Rating: 
Summary: Great Material Lots of Depth but several short comings
Review: I took an A+ class several years ago and I build computers and repair computers ( not the ones I just built! =P ) several times a month. Im pretty much the go to guy for anyone who knows me. However I had no piece of paper saying im good with computers or building them and most employers don't trust computer repairs to anybody so I decided to get my A+ and I bought 2 books ( this one and mike Meyers A+ which is AMAZING! )First Amazon says this book is 500 some pages ( normally Amazon exaggerates the page numbers that's not the case here ) it's really 1000 pages. But the book covers in a lot of detail about computers and the sections on the boot up process in the operating system are really worth reading. All that being said I have to rate this book a 3 out of 5 for some very compelling reasons. If this is your only book and your trying to take the test as the book would instruct you will spend many many nights memorizing IRQ's and DMA conflicts and less time studying about scsi or other import aspects of the exam which you are actually tested! I must note that the memorization techniques are great ( the one about the laser print process for one ) but doesn't really help you for the exam or real life. Also their are several typo's ( calling things wrong as well ) which means I have to take off some points. All in all this would be ok if you have taken an A+ class and feel you need to study some more before you take the A+ test and don't wish to read mike Meyers huge ( but amazing! ) book.
Rating: 
Summary: Outstanding series and review
Review: I took the A+ two months ago after roughly one month of self-study with the help of only two books, this Exam Cram 2 preparation book and the A+ Practice Questions that complement it. A short time after purchasing it, I noticed that the CD that was included was cracked, so I sent an e-mail to the publisher and another cd was promptly shipped to my address.
Exceptional service aside, the material covered is fairly comprehensive and with a disciplined reading regime, is more than enough to help you in obtaining the A+ in both OS and Hardware technologies. The practice tests are also an accurate indicator of what to expect on test day. If you are a complete novice to PC hardware and operating systems you may want to consider the A+ Study Guide (also by QUE) for more detailed explanation of each objective; otherwise, this is more than enough for anyone familiar with computers in general to pass the exam.
Rating: 
Summary: This book will help New Test Takers.
Review: I've take the A+ test and I am both a techie and someone who has a life outside of IT. If you are looking to bone up on the A+ and to understand computers at the same time this book will help.
The A+ exam is simply the first hurdle you must get over in your IT career. In many cases you must jump this hurdle before you even get or start your career.
This book as with most Exam Cram books is worth your money, and your time! And yes if your wondering I do suggest a second book to accompany this one, such as the A+ Bible. Make sure your second book is dedicated to teaching you to become technically proficient rather than pass a test. If you study both you will pass the exam guarenteed.
Rating: 
Summary: If you have an extra 10 bucks....
Review: If you have an extra 10 bucks, I would definitely recommand you to buy the A+ Certification All-in-One Exam Guide, 4th Edition by Michael Meyers.
To be honest, I had been using computer since i was 12, I can't say I have a lot of experiences about the computer inside due to the so call "ease of use" of Windows 95 at that time, but I still have some limits knowledge of hardware. However, after reading this ExamCram, I am getting more and more confuse. Every single chapters are not fully detailed.
I will not recommand the ExamCram Series to any test takers.
If you are an expert, you may like to take a fast review with the ExamCram.
Rating:
Summary: From the Authors
Review: The A+ exam attempts to test everything about PCs, all operating systems from DOS through Win XP, and basic setup information regarding networks. To teach all this information in a single book would require at least a thousand pages, and more likely a two-volume set upwards of 1500 pages or more.
What we've chosen to do is to produce a real cram book for last-minute review. The inclusion of Windows XP, networking, and all the troubleshooting, meant reducing some of the teaching we were able to include in earlier editions, back when the latest OS was Windows 95. Again: This book is meant as a cram book, not to be the only study source you'll ever need to pass the exam! Other books on the market focus on every question you'll encounter, then provide the correct answers for you to memorize. But none of those books provide much of a context for how all the technology fits together. We've found that having such a context is a great help when it comes to recalling information in the actual exam room. Various reviews here show that the A+ Exam Cram 2, Second Edition is insufficient as a single, standalone book for passing the exam. This is true, and we intended it that way! But as a final review, when you've had the hands-on experience with computers and operating systems, we think there's no better book on the market. It's a "reality check" to help you ease up on some of the anxiety and pressure. We're always interested in making the best book possible, and the first printing is under review for typos or minor errors. Que Certification maintains an errata Web site, and we expect to correct existing typos until the book is a clean as we can make it. As many readers have said, here and elsewhere, this book will give you the underlying explanations of how PCs work, and point out the real "gotchas" you're likely to encounter on the exam. Use it to pull together all the details of IRQs, speeds, chipsets, and so on that you have to remember. The book is primarily designed to build a framework in your mind for better recall during the actual exam, without all the sweat and anxiety of using rote memory. We've also included a lot of strategies for figuring out correct responses when you're not sure of the answer. The Exam Cram series doesn't intend to provide hundreds of sample questions. Rather, it's designed to give you a single practice test, as close to the real exam as possible. However, Que has included an addtional CDROM with many additional practice questions. No other book gives you help where it comes to figuring out the psychology behind creating questions. This book gives you that kind of help, and also helps you to make sense out of the massive amount of information you've learned. We highlight what you'll be tested on as a way for you to prioritize what you should remember. Most A+ preparation books are just that: preparation. Only the Exam Cram series is designed to summarize all that preparation into a unified whole, before you go in to take the exam.
Rating:
Summary: Best book on subject
Review: The guy who said there are "typo's" doesn't know what typos, notice NO apostrophe, are. This book is clean, mean and straight to the point. But instead of giving out factoids for me to remember, it gives the whole picture. Then I can make sense out of what I am learning, and figure out the answer without having to memorize the inessentials. Yet, these guys know their stuff and have more than enough facts for the geekoid who likes that stuff. It is a GREAT book because it makes sense!
I am glad I bought it.
Rating:
Summary: All the best material in one place - nice job!
Review: There are far more books covering the A+ exam certification than any other on the market and with over 500,000 certified technicians this explains why. When the Exam Cram books are release you can and should expect a quality reference manual covering the exam objectives in a clear and condense manner, which is both technically accurate and also technically up to date. This release of the A+ Exam Cram2 manual is certainly testament to that policy. The authors have spent a great deal of time researching and developing the manual to make sure you have the best possible output there is and judging from the content they have succeeded. Tackling one of the exams is a job in its self but this book cover both with tips and notes and highlights through out the entire text. There are well over 600 questions to practice with and if there was anything a little short the amount o of questions given would be it. Overall for an instructor this book is a great tool and for the student this the perfect add on manual to complete the training cycle.
Rating:
Summary: Good book, tests are a little too easy
Review: This book did a great job explaining things in a simple to remember way. The text was not too small, so it was easy to sit down and spend a couple hours reading at a time. The only thing I saw lacking in this book were its questions. The two practice tests were a little too easy, however with only using this book and the included CD, I had no problem passing the Network+ exam after a week of studying.
Rating:
Summary: DONT BUY THIS BOOK!
Review: This book is poorly written and it has a lot of errors that are critical to the exam. I recommend buying A+ Certification All-in-One Exam Guide, 4th Edition.
Rating:
Summary: Solid all around exam preperation
Review: This book summed it all up nice and neat. Anyone who thinks of themselves as a half decent computer "tech" should be able to read and understand this book and pass their A+ exams.
If this book doesn't give you all you need, you probably should find a new career path. With all that said, there were a handful of typos and small errors throughout the book. The sample questions were very easy, the sample exam and Preplogic free exam were average at best.
Fix the errors and give more sample questions and its 5 stars easily.
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