39 replies to this topic

[racinmason001]

Well yesterday was a very nerve racking day from my son not sleeping the night before to very bad traffic on the freeway to my school. I was fifteen minutes late but I'm lucky that I have made good friends with instuctors at my school. When I arrived I was asked very politely if I wanted to test today being late and all. I looked at my instructor and said "**** YEAH!" So he proceeded to download my test it took about fifteen minutes to get everything setup. I signed all the agreements and headed to the booth. Right when I sat down I thought I was making a mistake testing because I had a massive brain **** and couldn't remember my IRQ's, DMA's, and I/O's so I just sat back relaxed took a deep breath and thought of my wifes advice on remembering them. (She helps me study almost everyday.) Everything came to me and I began to feel comfortable so I clicked start test. I saw in my previous post that someone had alot of ethical and disposal questions. I did not have any of that. I do see why everyone here says know your material because a brain dump is not possible for CompTIA's 800 - 1000 question database. My test was mainly troubleshooting, upgrading, memory, and a couple networking questions. There were 100 questions but only 80 of them count. (you are not informed to which ones don't count.) You have 90 mins to complete the test and I finished in 45 mins. The best advice that I can give is if you are in question about your knowledge DO NOT TEST! The test is not difficult if you know your stuff. I studied for almost 2 months, again know your stuff. If anyone has any other questions please continue this thread and I will answer them in between studying and caring for my children.

[Piterskaya]

Racinmason,
Were the actual test questions more difficult than those on this website? Also, which book(s) did you use?

Thnx for your input!

[racinmason001]

The questions here on his website cover most of the test if your scoring good here then you will score good on the test. I was getting 700-720's here and I scored a 763 on the official exam. I used sybex's A+ complete by David Groth and I studied the testout software on my laptop. I cant really go to far into detail about test questions because you accept a confidentiality agreement before you start the test.

[James]

Congratulations on the pass and thank you for a very helpful forum article about your experiecne with the test I have added this as a permanent link to the wiki at:
http://www.proprofs.com/mwiki/index.php?ti...ls_%26_Articles

[jhatlestad]

I dont know if you can say this due to confidentiality or not, but one of my classmates was telling me that if you get a test question wrong, the program immediately follows up with questions on the same subject to see if you really do not know that subject or if it was just a fluke. Did you notice this at all?

[theclarks1]

Hey man let me say first congrats! All I can say is I didnt go through all you went through before the test but I can say that I did have the same kind of brain ****! But just like you said, breathe, calm down and pace yourself and you will do just fine and you did! Congrats man!

[James]

jhatlestad: Comptia A+ exam is not adaptive. They used to have an adaptive test but not anymore

[racinmason001]

Congratulations on the pass and thank you for a very helpful forum article about your experiecne with the test I have added this as a permanent link to the wiki at:
http://www.proprofs.com/mwiki/index.php?ti...ls_%26_Articles

I really appreciate you adding that article to the wiki. Thank you!

[edablue]

CONGRATS on that pass!

Well you are totally correct about having the brain cramps, it's not at all out of the norm. In fact there are some really bright people whom have all the answers, but are test shy especially if they must go before a board.

The important things is that you walked out a winner and give these virtual   to your wife for assisting you with your accomplishment. Unfortunately we have a tendency to forget them.

So what's your next step over the rainbow from here? Did you pass to arrive at certification or was it core or OS exam?

How do you feel this will impact your life or way of living?

Good luck!  

[racinmason001]

This was the core exam I have already started O.S. and boy is it different but no worries I will prevail. My wife thanks you for the virtual flowers. If it was not for her supporting me through this career change I would have never attempted it. She is great. She helps me and supports every life changing decision I make. I used to be a blocklayer until I blew out 3 discs in my lower back. I can't say how this will affect my life yet because I still have alot of schooling to go. I am going for A+ of course, MCSE/MCSA, Security+, Network+, and Linux or Novell not sure which one yet. I am hoping to make a little more than $40,000 a year (blocklaying wage) and looking forward to working with my brain not brawn. I also want to say that I love this site everyone here is so nice and supportive and I sincerely think that everyone cares about what happens to me.

[theclarks1]

I think from what I have read if you are going to get the n+ the CCNA is more beneficial. Now thats from what I have heard and seen in some job markets.

[jhatlestad]

jhatlestad: Comptia A+ exam is not adaptive. They used to have an adaptive test but not anymore

Thanks James  

[jnorman10]

CONGRATS on the pass mate. Good luck in the future... and as mentioned earlier, CCNA would prob be more valueable than just a net +. Good luck. Cheers.

[Thulium]

I thought I would post a little something about my test experience today.

Due to my "goal timeline" and various work and extracurricular activities, I decided to take both the OS and the Hardware tests today.  I was considering taking a stab at the new 2006 objectives, but since study materials are few and far between and I had to take both on the same day, I decided to keep it safe.  In retrospect, I wonder if I might have scored better on the newer objectives, but I'm not really prepared to shell out $300 to find out.

First up was Core Hardware.  This one had me a little nervous...and not just because this was my first attempt at any certification exam!  There were several questions that I truly wasn't sure on how to answer and was forced to eliminate the answers that I was pretty certain were incorrect and choose from what remained.  There were 100 questions to answer in 90 minutes, but only an unspecified 80 of them counted toward the final score (between 100 and 900).  A passing score is 515, I got:
695

I finished in about 45 minutes and they told me I could start the next one whenever I liked, so I took a short break to settle my nerves and get focused.  Somewhat charged from the previous test and slightly more confident with the materials, I went into the OS exam feeling pretty positive...and the first few questions only helped that along...but I quickly bumped into some that were a little less obvious about specifics in older operating systems, and several questions that totally stumped me asking about how to create "ERDs".  I marked them for review and eventually just took a stab in the dark at them, because I don't recall ever hearing the abbreviation "ERD" before!  I began to suspect a conspiracy against me when there were several more questions about "ERDs".  It wasn't until I got the result printout that says "You missed one or more questions in teh following objective ares..." and mentioned "2.3 Identify the basic system boot sequences and boot methods, including the steps to create an emergency boot disk with utilities installed" and it kind of lept off the page: ERD=Emergency Repair Disk!  D'oh!! :

But notwithstanding those few questions, I still managed to pull a 705.

:smilie_tanz_008:   :smilie_tanz_008:

[fodera22]

Congrats on passing the exam!  I'm studying for it now.  I hope to take it in a few weeks.  Adios!

[James]

Congratulations Thulium, that is a very encouraging story.

[jnorman10]

Congrats on the dual passing... Good luck in the future mate!!

[shabos]

thanks for posting this, I was looking for testing experiences I wasn't aware that not all of the questions asked actually count. Hopefully, the night before I take the test, my kids will sleep.

[J. Easty]

Great job on passing both exams on the same day. For me, i would want to separate them, but that is just me. I find this site very helpful, it is a great resource of information. Thanks!

[Quinntessential]

J. Easty

This being your third post is much better than your first two post.  This is what a meaningful post looks like.  

Keep it up and ask questions if you don't understand anything.