Comptia A+ Eighth Addition

Being the first textbook I ever bought (and finished),  I can honestly say that this 1524 page nightmare is definitely not for those with literature commitment issues. Although aimed towards test takers with 12 months of job experience, this book was written in a fashion which could easily be understood by a layman, so long as they possess a serious field of concentration and a large cup of coffee (I’m a chai tea guy myself. Yes, that technically contradicts my own statement, don’t judge me). This book has taught me some serious lessons that will both benefit and haunt me for the rest of my life: networking sucks, technology has evolved rapidly in the last decade, and that you cannot know everything about computers, no matter how hard you try. Granted, some people may disagree with me about some of those “lessons”, but try remembering all of those Intel-based sockets on Table 6-2 (pg 228) up until the very last page (It’s literally impossible).

Anyway, here are some prerequisites that would make your life a lot easier before you begin this dissension into terminology hell: basic Windows navigation skills, intermediate networking knowledge, a solid note-taking strategy, and a lot of time. The first half of the book (220-801) focuses on the hardware aspect of the A+ exam, examples include the motherboard, CPU, GPU, physical ports, and networking topologies. The second half of the book (220-802) emphasises post installation, including hardware replacement and repair, security, networking configurations, etc. A word of caution to those considering taking this exam without proper hands-on training: this isn’t some simple reference manual that can be finished in a day, nor is the A+ certification a common sense test. Please consider using sources outside of this textbook to help in your studies, don’t rely on a single book to help you pass a $388 dollar exam.