CompTIA A+ certified technicians earn a median salary of $52,000–$65,000 in their first IT role — and a significant share of them prepped using one free resource: Professor Messer's CompTIA A+ training. That's not marketing copy; it's a pattern you'll see repeated across Reddit's r/CompTIA, the Tech Support Discord servers, and every "how I passed A+" thread on YouTube. If you're trying to decide whether his free materials are enough, or how to use them alongside other resources, this guide covers the specifics.
Who Is Professor Messer and What Does His CompTIA A+ Course Cover?
Professor Messer is the professional alias of Jason Messer, an IT instructor who has been producing certification study content since 2008. His website (professormesser.com) and YouTube channel host free video training for CompTIA A+, Network+, Security+, and CySA+. The A+ content is his most popular offering by a wide margin.
His current CompTIA A+ course covers the 220-1101 (Core 1) and 220-1102 (Core 2) exam objectives. Core 1 focuses on mobile devices, networking basics, hardware, virtualization, and cloud computing. Core 2 covers operating systems (Windows, Linux, macOS, mobile), security, software troubleshooting, and operational procedures.
The video library is organized to mirror CompTIA's official exam objectives document, which matters when you're studying — you can cross-reference exactly which objective a video addresses without guessing. Total video runtime across both exams runs roughly 20–25 hours of instruction.
What's Free vs. What Costs Money
The video lectures are entirely free on YouTube and his website. No paywall, no trial period, no email gate. What he charges for:
- Study guides — PDF or printed companions that summarize each objective. Useful for review but not required for passing.
- Practice exams — his most recommended paid product. Three practice exams per core, timed, with detailed explanations. Currently around $15–$20 per set.
- "Professor Messer's Course Notes" — condensed reference cards, popular for last-week cramming.
Most people who pass using his materials buy at minimum the practice exams. The videos alone will teach you the content; the practice exams tell you whether you've actually retained it and where your gaps are before you spend $246 on a voucher.
How to Use Professor Messer's CompTIA A+ Materials Effectively
The most common mistake: treating the videos like a passive Netflix experience. Watching Professor Messer explain subnetting or RAID configurations while doing something else is close to useless. His delivery is calm and methodical, which makes it easy to zone out.
What actually works:
- Watch, then do. After each video section, close the browser and write down what you remember. One paragraph, free recall. This is called retrieval practice and it's significantly more effective than re-watching.
- Use CompTIA's objectives as your checklist. Download the official exam objectives PDF (free on CompTIA's site). After each Professor Messer section, check the objective off. If you can't explain it in plain language, rewatch.
- Don't skip the hardware. Core 1's hardware section (connectors, storage interfaces, RAM types) is heavily tested and often under-studied because it feels boring compared to networking. Professor Messer's coverage is thorough here — use it.
- Practice exams before the real thing. Run at least two full timed practice attempts per core before booking the real exam. If you're scoring below 75%, you're not ready. The passing score is 675 on a 100–900 scale (roughly equivalent to 75%).
Study Timeline Expectations
For someone with no prior IT experience: 3–4 months studying 1–2 hours daily is a realistic timeline. For someone already working in IT or with relevant experience: 4–8 weeks. CompTIA A+ is an entry-level certification, but "entry-level" doesn't mean trivial — the breadth of topics across both cores is genuinely wide.
CompTIA A+ Career Outcomes: What the Cert Actually Gets You
CompTIA A+ is a prerequisite or preferred qualification for a range of entry IT roles. The most direct paths:
- Help Desk / IT Support Technician — $38,000–$55,000 starting. High volume of openings; A+ is listed in the majority of job postings at this level.
- Desktop Support Analyst — $45,000–$62,000. Slightly higher than help desk; often requires 1–2 years of experience plus A+.
- Field Service Technician — $40,000–$58,000. Hardware-heavy role; Core 1 content maps directly to this work.
- IT Coordinator / Junior Systems Administrator — $48,000–$70,000. Usually requires A+ plus either Network+ or hands-on experience.
A+ by itself rarely gets you past entry level. It's a foot-in-the-door credential. The common next steps are Network+ (6–12 months after A+) and Security+ (12–24 months after A+), which is where salaries start climbing toward $70,000–$95,000 range. Professor Messer also produces free content for both of those certifications, which is one reason people stick with his materials as they progress.
Is CompTIA A+ Worth It in 2026?
It depends on where you're starting. If you have zero IT credentials and want to break into tech support, A+ is the most recognized entry cert in the US market — government positions, DoD contractors, and MSPs frequently list it as a requirement. If you already have 2+ years of IT experience and are looking to move up, your time is better spent on Security+ or cloud certs (AWS, Azure). A+ is an entry credential; it signals baseline competency, not specialization.
Professor Messer vs. Paid CompTIA A+ Alternatives
The main paid alternatives people compare against Professor Messer's free content:
- Mike Meyers / Total Seminars — More conversational and story-driven; some students find him more engaging. Costs money. Available on Udemy frequently at $15–$20 during sales.
- CompTIA's official CertMaster Learn — Interactive, adaptive, and expensive ($299+ per core). Overkill for most self-studiers unless your employer is paying.
- Udemy courses (Jason Dion, Andrew Ramdayal) — Typically $15–$25 during sales. Quality varies; Dion's courses are well-regarded for practice questions.
- Professor Messer — Free lectures, ~$35–$40 for the full practice exam set. Best cost-to-pass-rate ratio available.
There is no evidence that paid lecture content produces better pass rates than Professor Messer's free videos. The difference is learning style preference — his delivery is dry and structured; if you need entertainment value to stay engaged, a more dynamic instructor might reduce dropout risk for you personally.
Top Courses
Professor Messer's content covers the technical certification track well. For IT support professionals looking to round out their skillset beyond the exam content — particularly in areas like business communication and customer interaction that show up daily in help desk roles — these structured courses address gaps that pure tech training doesn't:
How to Write Emails and Engage Professors
IT support roles involve constant written communication with end users and stakeholders. This Coursera course covers professional email structure and tone — skills that separate average help desk staff from those who get promoted to senior roles.
Customer Centricity with Professor Jagdish Sheth
CompTIA A+ Core 2 includes operational procedures and professionalism objectives for a reason — technical support is a customer-facing role. This Coursera course on customer-centricity addresses the service mindset that IT employers increasingly prioritize over pure technical knowledge when promoting staff.
Innovation That Works with Professor Jagdish Sheth
For A+ holders targeting a move into IT management or coordinator roles within 2–3 years, understanding business strategy and innovation frameworks helps bridge the gap between technical execution and organizational decision-making.
FAQ
Is Professor Messer's CompTIA A+ course enough to pass the exam?
The videos alone are sufficient to learn the material. To actually pass, most people need the videos plus practice exams — either his paid ones or free alternatives on ExamCompass and Quizlet. Passive video watching without active recall practice has a poor conversion rate to exam success, regardless of which instructor you use.
Are Professor Messer's materials up to date for the current exam?
He updates his content when CompTIA releases new exam versions. The current 220-1101/1102 series content on his site is current as of 2026. Check his website or YouTube channel for any announcements about new exam versions — CompTIA typically announces version changes 6–12 months before retirement of the old version.
How long are his CompTIA A+ videos?
Individual videos run 3–15 minutes each. The full course across both cores totals approximately 20–25 hours of video. This is roughly equivalent to paid courses in terms of content volume, which is part of why his free offering is competitive.
Does Professor Messer offer a practice exam simulator?
Yes. He sells practice exam sets for Core 1 and Core 2 separately, each containing multiple full-length practice exams with explanations. These are separate from the free videos and cost around $15–$20 each. Many A+ candidates consider this his best paid product — the explanations for wrong answers are detailed and teach the reasoning rather than just the correct answer.
Can I get CompTIA A+ certified for free using his materials?
The study materials are free. The exams themselves are not — each core costs approximately $246, and you need to pass both to earn the certification. Some employers, workforce programs (CompTIA's partnered programs, Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act funding), or veterans' benefits may cover the voucher cost. Check CompTIA's website and your local workforce development board.
What should I study after CompTIA A+ with Professor Messer?
He produces free Network+ and Security+ content using the same format. The progression most employers recognize is A+ → Network+ → Security+. If you're targeting cloud roles, AWS Cloud Practitioner or Microsoft AZ-900 as parallel certifications alongside Security+ is a strong combination for a junior sysadmin or cloud support role.
Bottom Line
Professor Messer's CompTIA A+ content is the closest thing to a consensus recommendation that exists in the IT certification community. It's thorough, well-structured, and the fact that it's free removes the usual friction around committing to a prep resource before you know if you'll actually follow through.
The practical approach: use his free videos as your primary content source, buy his practice exams for both cores (roughly $35–$40 total), and schedule your first core exam when you're consistently scoring 80%+ on practice runs. That combination keeps your total study investment under $50 before the exam vouchers — a reasonable bet for a credential that most entry IT roles require or prefer.
The certification earns back its exam cost quickly. A single help desk role paying $45,000 versus an uncertified position paying $38,000 covers the exam and study material costs in under three weeks of additional earnings. The harder part is the 3–4 months of consistent study — and for that, Professor Messer's structured, objective-by-objective approach is genuinely useful.