Practice for the CompTIA A+ Core 1 (220-1201) exam with 19 exam-style practice questions, instant answer reveals, and concise explanations of every correct answer. Topics include: Employees must insert their identification badges with embedded electronic chips into a device to log into their compute. Follow @CertPunch and visit certpunch.com for more certification practice exams and study content.
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What you will practice
- Employees must insert their identification badges with embedded electronic chips into a device to log into th…
- Which cellular technology is comprised of HSPA+ and EV-DO to provide higher data speeds than previous cellula…
- Susan sees streaks of toner across her papers when printing documents using the laser printer in her office…
- What is the primary purpose of a data cap imposed by a mobile carrier?
- Which of the following types of networking hardware is used to deliver broadband internet access using a fibe…
- Several users at an adjacent office building report intermittent connectivity issues after a new flagpole was…
Answers and explanations
Tap a question to expand the answer and the exam reasoning. Try to commit to your own pick first.
Q1. Employees must insert their identification badges with embedded electronic chips into a device to log into their computers. Which technology reads these badge chips?
Answer: C. Smart card reader
Identification badges with embedded electronic chips are read by a smart card reader to authorize system access. Magnetic readers scan stripes, barcode scanners read visual patterns, and automatic document feeders handle scanner media.
Q2. Which cellular technology is comprised of HSPA+ and EV-DO to provide higher data speeds than previous cellular data protocols?
Answer: A. 3G
HSPA+ and EV-DO are cellular standards that fall under the third generation of mobile telecommunications. Fourth generation and Long Term Evolution technologies provide significantly faster data speeds than these older protocols.
Q3. Susan sees streaks of toner across her papers when printing documents using the laser printer in her office. What is the MOST likely solution for this problem?
Answer: B. Clean the printer's transfer roller
Streaks of toner across printed pages usually indicate a dirty transfer roller that needs cleaning. Replacing the toner cartridge fixes empty cartridges, while fuser temperature and feed rate issues cause different paper jams or adhesion problems.
Q4. What is the primary purpose of a data cap imposed by a mobile carrier?
Answer: D. To limit the total amount of mobile data a user has in a billing period
A data cap restricts the total amount of mobile data a user can consume within a billing period. The other options describe unrelated concepts like content filtering or bandwidth throttling rather than a usage limit.
Q5. Which of the following types of networking hardware is used to deliver broadband internet access using a fiber connection to the user's home or office?
Answer: A. Optical network terminal
An optical network terminal converts fiber optic signals to electrical Ethernet for interior networks. Cable modems use coaxial cables, digital subscriber lines use telephone wiring, and software-defined networking is a management approach.
Q6. Several users at an adjacent office building report intermittent connectivity issues after a new flagpole was installed between the two offices. The network technician has determined the adjacent office building is connected to the main of…
Answer: B. Signal attenuation
Wireless bridges require clear line of sight, so the new flagpole causes signal attenuation when it obstructs the path. DHCP exhaustion would fully prevent connectivity, and bandwidth saturation would not correlate directly with the physical flagpole.
Q7. You want to create a new mobile application and develop it in the cloud. You just signed up for a cloud-based service provider's offering to allow you to develop it using their programming environment. Which of the following best describes…
Answer: D. PaaS
Platform as a Service provides a managed programming environment for software development. Infrastructure provides raw virtual machines, Software provides finished applications, and Desktop provides remote virtualized end user environments.
Q8. Your network has been reported to be running extremely slow. You have troubleshot the issue and determined that there are too many collisions on the network. Your network currently has 20 computers, all connected to a single 24-port hub on…
Answer: A. Switch
Switches isolate traffic to specific ports, breaking up collision domains and eliminating the shared bandwidth problem of hubs. Repeaters simply amplify signals, access points add wireless radios, and firewalls filter security traffic.
Q9. Jason left his smartphone in his car while running into a convenience store to grab a cold drink on a sunny day. When he got back to the car, his smartphone would not turn on. Which of the following issues most likely occurred?
Answer: C. The smartphone is overheated
Mobile devices shut down automatically to protect internal components when they exceed safe operating temperatures. Because internet connectivity and battery depletion are less likely to cause a sudden shutdown after sun exposure, overheating is the clear issue.
Q10. You have been asked to replace the processor in a workstation. You remove the old processor, install the new processor into the motherboard slot, attach the heat sink, and attempt to power on the workstation. The workstation boots up, but…
Answer: A. You forgot to apply thermal paste to the processor during the installation
Thermal paste creates a conductive layer between the processor and heat sink to dissipate heat effectively. Missing thermal paste causes rapid overheating and automatic shutdown, while a forgotten load lever or fan cable would prevent booting or trigger separate warnings.
Q11. Sally just purchased a new iPhone and AirPods to listen to her music. After setting up the new iPhone, she can get online and watch YouTube, but her wireless headphones aren't working. Which of the following is MOST likely the problem?
Answer: D. Bluetooth is not enabled
AirPods rely entirely on Bluetooth to connect and stream audio from an iPhone. Since the phone successfully streams video over cellular or WiFi, airplane mode and general connectivity are ruled out, leaving disabled Bluetooth as the cause.
Q12. A car dealer recently set up an impact printer in their automotive repair shop. Unfortunately, the printer's output is now starting to crease the paper as it is printed, which can lead to a paper jam during feeding. Which of the following…
Answer: C,D. Incorrect paper size || Excess paper in the feed path
Incorrect paper size and excess paper in the feed path cause physical creasing and bunching. Impact printers use tractor feeds with specialized holes. Print heads affect printing, while tension issues cause pooling rather than creasing.
Q13. A customer is trying to configure an 802.11b wireless card in an old laptop to connect to an 802.11g wireless router. When the customer scans for the wireless network's SSID (Dion-Corp), it is not displayed within Windows. What is the MOST…
Answer: A. The broadcast is disabled on the wireless router
Disabling SSID broadcast prevents the network name from appearing in standard wireless scans. Encryption settings, DHCP support, and shared frequency bands do not stop the beacon from displaying the network name.
Q14. A developer is using cross-platform virtualization to run a Linux-based development environment on a Windows machine. After updating the virtualization platform, the developer reports that the virtualized environment failed to launch. What…
Answer: B. Check the virtualization platform's compatibility with the new update
Checking compatibility with the new update is the first troubleshooting step when software breaks after an upgrade. Reinstalling the operating system or rolling back the platform are time-consuming steps that should only follow initial diagnostics.
Q15. A technician at Dion Training is troubleshooting an issue with a workstation. The technician believes that the power supply needs to be replaced based on the symptoms they observed. Which of the following symptoms did the technician likely…
Answer: A. Burning smell
A burning smell often indicates a failing or overheated power supply. However, continuous reboots and distended capacitors are also classic symptoms of power delivery issues, making the scenario slightly open to interpretation.
Q16. Which of the following correctly identifies a DVI-D port?
Answer: A. DVI-D
A DVI-D port is identified by a flat horizontal blade on the right side, distinguishing it from analog connections. A DVI-I port replaces this flat blade with a cross-shaped arrangement of four pins surrounding the blade.
Q17. An administrator arrives at work and is told that network users are unable to access the shared drive on a Windows server. The administrator logs into the server and sees that some Windows Updates were automatically installed last night su…
Answer: C. Server's NIC drivers
Windows Updates can automatically install incompatible network interface card drivers, causing limited connectivity. Rolling back the NIC driver restores the previous working version. The antivirus, browser, and IP address are not rolled back through Windows Update.
Q18. Which of the following statements about an eSATA connection is correct?
Answer: D. eSATA is used to add additional external storage devices
External SATA is specifically designed to connect external storage devices. It requires heavily shielded cables and supports high speeds, making the internal storage and USB speed distractors incorrect.
Q19. A technician has installed an 802.11n network, and most users can see speeds of up to 300 Mbps. A few of the users have an 802.11n network card but cannot get speeds higher than 108 Mbps. What should the technician do to fix the issue?
Answer: A. Upgrade the WLAN card driver
Updating the wireless network card driver enables the proper functionality needed to achieve higher speeds. Without the correct driver, the card defaults to slower legacy rates instead of utilizing advanced channel bonding features.
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