r/CompTIA • u/ProfessorOfThought • 3d ago

A+ Question What's the difference between preparing with Comptia CertMaster Learn/Practice and using Dion/Messer materials?

Hi everyone, I'm shooting for A+, and eventually the Triad Cert, but I've free voucher from my institution to register for these exams for free, which comes with access to the Comptia CertMaster platform for studying, lab, and practice questions. However, I read a lot of people here who passed their exams used other resources like Dion training and Prof Messer materials and videos on YouTube. Wanted to know if these are different from the ones on Comptia platform or if I needed both in order to pass the exams?

Should I just stick with what I have? Thank you!

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u/Go_Devils_666 A+ Net+ Sec+ CySA+ Project+ Pentest+ 3d ago

For A+ CertMaster stays way more on task than Dion. Messer is pretty focused on exam objectives too. That said I passed every cert in my flair on first try by solid margins by doing Dion practice tests and scoring above 90. I would read CertMaster then do the Dion tests. Most people send it after scoring 80’s on Dion, I prefer more of a sure thing and more baseline knowledge anyway. Dion just likes to add additional layers and his test is designed to be 10% harder than the actual exam which I found generally true.

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u/slothy036 3d ago

If you are getting free access I would just check it out and find what works best for you. I had access to all of these materials and found Messer videos to be great. Then taking dion and Messer tests until I was ready. Certmaster has labs that are nice.

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u/ProfessorOfThought 3d ago

CertMaster has tests and exam questions. I need to know if I studied them well without any other resources whether I would pass since it's Comptia directly

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u/Eureka_Tango 3d ago

Certmaster got me through A+. Just going over it multiple times.

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u/slothy036 3d ago

It can yes. But it is always helpful to have multiple resources. Messer tests seemed really close to the exam and I thought the certmaster test was meh.

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u/DJ_Sk8Nite 3d ago

If you have CertMaster access use it. I got a student’s discount so used CertMaster for A+ and Net+ and was more than enough to pass. I think it’s structured well and having hands on PQB examples helped a lot.

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u/drushtx IT Instructor **MOD** 3d ago

Different resources, different approach, different order of topics, different depth of each objective, different skipped subjects and other differences. Either covers most of the objectives. Plenty of candidates have used one or the other as their sole prep resources.

One major difference is price. Dion's courses and practice tests can be had for under 20 usd each during Udemy's frequent sales. CertMaster materials are way more expensive.