Pass CompTIA A+ 220-1002 Exam in First Attempt Easily

All About the CompTIA A+ 2019 Core 2 Exam

1. CompTIA A+ 2019 Core 2 (220-1002) Course Introduction

Hey, everybody. It's Mike Myers, your favourite nerd, welcoming you to the CompTIA A+ + 20 1002, also known as the core two course. Now this course is designed to help you pass the CompTIA A+ Core 220-1002 exam, which is one of the two exams necessary for you to become CompTIA A+ certified. But before we dive in, let's talk about what we're going to be covering on the exam. In this particular course, we're going to be covering four domains. First is going to be operating systems, which are primarily Microsoft Windows, but you're going to be seeing lots of Apple operating systems there and also plenty of Linux as well. On top of that, then, we're going to be covering security. And I'm not just talking about making complex passwords; I'm talking about proper firewall configuration, and I'm also talking about using things like locks on doors, which all come together to keep your system secure. Number three, we're going to be doing software troubleshooting. Now I'm talking about fixing your operating systems and the applications that run on top of them so that everybody's happy and everything is optimised and running great. And then last are operational procedures because CompTIA thinks that users need to be told how to talk to customers and how to work with paper, and you know what? They're absolutely right. Well, that's a lot of different stuff, but don't worry about it. I take the time in my videos to make sure we cover all of the nuances of what you're going to be seeing on the exam. And like lots of other people, I think you're going to find it a pretty easy ride to pass the CompTIA Core Two 220-1002 exam.

2. What is the CompTIA A+

Hey, everybody. It's your favourite nerd, Mike Myers, answering the perennial question, what is the CompTIA A plus? Well, there are really two questions there. Number one. What is CompTIA? And two, what is a plus? Now CompTIA stands for the Computing Technology Industry Association. They're a vendor-neutral, nonprofit trade association. They've been around since the early 1980s, and they have tens of thousands of corporate members all over the world. So you'd be hard-pressed to come up with a name that isn't a member of CompTIA. Intel, Microsoft, Cisco Everybody's a member of CompTIA. Now, there's also another type of membership, which is an individual membership based on different types of certification exams that CompTIA gives out. Now, there are lots of different certifications. They have names like A Plus, which we're going to talk about. Network plus. Security plus CYSA There are tonnes and tonnes of them. But the one I want to talk about right now is the CompTIA A Plus examination. The CompTIA A+ examination is a test that you take at a computer, and it's designed to test the skills of an IT technician with anywhere from six to nine months of experience. Now, it is by far the single most popular IT certification in the world. It is given all over the world in 1520 different languages. I mean, it's everywhere. I don't think they have a testing facility in Antarctica, but pretty much every place else There are well over a million certified Aplus IT technicians in the world today. The A-plus really isn't a single examination. It's really two. One of them is known as the core 220-1001 and the other as the core 220-1002. These two exams, when you take them together, make you A-plus certified. You don't have to have any formal training. You don't have to buy any books. You don't have to watch any video. You don't have to take any classes. If you want to, you can just walk in and take those exams. However, I'd recommend that you probably consider some really great courses, like ones given by me, Mike Myers.

3. Why Get A+ Certified?

Another question I get all the time is, "Why get A-plus certified?" Or as a corollary to that, I get a lot of people who will come up to me and say, "Mike, I really want to get into the IT industry." What are some of the first steps I should take? And the answer is "plus. Certification. Look, in the IT world, we live on the concept of certifications. There are over 700 different IT certifications out there—everything from how to set up an enterprise wireless network to configuring Cisco routers to working with Microsoft Windows Server. I mean, there are zillions of certifications out there, and you've got to pick a place to start. For me, the CompTIA A+ certification is the de facto entry-level certification. It's the first certification you earn in your IT career. So having that A+ certification is really important in terms of making other technicians know where you are. For example, if I'm talking to another tech, it's pretty common language to say "go," so what search are you going for? Where are you trying to go? And by answering these types of questions, it helps other technicians get an idea of who you are and where you are on the pathway. So if you're going to get an IT degree, you're going to be constantly going for certifications. I've been in this industry for over 25 years, and I'm still going for certifications. So it's just a common thing that we do. Another reason to get A+ certified is that a lot of companies require it. There are a number of companies out there that, if you don't have an A+ certification, they're not even going to try to hire you. On top of that, there are a lot of companies that don't require an A-plus, but they either strongly recommend that you get one or they insist that you get one within, say, 90 days or six months of being hired. So the A-plus definitely has some impact there. The other one is, well, let's face it, money. According to studies, A+ certified technicians make more money than non-certified technicians doing the same job. And sorry about my capitalism, but I like making money. And finally, this is an important issue that many people will give an A+ on, especially if you're an ex-truck driver looking to get into IT or an accountant looking to get into IT. So they'll think, "Well, I'm just going to go take the A plus, and I'll get a job." All right, look, the A-plus does not guarantee you a job. Now, what it does is get you through the door. It's going to put your resume at the top of the stack. But it's important to understand that just grabbing an A-plus certification isn't going to instantly get you a job. But without it, you're going to find yourself kind of behind the eight-ball in terms of everything. Everybody else who is A-plus certified, the bottom line is: go out and get that A-plus certification. You'll be glad you did.

4. What is on the CompTIA A+ Core 2 (220-1002) Exam?

The CompTIA A+ Core Two 220-1002 is the follow-on to the Core One 220-1001. You've got to take both of these tests to get your A-plus certification. So let's talk about the 220-1002, also known as the core Two exam. Now it always starts with the objectives, so I've downloaded the two 220-1002 objectives right here. Let's take a look. So it's exam two and core two right there. All right. So the domains are the most important thing I want to look at. Before we forget, there will be a maximum of 90 questions. It's going to be multiple choice and performance based. The length of the test is 90 minutes. The recommended experience is twelve months. But I can assure you that the commute will make you reconsider and earn you a passing score of seven on a scale of 100 to 900. Here are our four domains. Number one is operating systems at 27%, security at 24%, software troubleshooting at 26%, and operational procedures at 23%. The 220-1002 is very Microsoft Windows. Centric. However, you will want a lot of comfort, especially on Linux and especially on Linux at the command line, as well as on Mac OS. So we're really talking about three different operating systems here. Keep in mind, we're talking about working within the GUI itself. And when I say GUI, we're talking about being comfortable both with the Mac OS as well as Windows. Now, the exam covers a number of different versions of Windows. It starts with windows seven, goes to windows eight, eight, one and ten. But just between you and me, if you practise with Windows Seven or Windows Ten, you'll be fine. Also, keep in mind that you'll need to be very familiar with utilities. If you need to work with a hard drive to partition or format it, you need to know how to do it in these operating systems. If you want to configure screens, anything that you need to be able to do, you should be very comfortable handling these types of utilities and all these operating systems. The Core Two 220-1002 has 24%of their questions based on security. Now, security is a pretty broad concept here. Sure, they're talking about things like usernames and passwords, using nice, long passwords. Yes, of course they're going to be talking about firewalls, but it goes into a lot of other stuff as well. You might not think of, for example, personal safety, making sure you have the right kind of goggles, or taking care of your equipment. Antistatic measures are really, really important on the exam, and you've got to keep yourself safe. Operating systems and the applications that live on them often have issues. So the software troubleshooting aspect of the 220-1002 covers all these. So we're talking about things like, for example, anti-malware. We're talking about device driver configuration. We're talking about installing and uninstalling applications. And of course, we're always talking about the troubleshooting things we need to do to keep our operating systems running at peak performance, and we ought to get it Oh, I love working on computers, but unfortunately I also have to deal with these things called human beings, and human beings need to be communicated with. We have to deal with paperwork so that it can be organized, and that's what operational procedures are all about. So first of all, we're going to teach you how to talk to customers in a nice way, and it's actually some pretty good information. It also helps you organise your troubleshooting into a troubleshooting theory and also deal with all kinds of paperwork that's absolutely critical for you to be a good A+ technician. Personally, I find the 220-1002 to be a little bit more challenging than the 220-1001. I don't think it's because the questions are harder, but I think a lot of the operational procedure stuff—I'd like to think I'm a people person, but I'd much rather be working with CPUs than with security people. But the bottom line is that I find it a little bit more challenging. However, it's not that bad, so go ahead, take both of these exams, and good luck to you in getting A+ certified.

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Book Chapter 1 - Safety and Professionalism

1. Professional Communication Part 1

1. Professional Communication Part 1 One of the big things on the CPT exam is the concept of professional communication. Now, if we're going to communicate, I need a little help. So I got my buddy Robin, who has been very kind and very patient, to help me explain to you guys some of the more important aspects of professional communication. So what we're going to do, if this is okay with you, Rob, is do a little run-through, and she's going to be the customer, and I'm going to be the tech, and we're going to catch some of the important aspects that you need to be aware of for the CompTIA exam. So, Robin, are you ready to do this? Absolutely. So I've got a little setup here for you. So what I need you to do is kind of tell me, so what's the problem with your laptop there, Ms.? So I really have a problem with the touchscreen. It stopped working yesterday, but I really need this for a meeting. Okay, so you've got a problem with the touch screen? Yes. Okay. Now, a couple of things before we dive into this: Number one, if I'm going to be in a situation where I'm meeting with somebody, I really want to be on time. Being a little late seems hip if you're at a party, but it's a really bad idea from a professional standpoint. So you want to be on time, and if you're going to be late at all, contact the customer, because I know how much you enjoy sitting around waiting for guys like me to suddenly show up. Right? Wrong. Okay, good. All right, so I'll be on time. Was I on time? Absolutely. All right, so tell me where it hurts. So if I do this, see how the touch screen will not work? It's so weird. Okay, so one of the things I want to do at this point is to start actively listening. I want to make sure that you, as a customer, understand that I'm listening. I'm going to let her describe the problem in great detail. Now, Robin was pretty succinct here, but there have been plenty of situations where I've been with customers and they drone on for an hour. Let them talk. Okay. The important thing is that you need to have a sense that I'm on your side and I want to help. And while you are very succinct, and I appreciate that, there are lots of customers who will just go on and on and on. The only trick is if you start talking about your kids or your dog, then I might bring the conversation back to the problem at hand. But other than that, you just let them talk if necessary. Go ahead and take all the notes you want. Now, the next thing I'm going to be doing here is kind of clarifying some of her statements, and I'm going to ask some open-ended questions to make sure we get an idea of where the problems came from. Explain to me exactly what happened when you felt that the touchscreen stopped working. Okay, so yesterday it stopped working, and I was just using the touch screen, and for some reason, it just went black. It went to a complete blackout, and I couldn't do anything else with it. Now, what I don't want to tell Mike is that I actually dropped it. I didn't hear that. All right. And that actually happens all the time. So part of my job is to ask these open-ended questions. I'm trying to narrow the scope of the problem as much as possible. I'm pretty sure that we've got a bad touch screen here, but I want to go ahead and narrow it down a little bit. Okay. So first of all, it went black. All right. But if I take a look here, we can see the screen. I can see your Windows and all that stuff. So I think what you mean is that the touch screen stopped working. Yes. Okay, so let's go ahead and try something. Let's use the mouse. We've got a Windows desktop here. Can you just open up an icon or something like that? Yes, no problem. Okay. All right. So again, now that's helping us zero in. Now, the other thing is, I almost kind of corrected her a little bit. You've got to be really careful with that stuff. So it's really important for me; I want to maintain a really positive attitude. I want to project confidence so that she feels comfortable about what I'm doing with the work. So if I throw in a little correction, as long as I have that positive attitude, you're going to be okay. Whereas if I sit there and go, "What have you done?" That doesn't play off too well. So we go ahead and zero into whatever that situation might be. Now, the last thing I want to avoid is this. So I've noticed that you're running on two kilos on that particular one. So, have you done any calibration on the touch screen? Or, what I'm doing here is jargoning poor Robin to death. As a customer, all you want is for everything to go smoothly. You just want to see Google, and then you're happy, correct? Exactly. As a technician, I'm going to zero in on the source of the problem, and I'm already diagnosing a broken connection somewhere on your touchscreen. This is going to be a big screwdriver job, by the way. But what's really important here is that I'm trying to use plain language with Robin so she understands where we're trying to go. So how do you feel about that so far? I really appreciate that. All right, so what we're going to be doing here is on this particular one, and this is a big job. This is something I can't fix easily. So I'm going to have to run a diagnosis on this. If there are any costs involved, this is where you start throwing out money. The actual diagnosis itself costs $75. Okay. I will then call you once I figure out where the problem is and give you an actual price for it. Okay? Okay. Another thing I need to keep an eye out for in this particular case is that Robin has some expectations management in place. This job will probably take seven to ten days. Okay. All right. Nobody likes to hear this stuff, but if they know it upfront, they can deal with it a lot more easily than if you surprise them. And then also, do you have any other questions before I take this away and start working on it? I don't have any questions, but I really appreciate you taking as little time as possible to complete this job because I really need this as soon as possible. Fantastic. And here's my phone number. If you have any questions, you can give me a holler while I'm working on it. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. And that, Ms. Friends, is a good initial setup for dealing with professional communication when it comes to working with your customers.

2. Professional Communication Part 2

When it comes to professional communication, we need to talk about the don'ts as much as we talk about the do's. So, Robin, I need to warn you. So in this episode, I'm going to be making a lot of mistakes, OK? Don't be afraid to react exactly the way you feel. I hope this works. All right, so here we go. So first of all, hi! My name is Mike, and I'm from the planet Claxia. And hello, I'm Robin. And I'm the Queen of Pluto, which is a planet. I think it's more like a queen of a planetoid. Isn't that what we're talking about? No. Okay, so Robin doesn't like that. So this is a great example of where we need to be culturally sensitive. In particular, be aware that people are from different places, have different attitudes, and have different experiences, and just be nice. In particular, make sure to use professional titles whenever they're applicable. So, Your Highness, is that okay? That's perfect. All right. I hope I can remember that through all the stick. All right, so first of all, the big thing we want to do is let's go ahead and please tell me what the problem is with your computer. Well, the interface on my Tricorder hangs for a second. Hang on a minute. Now I'm hanging out with this Plutonium I know planetoid. Okay. All right, so one of the big things we need to watch out for is you need to avoid distractions while you're working with the customer. You don't want to be taking personal calls. You want it to not be doing any of your texting or Facebooking or whatever else it might want to be doing. You don't want to be talking to co-workers who are in the house. I have another one coming by. The last thing while you're trying to explain a problem tome that you want to have happen is me putting you, like, fourth place in terms of what I need. Absolutely. Because that was really rude. Like I said, we're being bad here. I'm an evil Calaxian man, all right? And I'm going to do everything I can to avoid any type of personal interruption. My attention is all on you until we get this problem taken care of. All right? So go ahead and explain to me the problem again. So the interface on my tricorder is not detecting life form. Why do these Plutonians always have problems with the tricorder, especially with life form readings? There's just something about them, and that's another problem I need to be careful about. You do not want to be judgmental toward your customer. Now, for you, this is a big deal. Now, for me, I probably already know that there's a problem with your dilithium crystals in your tricorder that need to be adjusted. But the bottom line is I don't want to be judgmental. And more importantly, I don't want to dismiss these problems. I can probably fix your tricorder in seconds. So it's easy for me to overlook your problem, but even more so for me. Just be quiet for a minute while I tell you what the real problem is. So those are things you really want to avoid. Okay, so go ahead and show me the problem on your tricorder. Yes. Look at this. What's this folder called? There are some good-looking Coaxians there. And that's the last thing you really need to be careful about when you're dealing with customer equipment. They're going to have personal and private information on there. It could be anything from medical information to personal photos to personal letters and so on. Basically, my rule is that if it isn't an out-and-out felony, I ignore everything on that particular computer as if it were a person. If anything goes wrong on that system, if a password gets out, if a personal photograph suddenly ends up on my Facebook, or anything like that, I'm the one who could be in trouble. So be very careful when it comes to private information. And don't be a bad Coaxian when you're working with Plutonians. Treat them professionally. A really important point when it comes to professional communication is when we finish the job. So everything's done. I think I've got your touchscreen working just fine here. So what I want to do is actually get the job back to the customer. And here's the big first thing we do: We're off, and here's your new fixed system. Tell me what you think. Okay. It looks like the mouse is a little slower than before. It seems like it's taking a little while to react to my finger. This is a sadly common occurrence. What's taking place here is that I've fixed 1,000 of these Surface touchscreens, and every touch screen is a little bit different. I mean, it's using biomechanical force, and there's always a subtle difference with these things. I know for a fact that if she plays with this thing for a couple of days, it'll be absolutely fine. What I want to avoid is getting into a little bit of a difficult situation here, okay? And when we're dealing with difficult customers or difficult situations, the big thing I don't want to do is argue. All right, well, you're just completely wrong. And I'm telling you that these screens—I've done thousands of them—and how does that go over? Absolutely not. Okay. Right. It doesn't. So what I am going to do isI'm going to do something like this. You ready? All right, well, listen, Robin, there are some variances in there, and I see that you've noticed that. Would you be willing to give it a try for a couple of days? I can do that. I'm excited at work, so I can definitely do that. All right, well, just give it a couple of days, and then what I'm going to do is do a follow up. Look, Robin, in two days, I'm going to call you. Okay? I know you've got my number, but I want to contact you, and I'm going to give you a follow-up phone call. And if you're happy, we'll consider the job closed, and we'll be done with all this. Okay, that sounds great to me. Fantastic. So the last thing we're definitely going to need to do is get some documentation on that. So can I get your signature? Of course. And all this is saying is that you've received the system back. It doesn't mean that the job is done. Do you understand? Also, if you want to get the documentation yourself, include an email address or something similar. Make sure that your customer gets all of the different documentation that they need to follow this up. By the way, in this case, you wouldn't have to just be a walk-in customer. This could be an in-house IT department type of thing, too. Documentation still plays the same whether you're in or out of the house. Okay. Now, the only other problem we can run into sometimes with these types of systems is that they're not going to be easy to fix. Now, with a touchscreen, either you fix it or you don't. But let's say something more simple, like the wireless nick is dead in your surface. Okay? Now, I can fix a wireless nick, but it is a costly job for me to get in there. I have to use heat, guns, and all kinds of stuff to get in there. And the part itself is only about $25, but my time is hundreds and hundreds of dollars. So one of the things I might offer to you is this. Robin, what I could do instead is give you this wireless USB. Now, the USB you have here is an older version. So this is like the newest version. It's super high-end, and your throughput is going to be, like, double. Is that an acceptable option? So when you have apical situations, don't be afraid to consider not just, say, a repair but potentially a replacement. can make your customers a lot happier. Yes.

3. Physical Safety

We spend a lot of time as techs worrying about things like electrostatic discharge and other things that might hurt the computer. But in this episode, I'm going to talk about protecting us. So I'm going to call this physical safety. So I've got my buddy Robin here, who is going to help me out. Now, Robin, have you ever opened a case on a computer before? I have not. Well, you're about to. Do you see that thumb screw right there? Yes. Turn it. You can only use your thumb, kitty. I don't get out much. All right, this is all I have for fun. It takes you a while to be sure to lose those, so we can't find them later. Okay. Exactly. So I want you to pull the case towards you. Just the top. There you go. Just lift it off and set it off to the side for me, will you? All right. Now, the only place you can actually hurt yourself is on the inside of a case. So I want to talk about a few things to make sure that we're safe, okay? Number one, we've got a power plug here. Now, if you noticed, I've got an unplugged device, so as a safety function for you, let's make sure that guy is unplugged. Now, although we cover this in other episodes, let's go ahead and connect this guy to the anti-ESD system. Now, in this case, it's in a case, and we've got this big power supply right here, and this power supply is grounded into the motherboard and everything else. The power supply is also grounded to the case. So we can just put this anywhere on the thematic part of the case, and we're grounded. So go ahead and grab that antistatic wrist strap, and we'll put that on. Can I be your attractive assistant? Yes, please. Okay. All right. How many technicians does it take to get everything right? So one of the things when you get ready to start working on a system is that we've got fans in here and all kinds of stuff. Now, back in the old days, when I worked on computers, I actually wore this thing that you guys probably never heard of. It's called a tie. I'm kidding. Love you, millennials! Anyway, I still have a number of these ties, and the tip of the tie is just all fuzzed up. And that was for me bending and getting caught in a fan. So in terms of physical safety, there are a couple of things. Let me take a look at your amazing sweater there. This bothers me a little bit. So can we go ahead and pull your sleeves up? Yes, of course. And then, that way, we're making sure nothing gets caught in there. And the other thing is what a lovely, lovely wedding ring you have on. Thank you. They probably ought to take that off, too, just as a safety feature. It's not that the jewellery is that big of a problem, especially a tight ring like that. But you'll see folks with things that are dangling and stuff like that—even big necklaces can be a really big issue. So this is just a good little safety feature whenever we're working on anything. Now, the other thing to keep in mind is that when you're working on this, you kind of keep one hand on the case, okay? So what you're doing here is maintaining a nice, even charge. All right? But do you see this right here? Yes. That's a fan. And if this guy was running, it would be making ghostly spinning noises. So he might keep your hand out of there. By the way, if you actually caught your finger in there, it would be exciting, but it probably wouldn't hurt anything other than scaring the bejesus out of you when it took place. So this is a good setup, and we've done a good job of preparing for your physical safety. Now, there is one other form of physical safety I want to talk about. Are you guys ready? Hey, Robin, ever seen one of these before? Yes. What is it? A fire extinguisher? Yes, it is. Now, if you take a look at this fire extinguisher, you're going to see it says ABC right here on the front. So different types of fire extinguishers put out different kinds of fires. So A is a general purpose material, similar to wood fire paper or something. B is for, like, grease and things like that. And C is for electrical. So if you're dealing with electronic equipment and you want to protect your physical person, I'd recommend keeping one of these around. Make sure you have a fire extinguisher that is C-rated for electrical fires. Okay? Okay. I think I pulled something from that guy. All right, so we've covered all the important aspects of physical safety, with one exception. And what I want to do is get some help with a piece of equipment I've got a pieceof equipment I need a little bit of help on.Oh, it's real life. Don't worry about that. And let's take a moment and talk about physical safety. When it comes to lifting, here's my friend Robin. Robin works here, and one of the big jobs that we have is hauling around computer equipment. Today, Robin needs to haul that very large switch there at her feet. Kind of heavy, huh, Robin? Now, when it comes to lifting, OSHA has some very important rules in terms of how we take care of ourselves. Number one, we should always lift with our legs, not with our back. So try that again, Robin, but bend at the knees and keep your back straight. Still a little bit too heavy to pick up, huh? I'll tell you what, OSHA rules basically say that any weight that is 25 pounds or more should be lifted with some type of assistance. So do you think that weighs more than £25, Robin? Before we lift that, I'll tell you something: there's a lot of debris around there, don't you think? Hey, Robin, why don't we clear away all that debris? Wow, Robin, that is an amazing trick you can do there. Okay, so now we know that it weighs more than $25, so what we probably ought to do is use a hand truck. All right. That's an excellent looking hand truck, isn't it? Now, the only problem is that the switch weighs almost £100. It might be a good idea to call for some help. Well, Robin, I hope you learned a little bit about physical safety and some of the stuff us nerds have to deal with. I did. Thank you so much. You're very welcome. I tell you, you kind of rocked me with the whole witch thing going like that. My garage could use a little bit of that. You're busy later this week, and you could get a mess in there. All right. Right. Make sure you're comfortable with basic physical safety. When it comes to being a PC tech, we're dealing with lots of equipment, and a lot of that equipment can hurt you if you're not careful.

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