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Target effective, low-cost cert books and test engines By Emmett Dulaney, Techrepublic May 12, 2003 URL: http://www.zdnet.com.au/jobs/resources/soa/Target-effective-low-cost-cert-books-and-test-engines/0,130056675,120274390,00.htm
When money for classroom training isn't available, it's time to explore cheaper ways to prep for certification exams. These suggestions will help you find useful resources you can afford.  If your budget has been hit half as hard as mine, there's no money for you to sit in weeklong classes to learn what you need to pass certification exams. But rather than forego new certifications altogether, you can take advantage of a number of less expensive study tools. Of course, if you have limited funds, you want to make sure that you choose the most useful resources. I'm going to share some suggestions on how to identify the best ones. To simplify this discussion, I’ll use the A+ certification exams in my examples. But you can apply the same selection criteria to any exam you're studying for. When selecting study tools, keep in mind that not everyone learns the same way. Books may be the best solution for a coworker, but you may find that test engines—or some other solution—works best for you. Selecting the best books
I find value in both formats, and often buy one book of each type when studying for an exam to be able to compare and contrast their coverage. I also have found that every book needs to be judged on its own merits. Just because you found one really good book in a series doesn’t mean that another book in the series will be equally good; it may be written by another author and edited by another development team. When shopping for books, my strategy is to pick a few exam objectives before going to the store and then to select books that cover those objectives best. For example, many books are available to help you study for the A+ Core Hardware Services Technician and A+ Operating Systems Technologies exams, so picking the following objectives makes it easy to compare them:
Looking at the seven books on the local Borders bookshelf delivers the results shown in Table A. Table A
Comparing the books this way makes it easy to pick two to purchase. With list prices ranging between USD$20 and USD$60, I’ll be able to find all the content I need to pass the two exams and become A+ certified for around USD$100. Selecting the most useful test engines
What class of IP address does 0.0.0.2 fall into?
Although quantity and quality are not always mutually exclusive characteristics, those vendors who offer the best test questions (which often means the best explanations) are typically the most expensive. Within the A+ realm, I have found the vendors listed in Table B to have the best test engine questions for a single user studying for the Hardware exam. Table B
Other options In addition to books and test engines, a number of other study aids—some less traditional than others—are available. Table C lists vendors and their products for A+ study. Table C
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