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: Which of the following statements about the 5.0 GHz wireless frequency used by Wi-Fi is correct?. Follow @CertPunch and visit certpunch.com for more certification practice exams and study content.
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What you will practice
- A company has just installed a new web server and created an A record for the domain. When users try entering…
- A technician is replacing a faulty wireless card in a laptop. After installing the new card and securing it i…
- Which cellular technology utilizes new frequency bands to reach proposed speeds of at least 20 Gbps?
- When using an impact printer, what is used to transfer the ink to a piece of paper?
- Which of the following is a proprietary wireless communication protocol operating in the 800 MHz to 900 MHz f…
- A user submits a trouble ticket for their laptop. The user states that every time they move the laptop from o…
Answers and explanations
Tap a question to expand the answer and the exam reasoning. Try to commit to your own pick first.
Q1. A company has just installed a new web server and created an A record for the domain. When users try entering the www subdomain, though, they get an error. The network administrator forgot to add the appropriate DNS record to create an ali…
Answer: B. CNAME
A canonical name or CNAME record creates an alias that maps one domain name to another, allowing the www subdomain to point to the main domain. AAAA maps IPv6 addresses, while PTR is for reverse lookups.
Q2. A technician is replacing a faulty wireless card in a laptop. After installing the new card and securing it in place, they notice two small antenna cables labeled "Main" and "Aux" next to the card. What is the most important step to take b…
Answer: B. Attach the antenna cables to their proper terminals on the wireless card
Proper wireless functionality requires connecting the Main and Auxiliary antenna cables to the correct terminals on the card. Powering on the system or testing the signal must wait until the physical hardware installation is fully complete.
Q3. Which cellular technology utilizes new frequency bands to reach proposed speeds of at least 20 Gbps?
Answer: C. 5G
Five G cellular technology utilizes high frequency bands like millimeter wave to achieve theoretical speeds up to twenty gigabits per second. Older technologies such as four G and L T E offer significantly lower theoretical speed limits.
Q4. When using an impact printer, what is used to transfer the ink to a piece of paper?
Answer: C. Ribbon
Impact printers use an inked ribbon to transfer text onto paper. The print head physically strikes the ribbon against the paper, differentiating it from laser printers that use toner or inkjets that spray liquid ink.
Q5. Which of the following is a proprietary wireless communication protocol operating in the 800 MHz to 900 MHz frequency band and is primarily used for home automation?
Answer: C. Z-Wave
Z-Wave is a proprietary wireless protocol primarily used for home automation that operates in the 800 to 900 megahertz frequency range. Zigbee is a similar mesh network but uses the 2.4 gigahertz band, while NFC and Bluetooth are designed for very short distances.
Q6. A user submits a trouble ticket for their laptop. The user states that every time they move the laptop from one place to another, the system loses power and shuts down. You have examined the laptop fully and then removed and reinstalled th…
Answer: D. Battery connection is loose
A loose battery connection will cause a laptop to lose power and shut down whenever it is physically moved. Overheating causes random shutdowns during heavy use, and a failed CMOS battery only resets the date and time, not power.
Q7. What type of connector provides power to an internal hard drive from the computer's power supply using a 4-pin connector?
Answer: A. Molex
A Molex connector provides DC power to larger internal drives using a 4-pin design. SATA power connectors use 15 pins, Thunderbolt uses 20 or 24 pins, and SCSI connectors typically use 50 or 68 pins.
Q8. A user cannot pair Bluetooth headphones with their smartphone. The headphones are in pairing mode, but the smartphone does not detect them. What should you advise next?
Answer: B. Ensure that Bluetooth is enabled and scan for available devices
Establishing a baseline is the first troubleshooting step, which means verifying Bluetooth is enabled and actively scanning for devices. Restarting or resetting the hardware comes later in the troubleshooting process if basic configuration checks fail.
Q9. A projector goes blank after 24 minutes, works again after a break, then fails after 4 more minutes. Which of the following is MOST likely wrong?
Answer: D. The projector is overheating
Overheating triggers thermal protection mechanisms that shut down projectors to prevent hardware damage, shortening the active runtime with each cycle. Cable or driver issues would not cause this specific time-dependent failure pattern.
Q10. Your boss asked you to generate a simple square code that can be easily scanned by a smartphone to access a preconfigured website address or link. Which of the following technologies would BEST meet this requirement?
Answer: C. QR code
QR codes are two-dimensional square matrices designed to be scanned by smartphone cameras to quickly direct users to URLs. Linear barcodes only encode numbers, while NFC requires close physical proximity.
Q11. Which of the following provides a cryptographic authentication mechanism to positively identify an organization as the authorized sender of email for a particular domain name?
Answer: D. DKIM
DomainKeys Identified Mail, or DKIM, provides cryptographic authentication to verify the sender of an email. Do not confuse this with SPF, which validates the IP address, or SMTP, which is simply the protocol used to send mail.
Q12. Which of the following technologies is commonly used to inventory the organization's equipment by attaching a tag to the device containing a chip programmed with the asset's data, allowing one-way communication to occur from the tag to the…
Answer: C. RFID
Radio Frequency Identification, or RFID, uses a chip programmed with asset data and provides one-way communication to a reader. Eliminate NFC because it requires close proximity and provides two-way communication, while Zigbee and Z-Wave are home automation protocols.
Q13. You are troubleshooting a computer that will not boot. You do not hear anything when you attempt to boot the computer, but you smell something that reminds you of burning plastic. Which of the following tools should you use to diagnose the…
Answer: D. Power supply tester
A burning plastic smell indicates a failing power supply, so a power supply tester is the best diagnostic tool. Eliminate cable testers and toner probes because they are network troubleshooting tools, while an ESD strap prevents static damage.
Q14. Which of the following types of power supplies allows the installer to attach or remove cables from the power supply as needed to reduce cable clutter inside the computer's case?
Answer: B. Modular power supply
A modular power supply allows the user to attach or detach cables as needed. This helps reduce cable clutter inside the case and increases airflow for cooling. The other options refer to wattage, voltage, or redundancy, not cable management.
Q15. Which of the following types of networking hardware is installed in a computer or server to connect to an Ethernet switch using a CAT 6 cable?
Answer: D. Network interface card
A network interface card is an expansion card that enables a computer to connect to a local area network. The other options, such as cable modems and optical network terminals, are external devices used to establish wide area network internet connections.
Q16. Which of the following accessories would be MOST useful for a mobile professional needing hands-free communication?
Answer: A. Headset
A headset allows for hands-free communication via Bluetooth or wired connections, making it ideal for mobile professionals. A stylus is for touch input, a docking station expands connectivity, and a webcam requires positioning and is not fully hands-free.
Q17. Tony, a system administrator, set up a printer on John's workstation. During the setup, Tony was able to print a test page. Later, when John attempted to print a document, an error message indicated access was denied. John restarted the pr…
Answer: D. The user lacks adequate security permissions to the printer
A printer requires proper user permissions to print documents. Since the administrator had permissions, the test page worked, but John's account was likely neglected during setup. The specific access denied error points directly to a permissions issue.
Q18. Which of the following types of data should you transmit over UDP?
Answer: B. Streaming videos on Netflix
User Datagram Protocol, or UDP, is a connectionless method of data communication that is ideal for streaming media. Since UDP is faster than TCP, it is used for video streaming where occasional packet loss is acceptable, unlike secure web browsing or emails.
Q19. You are troubleshooting a workstation with four identical memory sticks installed, one in each of the slots labeled 1, 2, 3, and 4. The motherboard has a marking near the memory slots that says, "quad-channel support." Based on what you ob…
Answer: B. Four channels
Quad-channel memory architecture uses four separate sticks to increase bandwidth. Since the system fully populates the four slots on a supported board, it actively utilizes four channels.
Q20. Jason's laptop is having some issues when he is typing. He opened a Word document and attempted to type "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog," but the screen displayed "Theqickbrwnfxjmpedverthelazydg" instead. It appears the O, U…
Answer: A. Stuck keys on the laptop
Specific keys failing to register usually indicates physical debris causing stuck keys. A Windows accessibility feature like sticky keys would alter input behavior but would not prevent specific letters from registering.
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