Gaining excellant marks on all tmas since starting the course in September. Also working full time and being a father to four energetic children, and a supportive husband.

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After been given the 2003 A+ material one week before the 2006 was issued, I have nearly completed it after 2 months and I am now ready for my exam - I have done all this on a library computer as I don't have my own.

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I started my course in January this year, so far I have had some good results not all 100%, but I feel that it not about getting 100% all the time it's about learning the course and remembering what you read that matters. I am now on part b of my pc hardware and maintenance (essentials) I hope that I do well in this part has I did in part A.

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My partner is so please on how well I am doing in my assignments and what good marks (lowest mark was 83% and highest 100%) I get, I am also getting a lot out of this course and I am surprised how much more I have learnt and put what I have learnt to use all ready by formatting two pc's and reinstalled things on them correctly and have a better understanding of wireless networking.

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Like anything in this world,you have to work hard to reap the benefits.I am a driver for a well known electrical store I have a wife 2 kids just recently I passed my class two driving I was promoted to driving the big lorries great stuff!!! The only thing is my wage did'nt get promotion. So it's back to my N+ knowing come the end of my course I will be reaping the benefits. Thank you Skills Train.

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I decided to take this course in order to better the life of my family. I have five children and have been out of work for a while. My last job made me very ill and the company asked me to resign as I'd gone back to work after two month off, worked for two days and went down ill again. The doctor thought my problems were down to the working environment. But the boss disagreed and thought I must of had underlying problems to start with. That was when I was working with clinical waste.

I have battled for many years with learning problems, my wife and children have supported me and given me the courage to try and try again in order to get a good qualification. It has taken me many years to get to where I am today. My eldest son (9) was born very early he had a couple of problems that needed six operations to sort out and he still has to have regular hospital checks for his bladder and kidneys. My youngest daughter (1) has a small problem which hopefully will be dealt with in April. I just hope its not an operation as I don't think I could see another one of my children being operated on whilst so small. My eldest daughter (13) has been through a lot at school with being bullied etc. We are fighting to have her tested for dislexia because she is so far behind and finds it so difficult to try and catch up. The school no longer tests for this because they say there's no help for her.
I have taken a computer maintenance course before, but it lacked the details this one has. I was basically just taking computers apart and re-building or upgrading them. This course is much more detailed and has much more to read and learn.

My wife is also taking two courses with the open university this year and we have to split computer usage time up between ourselves and our children when they need it for homework etc. This means that sometimes I don't get to bed till 4am because I study when the rest have gone to bed. This way the children still get my attention and I don't get distracted.

I help out my sisters and my brother with their computers. My sisters are on their own with children and need help with learning how to do routine maintanence etc. My brother is disabled and since our mum passed away he turns to me whenever he needs a hand, especially as he finds it almost impossible to retain information. (part of his disability) so I go over once a week and show him how to get the most from his computer, do his mainanence etc for him.
I feel I am doing well with this course so far. I study hard and I am getting good results, far better than I expected. Its good to know that all this hard work will pay off when I have finished the course and that tightening our belts now will pay off in the future. The children don't see it that way as the younger ones only see things from what they want now, but they know I am trying to give them a better life. I wish everyone the best with their courses.

I know it May sound as if my life is hard but its what I'm used to at the moment and what I am trying to make better. I have a loving family behind me and that helps.

I also know there are students out there who are worse off than I am and who are battling against harder problems. I wish them all the luck in the world, it will all be worth it when we qualify.

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I'm an 18 years old Skillstrain student from Edinburgh. As well as being a member of the Skillstrain, I hold down two jobs in the Western General Hospital, Which require me to do split shifts 5 days a week, i.e. Storeman by day and Domestic by night. I do this to help pay for my course fees. My mother is disabled and my father is my mothers carer. I am also required to help out with my household chores and the daily care of my mother. I have a girlfriend who I spend alot of time with. I also like to live the social life and go out on nights out with my friends, also I play for two football teams. One Saturday & one Sunday league which both require training during the week after work. Even thought I have this busy lifestyle, I still manage to find the time to study hard for my course, and still getting great results in my Tutor Marked Assignments. My aim in life is to complete and pass this course with the aim of getting a good, rewarding and well paid job at the end of it, thanks.

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I'm working two jobs at the moment and I've not only managed to keep my result at a high level but have endeavored to keep the amount of study time available at a all time high by cutting out most of my leisure time.

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I think I have worked well and spent a lot of time studying for this course and I think my marks bear this out, I have done 2 of the assignments and am about to submit the 3rd, I have still managed to study even though I currently have a land dispute with my neighbour, who is trying to steal a piece of my property, but through hard work I've managed to complete 3 modules to date and am now starting the fourth, thanks you for reading this.

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Always try to achieve maximum results. After wrok is always hectic to touch a book and study. I think if one wants to acheive any goal, it is to work extra hard.

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I AM WORKING FULL TIME NIGHTS AND SPENDING ALOT OF TIME WITH MY SON I HAVE TRIED TO STUDY REALLY HARD AS MUCH AS I CAN. I HAVE JUST COMPLETED SECTION 1 PART A OF THE 2003 OBJECTIVES AND HAVE JUST FOUND I AM GOING TO HAVE TO START ALL OVER AGAIN AS I WILL NOT BE FINISHED IN TIME FOR THE DEADLINE. AWWW DEER ME. RIGHT I AM OFF TO LOATHE IN SELF PITTY NOW BUT I HAVE LEARNED ALOT ALONG THE WAY ANYWAY, THANKYOU SKILLSTRAIN.

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This month I have successfully carried out two computer repairs for friends and family, one a desktop system and one a laptop system. This has proved to be a very good test of the skills which I learned during the A+ part of my course.

The desktop system, belonging to my sister, was in a non-bootable state, with no video displayed, but both CPU and power supply (PSU) fans still operating. My first thought was that the PSU was faulty, and on checking the output voltages with a multimeter one of them was found to be far out with the accepted tolerance. However on replacing the PSU with a known good PSU the system was still in the same non-booting state. This along with the continual off state of the green power LED and the lack of responsiveness to the on/off power switch suggested the motherboard was also faulty. I recalled that intermittent power cuts had occurred in the area within the past few days, and suspected that a surge had caused damage to the PSU and motherboard. The graphics card, 512MB DDR memory stick, the hard disk, the CD/DVD drives, and the floppy drive were all tested in another working machine, and fortunately all were found to be functioning correctly. Although I could not test the CPU there was a good chance that it also would be undamaged. Therefore a replacement PSU and motherboard were purchased for the system (at total cost of £71). The system was re-assembled and due to the fact that the new motherboard had the same chipset (Intel 865G) as the original motherboard the system booted up successfully the first time into Windows XP. Only the on board audio driver required to be updated. I purchased a 6-way power surge protector to protect against any future power surges. Often a power surge can damage all components of a system but fortunately in this case only two components sustained damaged.

The laptop system was continually losing the correct date/time and reporting CMOS RAM configuration errors on startup. This suggested the CMOS RAM 3V lithium cell was needing replaced. In order to access this lithium cell (located on the motherboard) the system had to be completely disassembled, including removal of the TFT screen and its housing, the keyboard, the top cover, and CPU heatsink. This was quite challenging as I had never worked on a laptop system before. The manufacturer's technical support line could not offer advice on the correct disassemble procedure, but on researching the web I was able to determine some key information to allow me to make the repair successfully.

To complete these repairs I have drawn upon a wide range of the skills and knowledge I learned during my A+ course, which though a precursor to my CCNA studies, has proved to be a very valuable training in itself.

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During the last month I have helped a couple of people with there computers. Last week I went over to my sisters and installed AOL broadband for her but first I had to purchase a ethernet port connector which her computer did not have.I removed the side of computer and fitted the ethernet connector for her and loaded the software for her I am now glad to say she is now on broadband with AOL. I have also recently added some memory to my own computer which I purchased off the internet and again I had to open my pc up to insert the memory stick. I am proud of myself because I thought I could not do things like that and now I have started this course my confidence has grown loads.

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