Kaplan IT Training Blog

Resource Review: Exam Cram CompTIA A+ 220-701 and 220-702 Fifth Edition by David L. Prowse

Pearson Education has published a new edition of their Exam Cram book for the A+ certification. I recently received a complimentary copy for review. Once I took the time to delve into its contents, I was pleasantly surprised.

Here are just a few of the highlights that I love:

1) Lots of graphics – Nothing is more useful to an A+ technician than a picture or a screen shot. Every chapter is loaded with valuable graphics that will prepare you for the exams. Don’t ignore those graphics! If it shows a picture of a computer port, be sure that you study it until you can discern it from other ports. If it is a screen shot, make sure you know how to get to the screen and what all of the options within the screen do.

2) Great tables – To me, tables are easy to study, memorize, and later recall during the test. David Prowse did a great job assembling some tables with very useful information. You cannot go very far in this book without encountering a table. I would suggest taking some extra time to study the tables just before test time.

3) Windows 7 content – While this content is some of the newest content for the A+ exam, I was happy to at least see an attempt at coverage in this book. Late last year, CompTIA announced a refresh of the A+ content to include Windows 7. Right now, my only experience with Windows 7 content for the A+ exams is based on what is listed in the revised Exam Guide, which doesn’t really give us a lot of details. David Prowse addresses the Windows 7 content that is specifically listed in the Exam Guide. I am concerned that some Windows 7 topics are missing, but because I haven’t actually seen the Windows 7 content, I don’t know how deep CompTIA is going into Windows 7. From my experience, not EVERY topic on the test is listed in the Exam Guide. I will say that this book does cover those Windows 7 topics that are specifically listed in the Exam Guide.

4) IPv6 – While the section on IPv6 is only a couple of pages long, it does provide you the basic information that you will need for the A+ exams. Topics like address length, number of available addresses, and address types are covered concisely in a manner that is easy to understand.

Overall, I am glad to see a new edition of the Exam Cram for A+ being released, especially with the new topics that have been added in response to CompTIA’s announced changes. I feel this would be a good resource to help you prepare for the A+ exams.

-Robin A.