Save money on the Comptia A+ Cert. exam. Why pay full price?
The Comptia A+ is a good beginner certification for someone who wants to work in a help desk, a computer repair shop, basic networking, or a place that sells computers. The A+ cert. is similar to a certificate you get for passing a course in a Community College, but anyone can take it with no computer experience necessary, but it is not recommended since if you do not study for it. You have a higher chance of failing then someone who has studied the objectives thoroughly, and have hands on experience with repairing PCs. When you pass the A+ exam, you can write it on your resume that you are A+ certified. The A+ exam won’t land you a job. But, it will increase your chances of landing an interview compared to someone who is not A+ certified and have the same amount of experience as you. It is also important to write a professional looking resume, and gain invaluable experience by volunteering, interning, working, and fixing computers. Also, during your interview, be friendly and stay calm.
Important dates:February 28, 2010 is when the 2006 version of the A+ exam will retire, and the Educational version of the exam will retire on August 31, 2010, so quickly make your apointment for taking your 2006 A+ exam.
Source:: Comptia
Learn my secret on saving a significant amount of cash on getting A+ certified by clicking the link below.
The Websites, Books, Places, and Videos I listed should still be fine after these dates since they provide useful information.  Hopefully, the webmaster update their websites for the 2009 exam. However, if you are buying books, videos, practice tests and plan to take the 2009 exam or the A+ exam after the 2006 exam retirement dates buy the 2009 study material for the A+ exam. I recommend taking the 2006 Essentials and IT technician exam because there are a lot of websites, books, videos, and practice tests that cover all the information you need to know to pass the 2006 version of the A+ exam, and not as many resources for the 2009 exam. You can probably study the 2006 material and go online or buy books for the 2009 exam and pass  the A+ 2009 exam.Â
Make sure to read all the website thoroughly, and be active on the forums, and ask questions.
http://www.comptia.org/certifications/listed/a.aspx (Read over the objectives)
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/A%2B_Certification
http://www.professormesser.com  (Watch all his free videos )
http://www.studynotes.net/Essentials-Study-GuideÂ
http://www.proprofs.com/certification/comptia/a-plus/study-guide/index.shtml (the forum is very useful)
http://www.mcmcse.com/comptia/aplus/notes/aplus_essentials.shtml (very indepth coverage of all the objectives)
http://www.freepractice.com/Aplus/aplus.htm (lots of practice questions)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CompTIA_A%2B#CompTIA_A.2BÂ
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/
Places you can get cheaper vouchers to take the exam: ask your school if they are a partner with Comptia if they are you can get a discount, and  http://www.totalsem.com hve competitive prices . You need to buy 2 vouchers. One for the essentials exam, and the other for the IT Technician.
It is also helpful to search http://youtube.com for computer related videos.
I also recommend All-in-One CompTIA A+ Certification Exam Guide, Sixth Edition book by Mike Myers. It includes a CD with free software, tutorial videos, practice tests, an electronic copy of the book, and other useful information. The book and CD is not too dry, and the book is very easy to read for a beginner. It has a lot of pictures, analogies, quizzes, and tutorials. It covers everything you need to know to pass the exam.
CliffsTestPrepCompTIA (Computing Technology Industry Association) A+is a good practice test book by Toby Skandier. There are a lot of practice questions, and all the practice test questions are explained very well in the answers section of each quiz. The book also gives you some good advice on effective study habits.
You can also find good electronic practice tests at http://www.course.com/studentcenter/downloads.cfm?isbn=978-0-619-21758-7&CFID=38567755&CFTOKEN=94340138 It is free, and the answers are very well explained on the tests. The questions are hard, so if you can get between 90-100% on each practice exam in the software, you have a very good chance of passing the exam. Make sure that you can finish each practice test in under 60 minutes, so you have 30 minutes to review your answers. The real exam has a 90 minute time limit.
While you read and do practice tests, take notes, and draw diagrams of PC parts in a paper notebook on what you do not understand and review the topics you don’t understand later. Use the notes to make flash cards, practice quizs, or a quiz game to help you study when you are not at home. Try to put a side three hours for 5 days a week to study. Take a 30 minute break every 1-2 hour since cramming is not a good way to study.
While studying for the exam, I spent the most time studying CPU types, RAM, Networking, Command lines, Operating Systems, Laser printers, Scanners, costumer service, computer security, BIOS/CMOS, motherboards, monitor screen resolutions, and laptop & portable computers. But, it is also important to review the topics you know, so you won’t forget the answers.
Don’t spend all your time on reading books and doing practice exams. It is true that you can study all day long for a few weeks or month to past the A+ exam, but you would not be gaining valuable experience that you need when you work.I recommend you get a few used computers with a CD copy of Windows XP Pro,and Windows 2000 , networking routers, printers, and tools like Philips, flat head, and  torx screw drivers, anti-static wrist strap, multimeter, anti-static mat, to get some hands on experience with computers, printers, networking, and other IT related skills. You can buy one of those all-in-one tool kits for computer repair at a local computer store. You should also pick up some loop back plugs for your Ethernet, and serial ports, null modem cables, cross-over Ethernet cables, and power supply tester. I notice it is easier to remember something after doing it instead of just reading about how to do it in a book.
Try volunteering at a place that needs volunteers to do computer related tasks. Ask your neighbours, schools, charities like Free Geek , and friends if they need computer help. Find a mentor who already passed the exam, and interview him, so you know what to expect for the exam.
Virtual Machines are software that let you run different operating system without the need to make a dual boot computer. If you mess up, all you have to do is delete the virtual machine hard drive and reinstall it. I recommend using Virtual box made by Sun, so you can learn how to reinstall, install, repair, troubleshoot windows. It is  simple to use and runs ok on a modern computer. Plus, you also get to learn how to partition and format a hard drive when installing Windows for the first time. You can also try Microsoft’s Virtual PC, or VMware. What you would not learn is the hands on tasks like installing a drive on a computer case, and setting it to master or slave on the IDE drive, or manually setting the SCSI channels for hard drives.
I use everything I listed here. I studied for about 6 months the Comptia A+ Essentials exam which I got a 850/900, and 785/900 on the IT technician exam. If you need more help, you can always enroll in a Comptia A+ course, but courses can be kind of expensive, or not worth it. I did not use a course to study for the A+ exams, and I passed. I did not have much experience working in IT, either.
I only spent about $211 Canadian dollars  including the costs of the vouchers for my A+ Certification.
2 vouchers (1 for essentials and the other for IT technician) at a cost of $74 each. I bought at school which was part of Comptia Jobs+($Â 148)
 All-in-One CompTIA A+ Certification Exam Guide, Sixth Edition ($38)
 CliffsTestPrepCompTIA (Computing Technology Industry Association) A+ ($25)
I bought the books from Amazon. Their prices are fair, and shipping is free in the US if you spend a certain amount.
I also read that some people on forums were able to pass the exam by just using the study guides found online, free practice exams, and books and video from the library to pass the exam, so all they had to pay for was the price of the two A+ vouchers for the Essentials and IT technician exams. But, some of them had previous experience working at a help desk, computer shop, IT department, or at home.
You can ask your company to pay for your Comptia A+ training, vouchers, and materials. Some companies give a money for employee training. You should gather facts on how you being Comptia A+ certified will benefit your company, and write a report for your manager to convince him or her.
Good luck with your studies for the Comptia A+ exam. Stay focus, ask questions, look for answers, and take it easy. Stress won’t help.
When you pass your Comptia A+ exam. Congratulate yourself, and proudly type it on your resume. The next certification you should aim for is the Comptia Network+ , Microsoft MCSE or Cisco CCNA certification. I am aiming for the Network+ certification since it looks very useful IT certification to have, and its difficulty level is not a big  jump from the Comptia A+cert.  which is a good starter cert.