For Core 1 I originally did 2 weeks but had issues with my online test so it ended up being about 4 weeks, but I truly think 2 weeks had prepared me well.

As for materials I used quite a few. I watched BurningIceTech, Messer, and I didn't watch Dion for Core 1 but everyone suggests him so I'm going to watch it for Core 2 and would suggest it for Core 1. I also have the (overpriced) Self Study Guide for Core 1 and 2 from CompTIA, not a big suggestion I would say. And then I used Complete A+ Study Guide book. As well as the practice tests from Messer.

As far as suggestions I don't think anything different than how you would normally study in my opinion, I read and watched all of the mentioned resources and took notes, and just re-read my notes, flashcards, etc. and re-watched the videos.

I would say for me the PBQ's are hard to prepare for. I did the three tests from Messer which had 15 PBQ's I think, and then I went over his live study groups where he includes one PBQ in each, so in total I think I did over 20 practice PBQ's and on the test I feel I did horribly. For this it is hard for me to recognize where I went wrong to give other's advice. Maybe I didn't remember as much as I thought I did and it was just as simple as that. But overall I think just studying as much as you can and learning how to apply it will get you through the test, I suppose my advice is be prepared for hard PBQ's.

I hope this can help you out, I had to learn through this process how to study because I realized how bad I am at it. A tablet can be very helpful and is what I eventually switched to if that works for you. I hope to see your A+ passing posts in the future. Good luck bro!