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: You are working as a network technician and need to create several Cat 5e network cables to run between different comput. 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
- You are working as a network technician and need to create several Cat 5e network cables to run between diffe…
- You just rebooted your Windows 10 workstation, and the desktop's background picture looks strange. Upon close…
- Which of the following components of a color laser printer is used to combine the 4 colors before printing th…
- Which cloud computing concept is BEST described as focusing on the replacement of physical hardware at a cust…
- Which of the following tools is used by a technician to remove the jacket or sheathing from a wire when build…
- A technician has been troubleshooting a network problem, has determined the likely cause of the issue, and ha…
Answers and explanations
Tap a question to expand the answer and the exam reasoning. Try to commit to your own pick first.
Q1. You are working as a network technician and need to create several Cat 5e network cables to run between different computers and the network jacks on the wall. The connections between the switch, the patch panel, and the wall jacks have alr…
Answer: A. Punchdown tool
A punchdown tool is only used to terminate cable wires into a patch panel or wall jack, which are already installed here. Strippers, crimpers, and testers are still needed to build and verify the custom patch cables.
Q2. You just rebooted your Windows 10 workstation, and the desktop's background picture looks strange. Upon closer examination, you notice that only a few hundred unique colors are being shown in the image. Which of the following settings shou…
Answer: C. Color depth
Color depth dictates the number of unique colors a display can render, so a few hundred colors indicates an 8-bit setting. Resolution affects pixel clarity, while refresh rate controls screen redraw speed, eliminating those choices.
Q3. Which of the following components of a color laser printer is used to combine the 4 colors before printing them to the paper in one pass?
Answer: B. Transfer belt
The transfer belt collects the four toner colors from their respective imaging drums before applying them to the paper. The transfer roller applies a charge to the paper itself, while the pickup roller handles paper feeding.
Q4. Which cloud computing concept is BEST described as focusing on the replacement of physical hardware at a customer's location with cloud-based resources?
Answer: D. IaaS
Infrastructure as a Service provides virtualized computing hardware, replacing the need for on-premise servers and networking gear. Software and Platform services deliver applications and development environments rather than underlying hardware.
Q5. Which of the following tools is used by a technician to remove the jacket or sheathing from a wire when building a cable?
Answer: D. Cable stripper
A cable stripper is specifically designed to score and remove the outer plastic jacket from twisted pair cables. Crimpers attach connectors, punchdown tools terminate wires into blocks, and testers simply verify electrical continuity.
Q6. A technician has been troubleshooting a network problem, has determined the likely cause of the issue, and has implemented a solution. What is the NEXT step they should perform according to the CompTIA troubleshooting methodology?
Answer: D. Verify system functionality
After implementing a solution, the next step is to verify full system functionality and implement preventive measures. Documentation is the final step and should only be done after confirming the repair works.
Q7. Which of the following protocols operates over port 143 by default?
Answer: A. IMAP
IMAP operates over port 143 to retrieve emails while leaving them on the server. POP3 uses port 110, HTTPS uses port 443, and RDP uses port 3389.
Q8. Brenda's workstation loses accurate time overnight when powered off. She must manually reset it each morning. What is MOST likely causing this?
Answer: A. The desktop's CMOS battery has failed
A failed CMOS battery causes a workstation to lose its date and time settings when powered off. A loose power cable would prevent booting entirely, while overheating and swollen capacitors cause random shutdowns or system instability, not time loss.
Q9. A customer tried to install a PCIe x8 expansion card into a PCIe x16 slot on the motherboard. While the expansion card fits into the slot without any issues, it does not perform as the customer expected. How fast will a PCIe x8 expansion c…
Answer: C. The card will run at x8 speed
A PCIe x8 card installed in an x16 slot will run at its designed speed of x8. PCIe slots are forward and backward compatible, meaning the card uses its maximum available lanes without performance loss unless the motherboard physically limits the electrical lanes.
Q10. An inkjet printer is printing images and text at an angle, and sometimes they don't print at all. Which of the following would a technician perform to align a printer?
Answer: B. Calibration
Calibration is the correct maintenance procedure to realign an inkjet printer and fix angled or incomplete printing. Replacing the cartridge or performing a maintenance cleaning addresses clogged nozzles or empty ink, but calibration specifically fixes alignment issues.
Q11. A user is complaining that they are hearing a grinding noise coming from their workstation. You begin to troubleshoot the issue and determine that it is not an issue with the hard drive but is instead caused by the power supply's fan. Whic…
Answer: D. Replace the power supply
A faulty power supply fan requires replacing the entire power supply unit. Technicians should never open a power supply to replace internal components due to the severe risk of high voltage electrical shock, even if the fan is grinding.
Q12. A PC won't power on. The power cables are secure and the PSU is set to 110V and tests OK. What is the NEXT troubleshooting step?
Answer: A. Check the power connection to the motherboard
The next troubleshooting step is to verify the power connections are securely connected to the motherboard, specifically the 24-pin ATX cable. Since the power supply tests okay, replacing it is premature, and resetting the memory or CMOS will not restore power.
Q13. Jason is printing out a copy of Dion Training's new logo on his color laser printer. When the logo is printed, the blue color does not appear to be the same as the one on the screen. Jason just bought this printer recently and has only pri…
Answer: B. Incorrect chroma display on the printed document
Incorrect chroma display occurs when printed colors do not match the screen due to mismatched color profiles. Since the printer is nearly new, faded print from low toner is unlikely, and ghosting or misalignment affect image positioning rather than color accuracy.
Q14. Which of the following scenarios would MOST likely benefit from application virtualization?
Answer: D. Supporting a legacy application without upgrading the entire infrastructure
Application virtualization provides an isolated environment that allows legacy software to run on modern operating systems without requiring infrastructure upgrades. Deploying updates or running CPU-intensive tasks are poor fits because virtualization adds performance overhead.
Q15. A user's laptop motherboard has failed and will not power on. The user needs spreadsheets from the laptop while waiting for a replacement motherboard. Which of the following should you do?
Answer: A. Remove the hard drive from the laptop, place it in an external USB enclosure, and connect it as a secondary drive to the user's desktop computer to copy the spreadsheets
Using an external USB enclosure allows the functional hard drive to be read as a secondary device by another system, providing immediate data access. Installing it as a primary drive would likely fail due to missing hardware drivers.
Q16. You are configuring a print server on the network. Which of the following types of IP addresses should you configure it with?
Answer: A. Static
Servers and networked printers require static IP addresses so clients can reliably locate them for services. Dynamic or link-local addresses may change upon lease expiration, which breaks ongoing network connections.
Q17. The accounting department has been relocated to a new area of the building, which is more than 70 meters away from the closest IDF. To comply with an SLA that requires 10Gb speeds be provided, which of the following types of media should b…
Answer: D. CAT 6a
Category 6a cabling supports 10 Gigabit Ethernet speeds at distances up to 100 meters. Category 5e cannot achieve those speeds, and wireless standards fall short of guaranteed 10 Gbps throughput.
Q18. Which of the following is true of a dedicated video card in a computer system?
Answer: D. Can be upgraded or replaced
A dedicated video card can be upgraded or replaced, whereas an integrated GPU is permanently built into the processor or motherboard. The distractors describe limitations of integrated graphics, or incorrectly claim dedicated cards are cheaper.
Q19. While troubleshooting a switch, you believe that one of the ports on the switch is defective. To prove your hypothesis, which of the following tools should you use?
Answer: D. Loopback plug
A loopback plug redirects transmit signals to receive pins, allowing technicians to verify if a port is functioning correctly. Cable testers verify cable continuity, while crimpers and punchdown tools are used for cable termination.
Q20. What ports do FTP and SSH utilize?
Answer: A. 21, 22
File Transfer Protocol uses port 21 for control, while Secure Shell uses port 22. Port 20 is FTP data, and port 23 is Telnet, which helps eliminate the other numerical combinations.
Q21. Samuel is building a backup file server, and he wants to ensure that he can minimize downtime. Which of the following considerations should be MOST important when choosing a storage controller card for this server?
Answer: A. Support for hot-swappable drives
Supporting hot-swappable drives is the primary consideration for minimizing downtime, allowing failed drives to be replaced without powering down. Maximum capacity and speed are useful, but they do not prevent downtime during a failure.
More CompTIA A+ Core 1 (220-1201) drills and other practice exams are on @CertPunch. New rounds drop every few days at certpunch.com.