HOW TO USE THIS COURSE
The main purpose of this course is to give you, a complete understanding of personal computers that could be applied to making a living as a technician or other position in the computer industry.
We strongly recommend that you go through all of the materials in the proper order, and do all of the exercises* as well as the sample questions at the end of each chapter. Each part of the course is based at least partly on material that came before it.
If you are already familiar with computers, the basic material in the beginning of the course should go that much faster and easier for you.
However, if you start in the middle it is quite possible that you would miss some important fact, and you could then have trouble with the later parts of the course.
*A note about the exercises: Most of these are meant to be done only on a stand-alone computer, ideally one that is set aside for training. Do not try the exercises at your work on a computer that is tied into the company network, or you might have some people very unhappy with you (and maybe with us, too). |
INTRODUCTION
Please don’t try to do a quick overview just by looking at the Chapter Review questions. These are samples only, and there is much material covered in each chapter (and on the exam) that is not included in the questions. There is no substitute for studying each page of every chapter before taking the test.
Another thing that we strongly recommend is that you look up any words you don't understand. Technical words and phrases will be defined on the page where they first appear, either within the text or at the bottom of the page, and also in the glossary at the back of the book. A full glossary in Volume 4 lists all of the technical words for the entire course. It's not just technical words that cause trouble, though. Even simple English words can be misunderstood, and if you don't understand the words, you won't understand the subject you're reading.
Anytime you find yourself having difficulty understanding the material, or if you start feeling bored or frustrated with the course, do not continue reading. Stop, and go back in the text to the point where you were last doing well. Somewhere in the section just before that, you should find a word that you didn't quite grasp. Get the word defined, either in the glossary or in a
good dictionary. Then read the material again from that point forward.
Here's a tip about scheduling. If you can set aside a certain time every day, or even a certain time once a week, you are much more likely to complete the course successfully than those students who only work on it when they have free time or when they are "in the mood". Obviously if you are taking this course as self-study rather than in a classroom, scheduling is entirely
up to you, but we do want you to succeed and we have found that success is much more likely for those who:
1. Set a regular schedule and stick to it.
2. Study the materials in sequence and do all the exercises and sample questions.
3. Look up words as you go along (we've included a glossary at the bottom of this page).
Good luck and enjoy!
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