10/14/2009 -- I know I'm a bit strange, but one thing I regularly look at on Amazon.com is the list of the top 100 computer and Internet books. As a rule, there are two kinds of titles that land there: "ethereal" books that don't talk about any specific product but instead look at interesting trends as a whole (and arguably shouldn't appear in this list at all), and the books on specific topics for which there's a high demand (like the next version of Windows or "Halo," for example). Often, these titles land high on the list.

When multiple books on the same topic make the list and then stay there for a while, it catches my attention. Case in point: books about the Project Management Professional (PMP) certification exam from the Project Management Institute.

To say that project management is a necessary skill for many of today's jobs is an understatement. This four-hour, 200-question certification exam -- by the way, only 175 of those questions are graded -- seems to actually be growing in popularity.

So I'm joining the bandwagon by sharing this PDF link where you can find more information on this certification and the topics it covers:

Increasing Cert Value, Revisited
Last month, I tossed out two ideas for how to improve certification exams: Make them open-book and issue titles based on exam performance (like a grade).

I'm pleased to say that it generated a great deal of comments. While space doesn't allow me to address each comment individually -- and many were very similar in thought -- I do want to bullet-point some of the really thought-provoking ones:

• Many of you were against the open-book concept for fear that it would be a repeat of several years ago, when "paper" certifications hurt the industry and companies existed merely to republish test questions.
  
  
• Instead of a pecking order of titles based on results, several readers thought the problem is that the passing scores for many current exams are way too low. While there have been attempts to muddy the real results (scores between 100 and 900 instead of 0 to 1,000), the fact is that if you miss a large percentage of questions, you shouldn't pass.
  
  
• Most e-mailers pointed out that foolish is the employer who looks only at the certification, and said I should stop worrying so much about trying to make certification more meaningful. What's really valuable are the candidate's experience and his/her ability to handle real-world situations, which differ from company to company. That's something that can never be measured in a CBT environment.

Thanks to all who wrote and shared their thoughts.

Books of the Week: 'CompTIA A+ Complete'
Full disclosure: As someone whose name appears on the byline of at least four book-based products for the new A+ exams, I wanted to dispel the myth that these are four different products. In reality, they're all variants of the same product and no one should purchase more than one.

Approximately every three years, CompTIA revises the exams that are required for candidates to become A+-certified. The A+ certification, considered an entry-level certification in the industry, is a requirement at many companies; more than 700,000 people worldwide currently hold it. The 2009 exams (you must pass two to become certified) are now live.

I assisted in writing CompTIA A+ Complete Study Guide along with Quentin Docter and Toby Skandier, both of whom I've written with in the past. This core book is more than 1,000 pages long and was meant to cover all the information a candidate needs to know to become certified. You can find a PDF of the first chapter here.

Flanking this book is CompTIA A+ Complete Review Guide, which is slightly less than half the size of the "Study Guide." The reason? Not everyone who wants the certification is new to technology, after all, and many only want to know what they need to pass the exams. This book skips the handholding, the exercises and labs, and focuses strictly on what CompTIA expects you to know to pass those two knowledge-based exams.

On the other side of the core book is the CompTIA Complete Study Guide, Deluxe Edition which includes a hardcover tome, more study questions and a CD of instructional videos showing how to work with software and hardware the exam tests on. Ancillary materials including PowerPoint slides, syllabi and additional questions are available for this title (as well as the standard Study Guide) for instructors who want to adopt the text for classroom use.

Lastly, the publisher took the first two books and bundled them with James Pyles' PC Technician Street Smarts to create the CompTIA A+ Complete Certification Kit. This acts as an alternative to the deluxe edition -- and consumes considerably more shelf space. This adds the lab manual component for those who want it for their studies.

Again, while the marketing can make it confusing, all four of these are really variants of the same product targeted toward different segments of administrators. Those seeking the A+ certification should always seek out the best study solution for them -- which can even be a book that I didn't mention here -- and then concentrate on mastering what CompTIA expects you to know in order to pass.