I am going to be applying to the IT department at Amazon in the next few weeks, based on having received my Associate’s Degree in IT (with a specialization as an Information Security Analyst) from the University of Maryland Global Campus back in July 2023 and then receiving my first IT certification (IT Fundamentals+) in December 2023.
My next certification goal is to pass the next level certification, the CompTIA A+, which covers the same general topics as the ITF+ (hardware and software), but at a deeper level. In fact, it covers so much material that it requires passing two exams, the Core 1 (220-1101) and Core 2 (220-1102).
But I am going ahead with my study for my next certification while simultaneously going after Bachelor’s Degree extension of my Associate’s Degree, which will require six additional courses. The only way I will be able to do these simultaneously is if I set up a study program that makes me study for the certification on a regular basis alongside my regular course of study for my degree program.
I figured that I can just adopt my same resources for the A+ exam that I used to successfully pass the ITF+ exam (categories a and c below)
a) Udemy course by Dion Training (course + practice tests)
The best method I found was to cover the lessons three times:
- First time around: listen to the lesson (this is useful, because I can do this while taking walks and/or commuting
- Second time around: watch the videos and review the Study Notes
- Third time around: watch the videos again and take notes of any points which were unclear and need reinforcing. I take notes on Evernote and will then transfer these notes to my professional blog here at 4squareviews.com.
b) Professor Messer Success Bundle Training consisting of
- Comprehensive Notes
- Practice Exams
- Audio MP3 Files
- Exam Hacks eBook
- Video Downloads
- Study Group Audio
- Study Group Q&A
I didn’t use this for the ITF+ exam, because Professor Messer’s training only starts at the A+ level. However, I was highly recommended to get his training materials by someone who actually works as an IT professional.
c) CompTIA A+ CertMaster Practice
After covering the material from both the Dion Training course on Udemy and Professor Messer’s Success Bundle, I will then move on to the final practice for the exam, which comes directly from CompTIA A+, namely, the CertMaster Practice. These questions I found to be even harder than the practice tests in the Dion Training Udemy course, and when I was able to pass these at a greater than 90% level, I knew that I was ready for the exam.
d) CompTIA+ CertMaster Labs
In addition to the multiple choice questions that were on the ITF+ Fundamental exam, there are practical questions based on a virtual environment, so there is an additional component I will need for the A+ exam, the CertMaster Labs. There are only a handful of questions on the exam that are practical questions as opposed to multiple choice, but I want to be able to ace the exam, and so I will definitely be doing this component.
These training methods together, Dion Training + Professor Messer + CompTIA, will be enough to pass the exam, I believe. There is an additional method I was thinking of, and that is the All-In-One exam guide as a reference. However, I found that their Udemy courses were not as good as the Dion Training ones, so I am going to stick to them as a written reference source.
For the exam itself, although Dion Training and Professor Messer offer discounts for the CompTIA exams themselves, I get a steeper discount through UMGC for being a student, so I’ll leave that expense for later when I get done with the Dion Training Udemy course, the Professor Messer success bundle, and get a 90% or higher on the CompTIA A+ Practice exams.
It’s a long road, but it’s definitely worth it!
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