The idea to embark on studying for the CompTia A+ certification began whilst hiking in Yorkshire with some friends. One of whom is a network engineer at Chester Zoo, a job he seems to really love. I had realised that as much as I was enjoying learning about programming and software design on my master course, I honestly felt like something more closely linked to networking/cloud computing would be a better fit for me personally. Particularly in the short term. After all, any program you write is going to be deployed on one of those systems. Therefore, my logic was, gaining some experience in those areas could only help me to better understand what I was building right? So I asked Craig, what was the best way to start a career in his specific network, or more specifically if my CV was to hit his desk, what would I need to add to it in order to have a shot at getting shortlisted? After a lengthy discussion about my experience etc he told me rather emphatically that my CV would go straight in the bin.
A masters is apparently,not the best first step on this particular career path. After some more discussion his advice was simple. I need to get my first 6-12 months experience in an IT support role. And to get that I needed to demonstrate I actually knew which was my arse and which was my elbow when it came to computers. Therefore, I need a well recognised and respected entry level certification. Enter the A+. So I downloaded the syllabus, bought a book and video course. Syllabus in hand I sat back confidently and smiled to myself, this would be easy, I could definitely knock this out in a month or so, no worries.
Kunning-Drugger Efffect
Have you ever heard of the Kunning-Druger effect? simply put it is a cognitive bias in which people of low ability over estimate their own ability. Fits quite nicely doesn’t it? Essentially, I had massively underestimated how much knowledge and skill is required to pass the A+. For those who aren’t aware, the exam covers pretty much all the fundamentals of IT including but not limited to installing configuring and troubleshooting hardware, software,
networks, mobile devices, all major operating systems and pretty much everything else in between. So needless to say, their is a lot to learn in terms of actually passing the exam and obtaining the competencies an employer would expect of someone who had passed.
I think a significant part of what lulled me into a false sense of optimism was that each of the individual areas of the syllabus is actually quite straight forward. Some od the early topics include how to install various pieces of hardware, how to configure boot order within the BIOS and how to connect to a network. All things that I think would be within reach of anyone who has ever tinkered with a computer. However, part of this is being able to know, by heart, the specific CPU socket types and which generation of CPUs are compatible with which. Or how many pins a specific type of RAM uses. Now I do have a small issue with this. I am not a fan of retaining information which can be quickly and easily looked up. After the human brain is for having ideas, not storing them. This is however, how CompTIA have decided to structure the syllabus. And they are the most well know provider for this level of qualification. The issues comes when you try to put together all of this information in order to be able to answer questions and complete tasks
all within a limited time frame and with no external resources. Now it is difficult for me to say at this point in time, having not actually taken the exam, whether all of this information is strictly necessary. I would say however, that all of the mock exams I have taken so far have proven to be very challenging. Indicating that it just might be.
The thing that annoys me most is that I am actually pretty good at studying for exams. I have coached many students through learning and revising for exams and have taken a number myself over the past decade. However, I let my arrogance get the better of and as such have wasted a significant amount of time with ineffective study.
Now, the only thing left for me to do is get stuck back into studying for the qualification, this time applying a much more dedicated study methodology, with a new found respect for the requirements laid out by CompTia.
I will check back in soon with a full write up of my study methodology and provide some concrete evidence of why I believe that this is the most effective way for studying for exams
