Rating: 
Summary: You won't pass the Dos/Win
Review: After buying the book as my sole study aide for the A+ test, I then came to this site and read the reviews. I started to panic and rightly so. The core portion of the book is nicely written and easy to understand. If you actually read the words that make the sentences that make the paragraphs, you'll have a good grasp of not only the answers but the concepts as well. Those that take only the study tests at the end of chapters, memorize the "Instant Answers" and use the bold face method of studying run the risk of flunking the Core test. No matter what web site you go to, those attempting to cram for the test and simply regurgitate the "knowledge" at test time are those that fail the test and wonder why.That said, the Dos/Win portion of this book is insufficient enough for the publisher to simply pull the book from the shelves. You WILL NOT pass the Win/Dos portion if this is your only aide, unless you retain ample personal experience. I don't know how this book was even published with so little information on a 65 question test.The test will delve deeply into troubleshooting Dos and Win 95, and this book only gives you 37 pages and mostly on boot sequences. Only by luck did I pass the Dos/Win with a score of 69% A score to be embarrased of on the one hand, while bordering on embarrased of being certified by a company that hasn't udated it's test in so many years that it's painfully outdated. The Dos/Win is more of a history test than a technolgy test as (regardless of what people will say) Dos will finally meet it's end with the release of Win ME. Most computers in the workplace are either 98 or NT, neither of which are mentioned and won't be until the end of the year when CompTia will revamp the test and remove the Dos, Win 3.x and 95 from the testing. Be careful of websites that offer practice test and brain dumps. Most braindumps give wrong answers and many of the practice test have errors as well. You can simply stop reading this book when you finish with the Core section.
Rating:
Summary: Don't count on it
Review: For overall scope of material, and fairly good writing (meaning the explanations and descriptions are good enough), I would have given it a 5. But the fact that there are so many factual errors in the first half alone (I haven't even gotten to the software part yet) earns it the low rating. You can't have a study guide for an expensive exam like this and have what i consider to be stupid mistakes. You can't say that PII Xeon goes in a Slot 1 mounting on one page, and a Slot 2 on another. It's confusing and misleading for a beginner, which is who this book is supposedly geared to. You just wind up confused and double-checking everything anyway, so you might as well use another book all together. It's too bad because it's a great format.
Rating: 
Summary: Okay as Starter
Review: I am MCSE, A+, and CCNA certified and used this book as part of my preparation for the CompTia A+ exams. This is a typical "Dummies" book that serves a great purpose for introduction to a subject, but does not go into sufficient detail to rely upon solely as a preparation for the A+ exam. I would use this book if I knew next to nothing about the A+ exam and was interested in finding out what all the fuss was about. Otherwise, I would skip this one. Either way, do not rely solely on this book for your test prep. Use it in conjunction with other guides by Sybex or Exam Cram. The cheat sheet included in this book is virtually worthless, as the reminders are too brief and vague to be of any real value, instead, use Exam Cram's book ISBN: 078983043x. the book covers both aspects of the A+ exam (hardware and OS), but has limited graphics with hardly any photos. I found the exam required identifying parts and components from pictures, so this book won't help you there. This book overall presents a decent, but minimal, overview of both the hardware and operating system exams and should be used in conjunction with Mueller's "Upgrading and Repairing PCs" classic (ISBN: 0789727455).
Rating: 
Summary: DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK!!!!!!!!!
Review: I just received my A+ Certification and only used this book and the practice tests from www.dalidesign, which by the way where I purchased the test vouchers and saved mucho bucks. I highly recommend this book, but recommend using at least another study source if you do not have much experience with Hardware and Operating Systems. I did find a few mistakes in this book and this is why I did not give it 4 stars. Initially, read the book from front to back.
And then separately study the material thoroughly for the Hardware test and then once you take/pass this test, do the same for the OS test.
This is what worked for me and hopefully it will work for you also.
Good Luck.
Rating:
Summary: Helped this dummy pass both exams . . .
Review: Many 'Dummies' books are too trivial and silly for me; Ron's book is just right. I bought it about 5 months ago, and 2 weeks before the test, finally hunkered down & did some serious studying with it and on-line practice exam sites. Hint - procrastinator that I am, I went ahead & scheduled my exams before I was ready, giving myself 2 weeks to 'do or die' - that deadline gave me the push I needed! And that Saturday afternoon I passed both core & DOS/Windows exams (both tests took me 30 min.) However, the book's DOS/Windows section is a bit weak; many of the actual test questions were more in-depth. But as always, don't rely on just one study source, no matter what exam you're prepping for. A+ Cert. for Dummies is an excellent reference; the index is great; the CD included is also excellent (but skip the silly outpost game), and Ron really does hammer home the core hardware stuff. The cartoons are great too - puts it into a real-world perspective. Yes, I found a few errors; as in low-level formatting a hard drive - it does NOT ruin your disk as he claims, I've done it numerous times. But the major, important stuff is all there. I think this book is worth it's price as a reference, if nothing else. Cuts to the bone, and I have it sitting by me, right now, dog-eared, highlighted, and much-appreciated. Thanks, Ron!
Rating: 
Summary: PASSED!
Review: Ron's book is a great start for studying for your A+ exam. A large error occured at my school, and basically, I had 2.5 weeks to pass the A+ without any hardware experience. I bought this book and read it cover to cover. I also used A+ Transcenders from school, the A+ Cram Session, and got a great study partner. Now I am A+ certified. :) Ron's book is a good START for studying. I would not recommend using this book alone. The Transcenders were the best study tool along with the A+ for Dummies book. I do not believe any one book would be enough for studying, so this book should be the first book one reads to prepare for the exams. To quickly summarize, this is a great book; easy to read and easy to understand, but please do not rely on this book alone! Use all your available resources and good luck! :)
Rating:
Summary: A fair read
Review: This book is a good effort at condensing and organizing the material it presents. However, it suffers from some (apparantly) typographical errors, some of which create substantive confusion (such as giving an incorrect address for one of the COM ports in one of its tables). The CD in my copy did not have, or could not find, the executable module for the Quicklearn game. I didn't spend much time looking for it, as the other material was easily accessible. The author's organization is clear, well-planned, and logical and does help the reader stay focused on the objectives. The writing style was smooth and enjoyable to spend long stretches with. Mr. Gilster's community college instructor background comes through in his assessment-content-practice test format for each chapter. It's a sound pedagological basis for teaching this type of material. In sum, it seems to be a better bet for those with some inital background and experience rather than for a complete novice looking for a one-stop shop to get their A+ knowledge.
Rating:
Summary: Not a stand alone book... needs more OS tech and networking
Review: This book is fairly easy to read, and does try to teach you binary code (which the book seems to complicate it instead). I was able to pick up a few pointers, and it does serve as a good study guide. The questoins and topics it touches really arn't on the A+ Core hardware exam (though the A+ core hardware exam is a lot of random questions.... with a lot of stuff even a year in tech school didn't teach me). I'd also suggest getting a good OS Technogogies book and a good Networking book if you plan to use this as a primary study guide (I'd still suggest taking a class in computer servicing at your local technical school just to get some stuff that this book misses). I must also suggest dipping into a little bit of the history of computers, as some computer history was on my hardware exam... as well as 20 networking questions (which is a very high number, according to the ideal layout). After 8 months of technical training, and studying with this book, i was able to get a 556 out of 900 (passing on the hardware part of the A+ exam is 515) on the Core Hardware exam. I don't trust this book when it comes to the os technology part... as it teaches more about files than actual OS. I'd also suggest getting ahold of a copy of CCNA Jumpstart for some networking review.. as that is what helped me on the networking questions (even though many of the networking questions were hypothetical).
Rating:
Summary: Don't buy this book ! Not completely updated!
Review: This book was suppose to be the latest updated version but it looks like an older edition was reprinted just to sell this book. Once you start reading this book, it won't take you very long to see what I mean when you read about things that are now no longer being used in the PC world. The Dummies series was excellent for beginners when they first hit the market several years ago. Now they have over-expanded and are trying too hard to write a book on every possible subject, thus not being able to publish quality updated versions. Don't buy this book! Read the other reviews! If you are planning to buy only one book to assist you with the A+ or if you are just a curious novice then buy "Absolute Beginners Guide to A+" isbn 0789730626. That book is loaded with many photos and charts and is written with CURRENT information necessary for your A+ exam. The tests on the CD are excellent! Just compare the two books side by side if you don't believe me.
Rating:
Summary: Ha! And to think I was told I couldn't get certified!
Review: This really is THE book for dummies. I went from knowing zip about computers to building my own PC. I couldn't take the technical jargon of other books. I sure had fun through this one! All Dummies books follow the same format and you can start anywhere in the book (In English that means that the author doesn't assume you've read a previous chapter). The jokes, humor and cartoons do a good job at keeping you awake. After reading, I played the Quiklern game on the CD after going through the lessons and, Voilá! I felt ready and went and took both tests on the same day. Now I have my A+ Certification from CompTIA. You DO have to study and give the test the seriousness it deserves. Whipping out over a couple of hundred dollars for a test is no laughing matter. Study the exam objectives, learn the content of the questions and not the answers and you should do well on the test.
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