Professor Messer's CompTIA 220-1202 A+ Study Group After Show - August 2026

This is from John.

And John asks, okay, for A+, you got Core 1 and you got Core 2.

So John has asked, do you have to do Core 1 first before you do Core 2? A perfectly valid question, especially if you're trying to maybe maybe you want to get the hard one done first.

Maybe you want to get the easy one done first.

I guess there's a couple of ways to approach that particular strategy.

But because there are two exams, CompTIA does not care what order you take them in.

It doesn't care which one you pass first.

It doesn't care which one you pass second.

All it cares about is that you pass both exams from the same exam series before the two exams are retired.

So in this particular case, in fact, I probably have that slide we can bring up real quick.

One moment, please.

Right at the top, I gave you that overview on the Core 1 exam.

And that overview had this information that said the Core 1 and Core 2 exams we expect will retire somewhere around September 2028.

There's where it is.

So September 2028, you need to complete your Core 1, you need to pass Core 1, you need to pass Core 2, both of those before September of 2028.

Now, as we sit here in August of 2026, you got plenty of time.

Usually it's an average of around two to three months per exam for most people.

But this is one where you've got years available.

You have plenty of time.

So you get to decide which one you take first and which one you take second.

That's a pretty good problem to have, I guess.

The way that many people will approach this is they want to do something that's familiar to them first.

Give them some momentum.

Start with an exam that they're at least familiar with.

But there's no way to know which one of those applies to you.

This is from John.

And John asks, okay, for A+, you got Core 1 and you got Core 2.

So John has asked, do you have to do Core 1 first before you do Core 2? A perfectly valid question, especially if you're trying to maybe maybe you want to get the hard one done first.

Maybe you want to get the easy one done first.

I guess there's a couple of ways to approach that particular strategy.

But because there are two exams, CompTIA does not care what order you take them in.

It doesn't care which one you pass first.

It doesn't care which one you pass second.

All it cares about is that you pass both exams from the same exam series before the two exams are retired.

So in this particular case, in fact, I probably have that slide we can bring up real quick.

One moment, please.

Right at the top, I gave you that overview on the Core 1 exam.

And that overview had this information that said the Core 1 and Core 2 exams we expect will retire somewhere around September 2028.

There's where it is.

So September 2028, you need to complete your Core 1, you need to pass Core 1, you need to pass Core 2, both of those before September of 2028.

Now, as we sit here in August of 2026, you got plenty of time.

Usually it's an average of around two to three months per exam for most people.

But this is one where you've got years available.

You have plenty of time.

So you get to decide which one you take first and which one you take second.

That's a pretty good problem to have, I guess.

The way that many people will approach this is they want to do something that's familiar to them first.

Give them some momentum.

Start with an exam that they're at least familiar with.

But there's no way to know which one of those applies to you.