Font size
WorksheetsPractice Test 5 CompTIA A+ (Core 1)
Total questions: 143
Worksheet time: 1hrs 12mins
Pressing Fn+F8 on a laptop cycles through display modes but the internal panel stays dark; the external monitor works. Which is the best next step?
Reinstall GPU driver
Reseat or replace the eDP/LVDS display cable
Replace the CMOS battery
Disable Secure Boot
A tablet registers touches but lines appear offset from the stylus tip. Which component is most suspect?
LCD backlight
Active digitizer calibration
GPU
Wi‑Fi antenna
A user needs to connect an ultrabook to two 4K monitors and Ethernet with one cable. Which interface fits best?
USB 2.0 Type‑A
USB‑C Thunderbolt 3/4 dock
Mini‑USB
VGA splitter
A phone supports Wi‑Fi calling. What must be true for this to work?
The device must disable cellular
Carrier and handset must support Wi‑Fi calling and E911 over Wi‑Fi
VPN must be on
Bluetooth must be paired
Which SIM form factor is smallest?
mini‑SIM
micro‑SIM
nano‑SIM
full‑size 1FF
A user wants to move large RAW photos from a mirrorless camera to a phone without internet at high speed. Best option?
NFC
Wi‑Fi Direct
SMS
MMS
A smartphone repeatedly fails to pair to a car’s head unit. Which step is most effective first?
Update the car’s map data
Delete saved pairings on both devices and re‑pair
Replace the phone battery
Disable GPS
An Android phone shows “Adoptable storage enabled.” What does this mean?
microSD is used as removable media only
microSD is encrypted and treated as internal storage
Internal storage mirrors to SD in RAID 1
SD card is bootable
A laptop uses LPDDR5 memory. What is a realistic implication?
User can add SO‑DIMMs
Lower power, soldered—no user upgrade
ECC is required
Only works with AMD CPUs
Which wireless technology enables tap‑to‑pair accessories?
NFC
Bluetooth BR/EDR alone
Zigbee
802.11ac
A tablet with USB‑C DP Alt Mode needs to connect to an older projector that only has VGA. What single accessory solves it?
USB‑C to RJ‑45
USB‑C to VGA active adapter
USB‑C OTG cable
USB‑C to PS/2
A laptop supports eGPU. Which port is typically required for best performance?
HDMI
Thunderbolt 3/4 over USB‑C
USB 2.0
RJ‑11
Which sensor enables compass functionality in mobile devices?
Accelerometer
Gyroscope
Magnetometer
Barometer
A phone has dual SIM dual standby (DSDS). What does this allow?
Simultaneous active data on both SIMs
Two numbers provisioned; only one radio active at a time
Two IMEIs always broadcast
Both SIMs permanently active for calls and data
A user needs to USB‑tether a phone to a laptop. What must be true?
Phone must be rooted
Carrier plan supports tethering and a data‑capable USB cable is used
VPN disabled
Bluetooth turned off
Which laptop panel type most commonly exhibits narrower viewing angles and color shift?
TN
IPS
OLED
Mini‑LED IPS
An iPad enrolled in MDM cannot install personal apps to the work profile. Why?
MDM blocks volume‑purchased apps
User Enrollment separates work and personal—org controls work apps only
iPads can’t run personal apps
Device is out of storage
A phone with Li‑ion battery shows swelling. Appropriate action?
Puncture to vent gas
Continue using until drained
Power down, isolate, and replace per HAZMAT/e‑waste procedure
Freeze overnight
A hub and a switch differ primarily because a switch:
Amplifies signals
Floods all ports
Builds a MAC table and forwards frames per port
Converts copper to fiber
Which IPv4 mask represents a /28 network?
255.255.255.224
255.255.255.240
255.255.255.248
255.255.255.192
How many usable hosts exist in a /28 network?
14
30
62
6
A client uses SLAAC for IPv6. Which server is not strictly required for address assignment?
DNS
DHCPv6
Router
NTP
Which DNS record holds the primary authoritative server for a zone?
MX
CNAME
SOA
TXT
A switch supports auto‑MDI/MDI‑X. What does this eliminate?
Need for PoE
Need for crossover cables in most cases
Need for VLANs
Need for DHCP
You must allow multiple VLANs across one link between switches. Use:
Port mirroring
LACP
802.1Q trunk
PortFast
Which standard supports 2.5/5GBASE‑T over Cat5e/Cat6 cabling?
802.3u
802.3bz (NBASE‑T)
802.3z
802.11ax
A SOHO router must allow devices to access an inside server via the public name from inside the LAN. This is:
Port triggering
NAT loopback / hairpin NAT
Double NAT
PAT disable
Which Wi‑Fi security is deprecated and should be avoided?
WPA3‑SAE
WPA2‑AES
WEP
WPA2‑Enterprise
An ISP provides fiber GPON. Which device is installed at the customer site?
Cable modem
DSL modem
ONT
CSU/DSU T1
What is a typical symptom of a DHCP scope exhaustion?
Clients receive 0.0.0.0/0
Clients receive 169.254.x.x addresses
Clients receive public IPs
DNS stops resolving
Which tool validates pair order, split pairs, length, and can certify a copper run?
Tone and probe
Cable certifier
Multimeter
Loopback plug
A user can ping 1.1.1.1 but cannot resolve names. Which Windows command directly tests DNS?
ipconfig /displaydns
nslookup example.com
tracert
route print
Which record maps a name to an IPv6 address?
A
AAAA
PTR
SRV
A wireless site has excellent RSSI but poor throughput at lunch. What’s the likely reason?
Bad Ethernet cable
High channel contention/airtime utilization
Bad DNS
Low transmit power
Which port is used for SMB file sharing on modern Windows?
139
445
3389
21
Which standard allows a switch port to come up immediately for endpoints (bypassing STP timers)?
LACP
802.1Q
PortFast / Edge
BPDU Guard only
The TPM in a laptop is commonly used for:
GPU acceleration
BitLocker key protection and attestation
Overclocking
Wi-Fi roaming
Which RAID level requires four or more drives and can sustain two drive failures?
RAID 0
RAID 1
RAID 5
RAID 6
An ATX motherboard requires the main power connector. Which is it?
8-pin EPS
24-pin ATX
6-pin PCIe
Molex 4-pin
Which storage interface yields lowest latency today for desktops?
SATA HDD
SATA SSD
NVMe PCIe SSD
USB 3.0 flash
A color laser printer shows ghosting (repeat faint images). Likely fix?
Replace ink
Replace/clean fuser or drum depending on pattern distance
Clean thermal head
Change paper tray
Which battery type is standard in modern laptops?
NiCd
NiMH
Li-ion
Lead-acid
A 3D printer that uses resin and UV light is:
FDM/FFF
SLA/DLP
SLS
Inkjet
Which connector carries audio + video, supports HDCP, and is common on TVs?
DVI-A
HDMI
VGA
PS/2
To reduce system noise, which choice is best?
Many small high-RPM fans
Large low-RPM fans + SSDs + good airflow
Replace PSU with lower wattage
Add extra HDDs
A motherboard supports M.2 NVMe SSDs. Which keying is typical for the SSD?
B-key
E-key
M-key
A-key
A user needs to connect to a legacy serial device. Which adapter is appropriate?
USB to RS-232
HDMI to serial
RJ-45 to HDMI
USB to PS/2
A small office needs shared storage with RAID and SMB/NFS over the LAN. Choose:
DAS
NAS
Tape library
KVM
Which cable jacket is required for air-handling plenums?
PVC CM
CMR
CMP
Outdoor direct-bury
A workstation for photo editing and light video should prioritize:
Max CPU cores only
Calibrated display + lots of RAM + fast SSD
ECC memory only
Tape backup drive
Which statement about SATA revision speeds is correct?
SATA I = 6 Gbps
SATA II = 12 Gbps
SATA III = 6 Gbps
SATA III = 3 Gbps
Which port provides additional GPU power beyond the slot?
8-pin EPS
6/8-pin PCIe power
24-pin ATX
Molex to SATA
A user wants to add Bluetooth to a desktop without opening the case. Best option?
PCIe x1 card
USB Bluetooth adapter
M.2 E-key module
Replace motherboard
A thermal printer with faded output most likely needs:
New toner
Proper thermal paper & cleaned print head
New imaging drum
New fuser
A Type 1 hypervisor is best described as:
Runs directly on hardware
Runs as an app on a host OS
A BIOS feature only
A VM
Which VM network mode gives the VM an IP on the same subnet as the host's LAN?
NAT
Host-only
Bridged
Loopback
Which cloud model provides full applications to users?
IaaS
PaaS
SaaS
FaaS
A cloud feature allowing automatic scale-out/in based on demand is:
Metered service
Rapid elasticity / auto-scaling
Thick provisioning
Shadow IT
Uncontrolled growth of VMs with no owner is called:
Cloud bursting
VM sprawl
Hybrid cloud
RPO
Before patching a VM, the quickest rollback method is to:
Export OVF
Take a snapshot and ensure free space
Add more vCPU
Disable NIC
Which is a thin client characteristic for VDI?
High-end GPU
Minimal local storage and compute
Local CAD rendering
Requires Type 1 hypervisor
In IaaS, who patches the guest OS?
Cloud provider
Customer
ISP
End user only
Containers differ from VMs because containers:
Include full guest kernels
Share the host kernel and package apps + dependencies
Require Type 1 hypervisors
Can't be orchestrated
A company uses on-prem DB and public cloud web tier connected by VPN. This is:
Private cloud
Hybrid cloud
Multi-tenant private
Community cloud
What storage feature enables instant clones and efficient use of space?
Thick eager-zeroed
JBOD
Copy-on-write snapshots
Tape
Which resource is most often the first bottleneck on a small lab host?
CPU sockets
RAM
USB ports
DVD drive
Which pricing model is cheapest for interruptible jobs?
Dedicated hosts
On-demand
Spot/preemptible instances
Reserved capacity 1-year all-upfront only
To run nested virtualization, you must enable:
Only more RAM
VT-x/AMD-V and nested-virt support in the hypervisor
SR-IOV NICs
Jumbo frames
A thin-provisioned virtual disk:
Allocates full size immediately
Grows as data is written
Is read-only
A workload fails over to another region automatically. This is:
NAT traversal
Multi-region redundancy
DHCP relay
VLAN pooling
A small business wants email, chat, storage with minimal admin. Choose:
IaaS VM with custom mail server
SaaS collaboration suite
On-prem Exchange cluster
Bare-metal colo
Which technology streams desktops/apps from the data center?
FAT client
VDI
Local containers only
Bare-metal restore
A PC powers on, no video, three short beeps repeat. What’s the first action?
Reinstall Windows
Reseat/replace RAM; try one DIMM in correct slot
Replace PSU
Update BIOS from within OS
A system shows CPU fan error on boot. Likely fix?
Ignore and continue
Connect fan to CPU_FAN header and reseat cooler
Plug fan into CHA_FAN
Replace GPU
After moving desks, there are no link lights on Ethernet. First check?
DNS suffix
Known-good patch cable and verify wall jack is patched to switch
VLAN ACLs
Browser proxy
A color laser prints vertical lines aligned each page. Most likely cause?
Bad fuser temperature
Damaged drum or dirty developer
Wrong paper
Empty waste ink pad
Desktop reboots under heavy GPU load; temps are normal. Next step?
Rebuild BCD
Check PCIe power connectors and PSU wattage/rails
Change DNS
Disable IPv6
A laptop hits 100°C and throttles quickly. Best immediate actions?
Disable fans
Clean vents, verify fans, repaste heatsink, re-seat cooler
Replace monitor
Change to static IP
Users on a new floor receive 169.254.x.x addresses. Switch and gateway are up. Likely missing element?
DNS zone
DHCP relay (IP helper) on that VLAN
NAT
WPA2
A user can map a share by IP but not by name. ping filesrv resolves to the wrong IP. What’s the fix?
Replace switch
Correct DNS record and flush client cache
Disable IPv6
Increase MTU
A monitor shows “Out of range” after selecting 4K@144 Hz over old HDMI. Quick recovery?
Replace CPU
Boot Safe Mode/low-res and choose a supported mode
Clear CMOS battery only
Reinstall printer
After adding an M.2 NVMe, one SATA port goes missing. Why?
GPT vs MBR
Chipset lane sharing disables a SATA port when M.2 slot is populated
DHCP conflict
DNS poisoning
A fiber link reports high attenuation after a rack move. Most common cause?
Dirty connectors or tight bend radius
VLAN mismatch
DHCP starvation
STP loop
Users complain of motion blur/ghosting in games on a 60 Hz monitor. Best improvement?
Enable overdrive and/or use a higher refresh rate
Enable WEP
Lower DHCP lease time
Replace PSU
A network printer is pingable but shows Offline in Windows. First good step?
Replace fuser
Restart Print Spooler and verify TCP/IP port points to the printer’s IP/hostname
Change SSID
Replace switch
A PC shows No boot device after adding a new disk. Most likely fix?
Update NIC driver
Set OS drive first in UEFI boot order
Clear DNS
Replace CPU
You must trace an unlabeled wall jack to the correct patch-panel port. Which tool pair?
Loopback plug
Tone generator and probe
OTDR only
Optical power meter
Users near a microwave oven lose Wi-Fi. Best mitigation?
40 MHZ channels on 2.4 GHz
Move clients/APs to 5/6 GHz and adjust channels
Enable WEP
Disable RTS/CTS
A PoE camera won’t power on from one switch port but works on another. Likely cause?
DNS misconfig
PoE disabled or non-PoE port
Wrong default gateway
Duplex mismatch
After a short outage, domain logons fail with time skew errors. Quick fix?
Disable DNS
Restore NTP/time sync across domain
Change to static IPs
Update GPU BIOS
Pressing Fn+F8 cycles displays but the internal panel stays dark; external works. Best next step?
Update the video driver
Reseat or replace the eDP/LVDS display cable
Replace the laptop battery
Calibrate the display color settings
A tablet registers touches but lines are offset from the stylus tip. Most suspect?
LCD backlight failure
Battery calibration
Active digitizer calibration
Discrete GPU failure
One-cable dock for two 4K monitors plus Ethernet on an ultrabook?
USB 2.0 hub
USB-C Thunderbolt 3/4 dock
Mini DisplayPort to dual HDMI splitter
VGA splitter
Wi‑Fi calling requirements?
Only the Wi‑Fi router must support the feature
Carrier and handset must support Wi‑Fi calling and E911 over Wi‑Fi
Any Wi‑Fi network enables the feature automatically
A VPN account from the carrier is required
Smallest SIM form factor?
Mini‑SIM
Micro‑SIM
Nano‑SIM
Standard SIM
Move large RAW photos from a camera to a phone without internet at high speed?
NFC
Wi‑Fi Direct
Bluetooth Low Energy
MMS transfer
Phone fails to pair with a car head unit. First, most effective step?
Reset all network settings on the phone
Replace the car stereo
Toggle Airplane Mode on the phone
Delete saved pairings on both devices and re‑pair
Android “Adoptable storage enabled” means…
The microSD card remains portable FAT32 media
The microSD card is used only for photos and music
The microSD card is encrypted and treated as internal storage
The phone supports USB OTG accessories
Laptop uses LPDDR5 memory—implication?
Easily upgradable SO‑DIMMs are installed
Modules must be installed in matched pairs
Uses ECC memory by default
Lower power, soldered—no user upgrade
Tech enabling tap‑to‑pair accessories?
NFC
Bluetooth Classic
Wi‑Fi WPS
Zigbee
USB‑C DP Alt Mode tablet to a VGA‑only projector—single accessory?
USB‑C to HDMI adapter
USB‑C to VGA active adapter
USB‑A to VGA passive adapter
Lightning to VGA adapter
Best port for an external GPU (eGPU)?
USB 3.0 Type‑A
Thunderbolt 3/4 over USB‑C
HDMI 2.0
Gigabit Ethernet
Sensor for compass functionality?
Accelerometer
Gyroscope
Magnetometer
Barometer
DSDS allows…
Only one SIM provisioned; second SIM disabled
Two numbers provisioned; only one radio active at a time
Both radios active simultaneously for voice and data
eSIM support only; no physical SIM
Requirements for USB tethering phone to laptop?
Any USB cable and plan will work
Wi‑Fi must be enabled on both devices
Carrier plan supports tethering and a data‑capable USB cable is used
Install a custom ROM on the phone
Panel type with narrow viewing angles and color shift?
IPS
TN
OLED
VA
iPad in MDM can’t install personal apps to the work profile—why?
The device is out of storage
The MDM server is offline
User Enrollment separates work and personal; the organization controls work apps only
The wrong Apple ID is signed in
Swollen Li‑ion battery—action?
Puncture the cell to release gas
Continue using the device until it discharges
Refrigerate the battery overnight
Power down, isolate, and replace per HAZMAT/e‑waste procedure
Hub vs switch—key difference?
Both repeat frames to all ports
A switch builds a MAC table and forwards frames per port
A hub uses VLANs to segment traffic
A switch operates at Layer 1 only
Mask for /28?
255.255.255.240
255.255.255.248
255.255.255.224
255.255.255.192
Usable hosts in /28?
14
16
30
6
With SLAAC, which server isn’t required for address assignment?
DNS server
DHCPv6 server
RADIUS server
NTP server
DNS record for primary authoritative server?
A
CNAME
SOA
TXT
Auto‑MDI/MDI‑X eliminates need for…
Shielded cabling
PoE injectors
Crossover cables in most cases
Fiber transceivers
Allow multiple VLANs across one link?
Access port
802.1Q trunk
LACP
STP
2.5/5GBASE‑T over Cat5e/6 standard?
802.11ax
802.3bz (NBASE‑T)
802.1X
802.3ad (LACP)
Access an inside server via its public name from inside the LAN?
Port mirroring
NAT loopback / hairpin NAT
Split tunneling
DMZ host mapping
Deprecated Wi‑Fi security?
WPA2‑PSK (AES)
WEP
WPA3‑SAE
802.1X with AES
GPON CPE device?
OLT
ONT
DSLAM
Cable modem
DHCP scope exhaustion symptom?
High ping latency to the gateway
Clients receive 169.254.x.x addresses
DNS queries fail for external sites
All clients receive the same IP address
Tool to validate pair order, detect split pairs, measure length, and certify a run?
Tone generator and probe
Cable certifier
Wi‑Fi analyzer
RJ‑45 crimping tool
Directly test DNS resolution on Windows?
ping example.com
nslookup example.com
tracert example.com
ipconfig /flushdns
DNS record mapping a name to IPv6?
A
AAAA
MX
PTR
Excellent RSSI but poor Wi‑Fi throughput at lunch—why?
Access point is powered off
High channel contention/airtime utilization
Incorrect Wi‑Fi password entered
Ethernet switching loop
SMB port on modern Windows?
139
21
445
389
Make an access port come up immediately (bypass STP timers)?
Root Guard
PortFast / Edge
BPDU Guard
EtherChannel
TPM in a laptop is used for…
CPU overclocking
BitLocker key protection and attestation
Wi‑Fi roaming
Improving game graphics
RAID level with four or more drives and two‑disk fault tolerance?
RAID 0
RAID 1
RAID 5
RAID 6
ATX main power connector?
4‑pin P4
8‑pin EPS12V
24‑pin ATX
Molex peripheral
Desktop storage with lowest latency?
7200 RPM HDD
SATA III SSD
NVMe PCIe SSD
USB flash drive
Color laser ghosting (repeat faint images)—likely fix?
Refill the toner cartridge
Replace or clean the fuser or drum, depending on the pattern
Update the printer driver
Reset network settings on the printer
Standard laptop battery chemistry?
NiCd
Li‑ion
NiMH
Lead‑acid
3D printer using resin and UV?
FDM
SLA/DLP
SLS
Inkjet
Connector carrying A/V with HDCP, common on TVs?
VGA
HDMI
DisplayPort
DVI‑D
Best combo to reduce system noise?
Water‑cool the CPU only
Large low‑RPM fans plus SSDs and good airflow
Use tiny high‑RPM fans for maximum static pressure
Add more external speakers
M.2 NVMe SSD keying?
B‑key
A‑key
M‑key
E‑key
Adapter to connect to a legacy serial device?
USB to RS‑232
HDMI to VGA
USB to parallel
RJ‑45 to USB
Shared storage with RAID over a LAN?
SAN
NAS
DAS
Cloud gateway
Cable jacket for air‑handling plenums?
CMR
CMX
CMP
PVC
Photo editing/light video workstation priorities?
RGB keyboard with a high‑TDP CPU
Calibrated display, lots of RAM, and a fast SSD
Dual‑socket CPU with ECC RAM and RAID 10
Low‑power thin client with cloud storage
Correct SATA revision speed?
SATA I = 6 Gbps
SATA II = 6 Gbps
SATA III = 6 Gbps
SATA IV = 12 Gbps
Extra GPU power connector?
4‑pin Molex
6/8‑pin PCIe power
24‑pin ATX
SATA power
Add Bluetooth without opening the PC?
Replace the motherboard
Install a PCIe x1 Bluetooth card
Use a USB Bluetooth adapter
Enable Bluetooth in BIOS
