A+ Certification Training Guide

From Barnes & Noble

To achieve A+ certification, you'll need to pass two tough exams: Exam 220-301, covering basic competencies in hardware; and Exam 220-302, covering basic competencies in Windows operating systems (with a little legacy DOS thrown in). The exams' content hasn't changed for a little while, but the format has.

These are now "adaptive" exams, meaning that the test automatically adjusts its questions based on the answers you've already provided. It takes less time to finish the exam. And, since you can't go back to recheck questions you've already answered, and each question is more important than ever, it takes a lot less time to fail.

So you need a great prep book. We highly recommend A+ Training Guide, Fourth Edition.

Written by Charles J. Brooks and the staff of Marcraft, this book offers intelligent and crystal-clear coverage of every exam objective on both exams. Marcraft has been teaching technology since before PCs even existed. They know how to explain this stuff so you'll completely understand it.

Like all books in Que's Training Guide series, this one contains an exceptional array of teaching and review tools. There are review cards listing every exam objective and where you can learn about it in the book. You'll find a 50-page Fast Facts section that refreshes you on crucial topics and key points, as well as excellent study and exam "prep tips." There's a complete glossary. And the whole book is also provided on CD-ROM, so you can take it anywhere. (That's fortunate, since this is one fat book!)

Each chapter contains "Challenges" that reflect real-world issues technicians are likely to face. Each chapter ends with an extensive set of review exercises -- with every answer carefully explained. There are complete practice exams for both the core hardware and operating systems exams. And yet another practice exam is provided on CD-ROM, accessible through the impressive PrepLogic Practice Tests, Preview Edition test simulator.

The subject matter has been refined through four editions and is extremely well done. We especially like the hardware troubleshooting coverage, which is better than we've seen in many books focused solely on hardware -- books that don't even attempt to prepare you for the A+ exam.

For example, Chapter 8 brings together the most common failures and symptoms associated with virtually every PC component: power supplies, motherboards, input devices, video displays, drives, USB and other I/O ports, modems, and sound cards. Chapter 9 offers a complete, A+-compatible methodology for troubleshooting PCs, from information gathering to using multimeters, observing boot-up to swapping parts.

The operating system coverage is equally helpful. You'll review essential technician's skills associated with managing files and disks; installing and upgrading Windows (still potentially troublesome after all these years); troubleshooting setup and startup problems; network and Internet connectivity; and more.

There's also a full chapter on the most common Windows problems likely to bring users into your shop -- everything from running out of drive space to logon failures, viruses to network printing problems.

Oh, one last point. This book will pay for itself.

We know what you're thinking. "That's just marketing hype for 'you'll learn faster, save valuable time, and be far more likely to pass the exam the first time.' " Sure, all that's true. But buying this book also entitles you to a 30% discount on the A+ exam itself, when you purchase your exam voucher through Marcraft. If, like most folks, you take the hardware and OS exams together, that'll save you $83.40 over the regular price of $278. You do the math. How can you lose? Bill Camarda

Bill Camarda is a consultant, writer, and web/multimedia content developer. His 15 books include Special Edition Using Word 2000 and Upgrading & Fixing Networks For Dummies®, Second Edition.