1/8/2003 -- Recently, I was fortunate enough to sit in at CompTIA's Content Development Workshop, which is an event they host each year to get publishers and writers like myself up to speed on the latest developments in their certifications, as well as offer a glimpse into what the future holds. One of the many topics that they cover is how they will improve upon their existing popular certifications. At the conference, CompTIA said that it will be evaluating the A+ exam in order to make improvements. As I thought about this, I had my own list of what I thought might make quality improvements to this popular hardware exam.

Make It Open Book
Now this may take some by surprise. Open book? Isn't the goal of a test to see what knowledge the candidate possesses? Well, yes. But perhaps CompTIA should make its A+ exams ones where the candidate can take in any resource manual they choose. With all new hardware developments come new sets of knowledge. In the real world, technicians are not going to know everything off the top of their head; a more important skill may be the ability to look up the correct information to solve a problem. Think about it: Would you really want to take your laptop down to the company's hardware tech, just to see zero books or manuals on the shelf? Make this exam more like the real world. Make candidates search for the correct way to solve a problem. If they can't find the answer in the time it takes to complete the exam, then they don't possess the knowledge necessary to find the answer to the problem at hand.

Make It Hands -On
This should be an absolute requirement for anyone who is going to be working in the hardware or help desk industry. It’s one thing to know which IRQ server which component, but it is another thing entirely to get the case off the machine, swap hard drives, install RAM, as well as a host of other hands-on activities. If you want to insure that those with A+ certification actually diagnose, investigate and repair hardware, then make them do just that. Just because they can drag-and-drop the right image into the right location on the motherboard diagram does not mean that they can accomplish the task when the real thing is right in front of them.

Require Continuing Education
This would seem to be the easiest and most obvious change to make. Many certifications require continuing certification requirements (CCRs), and the A+ examination should be no different. Those individuals who passed the A+ exam in 1998 when Windows 98 was the leading operating system and haven't upgraded their skills since probably are going to have difficulty solving XP-related problems. Someone who passed the examination several years ago may say they are versed at solving USB-related problems, but how are you going to know for sure? CCRs would insure that individuals who possess the A+ certification are up date on any new hardware developments that might relate to a PC tech or help desk job.

Move Away from Multiple Choice Questions
Another suggestion to make this exam better serve the candidate population is to move away from multiple choice questions. When you have PC technicians who will be working at the command level on the variety of tasks such as backups and restores, you want to ensure that they can enter the right commands, not just pick the correct command from a list. When they are faced with these situations, it will be rare that they have four options to choose from. They will need to know this information and be able to transfer it accurately to get the required result.

Make It One Exam
Lastly, I think that CompTIA should forego the two-exam format (there's currently one exam for hardware, and one for operating systems), and make this one complete test. This is supposed to be a hardware examination, not a Microsoft test. There are plenty of examinations that specialize in a specific operating exam, be it Microsoft or Linux. If it is deemed important that CompTIA deliver an operating system exam, then perhaps they should allow such exams as Linux+ or a Microsoft OS as a substitute. In this manner the test will stick to it’s primary function, which is to be a vendor-neutral hardware exam.

What's Your Take?
What do you think of these ideas? What suggestions do you have? Post your comments below and let me know.