A+ All-In-One Certification Exam Guide

Rating:
Summary: Good...not great
Review: At first, I saw people carrying around this book at my work place and wondered to myself, why are people reading that dull brown book? Well, to my surprised, when school came around and I decided to get my A+ Cert, this was THE BOOK recommended by everyone I knew. It teaches all the necessary information for taking the A+ test, without boggling your mind. If you have a short attention span and would like a quick pick-me-up, this is the book!

Rating:
Summary: Check Out - www.totalsem.com/support/errata/aplus5.htm
Review: Before purchasing the book you should access www.totalsem.com/support/errata/aplus5.htm
This webpage show errors and give the corrections for errors in the Fifth Edition of the All In One A+ Certification Book.

Rating:
Summary: Great, great book!
Review: I have been a computer tech for some time now, but I finally decided to make it official by taking the A+ exam. Looking for a book that would help me see how the exam would be like, what types of questions would be asked, etc. I must say that I was very surprised at the quality of the book! The author goes into detail on everything you need to know about the exam and about the profession of techs in general. It's obvious that he knows what he's talking about! The text is excellent, the test questions are very similar to what was on the exam, so I highly recommend it. About the only semi-sore spot was the weird software that came with the cd, as the practice exams on it would only install on one of my five computers, and on that system it tended to crash a lot. But the video that was on the cd was great, even if he (The author) was a bit over-enthusiastic with the subject matter. =) This book now sits above my main system for easy reference, and I use it for that purpose more times than I would have thought. You can't go wrong with the book!

Rating:
Summary: Almost a keeper
Review: I read this volume cover to cover It covered the hardware quite well, but the author was long winded and confusing at times. He did not cover a lot of the Windows 2000 operating system in great depth, or printers, or networking to any extent. It got me through the test, but I wouldn't have passed without my transcenders software.

Rating:
Summary: Test prep book that isn't up to standards
Review: No doubt about it, it's a textbook. I read it through thoroughly, and as a person wanting to just pass the test, it's not up to expectations. It teaches the material fully, but unless you have a lot of time to read and absorb all the in depth material, it probably isn't for you. By no means is it a cram book, as it covers pretty much everything with many small details the A+ exam doesn't even ask for. If you want to be a good tech, read this book. If you're in need of certification fast and need to pass the test, I suggest using this with a test prep book (I found "A+ Adaptive Exams" to be a good book) or not using this at all.

Rating:
Summary: Right on the money...
Review: The book, many times, goes off on tangents and gives WAY too much history about certain topics. This is good and bad - it gives you a deeper understanding of the material but gets in the way when you just want to get to the meat of the topic. But the writer even states that he rambles a lot so no surprises there.
Good reference book.

Rating:
Summary: Meyers' Book Gets A+
Review: The most striking feature of this book is its size. Over 1200 pages covering hardware and software for the COMPTIA A+ exam is almost intimidating at first sight. However, when you start to read this tome, it is actually a pleasure it is so well written.

Mike Meyers is a knowledgeable authority, an able teacher and an excellent writer. Sitting down to read technical information is not always interesting to even the hardest core computer afficionado. The author's clear explanations and descriptions make the technical points easy to understand. The added benefit of his writing style makes the material enjoyable to read. No other book in this category brings all these strenghts together in one book.

Even after years of using and building my own computers, this book had a lot to offer me. Thanks to this book, I think I finally have a solid understanding of how the computer works. I knew before what I had to do to build and get a computer working, but now I find I have a more thorough understanding of why it works.

The test questions at the end of each chapter were very helpful as well as the practice exam on the included CD. You may want to supplement this book with another book that has more test questions for additional practice.

Some reviewers have criticized the book for the numberous typos and a few technical errors. It is obvious that the editing of this book was sloppy and I suspect that there was a rush to get this to press in time for the new A+ exam, which this covers. However, these flaws are really minor in comparison to the book's overall excellence.

Rating:
Summary: Check Out - www.totalsem.com/support/errata/aplus5.htm
Review: The version I have is the fourth edition copyright 2002. I have been working with/on PC's since 1986.

Overall I found this a good preparatory book for the exams. I especially liked the historical perspective Michael Meyers gives at the beginning of many chapters. I did find an occasional mistake in these, but nothing major. I feel the explanations throughout the entire book are simplified enough that someone with little to no experience after studying the book could probably pass the two exams. I expect the sheer size of the book; 1137 pages, 2 1/2 inches thick may discourage some beginners.

I feel at times the author went overboard with his analogies, especially with the ones related to how a CPU works. He does this so much that I could not find a clear definition of the function of the external data bus, in the external data bus section. It was clouded by his analogy. Instead I found it in the questions at the end of the chapter.

I feel in some places the proofreader(s) for the 2002 edition left some things the way they were in previous editions, when they should have been updated for the current technology and prices. A few examples; p 245 "Document the position of the wires for the ...turbo switch, turbo light..." and p 377 "Buying floppy drives one at a time is expensive and a waste of time." (since 2000 I have been buying new floppy drives for $10-$15 individually. I don't consider that expensive.) and lastly p826 "A CDR burner must be specifically designed to support the longer 80-minute CD-R format, something that currently only a minority of CD-R drives do." The author needs to be carefull of using the phrase "all versions of windows". NT does not have Device Manager or a Safe Mode, but "all versions of windows" on page 598 and 546 would leed you to believe so.

I think for the sake of beginners I would have preferred that all of the images of the Celeron SEP package show the side with the actual CPU chip on it. Many show the backside with the circuit traces.

This book did save me money. In the front it suggests to buy vouchers, vice paying the full cost for the exams. I bought vouchers, along with an enhanced version of the practice examinations and still paid less than the retail cost of the exams.

Dispite my criticism of this book I did like the book and I plan on keeping it for a long time to come as reference material. There is no way I could ever have written a book, this in depth, with as few errors as this book has. I passed the hardware exam easily (I took 6 minutes for the adaptive version) and expect to easily pass the operating system exam tomorrow. I only used my experience, this book and an enhanced version of the practice examinations that came with the book.

A new version of the A Plus exam is due fall or winter of 2003. Comptia has already published the new exam objectives, so I would expect a fifth edition of this book early 2004.

Rating:
Summary: Bravo. The best A+ guide.
Review: This All-In-One book has cartoonish pictures and explains basic computer techie stuff. I did extremely well on both exams. I do have a couple years of hands on experience, but I have a habit of buying books and not reading them. However, this book I read cover-to-cover. It may be a bit of overkill in terms of theory for the test. However, I'm a better tech because of doing the exercises. Especially, the ones in the lab manual. For daily reference, I use Upgrading and Reparing PCs.

Rating:
Summary: Great study guide
Review: This book follows the format of the revised Network+ exam very closely. One would probably be able to pass the exam using just this book in combination with some previous knowledge and/or experiance. However, I would recommend picking up Tamara Dean's Network+ book to fill in some of the areas not covered closely enough by Meyers, such as Remote Access, WAN technologies and Network Troubleshooting. Also, the end of chapter questions in this book are weak at times, and do not accurately represent the difficulty of the exam itself. The tests on the CD-ROM are a good practice tool.