking the test. For me, it's all I used (in addition to my hands-on experience). I passed my tests last Friday by a decent margin, and I have to admit that a lot of the questions I saw were practically lifted from the book. My understanding is that those who wrote it have all taken the test and are familiar with the questions asked.

There were several times when I wanted to throw the book down and scream - at CompTIA, not the authors. The book is very honest about the fact that the test is deceptive and almost designed to make you fail, by giving you misleading information and sometimes asking questions where none of the answers (or all!) are right, but you have to pick the most likely one. Fortunately, on the test no question was THAT bad, so in that regard it was a useful preparation, as I was ready for pretty much anything.

No book will replace personal experience, so I recommend you to have opened some computers, maybe even built one or two, and done a lot of tinkering with them before sitting down for this. There was still a lot of technical information I've never learned in this book, though, so it has its merits.

Pros:
*Good price
*Attempts to cover a lot of information even if it's not all thorough
*Lots of practice questions
*If you have worked with computers a lot, you really don't need another book, even if some of the concepts are new.
*I liked the humor sprinkled throughout; it makes drudging through 800 pages of computer information a little easier on the ol' noggin.

Cons:
*Discount program for the exam ended October 1. I bought this book partly because of the $90 savings on the test, and I bought it at the end of October, having no idea it wasn't even valid anymore. That they would discontinue it while the book was on the shelf bothers me a lot, and writing to the publisher regarding this never received a response.
*Some questions I saw on the test had zero mention in the book, so it is not comprehensive.
*The practice exams in the book are OK; the questions on the CD are really just for review, because to do a proper test it seems like you have to buy an upgraded version. Still, 210 questions per test was useful (just on the CD).

Basically, if you have some experience with computers, and can make educated guesses on some questions, you should be OK with this book. A passing score really isn't that high, so you don't need to feel like you should know everything there is to know. If you are going for A+ without field experience, do not use this book by itself, and definitely do some work with computers so you are not scratching your head while reading this.

User review
Here's the Latest Update on this book
Okay people, here's the latest information on this book. There is definitely enough information in this book for you to pass the 220-301, the hardware exam. But there is NOT enough info in this book for you to pass the 220-302, the operating system technologies half. Regarding the core hardware exam, this book will teach you everything you need to know to pass,,so long as you read, remember and can obsorb the material,,.and of course it never hurts to supplement your knowledge with other books.
On the the OS technologies exam, or the 220-302,,.the second half of this book, is more like a history book, and does very very little to prepare you for the exam. If you rely on just this book for the OS exam, you will fail. The material you need to know, just is not in this book. If you're looking for a good background, or just getting started in computers, this book would be great, but not for somebody looking to pass the OS technologies exam. Two books that you could supplement this book with, would be the A+ Exam practice questions book, which is very beneficial as you can learn a lot, and the A+ Lab Manual, both are from the exam cram series. It sucks that we can't get the info we need in just one book, the Exam Cram for the entire exam, or both in this case,,.but the book does next to nothing,,.the knowledge to answer about 5 to 10 questions,,10 at the most,,is in this book for the OS technologies exam. I know technology changes,,and the exams do right with it,,.and books can't just be published overnight, but exams can change overnight. Otherwise I'm a big fan of the exam crams,,.

User review
Good review, too long and many errors
Though the book is a good review, it seems to jog wildly off topic for a typical exam cram. My idea of an exam cram is just the information you need to pass the exam. I'm not interested in a history lesson of PC technologies or in-depth discussions of signalling that isn't covered on the exam and isn't used except by hardware engineers.

Secondly, there are many errors, particularly the wireless section which has some serious errors. For example, the book says that 802.11b uses FHSS and 802.11g uses DSSS. This is clearly false. 802.11b uses DSSS, and 802.11g uses OFDM. There are no excuses for these types of errors.

User review
Great Book!
I was very confused after reading these reviews, because readers seemed to be talking about a book that isn't the same as the one I was reading. I think I've discovered why: Amazon has mistakenly listed the reviews for the A+ Exam Cram here, when they should only be listing feedback for the Practice Questions book. Bottom line: the Practice Questions book provides just that: practice questions and answers. A thousand of them, and all on a CD as well, too boot! You'd be hard pressed to get your hands on 1,000 practice questions for less than 20 bucks. This book is designed for drill and practice on the concepts covered on the latest A+ exam. That's it -- if you're looking for more, look for a different book, but this book does exactly as it says it will: provide drill and practice so you can better understand the concepts on the A+ exam and score higher.