Approximately every three years, CompTIA – the Computing Technology Industry Association – revises the exams that must be taken in order for a candidate to become A+ certified. The A+ certification, considered an entry-level certification in the industry, is a requirement at many companies for IT professionals and more than 700,000 currently hold this certification worldwide.
The 2009 exams – you must pass two to become certified – are now live, and Assistant Professor in the Anderson University Falls School of Business, Emmett Dulaney assisted in the writing of the three books to help those who are studying for these exams. The core book, CompTIA A+ Complete Study Guide (ISBN: 978-0-470-48649-8) was co-written by Quentin Docter and Toby Skandier, both of whom Dulaney has written with in the past. This tome, which is approximately 1100 pages and sells for $59.99, broke the Amazon 1000 several days before it was released and is currently in the top 50 computer and Internet titles on that site. A first printing of 10,000 copies sold out before all orders could be filled.
Flanking the core book is the CompTIA A+ Complete Review Guide (ISBN: 978-0-470-48650-4) written solely by Dulaney. This book is slightly under half the size of the Study Guide and sells for only $29.99. According to Dulaney, “Not everyone wanting the certification is new to technology and many only want to know what they need to pass the exams. This book skips the handholding, the exercises and labs, and focuses strictly on what CompTIA expects you to know in order to be able to pass these two knowledge-based exams.”
On the other side of the core book is the CompTIA Complete Study Guide, Deluxe Edition (ISBN: 978-0470486481). Priced at $79.99, it includes a hardcover, more study questions, and a CD of instructional videos showing how to work with software and hardware that the candidate will be tested on. Ancillary materials consisting of PowerPoint slides, syllabi, and additional questions are available for this title (as well as the standard Study Guide) for instructors who want to adopt the text for classroom use.
All three titles are published by Sybex, a division of Wiley Publishing, Inc. and can be found online as well as in larger bookstores. A PDF of the first chapter of the Study Guide can be found at http://media.wiley.com/product_data/excerpt/9X/04704864/047048649X-1.pdf and more information on the A+ exams themselves can be found at http://www.comptia.org/certifications/listed/a.aspx.