CompTIA A+ consists of 4 training sections; you’re considered A+ competent when you’ve passed the test for half of them. This is the reason that the majority of training establishments only have two of the courses on their syllabus. In reality you’re advised to have the information on each subject as industry will demand an understanding of the whole A+ program. You don’t have to take all four exams, but we would recommend you study for all four areas.
CompTIA A+ without additional courses will set you up to fix and maintain computers and Macs; ones which are usually not part of a network – this generally applies to home use and small companies.
You may also want to consider adding the CompTIA Network+ training as it will give you the knowledge to become a networking engineer, which means greater employment benefits.
The age-old way of teaching, involving piles of reference textbooks, is usually pretty hard going. If all this is ringing some familiar bells, look for learning programmes that are on-screen and interactive.
Memory is vastly improved with an involvement of all our senses – learning experts have been saying this for years now.
Courses are now available on CD and DVD discs, where everything is taught on your PC. Video streaming means you can sit back and watch the teachers showing you precisely how it’s all done, with some practice time to follow – via the interactive virtual lab’s.
You’ll definitely want a study material demo’ from the training company. The materials should incorporate expert-led demonstrations, slideshows and fully interactive skills-lab’s.
You’ll find that many companies will only provide purely on-line training; sometimes you can get away with this – but, think what will happen when you don’t have access to the internet or you get slow speeds and down-time etc. It’s much safer to rely on DVD or CD discs that removes the issue entirely.
You should look for authorised exam simulation and preparation programs as part of your course package.
As the majority of examining boards for IT tend to be American, you’ll need to be used to the correct phraseology. It isn’t good enough just understanding random questions – they must be in an exam format that exactly replicates the real thing.
Ensure that you verify your knowledge through tests and simulated exams prior to taking the real thing.
The way in which your courseware is broken down for you is often missed by many students. How many stages do they break the program into? What is the order and at what speed is it delivered?
Many companies enrol you into some sort of program spread over 1-3 years, and send out each piece as you complete each exam. This sounds reasonable until you consider the following:
What would their reaction be if you find it difficult to do each and every module at the speed they required? Often the prescribed exam order doesn’t come as naturally as some other structure would for you.
The ideal circumstances are to get all your study materials delivered to you right at the start; the complete package! This way, nothing can happen down the line which could affect your ability to finish.
We’d all like to believe that our jobs will remain safe and our future is protected, but the growing likelihood for most jobs in the United Kingdom currently appears to be that security may be a thing of the past.
Security only exists now in a rapidly increasing marketplace, fuelled by a shortfall of trained staff. It’s this alone that creates the correct background for a secure marketplace – a more attractive situation all round.
The Information Technology (IT) skills deficit in the United Kingdom is standing at approx 26 percent, as noted by the latest e-Skills survey. To put it another way, this highlights that the UK can only find three qualified staff for each four job positions that are available now.
Properly trained and commercially educated new employees are consequently at a total premium, and it seems it will continue to be so for a long time to come.
Actually, retraining in Information Technology throughout the next year or two is very likely the best choice of careers you could make.
(C) Scott Edwards 2009. Hop over to LearningLolly or MCSE Training.
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