Crunch Time… My First IT Exam
Jake’s Story
As many of you may know I am well in to my apprenticeship at Smarter Technologies. I have been working both practically and attending Bury College in order to understand all aspects of IT.
It was now time for me to complete my first exam of the course. The exam concerned computer maintenance and performance. This involved improving the performance of a computer, by using various methods requested by the exam board.
Disk clean-up was the first technique to be used, which reduces the number of needless files on your drives and so can improve your PC’s performance. It deletes temporary files as well as system files and other items that your PC no longer needs. The second method which had to be used was a disk defragmenter which rearranges fragmented data so that your disks and drives are able to work more efficiently. This increase the speed with which a computer is able to read and write to the drives. The third process I had to complete was system integrity checks; this scans the local registry and boot registry which can increase the speed at which your PC can boot up and handle other tasks.
After I had completed the performance section of the exam , I was provided with a number of problems, including a broken mouse and keyboard as well as a printer which had jammed and needed a toner replacement. Using knowledge I had acquired during working hours I had to repair both the mouse and keyboard , and remove the paper from the printer which was causing error.
Whilst completing these tasks I had to provide evidence on everything I had done by taking pictures of before, ongoing and after each of the tasks. Then report the activities I had carried out in a write-up.
Overall I think the exam has gone well as I felt confident the whole way through that what I was doing was right. I will hopefully find out my results within the next few weeks.
To find out more about my journey as an apprentice click here.
