Some tips from my experience in studying for and writing the Complete A+ examination.
Don't underestimate the exams: I had this notion before I started studying that this was going to be something I would pick up a book, brush through then write and pass because I worked on PC maintenance before. But I was seriously wrong; the course is more difficult than it sounds. It's very demanding.
Use as much study materials as possible: It seems that no one book covers everything. You tend to find something new in every book you pick up. The study guide on proprofs.com, techexams.net and the likes are excellent and interactive. Personally I bought the Mike Myers book. I also used wikipedia.org; whenever I come across a concept I don't get well, I just go there and search for it. That's why you need a lot of study materials. Some concepts are better explained in some books/study guides than others.
Practical experience helps: You will understand many concepts and remember them better when you get practical experience. I myself worked in the maintenance department of an IT school when I did my industrial attachment. So I had experience building, troubleshooting the PCs, though this was way back in 2001.And when studying the OS part it's always good to have the PC nearby to test some of the concepts even though you would probably be using Windows XP, you would have some idea of how things were in Win2000, 95, 98, NT etc.
Do practice tests all the time: It's good to read and absorb all that knowledge and do practical but remember it all comes down to answering questions. The questions are not straight forward and almost all the time twisted and confusing. You need not just to know the course but know how to read and answer the questions as well. Proprofs.com has a lot of practice questions and real practice exams. Always do these and all others you can find. Don't worry if you don't pass on the first attempt just look at why you failed some of the questions and make amends. If you don't understand an answer just go over it in the relevant study guide. Keep practicing these questions and understanding them (not cramming them). Chances are that in the exams you would get some of those questions exactly as they are in the practice tests and some just differing a little bit.
Study for both Hardware and OS: You might think you would get only hardware questions on the hardware exam and only OS on the OS exam but that's not the case. I had some few OS questions in my hardware test and a lot of hardware questions on the OS test. Some questions were even repeated from the hardware on the OS exam. Although, you get 100 questions in 90 minutes, only 80 are scored but you would not be told which of the questions are scored and which aren't, so don't take any chances. Study for both and may be a week or so before your 1st exam just concentrate on the one you are going to take and master it. You could start with the Hardware or OS but I, like most people started with the hardware.
Aim for 900: The exams are graded over 900 so always aim for it. That's by making sure you understand each and every concept as much as possible. Download the syllabus from CompTIA website and keep track of your progress. See to it that you score 900 on all three proprofs.com practice exams and also all the other tests on proprofs.com and others. I used the tests from Mike Myers book (the CD) and from cram force. Before the tests I was scoring maximum points on all tests. In the real exam I scored 740 on the hardware and 699 on the OS. You know what they say; "If you aim for the sky..........”
Well these are just some tips I hope would help. Wishing you all the best in your exams. And remember, many others have done it, so you would definitely do it too.
