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Jeff Durham
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Make the A+ Exams Open Book… |
| Jeff offers this and other suggestions for improving CompTIA's flagship hardware certification. |
| by Jeff Durham |
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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. 
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Jeff W. Durham, MCP, A+, i-Net+, Linux+, is the recent co-author of the Security+ Short Course. E-mail any questions or comments to .
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There are 26  user Comments for “Make the A+ Exams Open Book…”
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Page 1 of 3
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| 1/8/03: Anonymous says: |
I don't think COMPTIA should have continuing education on any of there certifications since they are only entry level. There are a lot of people who update there certification for refresher purposes anyway. The idea of having a hands on lab would help seperate the cheaters from the people who really know there stuff. But I think a good thing COMPTIA can do to help the A+ certification is to bring back the Mac OS module. It give people more options. |
| 1/8/03: eml71 says: |
I agree with the last point to make it one exam instead 2. The A+ is a hardware exam/cert more than it is a OS (Windows) exam/cert. If they want an OS exam add the MCP or Linux+ as an option. This will give individuals a choice of direction. |
| 1/8/03: Kris Benson from Prince George, BC, Canada says: |
I agree with most of the options, but the idea of adding a Mac OS module is ridiculous. It is a *PC* technician exam -- the Mac is not the same hardware architecture as the PC, so why should you be able to substitute Mac OS knowledge when you need to know PC hardware?!? |
| 1/8/03: L19, MCSE, MCP+I, A+, Linux+, Net+ says: |
The current exams test a candidate's ability to recall information and to some degree, deduce the correct response to questions. A lab would be a positive move forward because A+ certified people should be able to demonstrate "basic" abilities such as: set a hard drive to master or slave, transfer data or install a sound card. However, it seems unreasonable to make the test "open book." Of course a technician should own manuals and better, read those manuals. Yet, a tech should know off the top of his or her head how to resolve an IRQ conflict, change bios settings, disable devices via safe mode, troubleshoot corrupt drivers, upgrade components and so on. As for continuing education, I see the point, but good techs are always learning. I'm unconvinced that you to retake CompTia's exams to demonstrate that you know the difference between USB 1.1 and 2.0. The A+ certification should be an entry point into the field. From that point you can move into more specialized hardware areas (CompTia DOES offer the Server+ exam for example). Most hardware vendors offer certification exams for those who want to specialize. Look at manufacturer's such as HP/COMPAQ, IBM, DELL, APPLE. |
| 1/8/03: James says: |
I believe that if it is not broke than don't fix it. But if you must change a good thing, I would hope that it would not become a continuing education exam. Can we all say entry level? lol As far as the posted comment above, when you said that the current A+ tests the candidates ability to deduce the correct response to questions; wouldn't you call that problem solving and is that not what we do. Just food for thought. ;-) |
| 1/8/03: Anonymous says: |
Open book??? Why not make all certfications open book. Reality check people. I dont want to spend 5 hours in a lab. How many questions do you think it will take to prove my knowledge? 100, 1,000, why not make the test long and cover more topics and while your at it, pitch a tent and expect an overnighter. NO THANK YOU. Leave it alone. |
| 1/8/03: Rod says: |
Open Book, Why eather you know it or you dont. if you have to rely on a book to do your job then you arnt ready to touch anyones computer. I can see hardware specs yes but the basics no I dont see where you need to do that. if its broken dont touch it. there should be no recert on the A+ its a starting point most of use will get the OS certs on our own. most techs if there good at what they do will already be learning more as the go along no one wants to be left hanging when there job depends on it. so you have to study to keep up with the hardware changes |
| 1/8/03: Rick Kingslan says: |
The A+, the way it is, should stay the way it is - with updates to the material to accurately measure the ability of an ENTRY LEVEL candidate. I want to emphasize this point - "to measure the candidates ability on current hardware and OSs". One test, two tests - don't care. Hence, the test(s) need to continue to mature with the times. As to open book - let's get serious. Novell USED to allow open books for their tests. They realized that they were testing the ability of a candidate to look up infomration - not the knowledge of same. And, to that - how many techs these days use the Internet or a CD as their primary source of information? Do we give the candidate free access to the Internet to access their reference of choice? Now we've stepped over a line that just can't be crossed. May as well invite the Dump Sites to publish concise answers to the tests to either print or to take the test with as you're looking up you 'reference material'. Oh, right. The Dump Sites already do this, don't they? I'd like to see EVERY cert require a lab scenario situation to test the actual ability of a person. IMHO, this is about the only way to weed out the posers. |
| 1/8/03: Dennis says: |
I have to agree on the open book examination. With the amount of upgrades and new developments there is no way for a person to keep up with the fast pace changes in Information Technologies. I've found myself having to go acquire manuals to make repairs and upgrades. My degree, my certifications, my years of field service are just not enought |
| 1/9/03: McSmoothie says: |
So get me right? CCR if this was applied to schooling qualifications I should return to school every 5 years and re-sit the exams I did at 16 & 18? I think you have lost the plot on the A+ exam, they are entry level exams proves you understand the basics thats all - you gain experance when doing the job! |
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