PARTING WORDS
- Mouse and keyboard
- DVD drive
- Microphone
- Monitor
- Speakers
- Touchpad
- Game controllers
In 2019, anyone who needs to have
the purpose of any of these items
explained to them is clearly a time
traveler from decades past, or perhaps
from the far future, and they should
be detained and persuaded to divulge
the location of their quantum GPS
system.
This kind of content is far too light
and fluffy for an exam aimed at IT
professionals with a year of profes-
sional experience. This and similar
material could easily be extracted from
the 220-1001 exam without compro-
mising the integrity of the credential.
Another issue with the 220-1001
exam is related to the value statement
modern companies place on hardware
repair vs. replacement. Today’s busi-
nesses place a premium on reducing
downtime and the lost productivity
it causes. Faulty hardware (up to a
certain cost point) is far more likely to
be replaced than sent for repair.
What’s more, today’s enterprise
is no longer dominated by desktop
computers with modular compo-
nents which can easily be replaced by
opening a tower case. Laptop comput-
ers are increasingly being built with
non-replaceable components which
are glued or soldered into place.
Similarly, the majority of smart-
phones and tablets are unserviceable.
Most models, in fact, are impossible to
open except by the vendor itself. At-
tempting to open the device will void
the manufacturer’s warranty.
The repair vs. replace value equa-
tion, and the non-repairability of to-
day’s computer hardware, make much
of the hardware-based content in the
220-1001 A+ exam extraneous at best.
The 220-1002 exam is the new A+
“software exam.” It shares the same
question count and time limit as the
220-1001 exam. These are the exam
domains and content priorities for
220-1002:- Operating Systems (27 percent)
- Security (24 percent)
- Software Troubleshooting
(26 percent) - Operational Procedures
(23 percent)
Here again, we find plenty of exam
content that is not nearly as indus-
try-relevant as it has been made out
to be. Additionally, there is content
here that should arguably be covered
in exam 220-1001. For example, here
are three exam objectives regarding
networking:
Given a scenario, install and configure
a basic wired/wireless SOHO network.
Given a scenario, configure Microsoft
Windows networking on a client/desktop.
Given a scenario, configure security on
SOHO wireless and wired networks.
Why would these topics be split
between two different exams? The first
topic is from the 220-1001 exam, the
last two are from the 220-1002 exam.
Wouldn’t it make more sense to A+
candidates if all of the networking
content was on the same exam?
A more debateable issue with the
220-1002 exam is the inclusion of Win-
dows 7, Windows 8, and Linux con-
tent. According to Net Marketshare’s
May 2019 Operating System Share
by Version statistics, the number of
Windows 10 installations has risen 10
percent over the last 12 months, while
the number of Windows 7 installations
has dropped by more than 6 percent.
Windows 10 now makes up the major-
ity of desktop and laptop installations.
Further, Microsoft ended main-
stream support for Windows 7 in
January 2015, and is ending extended
support in January 2020. Yes, someorganizations are still running this OS
on their workstations. But the drop-
ping numbers suggest that Windows
7 is being phased out and Windows
10 is taking its place. When you recall
that updates to the A+ exams only
occur every four years or so, it is a fair
point to say that Windows 7 content
could have been excluded from the
2019 A+ exam versions.
As for Windows 8, Net Market-
share shows this OS with a total install
base of 5.47 percent, making it highly
irrelevant for A+ certified technicians.
Desktop versions of Linux are even
less relevant, with a market share of
1.51 percent. Any content for these
two OSes could clearly be removed
from the 220-1002 exam.A+ Exam RecommendationsThe new face of the A+ certification
should be one exam consisting of 120
questions, with a two-hour time limit.
With the amount of material Comp-
TIA could (and should) remove from
the two existing exams, this revision is
very achievable.
Obviously, there is a monetary con-
sideration involved when making this
kind of change. At present, the fee for
one of the A+ exams is $219, meaning
candidates must pay $438 in exam fees
to earn the A+ credential.
It would ill-serve CompTIA (from
a marketing perspective at least) to
charge this same amount for a single
A+ exam. A modest discount, say a
$400 fee for the single A+ exam, would
make the changeover to a single-exam
format very popular with candidates
while maintaining a fair price point for
CompTIA.
CompTIA has been diligent about
refreshing the A+ exams’ content over
the last 25 years. Now it needs to see
that two exams is one too many, and
then create a single A+ certification
exam that better serves computer tech-
nicians and the IT industry at large.PARTING WORDS