Lee McWhorter said:

I'm confused from the above given it seems no two comments again... With regards to whateverX what are new certs vs what is stackable? I'm hoping @Jose A Ruiz Marquez personally.

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The CompTIA A+ underscore (_) technical learning and certificate programs is a series of modular programs that will offer learners greater flexibility to build the depth and breadth of their skills, while expanding accessibility to encourage more people to explore tech career pathway options.

The CompTIA A+_ series centers around key knowledge domains and in-demand job roles, including the following areas: CompTIA A+_cyber, CompTIA A+_server, CompTIA A+_network, CompTIA A+_data, CompTIA A+_cloud, CompTIA A+_coding

The first programs in the CompTIA A+_ series are scheduled for availability in October, delivered on Coursera, a leading online learning platform with more than 120 million learners globally. The self-paced programs will feature engaging videos, assessment, and hands-on labs.

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Gregory Childers said:

I don't use chapters because some are longer than others.

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dlross said:

I agree- except for him. He's really good at PBQs and knows pretty much everything in the field. And he knows PBQs are worth the most. He's been doing this so long that he can figure out how many extra multi-choice questions he needs to roughly clear and still pass. He does his PBQs, a few multiple choice, and then he ends the exam. Once, he left his car running and went upstairs and did this and walked out with his pass score.

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dlross said:

Definitely take a look at Prowse and Parker/O'Shea. They are really good resources.

I never recommend Messer exclusively. Like many pointed out, using only one resource is not advantageous As an instructor who is thorough and wanting my students to use other resources than the books we use, I find that my students do exactly that, and they do better on the exams as a result. It's all in how you frame your narrative when you give them supplemental materials.

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James Arn said:

I use chapters but yeah. We have been teaching the 008 for the last 2 years or so.

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Gregory Childers said:

Meyers and Chapple are great resources. I strongly recommend both.

I've never used Prowse, or Parker and O'Shea, so I can't comment on them.

I stopped recommending Messer a while back. Too many new learners exclusively watch his extremely abridged video series, take his practice exams, and exam-cram their way to a barely passing score while learning nothing meaningful that will help them be more productive at work. Not to mention that Messser keeps spinning yarns that 50% of the exam objectives change every three years, which is completely nonsense.

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James Arn said:

I use chapters but yeah. We have been teaching the 008 for the last 2 years or so.

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Gregory Childers said:

Take the number of pages of the book (or the slide deck if you don't have a book).

Divide the number by five.

That is how much you should cover per day. By any means necessary.

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dlross said:

When my students ask, I recommend a few, trusted resources:

• Mike Meyers: All-in-One Certification Exam Guide
• Mike Chapple: CompTIA A+ CertMike: Prepare. Practice. Pass the Test! Get Certified
• David Prowse: Exam Cram
• Professor Messer- his website: www.professormesser.com. Encourage them to purchase the bundle with the notes and practice test. Also, better to watch from his website. If you watch from youtube.com, then you get all the crappy commercials.
• Jeff T Parker, Audrey O'Shea: CompTIA A+ Practice Tests: Core 1 Exam 220-1101 and Core 2 Exam 220-1102, 3rd Edition. The book has a great online test bank that will give you 1400 questions spread across Core 1 and Core 2 (about 13, 70 question exams, and it will track how many unanswered questions you have, how many answered questions you have, and how many wrong answers you have for the questions banks, plus give you the option of setting up which of these banks you want to use to create questions, and you can do them in exam mode or in practice mode).

My favorite of all of them are either Professor Messer, if you're pressed for time, or Exam Cram, if you've got time to spare. I recommend using them together to supplement each other, and then use the Sybex as a starter test bank, then move to Professor Messer in exam mode (where you have to time the exam yourself) as you are closer to the exam. Now, if your students use Sybex for their test bank, they will need to use their own timer, because Sybex automatically gives 2 minutes per question. That's tomfoolery. They should set their clocks for 1 minute per question and set the alarm to go off for the appropriate time. I recommend for 70 questions, because it's the most realistic. Realistically, you'll get (usually, I guess) 3- 5 PBQs. That leaves 70 questions for Core 2 and 65 questions for Core 1.

As an extra push for Exam Cram- David Prowse is my man! He is on point! And I believe you get access to his online content when you buy the book, which is excellent. He broke down those laser printers, and it was real! I just frikkin' love his book so much.

DLRoss

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dlross said:

My A+ instructor does the opposite. He goes in, does all the PBQs immediately, then does like the first 20 or questions, depending on how many PBQs he gets, and leaves. He passes every time. I'm too paranoid to do what either of you do.

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Dan said:

I'm not sure where you found that information, but what you said about Security+ isn't correct as per Comptia.

as per https://www.comptia.org/certifications/xpert-series:
CompTIA Advanced Security Practitioner (CASP+) is the expert version of CompTIA Security+ and will be re-branded to SecurityX , with the next exam version. This name change will not affect the status of current CASP+ certification holders and those with an active CASP+ certification will receive a SecurityX certification

CloudNetX is a new certificate, not a stacked cert.

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Dan said:

not only that, but people think that if they pass CASP+, they can get a job in security... despite most security jobs requiring several years of experience.

These cybersecurity bootcamps and universities are doing the same thing with graduate degrees in cyber security: give us lots of money, we will give you a piece of paper, and since there is such a skills demand, you will join a growing field.... completely ignoring the fact that most new grads won't get a security role without years of experience, even if they graduated from a BootCamp or have a masters in cybersecurity.

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precious said:

CompTIA didn't rename CASP+ to CompTIA Security X. CompTIA SecurityX is part of the CompTIA Xpert Series certifications that are designed for experienced IT professionals seeking to validate their advanced expertise in essential business technologies. The series will launch with certifications in data, cloud networking, and cybersecurity.

1. CompTIA DataX
-CompTIA DataX is a new advanced-level data science certification. (think of it as advanced Data+)

2. CompTIA CloudNetX
-Cloud plus and Network plus re-branded to CloudNetX

3. CompTIA SecurityX
-CASP plus + Security plus re-branded to SecurityX

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