Practice for the CompTIA A+ Core 1 (220-1201) exam with 21 exam-style practice questions, instant answer reveals, and concise explanations of every correct answer. Topics include: A video editor wants to install a new dedicated GPU using an expansion card. Which of the following should they verify b. Follow @CertPunch and visit certpunch.com for more certification practice exams and study content.
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What you will practice
- A video editor wants to install a new dedicated GPU using an expansion card. Which of the following should th…
- Users can't connect to wireless in the breakroom. It worked yesterday but stopped after a 10-minute power out…
- What material is first applied to a CPU during installation to help draw excess heat away from the processor?
- Dion Training has a single switch that services every room within its offices. The switch contains 48 ports…
- You have attempted to pair your Bluetooth headphones to your phone. How can you best test the connection?
- A technician is replacing a faulty laptop webcam. After removing the bezel and disconnecting the small intern…
Answers and explanations
Tap a question to expand the answer and the exam reasoning. Try to commit to your own pick first.
Q1. A video editor wants to install a new dedicated GPU using an expansion card. Which of the following should they verify before installing the new card?
Answer: A. The power supply's wattage rating
Dedicated graphics cards draw significant power, so you must verify the power supply has an adequate wattage rating. Efficiency ratings and available SATA connectors do not determine if the unit can support a new GPU.
Q2. Users can't connect to wireless in the breakroom. It worked yesterday but stopped after a 10-minute power outage this morning. What should you do NEXT?
Answer: A. Establish a theory of probable cause
The CompTIA troubleshooting methodology requires establishing a theory of probable cause after identifying the problem. Since the issue occurred after a power outage, the obvious theory is that the wireless access point rebooted and failed to reconnect properly.
Q3. What material is first applied to a CPU during installation to help draw excess heat away from the processor?
Answer: A. Thermal paste
Thermal paste fills microscopic air gaps between the CPU and the heat sink to ensure efficient heat transfer. Heat sinks, cooling fans, and radiators dissipate heat but cannot transfer it effectively from the processor without a conductive compound.
Q4. Dion Training has a single switch that services every room within its offices. The switch contains 48 ports, but Jason wants to divide the ports based on functional areas, such as web development, instruction support, and administration. W…
Answer: C. VLAN
A virtual local area network logically separates ports on a single physical switch into distinct broadcast domains. VPNs and DSL modems provide external connectivity, while NAT simply translates private IP addresses to public ones.
Q5. You have attempted to pair your Bluetooth headphones to your phone. How can you best test the connection?
Answer: C. Play music through your phone to verify sound comes through the headphones
Playing music verifies actual audio routing and hardware functionality for Bluetooth headphones. While checking the paired status confirms initial handshaking, it does not test whether the audio profile is working correctly.
Q6. A technician is replacing a faulty laptop webcam. After removing the bezel and disconnecting the small internal webcam module, what should the technician's next step be before installing the replacement?
Answer: A. Inspect the connector and cable for physical damage
When replacing internal laptop components, technicians must inspect the surrounding ribbon cables and connectors for damage. Thermal paste is only for processors, and integrated webcams connect internally rather than via external USB ports.
Q7. An employee is complaining that their workstation is not booting into Windows when they reboot their machine. You notice that during the reboot, the system is loading into a PXE-based OS. What should you do next?
Answer: C. Boot to BIOS and select the HDD from the boot order
If a system loads a Preboot Execution Environment, it means the BIOS boot order is currently set to boot from the network first. Accessing the BIOS to change the boot order to the hard drive resolves this issue.
Q8. You are troubleshooting an issue with an impact printer in an automotive service department. The printer has begun to print unevenly. As the print head goes from left to right across the page, the printout goes from darker to lighter. What…
Answer: D. Defective ribbon advance mechanism
An impact printer relies on a ribbon that must advance continuously to supply fresh ink. If the print fades horizontally across a single line, the ribbon advance mechanism is stuck, causing the print head to strike the same depleted section of the ribbon.
Q9. Which type of internet connection allows for high-speed, bidirectional data communication over a hybrid fiber-coaxial (HFC) connection?
Answer: A. Cable
Cable internet utilizes a hybrid fiber-coaxial infrastructure to provide high-speed bidirectional data transmission. While fiber offers higher speeds directly to the premises, cable internet specifically relies on the coaxial portion of the HFC network.
Q10. Which of the following is a connectionless protocol that utilizes UDP?
Answer: C. DHCP
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol uses the connectionless User Datagram Protocol for discovering and assigning IP addresses quickly. Protocols like HTTPS and SSH require reliable delivery, so they rely on the connection-oriented TCP protocol instead.
Q11. You attempt to log on to a Windows workstation, and an error message pops up that says there is a duplicate IP address detected on the network. You restart the workstation, and the same error is displayed when you attempt to log in again…
Answer: B. A static address has been configured on the workstation
Configuring a static IP address that conflicts with a DHCP server's active scope will cause persistent duplicate IP address errors. To resolve this, network administrators should either switch the device to dynamic addressing or exclude the static address from the server scope.
Q12. Using the image of the motherboard above, which of the following correctly indicates the circled area? (This is a simulated PBQ. On the real exam, you would be asked to drag-and-drop a label with the component's name onto the proper locati…
Answer: B. CPU slot
The circled area indicates the CPU slot, the designated interface where the processor installs on the motherboard. Recognizing motherboard components by sight is essential, as memory slots and power connectors have distinctly different shapes.
Q13. Which of the following ports is used by NetBIOS or NetBT by default?
Answer: D. 137
NetBIOS over TCP/IP uses port 137 by default for name registration and resolution services. Web traffic relies on ports 80 and 443, while email retrieval uses port 143, ruling out those alternatives for legacy network discovery.
Q14. Which of the following types of laptop displays would utilize a fluorescent backlight to illuminate the image?
Answer: A. LCD
An LCD panel utilizes a fluorescent backlight to illuminate the image, distinguishing it from modern display technologies. OLED displays generate their own light, while modern LED displays use light-emitting diodes, making fluorescent specific to older LCDs.
Q15. After building a Windows server and creating user accounts, what must be configured next to provide users access to data on the server's partition?
Answer: B. File sharing
Enabling file sharing provides network users access to data stored on a server's partition. RAID storage is a preliminary step, while print servers and audit logging do not directly grant data access.
Q16. Jason has connected a new Roku media player to his high-definition television using an HDMI cable. When he attempts to turn on the Roku device, he sees a message stating "Unauthorized content" on his television. Which of the following shou…
Answer: B. Turn off the television and Roku, unplug and replug the HDMI cable, and then restart both units
High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection errors occur when an HDMI source and display fail their digital rights management handshake. Powering down both devices and reseating the cable forces a fresh authentication cycle to resolve the error.
Q17. A wireless router provides 1 Gbps fiber WAN connectivity. Wired clients have fast connections, but wireless clients show high latency and only 300 Mbps downloads. What is the most likely cause?
Answer: D. The wireless access point is experiencing RF interference
Radio frequency interference causes packet loss and retransmissions on wireless networks, resulting in high latency and reduced throughput. A high signal-to-noise ratio is actually optimal, and fiber WAN connections easily support wireless local networks.
Q18. Which of the following devices would you configure an access control list (ACL) to implement a security policy within your network?
Answer: A. Firewall
Firewalls use access control lists to monitor and filter network traffic based on predetermined security rules, establishing a barrier between trusted and untrusted networks. While managed switches also use access control lists, firewalls are the primary security policy enforcement point.
Q19. You are working as part of a PC refresh team installing desktop computers in a new office. When you boot up a desktop you installed, you smell a foul-smelling chemical odor. You sniff the air again and confirm the smell isn't a burning sme…
Answer: D. Motherboard
A foul chemical smell usually indicates a leaking or distended capacitor on the motherboard. A burning smell would point to the power supply, but the distinct chemical odor targets the board components directly.
Q20. Which of the following types of hard drives would provide the best performance?
Answer: C. 15,000 rpm
Higher revolutions per minute allow a mechanical hard drive to read and write data faster. Among the listed options, 15,000 RPM drives provide the best raw mechanical performance for demanding workloads.
Q21. A user has reported that their workstation is running slowly. You perform a reboot of their workstation and receive a S.M.A.R.T. error during the boot-up process. Which of the following actions should you perform FIRST?
Answer: A. Backup the hard drive
A S.M.A.R.T. error indicates an imminent hard drive failure, so backing up the data immediately is the top priority. Running disk repair utilities comes later and risks further data loss.
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