Bluetooth headphones that do not support multipoint are currently connected to a phone. The laptop still lists the headphones as paired but cannot connect. What is the FIRST logical action?

Disconnect the headphones from the phone first so the laptop's connection request is accepted.

Remove the headphones from the laptop's saved devices list and re-pair from scratch.

Flash the laptop's BIOS to the latest version available on the vendor support site.

Move the laptop and the phone at least thirty feet apart to eliminate Bluetooth RF interference.

A site survey for a 1500-square-meter open office shows that one access point in the center of the floor measures -55 dBm near the AP and -85 dBm at the corners. The IT lead wants reliable bidirectional coverage with adequate SNR at the corners, around -65 dBm or better. What is the most direct fix?

Add additional access points at the perimeter of the floor so every working area is within range of a nearby AP.

Increase the single central AP's transmit power to the regulatory maximum so the perimeter readings rise into the desired range.

Switch the central AP to broadcast on 2.4 GHz only because it propagates further than 5 GHz across the same floor space.

Replace the omnidirectional antenna on the central AP with a directional parabolic dish aimed at the worst-performing corner.

What does a Time-Domain Reflectometer (TDR) measure when used on a copper Ethernet cable run?

The distance to a fault on the cable by timing how long a launched pulse takes to reflect back from any impedance discontinuity.

The cable's outer-jacket diameter, shielding type, and physical jacket-print markings along the run.

The Wi-Fi channel utilization carried on the cable, including 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz airtime contention and packet collision counts at each end.

The IP address of the device at the far end of the cable run on the production network.

Why is cable with the applicable plenum listing selected for a pathway classified by the authority having jurisdiction as an environmental air space?

The cable's plenum listing indicates the required fire-resistant and low-smoke-producing performance for environmental-air spaces, commonly evaluated using NFPA 262, formerly UL 910.

Plenum cable carries higher data rates than PVC cable purely because of the chosen jacket material.

Plenum-rated cabling is required by FCC regulation rather than by NEC and the NFPA test methods.

Plenum cable is only required in industrial manufacturing occupancies; commercial offices, healthcare, and education are exempt.

Which RAM form factor is the standard module used in laptops and small form factor systems, with a shorter physical length than the desktop equivalent?

SODIMM, which is shorter and narrower than DIMM and is the standard module used in laptops and many all-in-one systems.

DIMM, which uses a longer module and provides the standard slot found in desktops and rack servers.

RDIMM, which is a registered server module typically paired with hardware ECC enforcement in production hosts.

mSATA, which is a compact storage interface module that was largely replaced by M.2 in newer ultrabook designs.

A stateless front-end tier must add instances during a planned traffic spike and remove them afterward while keeping one client endpoint. Which scaling approach is the FIRST logical match?

Horizontal scaling: autoscale identical front-end instances behind a load balancer, then scale back down post-launch.

Vertical scaling: resize the instance to a larger VM type for the launch, because larger is faster than autoscale.

Manual capacity provisioning by ticket, because cloud platforms cannot scale automatically without operator intervention.

Switch the workload to a private cloud for the duration of the product launch, then migrate back afterward.

An admin takes a VM checkpoint stored with the VM before applying a risky patch, then deletes the independent backup copy. Which statement BEST describes the resulting recovery posture?

The checkpoint can support patch rollback but does not replace protection from the independent backup copy.

The checkpoint fully replaces the backup because it captures VM state at a known point.

The checkpoint is sufficient because the hypervisor automatically places an independent copy on separate storage.

The snapshot is irrelevant because no patch can fail in a way a snapshot would help to recover from.

A user reports their smartphone's back cover has lifted away from the frame and the screen looks bowed outward. The phone is still functional. What is the FIRST logical action?

Stop the user from charging or using the device, isolate it from heat, and follow vendor swollen-battery handoff.

Pry the back cover open with a metal spudger and replace the battery in-house using adhesive strips.

Place the device in a freezer for one hour to reduce battery pressure before opening the chassis.

Press the back cover firmly back into place and apply pressure clips to hold it tightly against the frame.

A user cannot install an approved application on a company-managed phone. The device-management log records a policy denial for that application identifier. What is the FIRST logical action the technician should take?

Check the MDM policy to see whether the application is blocked or whether the app store install path is restricted.

Factory reset the device immediately and reinstall all corporate applications during the device enrollment workflow.

Replace the device because the install failure indicates a hardware fault in the storage controller on the phone.

Instruct the user to sideload the application directly from a third party source to bypass the app store restriction.

A dot-matrix printer's built-in self-test produces every character with a missing dot at the same vertical position. Per the model's service documentation, what is the FIRST logical action?

Inspect the print head for a stuck or broken pin and replace the print head assembly per service documentation.

Replace the printer's network or parallel cable on the assumption the link is dropping individual pin commands.

Replace the ribbon, on the assumption that a single missing position on every character means the ribbon is empty.

Swap the loaded paper to thicker stock on the assumption a thin sheet is selectively blocking one pin's strikes.

Free practice test

Free CompTIA A+ Core 1 (220-1201) practice test

RTJ is an IT certification platform that starts with CompTIA A+, Network+ and Security+.

This free CompTIA A+ Core 1 (220-1201) practice test has 10 questions that cover all 5 Core 1 domains. Pick an answer to see whether it is right and why. No account, no timer.

Try the sample questions

Nothing here is saved or sent. Choose an answer to see whether it is right and why.

0 of 10 answered

Question 1 of 10 · Mobile Devices
Bluetooth headphones that do not support multipoint are currently connected to a phone. The laptop still lists the headphones as paired but cannot connect. What is the FIRST logical action?
A. Remove the headphones from the laptop's saved devices list and re-pair from scratch.B. Flash the laptop's BIOS to the latest version available on the vendor support site.C. Disconnect the headphones from the phone first so the laptop's connection request is accepted.D. Move the laptop and the phone at least thirty feet apart to eliminate Bluetooth RF interference.
Answer and explanation
Right answer: C. Disconnect the headphones from the phone first so the laptop's connection request is accepted.
Because the scenario states that the headphones do not support multipoint and are connected to the phone, disconnect that active host before testing the laptop. A saved pairing record does not guarantee the accessory will accept a second active connection. This conclusion is scoped to the stated device capability rather than all Bluetooth headsets.
Objective 1.2: Mobile Accessories and Connectivity
Question 2 of 10 · Networking
A site survey for a 1500-square-meter open office shows that one access point in the center of the floor measures -55 dBm near the AP and -85 dBm at the corners. The IT lead wants reliable bidirectional coverage with adequate SNR at the corners, around -65 dBm or better. What is the most direct fix?
A. Add additional access points at the perimeter of the floor so every working area is within range of a nearby AP.B. Increase the single central AP's transmit power to the regulatory maximum so the perimeter readings rise into the desired range.C. Switch the central AP to broadcast on 2.4 GHz only because it propagates further than 5 GHz across the same floor space.D. Replace the omnidirectional antenna on the central AP with a directional parabolic dish aimed at the worst-performing corner.
Answer and explanation
Right answer: A. Add additional access points at the perimeter of the floor so every working area is within range of a nearby AP.
Received signal strength (RSSI) is measured in dBm, a logarithmic unit where every 10 dBm is a tenfold change in signal power. In this scenario -55 dBm near the AP is strong, -65 dBm is the IT lead's target at the corners, and -85 dBm is weak enough that clients there are likely to see slow, unreliable connections. The classic mistake is to raise the central AP's transmit power. That widens the AP's downlink footprint, but the client's own transmit power is set by the device, so the AP may still not hear the client. The result is imbalanced downlink and uplink coverage: the client can see the AP but cannot reliably send back, and the network appears intermittent. Adding access points across the floor puts each client within balanced range of a nearby AP. How many access points are needed, and where they go, follows the site survey and the client, application and capacity requirements rather than a fixed rule of thumb, and neighboring cells need enough overlap to support roaming. Switching to 2.4 GHz trades some added reach for more congestion and does not fix the coverage gap. A directional antenna aimed at one corner can help that corner but gives up coverage elsewhere, which does not suit an open office. The CompTIA Core 1 objective tests recognition that access point density and balanced cell sizing are the architectural answers to weak-corner symptoms.
Objective 2.2: Wireless Networking
Question 3 of 10 · Networking
What does a Time-Domain Reflectometer (TDR) measure when used on a copper Ethernet cable run?
A. The cable's outer-jacket diameter, shielding type, and physical jacket-print markings along the run.B. The distance to a fault on the cable by timing how long a launched pulse takes to reflect back from any impedance discontinuity.C. The Wi-Fi channel utilization carried on the cable, including 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz airtime contention and packet collision counts at each end.D. The IP address of the device at the far end of the cable run on the production network.
Answer and explanation
Right answer: B. The distance to a fault on the cable by timing how long a launched pulse takes to reflect back from any impedance discontinuity.
A TDR launches electrical energy into a copper cable and observes reflections caused by impedance changes. It uses propagation time and a configured cable velocity to estimate where a change occurs. That makes it useful for locating opens, shorts, and other impedance events that a simple continuity result may not locate. The trace does not by itself prove the physical cause, and an incorrect propagation setting changes the distance estimate. An OTDR applies a related time-domain approach to optical fiber by measuring returned light.
Objective 2.8: Networking Tools
Question 4 of 10 · Hardware
Why is cable with the applicable plenum listing selected for a pathway classified by the authority having jurisdiction as an environmental air space?
A. Plenum cable carries higher data rates than PVC cable purely because of the chosen jacket material.B. Plenum-rated cabling is required by FCC regulation rather than by NEC and the NFPA test methods.C. Plenum cable is only required in industrial manufacturing occupancies; commercial offices, healthcare, and education are exempt.D. The cable's plenum listing indicates the required fire-resistant and low-smoke-producing performance for environmental-air spaces, commonly evaluated using NFPA 262, formerly UL 910.
Answer and explanation
Right answer: D. The cable's plenum listing indicates the required fire-resistant and low-smoke-producing performance for environmental-air spaces, commonly evaluated using NFPA 262, formerly UL 910.
Plenum spaces (return-air ceilings, raised floors carrying return air, dedicated air-handling chases) are environmental air spaces: they carry air back into the occupied spaces. The NEC installation provisions for communications cable in other spaces used for environmental air (plenums) are in NEC 800.113(C), and the cable listing requirements are in NEC 800.179. A plenum-listed cable has passed flame and smoke testing for those spaces, commonly NFPA 262 (formerly UL 910). Standard PVC-jacketed cable, while electrically equivalent, can release dense smoke when it burns, and in a plenum the HVAC system could carry that smoke into occupied spaces. The plenum requirement is a life-safety code mechanism, not a performance attribute: the jacket does not change the data rate, which the cable category (for example Cat 6A) determines. The NEC allows specified alternatives, such as certain raceways, so the authority having jurisdiction and the local code decide what a given space needs. Using the wrong cable in a plenum creates a code violation that can surface at inspection, after a fire, or when the building changes hands. Riser-rated cable is a separate category for vertical shafts between floors, with its own UL 1666 test.
Objective 3.2: Cables and Connectors
Question 5 of 10 · Hardware
Which RAM form factor is the standard module used in laptops and small form factor systems, with a shorter physical length than the desktop equivalent?
A. DIMM, which uses a longer module and provides the standard slot found in desktops and rack servers.B. SODIMM, which is shorter and narrower than DIMM and is the standard module used in laptops and many all-in-one systems.C. RDIMM, which is a registered server module typically paired with hardware ECC enforcement in production hosts.D. mSATA, which is a compact storage interface module that was largely replaced by M.2 in newer ultrabook designs.
Answer and explanation
Right answer: B. SODIMM, which is shorter and narrower than DIMM and is the standard module used in laptops and many all-in-one systems.
SODIMM (Small Outline DIMM) is the laptop and small form factor RAM module. DDR4 SODIMM uses 260 pins and DDR5 SODIMM uses 262 pins, both shorter and narrower than the 288-pin desktop DIMM. DIMM and SODIMM are not interchangeable because the slot dimensions and pin counts differ. RDIMM is a registered server-class DIMM and mSATA is a storage form factor, neither of which is the standard laptop memory module.
Objective 3.3: RAM
Question 6 of 10 · Virtualization and Cloud Computing
A stateless front-end tier must add instances during a planned traffic spike and remove them afterward while keeping one client endpoint. Which scaling approach is the FIRST logical match?
A. Vertical scaling: resize the instance to a larger VM type for the launch, because larger is faster than autoscale.B. Manual capacity provisioning by ticket, because cloud platforms cannot scale automatically without operator intervention.C. Switch the workload to a private cloud for the duration of the product launch, then migrate back afterward.D. Horizontal scaling: autoscale identical front-end instances behind a load balancer, then scale back down post-launch.
Answer and explanation
Right answer: D. Horizontal scaling: autoscale identical front-end instances behind a load balancer, then scale back down post-launch.
Horizontal scaling adds and removes instances, which is the behavior the scenario requires. A load balancer can keep a stable client endpoint while distributing requests across the active instances. Vertical scaling changes the capacity of an instance instead. Autoscaling does not guarantee capacity, availability, or savings; the supported service, health checks, signals, thresholds, minimums, maximums, warm-up behavior, and limits must be configured and tested.
Objective 4.2: Cloud Computing Concepts
Question 7 of 10 · Virtualization and Cloud Computing
An admin takes a VM checkpoint stored with the VM before applying a risky patch, then deletes the independent backup copy. Which statement BEST describes the resulting recovery posture?
A. The checkpoint fully replaces the backup because it captures VM state at a known point.B. The checkpoint is sufficient because the hypervisor automatically places an independent copy on separate storage.C. The checkpoint can support patch rollback but does not replace protection from the independent backup copy.D. The snapshot is irrelevant because no patch can fail in a way a snapshot would help to recover from.
Answer and explanation
Right answer: C. The checkpoint can support patch rollback but does not replace protection from the independent backup copy.
A VM checkpoint can support reversion after a software change. Microsoft states that a snapshot is not a full backup. In this scenario the checkpoint is stored with the VM, while the independent backup copy was deleted, so the remaining checkpoint does not meet the same storage-loss recovery purpose. Recovery design must match the required failures, retention, consistency, and storage independence.
Objective 4.1: Virtualization Concepts
Question 8 of 10 · Hardware and Network Troubleshooting
A user reports their smartphone's back cover has lifted away from the frame and the screen looks bowed outward. The phone is still functional. What is the FIRST logical action?
A. Pry the back cover open with a metal spudger and replace the battery in-house using adhesive strips.B. Place the device in a freezer for one hour to reduce battery pressure before opening the chassis.C. Stop the user from charging or using the device, isolate it from heat, and follow vendor swollen-battery handoff.D. Press the back cover firmly back into place and apply pressure clips to hold it tightly against the frame.
Answer and explanation
Right answer: C. Stop the user from charging or using the device, isolate it from heat, and follow vendor swollen-battery handoff.
A lifted cover and bowed screen support suspected battery expansion. Stop using and charging the phone, avoid pressing or opening it, and follow the vendor's safe service or return instructions. The symptom does not justify a do-it-yourself procedure, freezing, or compressing the enclosure.
Objective 5.4: Troubleshoot Mobile Device Issues
Question 9 of 10 · Hardware and Network Troubleshooting
A user cannot install an approved application on a company-managed phone. The device-management log records a policy denial for that application identifier. What is the FIRST logical action the technician should take?
A. Check the MDM policy to see whether the application is blocked or whether the app store install path is restricted.B. Factory reset the device immediately and reinstall all corporate applications during the device enrollment workflow.C. Replace the device because the install failure indicates a hardware fault in the storage controller on the phone.D. Instruct the user to sideload the application directly from a third party source to bypass the app store restriction.
Answer and explanation
Right answer: A. Check the MDM policy to see whether the application is blocked or whether the app store install path is restricted.
The device-management log directly records a policy denial for the application, so review the applicable MDM rule, assignment, and approved catalog state. Correct it only through the authorized management process. A generic install error without that log evidence could also involve storage, OS compatibility, account, store, or network conditions.
Objective 5.4: Troubleshoot Mobile Device Issues
Question 10 of 10 · Hardware and Network Troubleshooting
A dot-matrix printer's built-in self-test produces every character with a missing dot at the same vertical position. Per the model's service documentation, what is the FIRST logical action?
A. Inspect the print head for a stuck or broken pin and replace the print head assembly per service documentation.B. Replace the printer's network or parallel cable on the assumption the link is dropping individual pin commands.C. Replace the ribbon, on the assumption that a single missing position on every character means the ribbon is empty.D. Swap the loaded paper to thicker stock on the assumption a thin sheet is selectively blocking one pin's strikes.
Answer and explanation
Right answer: A. Inspect the print head for a stuck or broken pin and replace the print head assembly per service documentation.
The built-in self-test removes the host, cable, application, and driver from the print path. A missing dot at the same vertical position across that self-test supports a stuck or failed print-head pin. Follow the model's safety and service procedure to inspect and replace the head assembly if specified. Serviceability and replacement steps vary by model.
Objective 5.6: Troubleshoot Printer Issues

What does the CompTIA A+ Core 1 exam cover?

Core 1 (220-1201) covers 5 domains, and this sample draws questions from each:

Domain 1.0: Mobile Devices (1 question)
Domain 2.0: Networking (2 questions)
Domain 3.0: Hardware (2 questions)
Domain 4.0: Virtualization and Cloud Computing (2 questions)
Domain 5.0: Hardware and Network Troubleshooting (3 questions)

CompTIA decides what is on the exam. Read the official 220-1201 objectives on CompTIA's A+ page, then use RTJ's objective-by-objective guides and practice to work through them.

How does the full practice exam work?

RTJ's full-length practice exam runs 90 questions in 90 minutes, with performance-based questions mixed in and a per-domain breakdown when you finish. A free account includes one full-length practice exam per certification track, and paid plans remove that cap. The format is RTJ's own interface, not CompTIA's or Pearson VUE's.

Where do these questions come from?

They are RTJ's own questions, written to the published A+ 220-1201 objectives. RTJ drafts questions with AI assistance, and the AI policy explains how. If you find a mistake, report it on the corrections page. The sample is a fixed pick, so the same 10 questions show every time you visit.

Questions

Is this the real CompTIA A+ Core 1 exam?+

No. It is a short practice sample written by RTJ to the published 220-1201 objectives. It is not CompTIA's exam, it does not use CompTIA's questions, and its result says nothing about how you would score on exam day.

Is the practice test really free?+

Yes. The 10 questions on this page need no account and nothing is saved or sent. A free account adds one full-length timed practice exam per certification track.

Does a high score on this sample mean I will pass?+

No. 10 questions cannot measure readiness for a 90-minute exam. RTJ's own Mastery Index is an internal, uncalibrated study signal built from many questions, and it is not a pass prediction either.

Where are the official CompTIA A+ Core 1 objectives?+

CompTIA publishes the 220-1201 exam objectives on its own site, which is the source to follow for what the exam covers. RTJ's study guides and questions are written against those objectives and carry the objective number.

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