Preparing for the CompTIA A+™ Certification Exam: Hands-On

Frequently Asked Questions

What is this course about? This course prepares you for the CompTIA A+ Essentials Exam (220-601) and the IT Technician Certification Exam (220-602), the most popular set of exams required to achieve CompTIA A+ Certification. Through hands-on exercises and end-of-chapter exam questions, you gain the knowledge to install, configure and optimize personal computer hardware and operating systems. You also take home the CompTIA A+® Exam Cram book, which includes a CD with practice exams.1 Does this course include exam vouchers or other test preparation materials? Yes. This course includes a CompTIA A+ exam voucher and Transcender prep materials to help you prepare for the A+ Certification exam. Who will benefit from this course? This course is valuable for anyone who wants to achieve A+ Certification or government personnel seeking IAT-1 certification to fulfill to DoD 8570.1 Directive. This course will also benefit PC support/maintenance specialists, LAN managers and systems integrators as well as those whose responsibilities include: Maintaining, troubleshooting and repairing PC systems Upgrading PC systems (installing additional memory, disk drives, displays, cards, etc.) Installing and configuring new software applications What background do I need? Due to the comprehensive nature of the CompTIA A+ Essentials and IT Technician Exams, prospective students should have at least six months of on-the-job experience in PC configuration and troubleshooting before taking this exam preparation course. Why should I obtain A+ Certification? The CompTIA A+ Certification is recognized internationally by major IT organizations and validates a technician's abilities to perform essential PC support tasks. The A+ Certification provides a good foundation for career advancement in the PC support field and is a pathway to achieving further CompTIA certifications, including Network+ and Security+. I plan to become A+ certified with the Remote Support or Depot Technician designation. Should I take this course? Yes. All of the A+ certification tracks require passing the A+ Essentials Exam plus one additional exam for IT Technician, Remote Support or Depot Technician job functions. These three additional exams cover many of the same topic areas but with varying degrees of emphasis. Taking this course provides a good foundation for the overall exam series, which can be further supplemented by studying the companion book. (The book provided with this covers the additional topics required for the Remote Support and Depot Technician exams.) How is this course different from Course 145, Hands-On PC Configuration and Troubleshooting? Course 145 provides practical, hands-on PC configuration and troubleshooting skills. Course 145 features more hands-on exercises and goes into greater depth explaining the "why" behind PC configuration and maintenance procedures. In comparison, the main goal of Course 445 is to prepare you for the CompTIA A+ Essentials and IT Technician exams. Although the course does feature selected hands-on exercises, the main emphasis is on reviewing topics covered in the exam and testing your knowledge with the review questions at the end of each chapter. How is this course different from Course 150, Advanced PC Configuration, Troubleshooting and Data Recovery: Hands-On? Course 150 teaches practical, hands-on techniques for software and disk-related PC configuration and troubleshooting, including recovering lost data and crashed PC systems. Course 150 also features hands-on exercises for many important topics that are covered only briefly in Course 445, such as data recovery, imaging disks (Ghost), and creating bootable Windows PE disks. Will I be prepared to take the exam immediately after this course? Due to the breadth and depth of topics covered in the A+ Essentials and IT Technician exams, we recommend one to two weeks of additional study after the course. However, you should plan to take the exam within one month after completing the course, so you don't forget what you've learned! How much time is spent on each topic? Content Hours A+ exam overview and strategies 0.5 Identifying , installing, configuring and troubleshooting personal computer components 11.0 Preventive maintenance, environmental issues and PC troubleshooting strategy 2.0 Maintaining portable computers 1.0 Supporting printers and scanners 1.0 Managing Windows operating systems 7.0 Fundamentals of networking 4.0 Computer security best practices 2.0 Communication and professionalism 0.5 Times, including the workshops, are estimates; exact times may vary according to the needs of each class. How much of this course is hands-on? Approximately 30 percent of this course is spent in hands-on exercises. These exercises prepare you for the A+ Essentials and IT Technician Certification Exams and include: Disassembling the PC Mapping the motherboard POST and examining the PC BIOS settings Installing adapter cards Configuring a serial ATA hard drive Installing Windows XP At the end of each chapter, you also have an opportunity to test your knowledge with sample exam questions. Do I get a study guide to take home after class? Yes. At the end of the course, you take home the CompTIA A+® Exam Cram book, which includes a CD with practice exams. I have seen A+ exam preparation courses advertised elsewhere. Why should I take this course from Learning Tree? Learning Tree is dedicated to helping accelerate the careers of our clients by providing them with world-class technology and management training. This course is objective in its approach, having been developed independently from CompTIA by industry experts who bring their real-world experience to the classroom. How does this course relate to other Learning Tree courses? 145, Hands-On PC Configuration and Troubleshooting  150, Advanced PC Configuration, Troubleshooting and Data Recovery: Hands-On  446, Preparing for the CompTIA Security+™ Certification Exam  170, Deploying Virtual Server and Workstation Technology: Hands-On  371, Implementing and Troubleshooting Wi-Fi® Networks: Hands-On  451, Network Configuration and Troubleshooting: Hands-On  551, Windows® XP Professional: A Comprehensive Hands-On Introduction  950, Windows Vista®: A Comprehensive Hands-On Introduction  960, Windows Server® 2008: A Comprehensive Hands-On Introduction  595, Windows Server® 2003: A Comprehensive Hands-On Introduction

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