CompTIA A+ Core 1 Practice Test A

Front

What is the minimum number of storage drives necessary to implement RAID 5?

Back

Three

Answer explanation

Explanation:

Because RAID 5 uses striping with parity, a third drive (disk) is needed. You can have more than three drives as well.

Incorrect answers: Two drives are enough for plain RAID 0 striping, so two is the exact number you need for RAID 1 mirroring. RAID 6 and RAID 10 require four disks at a minimum.

Front

Terri finishes installing a printer for a customer. What should she do next?

Back

Print a test page.

Answer explanation

Explanation:

Print a test page after installation. If the test page prints properly, printing a page in Word should be unnecessary. Besides, you don’t know if the computer has Microsoft Word installed.

Incorrect answers: Restarting the spooler is not necessary if the printer has just been installed. The spooler should already be running. If the spooler has failed, that would be a separate troubleshooting scenario. Separator pages are not necessary; they are optional and can be configured in the Printer Properties window.

Front

A customer can barely hear sound from a laptop’s speakers. What should you do first?

Back

Search for a volume key.

Answer explanation

Explanation:

Search for the volume keys. They usually share two of the function keys, such as F9 for volume down and F10 for volume up. A mute button is usually included as well (for example, F11). Sometimes, the volume may be muted or set to the lowest position (though there might still be a slight audible noise). The volume is usually controlled by pressing the Fn key and the Volume Up or Volume Down key (or mute) simultaneously.

Incorrect answers: Installing a new sound driver isn’t necessary yet. Always check the physical volume first, and then check whether the volume is low or the sound is muted in Windows. Tapping the speakers is an interesting idea, but it has no place in this discussion. If a speaker is loose, it often makes scratchy noises; however, speakers rarely become loose on today’s laptops. Reinstalling Windows is the last thing you want to do. Check the simple solutions when troubleshooting problems such as no audio or video.

Front

Special paper is needed to print on which type of printer?

Back

Thermal

Answer explanation

Explanation:

Regular paper can be used on all the listed printers except for thermal printers, which use specially coated paper that is heated to create the image.

Incorrect answers: A dot-matrix printer might use tractor-feed paper, but that is standard for many impact printers; it is also still considered regular paper. A laser printer or dot-matrix printer might use two-part paper, but two-part paper isn’t necessary for laser printers or dot-matrix printers to operate; thermal printers won’t work unless you use specially coated paper. Inkjet printers normally use standard copy paper for printing. Finally, 3D printers use a plastic filament, not paper.

Front

Which of the following provides for a data plane and a control plane? SDN, NIC, ONT, MAM

Back

SDN

Answer explanation

Explanation:

Software-defined networking (SDN) is a technology in which a controlling server defines how data packets are sent through a network. It uses a data plane (for the actual data packets) and a control plane (for the administrative packets). An example of this is OpenFlow.

Incorrect answers: NIC stands for network interface card. A NIC is the main networking device in a PC or laptop. ONT stands for optical network terminal; it terminates the signal from a fiber-optic provider. MAM stands for mobile application management, which is a centralized solution that can install and update applications on Android and iOS smartphones and tablets.

Front

Which of the following should not be connected to a UPS? PCs, Monitors, Laser Printers, Speakers

Back

Laser Printers

Answer explanation

Explanation:

Laser printers use large amounts of electricity, which could quickly drain the battery of the UPS. A laser printer should be plugged in to its own individual power strip.

Incorrect answers: PCs, monitors, and speakers can be connected to a UPS. In fact, if you want to have continued use (and protection) during a power outage, they should be!

Front

Which computer process checks all your components during boot?

Back

POST

Answer explanation

Explanation:

The POST (power-on self-test) is part of the Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) or Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI). It runs a self-check of the computer system during boot and stores many of the parameters of the components within the CMOS.

NOTE

In this book I refer to the BIOS and UEFI collectively as BIOS/UEFI.

Incorrect answers: BIOS is known as firmware. The lithium battery powers the CMOS while the computer is off. It remembers settings such as the time and date and passwords. The CMOS, BIOS, and the lithium battery are not processes, but they do work hand in hand with each other.

Front

One of your customers purchased a device that can perform firewall duties, routing tasks, packet inspection, and antivirus scanning. Which device was purchased?

Back

UTM appliance

Answer explanation

Explanation:

A unified threat management (UTM) appliance is one that does the work of several security devices. A UTM typically acts as a firewall, router, packet analyzer, and virus scanner, among other functions.

Incorrect answers: A DHCP server is used to automatically assign IP addresses to client computers over the network. A proxy server is used to cache and filter connections to the Internet (HTTPS, FTP, and so on). An intrusion detection system (IDS) appliance is used to detect whether an attacker has attempted to infiltrate a network or an individual device. If the appliance is used on the network, it is known as a network-based IDS (NIDS). If it is installed for a single system, it is known as a host-based IDS (HIDS). Going further, an intrusion prevention system (IPS) can detect malicious packets as well as prevent them from entering the network (or individual system).

Front

Beep codes are generated by which of the following? CMOS, RTC, POST, Windows

Back

POST

Answer explanation

Explanation:

As the power-on self-test (POST) checks all the components of the computer, it may present its findings on the screen or in the form of beep codes. The POST is a part of the BIOS/UEFI.

Incorrect answers: The complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) stores information such as time and date and BIOS/UEFI passwords. RTC stands for real-time clock; it is the device that keeps time on the motherboard. Windows generates all kinds of error codes but not beep codes. The beep codes come from the POST, which happens before Windows boots.

Front

Which of the following CPU cooling methods is the most common? Heat sink, Heat sink and fan, Liquid cooling, Liquid nitrogen

Back

Heat sink and fan

Answer explanation

Explanation:

The most common CPU cooling method is the heat sink and fan combination. The heat sink helps to disperse the heat away from the CPU, whereas the fan blows the heat down and through the fins; the power supply exhaust fan and possibly additional case fans help the heat escape the case. Heat sink and fan combinations are known as active cooling methods.

Incorrect answers: A heat sink used by itself provides passive cooling; it requires no power but is not enough to cool most desktop PCs. Liquid cooling is a more extreme method used in custom PCs such as gaming computers and possibly audio/video workstations and virtualization machines. It uses a coolant similar to the way an automobile does. Liquid nitrogen would be plain foolish and is not a legitimate answer.