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wearearewe
Guest
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 Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2008 4:01 pm Post subject: Are these questions for real?? |
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In an effort to conform, something which I'm not very comfortable with
after working in the industry for many many years, I've decided to get
certified. Starting with A+ Essentials I've been studying for some
time now and I find some of these questions off the wall. For example;
Exam Cram 3rd Edition, Chapter 2, Question 12:
Q. What should you do first if the system clock fails to keep proper
time after being reset by the operating system?
A. Clean the contacts
Please, maybe in some corner case where the system board was under
water. When was the last time anyone has seen corroded contacts on a
battery? Time is Money, if your opening the case you'd best replace
the battery if your working for me.
Sorry, my 2 cents from 20 yrs experience. Should we really dumb
ourselves down for these tests? |
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wearearewe
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 1:21 am Post subject: Re: Are these questions for real?? |
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| Quote: | There's some junk on the exams, and some great stuff, too.
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Thanks John!
I agree there is some good stuff in there. I expect my tech's to
become certified so I figured I'd whip through the tests in a week or
so. NOT! The design is obviously to create well rounded tech's, which
is good.
- Jeff J |
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John O
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 6:40 am Post subject: Re: Are these questions for real?? |
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| Quote: | after working in the industry for many many years,
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That means you probably have a whole heap more practical experience than the
average A+ exam candidate. My advice to you: don't over-think the questions.
Some of the real questions will have an obvious answer, then one that makes
sense if you dig a lot deeper, say into that heap of experience.
The thing is, the people writing the real questions aren't professional
question writers...they are professional IT techs who quickly learned to
write questions on Monday, then wrote them Tues through Friday afternoon.
There's some junk on the exams, and some great stuff, too.
Those "what would you do first" questions are rough. There are lots of them,
IIRC.
-John O |
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Mister
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 11:25 am Post subject: Re: Are these questions for real?? |
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On Tue, 5 Feb 2008 17:21:27 -0800 (PST), wearearewe
<wearearewe@gmail.com> wrote:
| Quote: | There's some junk on the exams, and some great stuff, too.
Thanks John!
I agree there is some good stuff in there. I expect my tech's to
become certified so I figured I'd whip through the tests in a week or
so. NOT! The design is obviously to create well rounded tech's, which
is good.
- Jeff J
|
I have to agree, some of the questions are very odd. I was able to
get A+, Network+ and Security+ certified in 3 months. I did one a
month. Then I attempted the Linux+ exam and missed passing by 6
points. That was a very difficult exam. It's been over a year and
didn't bother to try it again. I think I will go for the MCSE exams.
Let us know how you do on the A+ exam. |
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John O
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Feb 06, 2008 7:24 pm Post subject: Re: Are these questions for real?? |
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| Quote: | There's some junk on the exams, and some great stuff, too.
Thanks John!
I agree there is some good stuff in there. I expect my tech's to
become certified so I figured I'd whip through the tests in a week or
so. NOT! The design is obviously to create well rounded tech's, which
is good.
- Jeff J
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The people who create the exams are from all walks of IT, CompTIA works very
hard to make sure all the major topics are covered. Nobody does *everything*
that's on the exams, but all the topics are there.
CompTIA has lately been concerned that the passing score is too low, or that
the questions are too easy. I don't know if they have addressed the issue.
The other thing to watch is identical questions that appear on both exams.
If you see those, please write a note to CompTIA and let them know. The
distinction between the two exams is hard to see, and IMO it's not there at
all.
-John O |
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smackedass
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 5:40 am Post subject: Re: Are these questions for real?? |
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I wouldn't sweat it too much. Yes, there might be a few silly questions on
the test, just as there will be on any test, but if you are able to
consistently score well on practice tests (90%+), you won't have a problem.
But don't blow off practice tests.
smackedass |
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John O
Guest
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| Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 10:43 pm Post subject: Re: Are these questions for real?? |
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| Quote: |
Sorry, my 2 cents from 20 yrs experience. Should we really dumb
ourselves down for these tests?
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Of course not. But if you need A+ for some reason, you have to play the
game. The questions aren't hard if you have real experience, just that a few
of them get to the point in a twisted way due to CompTIA's test development
process. Put it this way...until one has attempted to write hundreds of
criterion-referenced questions on this subject, don't pick on the exam too
much. It's a lot harder than it seems. ;-)
The corroded contacts thing probably comes from someone who actually saw
such a thing. Maybe it's common along the ocean coasts, or in schools that
are not air-conditioned in the summer. Who knows...and this is from a study
guide, where any goof working for the author or publisher could have written
the question.
There are plenty of obvious and good questions with straightforward answers
on the real exams. Focus on them.
-John O |
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Barry Watzman
Guest
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| Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2008 12:25 pm Post subject: Re: Are these questions for real?? |
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These test questions are not official, and there are lots of practice
exams (free and otherwise) floating around with both bad questions and
in some cases downright wrong answers.
wearearewe wrote:
| Quote: | In an effort to conform, something which I'm not very comfortable with
after working in the industry for many many years, I've decided to get
certified. Starting with A+ Essentials I've been studying for some
time now and I find some of these questions off the wall. For example;
Exam Cram 3rd Edition, Chapter 2, Question 12:
Q. What should you do first if the system clock fails to keep proper
time after being reset by the operating system?
A. Clean the contacts
Please, maybe in some corner case where the system board was under
water. When was the last time anyone has seen corroded contacts on a
battery? Time is Money, if your opening the case you'd best replace
the battery if your working for me.
Sorry, my 2 cents from 20 yrs experience. Should we really dumb
ourselves down for these tests? |
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| Back to top |
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Bill Eitner
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2008 7:45 am Post subject: Re: Are these questions for real?? |
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After following this thread, something that hasn't been
mentioned is the relationship between the questions and
answers. The objective is to pick the best answer,
not look at the question in a vacuum. In the question
mentioned, was A the best answer of the bunch? That's
one key to passing the tests (for those with experience).
For the duration of the tests, what you know to be true
and/or logical doesn't matter. Confine your perspective
to each question and only the answers offered. Pick the
answer that best agrees with the material you studied
and the practice tests you've taken.
--
Barry Watzman wrote:
| Quote: | These test questions are not official, and there are lots of practice
exams (free and otherwise) floating around with both bad questions and
in some cases downright wrong answers.
wearearewe wrote:
In an effort to conform, something which I'm not very comfortable with
after working in the industry for many many years, I've decided to get
certified. Starting with A+ Essentials I've been studying for some
time now and I find some of these questions off the wall. For example;
Exam Cram 3rd Edition, Chapter 2, Question 12:
Q. What should you do first if the system clock fails to keep proper
time after being reset by the operating system?
A. Clean the contacts
Please, maybe in some corner case where the system board was under
water. When was the last time anyone has seen corroded contacts on a
battery? Time is Money, if your opening the case you'd best replace
the battery if your working for me.
Sorry, my 2 cents from 20 yrs experience. Should we really dumb
ourselves down for these tests? |
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