10 CompTIA A+ revision resources for a first time pass

By Sarah Morgan


The CompTIA A+ is widely regarded as the starting point for a career in IT. In fact, as of October 17th 2014, over 1 million IT professionals around the world have achieved this certification.

Major brands like Dell, HP and Lenovo require their service technicians to be A+ certified and it’s even supported by government branches like the US Department of Defence.

To achieve the A+, you’re going to have to pass two exams. So to make sure you pass first time, here are 10 must have revision resources.

1. Professor Messer

An IT celebrity in his own right, Professor Messer runs a successful YouTube channel and websiteproviding high quality lecture style tutorials and accompanying resources.

You won’t find low resolution tutorials with grating sound quality here – Professor Messer’s videos are in a league of their own.

With over 25 years of experience and a passion for providing top-notch revision material, Professor Messer has created a truly fantastic resource. Expect high production quality and intelligent teaching from an IT professional who really knows his stuff.

And if you really like these videos, you can download portable versions for a small fee. Of course if you don’t want to pay you can still find every single video in full quality online, for free.

 

Start watching Professor Messer’s CompTIA comprehensive training course, with built in quiz questions and complementary content, here (just scroll down for the videos).

2. PC Technician – Free A+ Practice Tests

It’s all well and good watching online lectures but are you actually absorbing the information? You’ll find a lot of A+ practice tests online and they’re ideal for putting your new knowledge into practice.

The vast majority of the exam questions you’ll face for your A+ are multiple choice. This set of 13 free practice exam tests mimics this style of questions and provides a good simulation of the real A+ exams.

Access them here.

3. CompTIA A+ Complete Review Guide: Exams 220-801 and 220-802

This may be the first resource on our list that isn’t free, but it’s definitely worth its price tag. The CompTIA A+ Complete Review Guide is a perfect study guide to accompany you from the beginning of your revision, to the moment you begin your exam.

The book features a mass of charts and graphics, ideal when revising the A+’s computer component modules.

Plus, in this giant 500+ page paperback, you’ll find more than 170 review questions, 4 practice exams, over 100 electronic flashcards and a searchable Glossary of Key Terms. In fact it’s so good we include it free of charge on all of our CompTIA A+ courses.

Read the promising Amazon reviews here.

4. ProProfs Study Resources

A+ Quick Reference Sheet

There’s always going to be that one crucial piece of revision that you just need to revise constantly or risk forgetting altogether.

ProProfs cram notes are an excellent resource for revising those tiny details that could make the difference between a pass and a fail.

This quick reference sheet contains a bulleted list of short points that you must know for your exam. We recommend printing it off and reading it whenever and wherever you can.

Study Guide

This handy (if cumbersome) A+ study guide is a useful resource.

The flash-style guide requires you to click through hundreds of ‘slides’ and thought it can become tiring, its content is still undeniably useful. You’ll find an in-depth guide to all aspects of the CompTIA A+.

Access it here.     

Printable Flash Cards

Use these 500 printable flash cards  cards to quickly identify any existing holes in your knowledge.

There are useful options for printing, downloading and you’ll even be able to add tricky questions to a personal ‘review list.’

5. Firebrand Learn

We’ve uploaded our entire A+ courseware onto our online platform, Firebrand Learn. It’s all totally free and you don’t even have to register to access it.

If you’re looking for a comprehensive catalogue of everything you need to learn, Firebrand Learn is a great place to start.

6. A+ Certification All-In-One For Dummies

This well put-together cheat sheet from dummies.com is a great way to review some of the major Windows concepts like boot files, recovery tools, RAID types and troubleshooting utilities.

Take a look at it here.

7. Official CompTIA A+ Practice Exams

If you don’t want to rely on unofficial online exam papers, you can’t go far wrong with CompTIA’s official A+ Certification Practice Exams.

This pack of 1000 questions - with answers and explanations – cohesively covers both Exams 220-801 and 220-802.

Once you’re ready to test your hard earned A+ knowledge, this is the best way to do it.

Purchase it on CompTIA’s online store.

8. Official Free CompTIA A+ Sample Questions

If you don’t want to pay for practice exam questions, you can still get an idea of what you’ll be facing come exam day with CompTIA’s Official Free Sample Questions.

You’ll have to trade some of your personal details for them (name, email etc) but you can easily avoid the annoyance of unwanted email promotions by deselecting the relevant tick-box.

Once you’ve completed the form you’ll get access to two sets of sample questions and answers covering both A+ exams.

9. RM Roberts Study Guides and Practice Tests

Here’s another great online study guide, this time from rmroberts. These in-depth study guides cover domains 1-5 of the 220-801 exam and domains 1-4 of the 220-802 exam.

They display as PDF’s for ease-of-use and can be downloaded simply for use around offline and on mobile. Access them here.

10. TechExams CompTIA A+ forums

Nothing beats asking another person for help. If you get stuck on a specific A+ topic, just pose your question in one of the active IT forums.

You’ll benefit massively speaking to fellow A+ students and professionals alike. Nobody can answer a tricky question better than a human being and checking out forums like TechExamscould save you a lot of time.

Have we missed anything?

If there are any other handy resources we’ve missed, please post a comment, we’d love to hear them!

Related Articles:

- 5 ways to prepare you for your CompTIA A+ Exams you didn't consider
- Top 4 reasons you need the CompTIA A+ certification
- An ideal starting point for your IT career: CompTIA A+ certification

About the Author:        
Sarah writes for Firebrand Training on a number of IT related topics. This includes exams, training, certification trends, project management, certification, careers advice and the industry itself. Sarah has 11 years of experience in the IT industry.