Practice for the CompTIA A+ Core 1 (220-1201) exam with 22 exam-style practice questions, instant answer reveals, and concise explanations of every correct answer. Topics include: What type of connector is most commonly used to terminate a copper twisted-pair Ethernet cable?. Follow @CertPunch and visit certpunch.com for more certification practice exams and study content.
Prefer hands-on? Take this round as an interactive practice test — answer every question, get instant feedback, and see your score: Start the CompTIA A+ Core 1 (220-1201) practice test →
What you will practice
- What type of connector is most commonly used to terminate a copper twisted-pair Ethernet cable?
- A company hosts its e-commerce website on a cloud platform. During a flash sale, the website experiences a su…
- Which of the following cables supports both charging and data transfer with a non-directional connector inser…
- Which of the following types of memory relies on temporary storage space on the hard drive that is used when…
- Which of the following connection types allows mobile devices to establish short-range wireless communication…
- During VoIP calls, Jason's voice sounds like it's speeding up and slowing down, but he's speaking at a consta…
Answers and explanations
Tap a question to expand the answer and the exam reasoning. Try to commit to your own pick first.
Q1. What type of connector is most commonly used to terminate a copper twisted-pair Ethernet cable?
Answer: A. RJ-45
Copper twisted-pair Ethernet cables are most commonly terminated with RJ-45 connectors. You can eliminate the other options by matching their intended media: F type is for coaxial, DB-9 is for serial, and ST is for fiber optic.
Q2. A company hosts its e-commerce website on a cloud platform. During a flash sale, the website experiences a sudden increase in traffic, but the cloud service automatically adds resources to handle the load. What cloud characteristic is demo…
Answer: D. Elasticity
Elasticity is the cloud characteristic that dynamically adds or removes resources automatically in response to real-time demand. Scalability is the trap here because it refers to permanent capacity upgrades rather than automatic, temporary adjustments.
Q3. Which of the following cables supports both charging and data transfer with a non-directional connector inserted into a port on the device?
Answer: B. USB-C
USB-C uses a reversible, non-directional connector that supports both charging and high-speed data transfer. Older USB form factors like Micro-USB and Mini-USB are physically keyed and only insert in one direction.
Q4. Which of the following types of memory relies on temporary storage space on the hard drive that is used when there is insufficient physical memory available to perform a given task?
Answer: D. Virtual memory
Virtual memory relies on allocated hard drive space to swap data pages when the system runs out of physical RAM. The distractors are physical memory modules or error-checking types, not a storage overflow mechanism.
Q5. Which of the following connection types allows mobile devices to establish short-range wireless communication and is commonly used for data transfer and payment processing?
Answer: D. NFC
Near Field Communication enables short-range wireless data transfers and contactless payment processing. Bluetooth and Wi-Fi operate over much longer distances, while USB-C is strictly a wired connection.
Q6. During VoIP calls, Jason's voice sounds like it's speeding up and slowing down, but he's speaking at a constant rate. Which of the following network performance metrics would be most useful in determining why the VoIP service is not presen…
Answer: B. Jitter
Jitter is the variation in packet delay that causes audio to speed up or slow down during real-time Voice over IP calls. Latency measures overall delay, while bandwidth and throughput track total data capacity.
Q7. Dion Training has just installed a web server for a new domain name. Which of the following DNS records would need to be created to allow users to reach the website using its domain name and then redirect them to the proper IPv4 address fo…
Answer: D. A
An A record is used to resolve a domain name to an IPv4 address. An AAAA record resolves to an IPv6 address, an MX record directs email traffic, and an SOA record provides authoritative zone information.
Q8. You are building a new server and want to ensure that its memory can allow the server to continue working even if there is an issue that corrupts data held within the memory modules. Which of the following types of memory should you select…
Answer: D. ECC
Error Correcting Code memory detects and corrects data corruption, making it the standard choice for servers requiring high availability. Single and dual-channel refer to bandwidth, while non-parity memory lacks error checking capabilities entirely.
Q9. You have connected your laptop to the network using a CAT 5e cable but received an IP address of 169.254.13.52 and cannot connect to www.DionTraining.com. What is most likely the cause of this issue?
Answer: A. DHCP failure
Receiving an IP address in the 169.254 range indicates an Automatic Private IP Addressing assignment caused by a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol failure. DNS resolution issues prevent website access by name, but they do not assign APIPA addresses.
Q10. Which of the following sequences of events properly identifies the steps of a laser printer's imaging process?
Answer: D. Processing, charging, exposing, developing, transferring, fusing, and cleaning
The laser printer imaging process relies on the sequence of processing, charging, exposing, developing, transferring, fusing, and cleaning. The distractors fail because they scramble the order, which would prevent toner from correctly adhering to the drum and paper.
Q11. Your computer keeps losing track of time and the date in the system. Which of the following is MOST likely causing this issue?
Answer: B. The CMOS battery is dead and needs to be replaced
A failing CMOS battery fails to maintain the real-time clock and BIOS settings when the machine is powered off. Driver updates, memory errors, and faulty power supplies do not specifically cause the system clock to lose time.
Q12. Jason would like the fastest internet available at his house, and he called his local fiber-optic provider. Which of the following offers would provide the fastest service to Jason's home network?
Answer: D. FTTP
Fiber to the Premises provides the highest bandwidth by extending the fiber optic connection directly into the customer's building. Other options like node or curb rely on slower copper or coaxial cables for the final connection.
Q13. A startup is considering an Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) model to host their web application. They want flexibility in scaling resources as their traffic increases. What is one key feature of IaaS that makes it suitable for this purp…
Answer: C. It allows on-demand scalability of hardware resources
Infrastructure as a Service provides on-demand scalability of virtualized hardware resources like CPU and RAM. It requires the customer to manage the operating system and applications, unlike fully managed platforms.
Q14. Jason booted up a Windows 10 laptop and noticed that the icons appeared very large and the image appeared blurry. What is the most LIKELY cause of these issues?
Answer: D. Incorrect resolution
Displaying large icons and blurry images indicates the system is using an incorrect screen resolution. The GPU scales the image improperly when it is not set to the panel's native resolution, unlike color depth or cable issues.
Q15. A laptop screen image is being displayed upside down. Which of the following is the BEST method to fix this issue?
Answer: B. Change the orientation of the screen
An inverted display is a simple software configuration error that is resolved by changing the screen orientation in display settings. Replacing hardware or updating drivers is unnecessary because the panel is functioning properly.
Q16. A student wants to run a Linux operating system on their Windows laptop to practice coding. They decide to use a Type II hypervisor for virtualization. What is a key characteristic of a Type II hypervisor?
Answer: C. It runs as an application on an existing operating system and uses the host's resources
A Type Two hypervisor runs as an application on top of a host operating system and shares the host's resources. Type One hypervisors run directly on the hardware without needing a host operating system.
Q17. Which cloud computing concept is BEST described as focusing on the replacement of applications and programs on a customer's workstation with cloud-based resources?
Answer: B. SaaS
Software as a Service replaces locally installed applications with cloud-hosted applications accessed via a web browser. Infrastructure and Platform models focus on hosting virtual hardware or development environments, not end-user applications.
Q18. What is the key difference between RAID 5 and RAID 6?
Answer: C. RAID 5 uses single parity and can tolerate one drive failure while RAID 6 uses dual parity and can tolerate two simultaneous drive failures
RAID 5 uses single parity and can survive one drive failure, while RAID 6 uses dual parity and can survive two simultaneous failures. The minimum drive requirements and dedicated parity options are incorrect because both levels distribute parity across all drives.
Q19. Which of the following best describes the purpose of containers in virtualization?
Answer: A. They provide a lightweight, consistent runtime environment
Containers provide a lightweight runtime environment by sharing the host operating system kernel. They do not eliminate hypervisors or replace operating systems entirely, distinguishing them from traditional virtual machines.
Q20. Which of the following ports should you unblock at the firewall if your workstation cannot access https://www.diontraining.com but can access http://www.diontraining.com?
Answer: D. 443
HTTPS traffic encrypts web data over port 443. Since standard HTTP works on port 80, the firewall is specifically blocking the secure port, preventing encrypted browser sessions.
Q21. Which cloud service model is best suited for businesses that want to use pre-built applications without managing infrastructure or development environments?
Answer: C. SaaS
Software as a Service provides fully managed, pre-built applications without requiring infrastructure or development management. Platform as a Service and Function as a Service require coding, whereas Infrastructure as a Service leaves application management to the customer.
Q22. A laptop connects to wireless, can ping the gateway and 8.8.8.8, but can't access google.com. What should you check NEXT?
Answer: D. Verify that the DHCP server is properly configured to provide the IP address of a DNS server
The inability to resolve a domain name while successfully pinging a public IP address indicates a missing or invalid Domain Name System configuration. Disabling the firewall or changing Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol settings acts against established troubleshooting procedures.
More CompTIA A+ Core 1 (220-1201) drills and other practice exams are on @CertPunch. New rounds drop every few days at certpunch.com.