Rating: 
Summary: When I first read the book it was very hard to understand,
Review: After I recieved the book as a gift the first thing that I did was open it up and skim through it. I found it very hard to understand, even with my dad being a computer technitian he found it very hard to understand. I would recommend that you wait for the second edition pof the book when most of the mistakes and hard to understand things are cleared up
Rating: 
Summary: Try a different book for A+ Cert
Review: After reading this book, I am NOT CONFIDENT in taking the A+ exam. Not only is the book full of glaring errors and poorly worded questions, half the "practice tests" on the CD only work with Internet Explorer 4, most of the remaining I couldn't get to run, and the ones I could were pretty much worthless. I get the feeling this book was rushed to print by authors who don't really have a grasp of the subject matter. Despite its flashy cover and outlandish praise, my advice is to try a different book, and hope it's better than this one.
Rating: 
Summary: Book is excellent
Review: Book is layed out VERY well.. has easy to read, flows nice, cool exam notes.. helped me and a friend pass with only 3 days studying (not to mention over 3 years exp but still).. covers more then you need, but its better to know more then less. i wouldn't use it as an ONLY resource.. enjoy! -Joe M.
Rating:
Summary: This book STINKS!!!!!!
Review: Damn, this book STINKS!!! It was totally WORTHLESS to me for my test; I had to rely almost entirely on my experience and very little on the info in this book. It BLOWS!!! Using this book was only a little better than not studying at all!!!
Rating:
Summary: Great for the hardware exam, weak on the OS exam
Review: For the record, I did pass both of the A+ exams, using just this book, but looking back, this book did have a couple glaring problems that costed 1 star each. If you are taking the hardware exam, this book is actually quite useful, but for the OS exam, you must take it with a grain of salt.The first problem with this book were the test questions. The types of questions asked by the A+ exam were quite different than the ones asked at the end of each chapter in this book, so while the questions can help you remember important information, don't expect the test to be like what you see in the book. The second, and more glaring problem was the fact that the OS exam chapters were much lighter in content than the chapters devoted to the hardware exam. TO give you an idea, the hardware exam has 7 chapters in this book, but the OS exam has 4 chapters. After studying for both exams vigorously, I passed the hardware exam with flying colors, but I failed teh OS exam. There were questions on the exam dealing with content that was totally absent from the book (NT stuff, some troubleshooting stuff, and some networking stuff). I had to study for the exam even harder using this book, and even then I barely passed for the same reason: some stuff just wasn't covered in this book. To the credit of the authors though, the hardware exam portion of this book is excellent. They cover quite a bit of useful content, and the CD that comes with the book really helps with this exam too. I think this book can be used as a good reference for PC hardware and troubleshooting even if you finished the A+ exam. In summary, the book was lop-sided in coverage and the test questions could be formatted differently, but as far as the hardware exam goes, this book was great. For the OS exam, try looking at other resources.
Rating:
Summary: Great for the hardware exam, weak on the OS exam
Review: For the record, I did pass both of the A+ exams, using just this book, but looking back, this book did have a couple glaring problems that costed 1 star each. If you are taking the hardware exam, this book is actually quite useful, but for the OS exam, you must take it with a grain of salt. The first problem with this book were the test questions. The types of questions asked by the A+ exam were quite different than the ones asked at the end of each chapter in this book, so while the questions can help you remember important information, don't expect the test to be like what you see in the book. The second, and more glaring problem was the fact that the OS exam chapters were much lighter in content than the chapters devoted to the hardware exam. TO give you an idea, the hardware exam has 7 chapters in this book, but the OS exam has 4 chapters. After studying for both exams vigorously, I passed the hardware exam with flying colors, but I failed teh OS exam. There were questions on the exam dealing with content that was totally absent from the book (NT stuff, some troubleshooting stuff, and some networking stuff). I had to study for the exam even harder using this book, and even then I barely passed for the same reason: some stuff just wasn't covered in this book. To the credit of the authors though, the hardware exam portion of this book is excellent. They cover quite a bit of useful content, and the CD that comes with the book really helps with this exam too. I think this book can be used as a good reference for PC hardware and troubleshooting even if you finished the A+ exam. In summary, the book was lop-sided in coverage and the test questions could be formatted differently, but as far as the hardware exam goes, this book was great. For the OS exam, try looking at other resources.
Rating:
Summary: A+ Cert. DOES NOT GET YOU READY FOR TEST
Review: Good overview of overall concepts, but not as final prep for test. Does not emphasize the specifics needed for to past the test. Great book to start for someone with little or no computer background. Not good for tech who is studing up for test.
Rating:
Summary: A+ Cert. DOES NOT GET YOU READY FOR TEST
Review: Good overview of overall concepts, but not as final prep for test. Does not emphasize the specifics needed for to past the test. Great book to start for someone with little or no computer background. Not good for tech who is studing up for test.
Rating: 
Summary: Good info but throws you off the trail. Buy something else.
Review: I agree with a lot of the others. THE MAIN PROBLEM is that most of the sample questions have multiple answers. The real test does not. Waaaaaay too many dumb obvious questions are presented to you that are just not on the real test. Thanks a lot guys. You really fooled me. I thought I was ready but I bombed. I won't give up because of you though. Rome wasn't built in a day...Still learned a lot, but did not prepare me for the real reason-to pass the test.
Rating:
Summary: Worth half the price
Review: I am a classic CNE looking for more certification, I was given this book as a christmas present and was very disappointed in it's content. In Canada the cost is $71.95 so it is expected to be better than it is. The CD, which I thought would be great, was a waste of time with most of the software being extremely buggy and useless. Shop around and read reviews from this site before purchasing. I wish I had, now I have to purchase something else to study with, I would not attempt to write with the limited knowledge this book gives.
| 
