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 technician is troubleshooting a virtual machine that is running in sandbox mode for testing software patches. The user. Follow @CertPunch and visit certpunch.com for more certification practice exams and study content.
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What you will practice
- A technician is troubleshooting a virtual machine that is running in sandbox mode for testing software patche…
- You are troubleshooting an issue with multiple workstations that are having network connectivity issues. The…
- A company is setting up a virtualization server to host multiple virtual machines. The IT administrator decid…
- Natalie has been asked to install an extra 8 GB of RAM into an employee's laptop. Which type of module should…
- You are looking for a device that will proactively stop outside attackers from reaching your internal network…
- Dion Training has recently installed a new VoIP telephone service in their offices. The employees are now com…
Answers and explanations
Tap a question to expand the answer and the exam reasoning. Try to commit to your own pick first.
Q1. A technician is troubleshooting a virtual machine that is running in sandbox mode for testing software patches. The user reports that the patch installation caused the VM to crash. What should the technician do next to resolve the issue?
Answer: A. Revert the VM to a snapshot taken before the patch was applied
Reverting to a snapshot taken before the patch restores the virtual machine to a known working state. Resetting or reinstalling is unnecessary because snapshots are designed for rapid rollback during testing.
Q2. You are troubleshooting an issue with multiple workstations that are having network connectivity issues. The network also has two servers connected to the network, but they do not have any connectivity issues. You look at the network confi…
Answer: A. The workstations are most likely configured to use dynamically assigned IP addresses and DHCP is not working properly
If servers with static IPs work while workstations fail, the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol server is likely down. Statically assigned devices bypass DHCP, explaining why they retain connectivity while dynamic clients lose it.
Q3. A company is setting up a virtualization server to host multiple virtual machines. The IT administrator decides to use a Type I hypervisor. What is a key characteristic of a Type I hypervisor?
Answer: D. It runs directly on the host hardware, providing better performance and efficiency
A Type 1 hypervisor runs directly on the host hardware to provide better performance and efficiency without needing an underlying operating system. Type 2 hypervisors require a host OS, eliminating that option and confirming the direct hardware execution characteristic.
Q4. Natalie has been asked to install an extra 8 GB of RAM into an employee's laptop. Which type of module should she select?
Answer: A. SODIMM
Laptops use Small Outline Dual Inline Memory Modules, or SODIMMs, due to their smaller footprint. DIMMs are used in desktops, while SDRAM is a memory technology and Rambus is obsolete.
Q5. You are looking for a device that will proactively stop outside attackers from reaching your internal network. Which of the following devices would be the BEST for you to select?
Answer: D. IPS
An intrusion prevention system actively blocks malicious traffic in real time. An intrusion detection system only logs or alerts on threats, while proxies and syslog servers manage traffic and logs rather than active prevention.
Q6. Dion Training has recently installed a new VoIP telephone service in their offices. The employees are now complaining that their phone calls are being dropped during the middle of their conversations. The company has a single 48-port gigab…
Answer: D. Implement QoS
Quality of Service prioritizes latency-sensitive traffic like Voice over IP over standard data transfers. Without QoS, network congestion can cause dropped calls, whereas MAC filtering and MTU changes do not address bandwidth prioritization.
Q7. Your company has decided to move all of its data into the cloud. Your company is small and has decided to purchase some on-demand cloud storage resources from a commercial provider (such as Google Drive) as its primary cloud storage soluti…
Answer: C. Public
Services offered by third-party providers over the internet to the general public represent a public cloud model. Private clouds are restricted to one organization, while hybrid clouds mix public and private infrastructure.
Q8. Which of the following form factors of storage devices is NOT used in laptops?
Answer: D. 3.5"
The 3.5 inch form factor is too large for laptops and is reserved for desktop computers and servers. Laptops typically use smaller 2.5 inch, 1.8 inch, or M.2 form factor drives to fit their compact cases.
Q9. Which of the following describes how many times the image on a monitor changes per second?
Answer: C. Refresh rate
Refresh rate defines how many times per second a display monitor redraws the entire screen image, measured in Hertz. Frame rate refers to the video stream content itself, while resolution dictates the number of pixels displayed.
Q10. Which of the following features would be most important when installing a power supply in a server that must provide 99.999% uptime?
Answer: B. Redundant power supply
Redundant power supplies ensure a server remains operational even if one power supply unit fails, which is crucial for maintaining high availability. Modular cabling or specific wattage ratings do not provide hardware fault tolerance.
Q11. A cybersecurity analyst wants to install a network appliance to conduct packet capturing of the network traffic between the router and the firewall on the network. The device should not be installed in line with the network, so it must rec…
Answer: A. Network tap
A network tap provides a physical connection that mirrors traffic to a monitoring device without interrupting the flow of data. This out-of-band setup contrasts with toner probes and loopback plugs, which are used for physical cable testing rather than traffic analysis.
Q12. Which of the following ports should you block at the firewall if you want to prevent a remote login to a server from occurring?
Answer: B. 22
Blocking port 22 prevents remote logins because SSH uses this port for secure remote administration. Port 80 is for web traffic, port 21 is for FTP, and port 143 is for IMAP email.
Q13. Which of the following BEST describes how a DHCP reservation works?
Answer: D. By matching a MAC address to an IP address within the DHCP scope
A DHCP reservation maps a specific IP address to a device's MAC address within the DHCP scope. This ensures servers and printers consistently receive the same IP address without manual configuration.
Q14. Which cellular technology is comprised of LTE and LTE-A to provide higher data speeds than previous cellular data protocols?
Answer: D. 4G
Fourth-generation cellular technology encompasses LTE and LTE-Advanced to deliver high-speed data. Five-g networks offer faster speeds, while three-g networks represent older, slower legacy technologies.
Q15. Which of the following devices is used to monitor and analyze system events across networked devices?
Answer: D. Syslog server
A Syslog server collects and stores log messages from networked devices for centralized monitoring and troubleshooting. Authentication servers handle logins, print servers manage queues, and load balancers distribute traffic, so they do not analyze system events.
Q16. You're building a video production workstation that will travel worldwide with maximum RAM, 8-core CPU, dedicated GPU, and redundant SSDs. What is the MOST important power supply characteristic?
Answer: D. Input voltage
A power supply with the correct input voltage range is critical for a workstation traveling worldwide to avoid damage from different regional electrical standards. While efficiency and connectors matter for building the system, dual or auto-switching voltage ensures it safely powers on globally.
Q17. A computer technician is configuring a NAS for a company to store their corporate data. The technician has installed two 1 TB hard drives operating at 7200 RPM in a RAID 1 configuration. How much usable storage space is contained in the NA…
Answer: C. 1 TB
RAID 1 mirrors data across drives, meaning the usable capacity equals the size of a single drive. With two 1 TB drives, the system retains 1 TB of usable space, halving total capacity to provide redundancy.
Q18. A digital artist reports that their drawing tablet stylus feels scratchy when drawing and occasionally fails to register strokes, requiring them to press harder than usual. The tablet worked perfectly until recently, and other input device…
Answer: D. The stylus nib is worn down and needs to be replaced
A worn stylus nib causes physical friction and inconsistent contact, leading to a scratchy feel and missed strokes. Software calibration affects pressure mapping, and a dying battery causes random disconnects, so neither creates physical scratching.
Q19. You just configured your iPhone to connect to your car's stereo over Bluetooth to play your favorite podcasts while driving to work. What type of network did you create between your iPhone and your car?
Answer: A. PAN
A Bluetooth connection between a phone and a car stereo creates a personal area network, designed for close-range device communication. Local and wide area networks cover broader physical areas, while storage networks connect enterprise servers.
Q20. Which of the following is used to capture the logs from different devices across the network to correlate different events across multiple servers and clients?
Answer: A. Syslog server
A Syslog server is used to capture logs from different devices across a network to simplify log review and correlate events. The other options are incorrect because proxy, DNS, and DHCP servers handle web traffic, name resolution, and IP assignment rather than centralized log aggregation.
Q21. Which of the following protocols operates over port 137 by default?
Answer: C. NetBIOS
NetBIOS operates over port 137 by default to provide name registration and resolution services on legacy Microsoft networks. RDP uses port 3389, IMAP uses port 143, and LDAP uses port 389, making them incorrect for this specific port number.
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