What I'm Using For My Studies

When I finally decided what I was going to study and how, my next choice was :
What book and where do you get it ??????

The logical place to start was on the Web. I spent several days searching for a good allround book, asking others studying for Certification and reading hundereds of reviews, looking for a book that covered all the necessary information required.
After sorting through this information, next step was to obtain learning materials. Easier said than done in Australia. It seems A+ Certification is well known in the United States, yet it is virtually unknown in Australia. I can't understand why as many PC Technician jobs advertised in Australia require A+ Certification as a pre-requisite for these jobs. After spending serveral days (and dozens of phone calls) I finally turned to the place I knew would have the book I desired, where else but....Amazon.com. Their site is great and after spending several more hours reading even more reviews of the 2 books I was considering, I decided to purchase :

A+ Exam Prep by Jean Andrews.

This book is well written and is not TOO heavy. The information contained in this book is clear, consice and reasonably accurate. There are several glaring errors in the book, however, if you understand the material, these errors stand out. The publishers of this book, "Certification Insider Press" provide a list of known errors on their web site and by accessing this, you can manually correct any errors in the text.
The book covers the following subjects :

How Computers Work
How Software and Hardware Work Together
The System Board
Floppy Drives and Other Essential Devices
Introduction To Hard Drives
Installation and Support for Hard Drives
Troublshooting
Customizing a PC
Memory Management
Electricity and Power Supplies
Supporting Windows 3.x , 95 and NT Workstation
Multimedia Technology
Purchasing Or Building your Own PC
Communication Fundamentals
Networking Fundamentals and The Internet
Viruses, Disaster Recovery and PC Maintenance
The Professional PC Technician


Also included with the book is a CD that contains several Practice Exams and a trial version of Nuts & Bolts, an extremely useful system diagnosis software package for investigating what is happening to your PC "behind the scenes".

Enough of the sales pitch.

How has the book helped me to achieve my goal ???
I've been reading the book on and off now for the past few weeks (when my workload and other committments allow) and have realized that not too much has changed over the years. The basics I learnt while building my own CPM machine years ago still apply today and with the information provided in this book, I feel confident enough to sit both the Core Exam and the Specialty Exam in the next few weeks. (16th December 1998 is "C" day). Hopefully I will not need to cram for the exams, as I feel the book has provided me with all the information necessary and the Practice Exams, if they resemble the real thing, should assist me in passing.... Only time will tell.
I'll update the site with my results and an indication of what the exams are about and any tips/hints I can remember from the exams.