A+ Exam Cram 2 (Exam Cram 220-221, Exam Cram 220-222) [With CDROM]

I have read numerous A+ books and even though they talk about everything you need to know, most don't piece everything together for you. If you are looking for a book that helps you memorize just the answers to the questions, don't buy this book, it's way more than that. If you want a book that burns a visual image of how everything works and the history of it all, this is the book for you. And to all of you saying this book sucks because it has too much information, I really hope you never make it into the field because any computer tech that complains about learning more about stuff than they need to doesn't need to be working on people's computers. Sure you can pass the exams by just memorizing all the answers, but how do you expect to be successful when you refuse to learn past that?

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.

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.

I am MCSE, A+, and CCNA certified and used this book as part of my preparation for the CompTia A+ exams.This book features a cramsheet tear out that is better than most I have seen. It gives good reminders of the basics, such as: "serial cables usually have a DB9-9 pin connector." These tidbits won't get you through the exam, but do provide a quick review of the material. If you can't read and expand on a statement, such as the one above, then you need to study that particular area more thoroughly. The CD for this book includes practice questions that are also good for testing your knowledge of the material, but do not expect to see actual CompTia test questions here. Again, these questions are only good for measuring your progress.I found the chapter format for this book refreshing and easy to read. Each chapter includes:An overview of critical terms and concepts.Plenty of sidebars and graphic illustrations.10 question practice exam with good explanations of the answers.This book overall presents an excellent 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).

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