CompTIA A+ Core 1 Certification Exam 220-1201 Preparation

1. A technician is selecting a power supply for a compact case with limited airflow and wants to prioritize both energy efficiency and clean cable routing. Which two PSU features should be prioritized?

A high 80 Plus efficiency rating (such as Gold or Platinum)

A fully modular or semi-modular cable design

The lowest wattage rating available regardless of component needs

The absence of any cooling fan

A single-rail design regardless of efficiency rating

A high 80 Plus efficiency rating reduces wasted heat and power draw, and a modular design allows only needed cables to be connected, improving airflow in a tight case. The lowest wattage regardless of need, no fan, or rail design alone don't address efficiency or cable management.

Explanation

A high 80 Plus efficiency rating reduces wasted heat and power draw, and a modular design allows only needed cables to be connected, improving airflow in a tight case. The lowest wattage regardless of need, no fan, or rail design alone don't address efficiency or cable management.

Submit

2. An office in a humid climate reports that printed pages consistently come out slightly curled or wavy, and paper occasionally jams more often during humid weather than during dry seasons. What is the most likely contributing factor?

Paper absorbing ambient moisture, affecting how it feeds and holds its shape through the printer

A failing pickup roller replaced only in humid months

An outdated printer driver that only causes issues in humid weather

Insufficient toner specifically during humid conditions

Paper is hygroscopic and can absorb ambient moisture in humid conditions, causing it to curl, feed inconsistently, or jam more often, a common environmental cause unrelated to the printer's internal components.

Explanation

Paper is hygroscopic and can absorb ambient moisture in humid conditions, causing it to curl, feed inconsistently, or jam more often, a common environmental cause unrelated to the printer's internal components.

3. A shared office printer prints correctly from one application but produces garbled text and symbols when printing from another application on the same computer. What is the most likely cause?

A failing fuser assembly

An incorrect or mismatched print driver (such as a PCL driver where a PostScript driver is expected, or vice versa)

A worn pickup roller

Low toner

Garbled output limited to specific applications, while another application prints correctly on the same computer and printer, points to a driver mismatch, such as using a PCL driver when the application expects PostScript output or vice versa. A fuser, roller, or toner issue would affect all print jobs regardless of application.

Explanation

Garbled output limited to specific applications, while another application prints correctly on the same computer and printer, points to a driver mismatch, such as using a PCL driver when the application expects PostScript output or vice versa. A fuser, roller, or toner issue would affect all print jobs regardless of application.

4. Devices within Subnet A can reach each other normally, and devices within Subnet B can also reach each other normally, but no device in Subnet A can reach any device in Subnet B, even though both subnets connect to the same router. What is the most likely cause?

A missing or misconfigured route (or routing rule) between the two subnets on the router

A failed DHCP server on Subnet A only

A duplicate IP address conflict on Subnet B

An expired SSL certificate on the router

Since each subnet functions correctly internally but cannot reach the other, the issue is isolated to inter-subnet routing, most likely a missing or misconfigured route between the two subnets. DHCP failure or IP conflicts would affect address assignment within a subnet, not block traffic between two otherwise healthy subnets.

Explanation

Since each subnet functions correctly internally but cannot reach the other, the issue is isolated to inter-subnet routing, most likely a missing or misconfigured route between the two subnets. DHCP failure or IP conflicts would affect address assignment within a subnet, not block traffic between two otherwise healthy subnets.

5. A user's phone will not charge no matter which cable or outlet is used, though the phone still powers on with existing battery charge. Which two things should be checked first?

The charging port for debris, lint, or physical damage

Whether the battery itself is severely degraded and no longer holding or accepting a charge

Whether the phone's wallpaper has been recently changed

Whether the phone's app icons are arranged correctly

Whether the calendar app is up to date

A charging port full of debris or physically damaged can prevent a reliable connection regardless of cable or outlet used, and a severely degraded battery may no longer accept a charge at all, both being the most likely hardware-level causes.

Explanation

A charging port full of debris or physically damaged can prevent a reliable connection regardless of cable or outlet used, and a severely degraded battery may no longer accept a charge at all, both being the most likely hardware-level causes.

Submit

6. A laptop's built-in screen appears very dark and is only readable with a flashlight held close to it, while text and icons are faintly visible. Connecting an external monitor shows a bright, normal image. What does this indicate?

A failed GPU, since the image would not appear on any display if the GPU failed

A backlight or inverter failure on the built-in display, since the image is present but not properly illuminated

A corrupted display driver, since drivers affect all connected displays equally

A failing hard drive

A faintly visible image without proper illumination on only the built-in display, combined with a normal image on an external monitor, points to a backlight or inverter failure specific to the laptop's own screen rather than a GPU or driver issue, since those would typically affect all outputs.

Explanation

A faintly visible image without proper illumination on only the built-in display, combined with a normal image on an external monitor, points to a backlight or inverter failure specific to the laptop's own screen rather than a GPU or driver issue, since those would typically affect all outputs.

7. Two drives connected to the same SATA controller port multiplier both report intermittent read errors, while a third drive on a different controller works flawlessly. What should the technician suspect first?

Both drives failed simultaneously by coincidence

The shared controller, port multiplier, or its cable, since the issue is common to both affected drives

A corrupted operating system installation

Malware affecting only those two drives

Since the issue is shared by both drives on the same controller/port multiplier while an unrelated drive on a different controller is unaffected, the common point of failure, the controller, multiplier, or its cable, is more likely than two coincidental drive failures.

Explanation

Since the issue is shared by both drives on the same controller/port multiplier while an unrelated drive on a different controller is unaffected, the common point of failure, the controller, multiplier, or its cable, is more likely than two coincidental drive failures.

8. A desktop freezes randomly, and reseating the RAM temporarily resolves the issue for a few days before it recurs. Swapping the RAM into a different slot on the same motherboard makes the problem disappear entirely. What does this most strongly suggest?

The RAM module itself is defective regardless of slot

The original DIMM slot on the motherboard is likely faulty rather than the RAM module itself

The power supply is failing

The CPU needs to be reseated

Since moving the same RAM module to a different slot resolves the issue entirely, the original slot itself, rather than the RAM module, is the more likely fault. If the module itself were defective, moving it to a different slot would not have fixed the problem.

Explanation

Since moving the same RAM module to a different slot resolves the issue entirely, the original slot itself, rather than the RAM module, is the more likely fault. If the module itself were defective, moving it to a different slot would not have fixed the problem.

9. A healthcare company is evaluating whether to move patient records to a public cloud provider and is primarily concerned about regulatory requirements dictating where the data physically resides. Which cloud consideration is most relevant here?

Elasticity

Data sovereignty and compliance requirements tied to the data's physical location

Multitenancy

Metered utilization

Data sovereignty concerns dictate where data is legally allowed to be stored and processed, critical for regulated data like patient records and directly affecting which cloud regions or providers are acceptable. Elasticity, multitenancy, and metered utilization are unrelated to legal data location requirements.

Explanation

Data sovereignty concerns dictate where data is legally allowed to be stored and processed, critical for regulated data like patient records and directly affecting which cloud regions or providers are acceptable. Elasticity, multitenancy, and metered utilization are unrelated to legal data location requirements.

10. A technician is creating a new virtual machine on a host that already runs several other VMs. Which two resource considerations should guide how much CPU and RAM to allocate to the new VM?

The host's total available physical resources not already committed to other VMs

The workload's expected demand based on the application(s) it will run

The color scheme of the virtualization management console

The VM's assigned MAC address

The number of browser tabs open on the technician's own workstation

Allocation should be based on what physical resources the host actually has available beyond what's already committed, and on the expected demand of the workload the new VM will run. Console color scheme, MAC address, and the technician's own browser usage have no bearing on proper resource allocation.

Explanation

Allocation should be based on what physical resources the host actually has available beyond what's already committed, and on the expected demand of the workload the new VM will run. Console color scheme, MAC address, and the technician's own browser usage have no bearing on proper resource allocation.

Submit

11. A technician takes a snapshot of a VM before applying a risky software update, then a week later the underlying VM host storage fails completely. Which statement about snapshots is accurate here?

The snapshot alone is a full backup and can restore the VM even after the host storage fails

Snapshots are stored on a different physical device by default

Snapshots automatically replicate to the cloud without configuration

A snapshot records changes relative to the VM's existing disk and typically resides on the same storage as the VM, so if the underlying host storage fails completely, the snapshot is lost along with the VM. Snapshots are not a substitute for genuinely separate backups and don't automatically replicate elsewhere.

Explanation

A snapshot records changes relative to the VM's existing disk and typically resides on the same storage as the VM, so if the underlying host storage fails completely, the snapshot is lost along with the VM. Snapshots are not a substitute for genuinely separate backups and don't automatically replicate elsewhere.

12. A high-volume office laser printer displays a "maintenance kit required" message after reaching a set page count threshold. What does this typically indicate?

The printer's toner cartridge needs replacement only

The printer's firmware needs to be reset to factory defaults

The print queue has become corrupted

Maintenance kit alerts are tied to a page count threshold for wear components like rollers and the fuser, which degrade with heavy use and should be replaced as routine preventive maintenance, separate from toner replacement.

Explanation

Maintenance kit alerts are tied to a page count threshold for wear components like rollers and the fuser, which degrade with heavy use and should be replaced as routine preventive maintenance, separate from toner replacement.

13. An office is deploying twenty identical network printers across multiple departments and wants to avoid manually installing drivers on every single workstation. Which deployment approach is most efficient?

Manually visit each of the hundreds of workstations to install drivers individually

Push the printer driver and connection settings via Group Policy or an MDM/endpoint management tool

Require each user to install the driver from a USB flash drive

Disable printing entirely to avoid driver conflicts

Pushing printer drivers and connection settings through Group Policy or an endpoint management tool allows centralized, automated deployment across many workstations at once. Manual or per-user installs don't scale efficiently.

Explanation

Pushing printer drivers and connection settings through Group Policy or an endpoint management tool allows centralized, automated deployment across many workstations at once. Manual or per-user installs don't scale efficiently.

14. A laptop was previously exposed to a small liquid spill near the trackpad. After cleaning it up, the keyboard functions normally, but the trackpad does not register clicks or gestures at all. What should the technician do?

Reinstall the touchpad driver only, since liquid damage never affects touchpad hardware

Replace the entire keyboard assembly

Run Windows Update to restore touchpad function

Since only the touchpad, the component nearest the spill, stopped functioning while the keyboard remains fine, the failure is most likely hardware-level damage in the touchpad assembly or its connector, requiring inspection and likely replacement. A driver reinstall, keyboard replacement, or Windows Update wouldn't fix physical liquid damage.

Explanation

Since only the touchpad, the component nearest the spill, stopped functioning while the keyboard remains fine, the failure is most likely hardware-level damage in the touchpad assembly or its connector, requiring inspection and likely replacement. A driver reinstall, keyboard replacement, or Windows Update wouldn't fix physical liquid damage.

15. Fill in the blank: RAM designed to detect and correct single-bit memory errors automatically, commonly used in servers, is called ____ RAM.

ECC (Error-Correcting Code) RAM detects and corrects single-bit memory errors in real time, important for servers where undetected corruption could affect data integrity.

Explanation

ECC (Error-Correcting Code) RAM detects and corrects single-bit memory errors in real time, important for servers where undetected corruption could affect data integrity.

Submit

16. A company is running new network cabling and wants to support 10 Gigabit Ethernet over the full standard 100-meter distance without added shielding requirements. Which cable category should be selected?

Cat5e

Cat6

Cat6a

Cat3

Cat6a supports 10 Gigabit Ethernet over the full 100-meter distance, while standard Cat6 only supports 10GbE over shorter distances before signal degradation becomes an issue. Cat5e and Cat3 support much lower speeds.

Explanation

Cat6a supports 10 Gigabit Ethernet over the full 100-meter distance, while standard Cat6 only supports 10GbE over shorter distances before signal degradation becomes an issue. Cat5e and Cat3 support much lower speeds.

17. Match each display component to its function.

Digitizer

Backlight

LCD panel

Inverter board

The digitizer senses touch input, the backlight illuminates the LCD panel from behind, the LCD panel renders the image using liquid crystal cells, and an inverter board, on older CCFL-backlit displays, converts DC power to the AC needed to drive the backlight.

Explanation

The digitizer senses touch input, the backlight illuminates the LCD panel from behind, the LCD panel renders the image using liquid crystal cells, and an inverter board, on older CCFL-backlit displays, converts DC power to the AC needed to drive the backlight.

Submit

18. A technician suspects that a wireless dead zone in an office is caused by channel congestion from neighboring businesses rather than a hardware fault. Which tool should be used to confirm this before replacing any equipment?

Cable tester

Wi-Fi analyzer

Loopback plug

Punchdown tool

A Wi-Fi analyzer surveys the wireless spectrum, showing channel usage and signal strength from neighboring networks, confirming whether congestion is causing a dead zone. A cable tester, loopback plug, and punchdown tool are all designed for wired connections.

Explanation

A Wi-Fi analyzer surveys the wireless spectrum, showing channel usage and signal strength from neighboring networks, confirming whether congestion is causing a dead zone. A cable tester, loopback plug, and punchdown tool are all designed for wired connections.

19. A business requires a connection with symmetrical upload and download speeds and high reliability for video conferencing and large file uploads, and fiber is available at their location. Which connection type best meets these requirements?

Fiber internet

DSL

Satellite

Dial-up

Fiber internet typically offers symmetrical upload and download speeds along with high reliability, well suited to video conferencing and large uploads. DSL is often asymmetrical and distance-limited, satellite has high latency, and dial-up is far too slow.

Explanation

Fiber internet typically offers symmetrical upload and download speeds along with high reliability, well suited to video conferencing and large uploads. DSL is often asymmetrical and distance-limited, satellite has high latency, and dial-up is far too slow.

20. A technician auditing a SOHO router's security finds WPS enabled and firmware several versions out of date. Which two actions should be taken to improve security?

Disable WPS, since its PIN method is vulnerable to brute-force attacks

Update the router's firmware to the latest stable version

Enable WPS to simplify device pairing going forward

Downgrade the firmware to the original factory version

Leave the default administrator credentials unchanged for compatibility

WPS's PIN-based pairing method is known to be vulnerable to brute-force attacks and should be disabled, and keeping firmware updated patches known vulnerabilities. Enabling WPS, downgrading firmware, or leaving default credentials unchanged would all weaken security.

Explanation

WPS's PIN-based pairing method is known to be vulnerable to brute-force attacks and should be disabled, and keeping firmware updated patches known vulnerabilities. Enabling WPS, downgrading firmware, or leaving default credentials unchanged would all weaken security.

Submit

21. A network administrator sees a device configured with the address 192.168.1.10/24. Fill in the blank: this subnet mask notation is equivalent to ____.

/24 in CIDR notation means the first 24 bits identify the network portion of the address, equivalent to a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0, leaving the remaining 8 bits for host addresses.

Explanation

/24 in CIDR notation means the first 24 bits identify the network portion of the address, equivalent to a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0, leaving the remaining 8 bits for host addresses.

Submit

22. A company hosts its own public website and wants its domain name to resolve correctly from anywhere on the internet, using a service the company controls. Which server role must be properly configured and reachable?

An authoritative DNS server for the company's domain

A local DHCP server

A local proxy server

A local NTP server

An authoritative DNS server holds and answers queries for a domain's official records, and must be properly configured and reachable for the domain to resolve correctly from anywhere. DHCP, proxy, and NTP servers don't handle public domain resolution.

Explanation

An authoritative DNS server holds and answers queries for a domain's official records, and must be properly configured and reachable for the domain to resolve correctly from anywhere. DHCP, proxy, and NTP servers don't handle public domain resolution.

23. An administrator needs to allow encrypted email retrieval by client applications, not encrypted email sending, on a mail server. Which port should be opened?

25

587

993 (IMAP over SSL/TLS)

143

Port 993 is used for IMAP over SSL/TLS, handling encrypted retrieval of email by client applications. Ports 25 and 587 are used for sending mail, and port 143 is unencrypted IMAP.

Explanation

Port 993 is used for IMAP over SSL/TLS, handling encrypted retrieval of email by client applications. Ports 25 and 587 are used for sending mail, and port 143 is unencrypted IMAP.

24. A company wants to keep corporate email and apps separate from an employee's personal apps and photos on the same BYOD phone, with the ability to wipe only the corporate data if the employee leaves. Which approach fits this need?

Full device encryption only

Containerization within an MDM/MAM policy, separating corporate and personal data

Disabling the camera entirely

Requiring a longer screen lock PIN

Containerization, enforced through MDM or MAM policy, creates a separate secured space for corporate data on a personal device, allowing the company to wipe only that container without touching personal data. Encryption, camera restrictions, and PIN length don't separate corporate from personal data.

Explanation

Containerization, enforced through MDM or MAM policy, creates a separate secured space for corporate data on a personal device, allowing the company to wipe only that container without touching personal data. Encryption, camera restrictions, and PIN length don't separate corporate from personal data.

25. A user wants to present a slideshow from their laptop to a conference room TV without connecting any cables, and the TV supports wireless display casting. Which connection method should be used?

Miracast or a similar wireless display standard

NFC pairing

A wired HDMI cable

A USB-C to VGA adapter

Miracast and similar wireless display standards let a laptop cast its screen to a compatible TV over Wi-Fi Direct without any cables. NFC is for close-proximity pairing, and HDMI/VGA both require a physical cable.

Explanation

Miracast and similar wireless display standards let a laptop cast its screen to a compatible TV over Wi-Fi Direct without any cables. NFC is for close-proximity pairing, and HDMI/VGA both require a physical cable.

CompTIA A+ Core 1 Certification Exam 220-1201 Practice Test 3

1. A technician is selecting a power supply for a compact case with limited airflow and wants to prioritize both energy efficiency and clean cable routing. Which two PSU features should be prioritized?

2.

What first name or nickname would you like us to use?

2. An office in a humid climate reports that printed pages consistently come out slightly curled or wavy, and paper occasionally jams more often during humid weather than during dry seasons. What is the most likely contributing factor?

3. A shared office printer prints correctly from one application but produces garbled text and symbols when printing from another application on the same computer. What is the most likely cause?

4. Devices within Subnet A can reach each other normally, and devices within Subnet B can also reach each other normally, but no device in Subnet A can reach any device in Subnet B, even though both subnets connect to the same router. What is the most likely cause?

5. A user's phone will not charge no matter which cable or outlet is used, though the phone still powers on with existing battery charge. Which two things should be checked first?

6. A laptop's built-in screen appears very dark and is only readable with a flashlight held close to it, while text and icons are faintly visible. Connecting an external monitor shows a bright, normal image. What does this indicate?

7. Two drives connected to the same SATA controller port multiplier both report intermittent read errors, while a third drive on a different controller works flawlessly. What should the technician suspect first?

8. A desktop freezes randomly, and reseating the RAM temporarily resolves the issue for a few days before it recurs. Swapping the RAM into a different slot on the same motherboard makes the problem disappear entirely. What does this most strongly suggest?

9. A healthcare company is evaluating whether to move patient records to a public cloud provider and is primarily concerned about regulatory requirements dictating where the data physically resides. Which cloud consideration is most relevant here?

10. A technician is creating a new virtual machine on a host that already runs several other VMs. Which two resource considerations should guide how much CPU and RAM to allocate to the new VM?

11. A technician takes a snapshot of a VM before applying a risky software update, then a week later the underlying VM host storage fails completely. Which statement about snapshots is accurate here?

12. A high-volume office laser printer displays a "maintenance kit required" message after reaching a set page count threshold. What does this typically indicate?

13. An office is deploying twenty identical network printers across multiple departments and wants to avoid manually installing drivers on every single workstation. Which deployment approach is most efficient?

14. A laptop was previously exposed to a small liquid spill near the trackpad. After cleaning it up, the keyboard functions normally, but the trackpad does not register clicks or gestures at all. What should the technician do?

15. Fill in the blank: RAM designed to detect and correct single-bit memory errors automatically, commonly used in servers, is called ____ RAM.

16. A company is running new network cabling and wants to support 10 Gigabit Ethernet over the full standard 100-meter distance without added shielding requirements. Which cable category should be selected?

17. Match each display component to its function.

18. A technician suspects that a wireless dead zone in an office is caused by channel congestion from neighboring businesses rather than a hardware fault. Which tool should be used to confirm this before replacing any equipment?

19. A business requires a connection with symmetrical upload and download speeds and high reliability for video conferencing and large file uploads, and fiber is available at their location. Which connection type best meets these requirements?

20. A technician auditing a SOHO router's security finds WPS enabled and firmware several versions out of date. Which two actions should be taken to improve security?

21. A network administrator sees a device configured with the address 192.168.1.10/24. Fill in the blank: this subnet mask notation is equivalent to ____.

22. A company hosts its own public website and wants its domain name to resolve correctly from anywhere on the internet, using a service the company controls. Which server role must be properly configured and reachable?

23. An administrator needs to allow encrypted email retrieval by client applications, not encrypted email sending, on a mail server. Which port should be opened?

24. A company wants to keep corporate email and apps separate from an employee's personal apps and photos on the same BYOD phone, with the ability to wipe only the corporate data if the employee leaves. Which approach fits this need?

25. A user wants to present a slideshow from their laptop to a conference room TV without connecting any cables, and the TV supports wireless display casting. Which connection method should be used?