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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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| 1/9/03: Tharg says: |
I think it's safe to say these are mostly ludicrious ideas. Make It Open Book -> WHAT??? It's only the A+ we're taking about here not final year Rocket Science! Hands-On -> this is totally impractical for A+. Also the exam would probably end up costing around $1000. Imagine the practical problems involved in setting this up. Do COMPTIA really think that testing centres have the expertise to create IRQ conflicts for test candidates? Require Continuing Education -> Nope. "Once A+ always A+" is what COMPTIA say. Unless they decide to pull a Microsoft (ie lie). Move Away from Multiple Choice Questions -> So instead of cramming a few switches before an exam, just bring along the book and look 'em up. Or use /?. OK, I like this suggestion but again it's perhaps impractical for A+: test software would have to be rewritten etc. Make It One Exam -> Not sure on this one. It is arguable that the exam should be in two parts as it's an entry level exam (makes it easier for candidates to digest topics). The thing to remember about certification is that it's a business. COMPTIA moved away from longer A+ exams to shorter ones, so that test centres could maximise the candidates/hour throughput. As I see it, all of the above suggestions would cut profits, apart from one: Require Continuing Education. |
| 1/9/03: Marcio says: |
The most important thing they should change is the PRICE. C'mon, it's an entry-level, crap certification, why does it have to be more expensive than Cisco's, Microsoft's, .... questions???? |
| 1/9/03: B says: |
Stupid! Open book? Come on, there are some things you should know from your head. I have had the A+ since 98 and it is a good measure for basic know-how. Sure, not all of it has to be from your head but what exam have you taken that did not have things on it that you would forget after taking it? Hands on? This is a basic cert not the CCIE, come on guys! |
| 1/9/03: olayinka says: |
i love it. |
| 1/9/03: dej says: |
As a professor and teacher for over 25 years I can attest to one very important point. Students rarely take an open book test seriously. The benefit of closed book exams is the preparation for the test. Students review far more material for a closed book test than is actually asked on the exam. Retaining that information is part of being a professional. I have given open book tests and the results are dismal. Students don't prepare, use too much time finding answers and often fail the exams anyway. Students who prepare properly will pass the test and they are the one's we want servicing our networks and computers. |
| 1/20/03: Anonymous says: |
Open book defeats the entire purpose of taking an exam. In fact, why even have a certification if you have the the book in front of you. Either you know it or you don't. |
| 1/27/03: Anonymous says: |
Agree. Open books defats the prupose of the exam. |
| 2/11/03: Anonymous says: |
Legally Defensible. Most of your suggestions, Jeff, are not legally defensible, although I like a few of them. CompTIA has to make sure the exams do not EVER lead to lawsuits based on fairness issues. In the early days of Aplus, the advisory committee meetings were Lawyers vs. Nerds. You can guess who wins this battle, which explains the status of the test today. As for hands-on, this is just impossible. More then 3,000 people take the exams every month. Where is this hands-on test going to happen? Who administers it? How would it be graded? I do a "practical Aplus" every year, for just 70 techs, and it's a HUGE job. |
| 3/14/03: Ty Savercool says: |
I would just like to inform everyone that there is a practicle solution to the need for 'hands on' testing in the Aplus exam. The is a company (im almost positive that it is Compaq) that produces a computer that simulates faults. This computer comes with a complete set of replacment "FRUs". This computer is designed to implement faults and by using the FRUs that come with the system, it can test a students ability to preform the repair. I attended a class at a local vocational school were these computers were used to test there students and it was plan fun working with these machines. The instructor could sit at his desk and drop one or more of some 15 hardware problems into the computer anytime he please. the system ran windows 98 and when all the faults were cleared or the fault was 'fixed' the computer ran normally. This system also included software for the instructor to assass ever hardware modification made to solve a problem. These computers cost the school school about 2000 dollers and at the time they were top of the line P2 400s. asking a testing center to by one of these computers is not that much. Also, I strongly beleive that exams should not be open book. by studying for an exam you fill up on about 5 times more information then what your going to be tested on but after the exam, you forget about 40% of the hard facts that you dont commonly use(example being I/O addresses). if the exam is open book your going to only learn 60% of the information that you type into the exam and in the end, have to look EVERYTHING up to get the job doen. |
| 3/30/03: RunningfromDurham says: |
Jeff--Have YOU considered continuing ed? Your columns are laughable--and your products (Linux AllinOne and others) are CRAP...utterly useless. |
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