Shadowing Practice: How to Pass Your CompTIA A+ Exams in 2026 - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Hello, everyone.
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Welcome to Professor Messer's CompTIA A + 220 -1201 and 220 -1202 training course.
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This training course is designed to teach you everything you need to know to pass both of these exams
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and earn your A + certification.
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If you're working towards your A + certification, then you're probably already familiar that CompTIA is one of the largest organizations in the world for IT certifications.
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They provide entry level certifications, certifications for networking, security, data analysis, AI, and so much more.
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If you're just getting into the world of information technology, then you've probably seen the A + certification mentioned.
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The A + certification is commonly mentioned when you're at the starting point of your information technology career.
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And as you probably already found, the A + is often a prerequisite for getting that first job or moving up to a better job in information technology.
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And even if you're not working on earning your certification, you can use this A + course to teach you about hardware, networking, security, and operating systems.
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It's a great way to extend your knowledge in technology
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and learn a lot more about what's happening under the hood of our computers.
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CompTIA is the Computing Technology Industry Association, and it is one of the largest providers of IT -related certifications.
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CompTIA members include resellers of IT equipment, distributors, manufacturers, and training centers.
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In the world of technology, we used to have separate certifications for every single computer manufacturer.
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CompTIA was able to take all of those different skill sets
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and bring them into one single certification that would apply across all of those different companies.
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And these certifications would apply regardless of where you might be in the world.
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CompTIA has a worldwide reach to over 100 countries, and you'll find that their certification exams are provided in many different languages.
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At Professor Messer, we provide training
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that gives you a perspective of someone who's been in the field and using these technologies for many years.
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My personal IT industry experience includes supercomputer operations, server and network administration, corporate training,
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software engineering, network analysis, and cybersecurity.
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I personally publish books on general IT topics, networking, security, Cisco, Microsoft, Linux, and many others.
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And the CompTIA certifications that I have earned sit alongside the certifications
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that I've earned from many other organizations in the IT industry.
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This training course focuses on a specific version of the A + certification.
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This is the 220 -1201-- sometimes you'll hear this referred to as the Core 1 exam-- and the 220 -1202, which is the Core 2 exam.
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Both of these exams were released on March the 25th of 2025.
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We've also designed this course to give you everything you need to pass this exam in small bite -sized chunks.
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Instead of watching one single video that goes on for hours,
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we focus on one or two individual topics and give you information on what you need to know about that specific information.
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You can then decide to watch another video right after that, or come back at a different time and continue your studies.
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And this is a complete course that covers every single topic from the official CompTIA exam objectives.
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CompTIA has listed hundreds and hundreds of topics that you need to know, and this course includes every single one of those topics.
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There's nothing hidden behind a paywall or anything that we're holding back.
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You can simply visit our YouTube channel or our website and watch every minute of every training video.
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Our goal is to provide you with all of the skills you need to be able to get
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that first job in the IT industry, or move up into a better job in the IT industry.
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Hopefully, you'll find that this training course, and many of our other training courses, provide you with the information you need to move ahead in your IT career.
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The internet is an amazing technology that allows us to provide this training information to you for free, with nothing additional that you would need to purchase.
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We put the entire course online, and you're able to stream this course from anywhere you'd like, any time of the day.
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If you'd like to download the course, or you'd like an audio -only version of the course, you can purchase those on the Professor Messer website.
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We also have other study materials that might help you.
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We have course notes, practice exams, and so much more to get you all of the information you need to pass your 220 -1201 and 220 -1202 exams.
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If you like the video index or you'd like to see some of the other training offerings we provide, you can find them all on our website at ProfessorMesser .com.
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The second exam that you need to pass to be A + certified is the A +220 -1202 exam, or what we often refer to as the Core 2 exam.
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This exam covers topics on operating systems, security, software troubleshooting, and operational procedures.
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Again, this is a 90 -minute exam, and you could get a maximum of 90 questions.
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And although the scale between 100 and 900 is the same as the Core 1, notice that your passing score is a little bit higher.
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earn a 700 to pass your Core 2 exam.
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If you're watching this video, then you'll notice that we're very specific about that version of the exam, the 220 -1201 and the 220 -1202.
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These two exams were released on March 25 of 2025, and these versions tend to be available for about three and a half years.
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After that, the exams are retired, and they're replaced with a newer set of exam objectives, and a newer version of the exams that you need to take.
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So if you're watching this video, and it's anywhere between March the 25th of 2025 and somewhere around September of 2028,
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then you are probably watching the right training course for you.
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If you're watching this video after September of 2028, then you'll probably want to see what the next version of the CompTIA A + exam is.
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And they have all of that information out on CompTIA .org, the official website for CompTIA.
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You can take these exams in any order.
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You might want to take the core one exam first, and then take the core two exam.
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Or you could do it in the opposite order, take core two first, and then pass the core one exam.
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It doesn't matter what order you take them in, but you have to pass both exams to be considered A + certified.
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There's also no particular time restriction for passing both of these exams.
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You just need to make sure both of these exams are
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passed before the retirement somewhere around the September of 2028 time frame.
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The A + exams are primarily multiple choice exams.
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Most of the questions that you will get on your exam will have a question and multiple answers to choose from.
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You simply select the answer that you feel is correct, and then you go to the next question.
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Those types of questions tend to be single or multiple answers, and the exam tends to tell you how many answers you need to select for any particular question.
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But this is not the only kind of question you might find on the exam.
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There are also performance -based questions.
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These are effectively any other type of question you might run into.
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It could be a fill in the blank.
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They could put you at a command prompt They might be a drag and drop question.
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You might have to put things in a particular order.
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Or it might be a matching question.
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Anything that is not multiple choice can automatically be categorized as a performance -based question.
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This means that CompTIA may ask you about anything that's on the official exam objectives.
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And they might ask you in any format that they'd like.
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You'll commonly see a handful of performance -based questions at the very beginning of your exam, and then the rest of the exam tends to be multiple choice questions.
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Fortunately, both the multiple choice questions
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and the performance -based questions are both based on the topics that are contained within the official A + exam objectives.
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If you have those exam objectives and you know every one of the bullets that's listed in that very comprehensive document,
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then it really doesn't matter how they ask the question.
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You will absolutely know the answer, and you'll be able to get through either the multiple choice questions or the performance -based questions without any problems.
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If you're starting your studies, one of your first stops should be to get the official CompTIA exam objectives.
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You can find these on the CompTIA website at compTIA .org, or you can use the link on our website, which is professormesser .com /objectives.
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We think
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that your best strategy for learning all of these topics is to get as many different kinds of training materials as possible.
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This RAP strategy gives you a set of guidelines that you can use to optimize your training process.
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Let's start with the W in WRAP, and that stands for watching this video course.
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This video course is designed to cover every single topic, and you can follow along and watch as we demonstrate many of the skills
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that you'll need to know to pass this exam.
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The R stands for reading a good book.
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We think our training course is a great way to learn, but you can also get a lot more detail from something that might be written down.
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So having a good book to go along with your video course is a fantastic combination.
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And we would recommend looking at our list of curated books that's on our website, or to find a good book that you would like to use for your A + studies.
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Once you go through a video course and you've read some of the information in your book, you might want to apply this information with some labs.
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You might want to follow along with us as we're demonstrating things in our videos.
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Or you might want to use a set of curated labs that we have on the Professor Messer website.
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And finally, the P is to practice all of this information that you've learned.
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Before you register for your exam, it might be good to know if you've really retained all of this information that you've gathered by watching the videos,
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reading a good book, and applying what you've learned.
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We provide a set of practice exams
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that have been specifically written with the same style and the same tone as the CompTIA exams.
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You can find these practice exams on the Professor Messer website.
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If you look at our index of videos for our training course, you'll notice that they are numbered.
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The numbers that we've attached to each of our training videos match the objective numbers
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that are listed in the official CompTI exam objectives.
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That way, you're able to look at the objectives and immediately find the video associated with those topics.
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Another advantage of this is that many third -party books will also cross -reference those same objective numbers.
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So if you're reading a book that refers back to the official objectives in Section 3 .4,
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then you can also go to our videos in Section 3 .4 and find exactly the same topics.
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Some people start at the very beginning of our course in section 1 .1, and they will go one video at a time in that order until they hit the end.
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Some people will refer to their book and then find that information in the appropriate videos.
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And some people will move from video to video based on the topic that they're currently working on.
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One of the most popular questions I often get is, when do I know if I'm ready to take the exam?
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One of the best things that you can do is to check yourself with that official set of exam objectives.
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It makes a great checklist to use before you book that exam date.
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If you're planning to go to a third party testing location, then I also recommend that you become familiar with those locations in your area.
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Not all testing centers are the same.
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They're certainly located in different places.
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Some might have different resources available.
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So you need to find the testing center that works best for you.
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You might also decide to not take the test in a testing center, but instead take the test at home.
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There are some very specific requirements that you must follow to be able to take the exam at home.
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But if you have to travel a very long way to a testing center, or all of the testing centers in your area are full, and it's difficult to get an appointment,
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you might want to consider taking this exam in your own house.
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One good rule of thumb is to arrive early at the testing center.
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They may be able to take you in early, or you may be able to study a little bit more while waiting in the lobby.
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Or you may want to set up all of your testing environment at home
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and make sure that everything is ready to go well before your test time arrives.
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If you are in a testing center and you feel that the temperature isn't right, or there's noises that are distracting from you taking the exam,
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make the testing center aware of this problem during the exam.
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Instead of waiting to the end of the exam, it's useful to have them address the problem while you're in the middle of taking your test.
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When you're taking your exam, you have 90 minutes, and there is a clock at the top of the screen
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that is counting down and telling you exactly how much time you have left.
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Each question also includes the ability to mark that question with a box that's at the top of the screen.
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This means once you've gone through all of the questions, you can see how many of those questions you've marked, and you can jump right back to the question immediately.
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Once you've gone through all of the questions and you're ready to submit your exam, be sure to check through every single question one last time to make sure it's the answer that you chose,
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and make sure that you didn't leave any of those questions blank.
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And once you submit your exam, you learn immediately if you've passed the exam or if you haven't passed the exam.
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You'll get immediate feedback, and you'll be able to look online to be able to get a summary of how you did during that exam.
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So now it's time to get A + certified.
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You can watch our entire course on our website at ProfessorMesser .com.
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We have books, training materials, labs, and so much more to help you with your A + studies.
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All of our videos are available in one single index on our website, or you can find us on our YouTube channel.
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We have an entire playlist set up in order for all of these A + training videos.
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Don't forget about the official objectives.
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You can find a link over to the CompTIA website at professormesser .com /objectives.
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If you're in the middle of your studies and you have a question about one of the topics, you might want to pose that question to one of the thousands of students on our Discord server.
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This real -time chat allows you to interact with other people studying for their A +, Network +, Security +, or many other certifications.
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You can also open an ad hoc study room, stream the videos along with other folks, or simply ask questions about the information that you're learning in your A + studies.
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We also offer free A + study groups every month for both the Core 1 and the Core 2 exams.
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This is an interactive type quiz that you can participate
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And I also open up the floor to ask any questions of me during this study group.
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And now it's time to get A + certified.
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Thanks for including us on your certification journey, and we will see you in the next video.
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Why practice speaking with this video?
Engaging with this video is an excellent way to enhance your English speaking practice. In the realm of information technology, clear communication is vital. As you immerse yourself in the Content of the CompTIA A+ certification, you’ll not only gain technical knowledge but also improve your spoken English skills in a professional context. The video facilitates this by providing real-world IT scenarios, allowing you to practice discussions about hardware, networking, and security in English. By mimicking the speaker’s pronunciation and intonation through a technique called shadow speak, you can develop a more natural speech rhythm and better articulate your thoughts in both academic and workplace environments.
Grammar & Expressions in Context
Throughout the transcript, several key grammatical structures and expressions stand out. Here are a few you might find useful:
- Complex sentences: The speaker often combines clauses for clarity, such as “If you're working towards your A + certification, then you're probably already familiar that CompTIA is one of the largest organizations in the world for IT certifications.” This showcases how to convey nuanced ideas effectively.
- Present continuous tense: Phrases like “we’re providing” demonstrate the use of the present continuous to convey ongoing actions or current relevance. Practicing this tense will enhance your ability to describe activities in real-time.
- Imperative sentences: The speaker instructs viewers directly with phrases like “you can simply visit.” This form is crucial in professional settings for clarity and authority when giving directions or feedback.
- Passive voice: The phrase "the A + certification is commonly mentioned" exemplifies the passive voice, which is common in technical writing to emphasize the action over the subject. Understanding when and how to use this voice can refine your formal communication.
Common Pronunciation Traps
While watching the video, pay close attention to specific pronunciation challenges:
- “Certification”: Commonly mispronounced; focus on the third syllable, ensuring the ‘fi’ is distinct.
- “Networking”: Many learners struggle with the blending of the "k" and "t" sounds; practice enunciating clearly to avoid slurring.
- “Technology”: The stress falls on the “nol” syllable, which is often overlooked. Correct stress patterns are vital, especially for formal presentations or the IELTS speaking practice.
By using a shadowing app or recording your speech while mirroring the video, you can rectify these pronunciation traps and gain confidence in your spoken English.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Conditional sentences if + clause, will/would + verb — a condition and its result | If you're watching this video, then you'll notice |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | you've probably seen · who's been · have earned |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | is designed · are provided · were released |
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.