theory

Good overview of overall concepts, but not as final prep for test. Does not emphasize the specifics needed for to past the test.

Great book to start for someone with little or no computer background. Not good for tech who is studing up for test.

For the record, I did pass both of the A+ exams, using just this book, but looking back, this book did have a couple glaring problems that costed 1 star each. If you are taking the hardware exam, this book is actually quite useful, but for the OS exam, you must take it with a grain of salt.

The first problem with this book were the test questions. The types of questions asked by the A+ exam were quite different than the ones asked at the end of each chapter in this book, so while the questions can help you remember important information, don't expect the test to be like what you see in the book.

The second, and more glaring problem was the fact that the OS exam chapters were much lighter in content than the chapters devoted to the hardware exam. TO give you an idea, the hardware exam has 7 chapters in this book, but the OS exam has 4 chapters. After studying for both exams vigorously, I passed the hardware exam with flying colors, but I failed teh OS exam. There were questions on the exam dealing with content that was totally absent from the book (NT stuff, some troubleshooting stuff, and some networking stuff). I had to study for the exam even harder using this book, and even then I barely passed for the same reason: some stuff just wasn't covered in this book.

To the credit of the authors though, the hardware exam portion of this book is excellent. They cover quite a bit of useful content, and the CD that comes with the book really helps with this exam too. I think this book can be used as a good reference for PC hardware and troubleshooting even if you finished the A+ exam.

In summary, the book was lop-sided in coverage and the test questions could be formatted differently, but as far as the hardware exam goes, this book was great. For the OS exam, try looking at other resources.

I read this book in preparation for the A+ exam. It is a waste of your time. Go pick up a copy of Mike Meyer's All-in-One A+ Certification, it's a much better book. If I would've taken the exam after reading only this book, I would've failed, without a doubt.