jam4484 said:
I am getting ready to sign up for my ASE's and this being the first time I have to take them, I am pretty nervous. What did you do to prepare for your tests? I am wondering if any of the study guides are worth while buying. I am currently going to tech school and we have covered a lot of material and I have aced all of my tests there, but I have a feeling that the ASE's will be a little harder. I am going to take a6 and a7 since those are what we have already gone over at school and I feel I understand them quite well. I do not graduate from school for another 9 months, but I want to get as many ASE's out of the way while I am still in school. Any insite on what you did to prepare for your ASE's would really be appreciated and thanks ahead of time.
Jon Martens
Hey Jon,
I just recently became Master certified in the automotive series A1-A8, in the truck series T1-T8, and LT1.
I too was pretty nervous before I had ever taken any tests, so I only signed up for the ones I felt I knew the best, and passed them easily. If you are going to tech school you will most likely be fine. They are honestly not too difficult. I have been a tech now for about 4 years, and before that I worked at an auto parts store. I took my first ASE's after about 2 years of tech'ing. I feel that the experience was what really helped out. Of course you know you have to have 2 years experience, or two years of post high school training to become certified.
The A series test questions are pretty basic in that they dont get in to too much advanced technology or anything. For instance the automotive brakes test just has a few technical ABS questions, the rest are your standard brake questions.
With that said, I did still have my concerns about taking a couple of the tests so I bought a couple books from Mitchell1.com. I bought the Automatic transmissions book, and the LT1 Advanced engine performance book. The automatic trans one was so borring I couldnt read it without falling asleep, but the LT1 book was mostly stuff I already knew. The books are pretty good, but they give you ALL the info on a subject, not just the answers to the test, so you have to spend a lot of time studying.
For A6, make sure you understand wiring diagrams well, including all the symbols for different things. Some of the questions dont have a legend. A lot of the questions are based on just reading a wiring diagram correctly.
For A7, all I can reccomend is that you have a firm grasp on the basics of how all refrigerant systems operate, and apply that knowledge to the questions asked.
Good luck!
Ryan
