Need some advice from the forum community. I have studied for the 701 exam non stop for 2 months. By next week I will be done with everything for that exam so should I start to study immediately for the 702 or should I take the 701 exam and then begin the 702 journey? I have tried to cram as much studying every night but I find i can only do so much with work and being a father of two kids. I am trying to get this as quickly as possible but I want to do it the right way. Thanks for your thoughts in advance.

The A+ exams are pretty lengthy at 90 minutes a pop and require some elevated knowledge in the field of PC Maintenance/Repair/Troubleshooting. Without any IT background and only reading from a book, I would recommend each candidate study for one exam, pass, and proceed to the next. Although I just passed today, I can tell you that the A+ exam covers an extensive field - little of this and little of that. If however, you are just brushing up, then take both of them.

I would also recommend taking them apart, not on the same day. The preparation and actual test of 90 minutes, was enough for one day. I did one on Friday and the other on Tuesday. After you pass one, then you'll have the weekend to study any weak areas on a particular exam to better prepare yourself.

This is what worked for me:
Built three PC's alone
Mike Meyers A+ book
Three weeks hands on at school
and of course...
ALL the A+ videos here on Messer's site

Just passed today and now posting my own experiences is all. Good Luck!

Give yourself, permission and time to find out what works for you. Some folks are in a rush - not sure if its confidence, fear, or they thrive on excitement of pushing it. Personally - its a big chunk of money to roll the dice (exams are expensive enough as it is). A matter of a few days between exams is not gonna allow all your knowledge to leak out.

Space it out, enjoy the ride - as mentioned, if worse comes to worse - at least you didn't put all your eggs in one basket... you'll have time reschedule the 2nd exam if you find it more difficult than you thought.

Either way ... best of luck to you!

been building, troubleshooting, client machines since 286/386 machines were cutting edge and SATAx was still called IDE.... and I find that a "winner-take-all" 1 /12 - 2 hour exam is still a big deal to me.