CompTIA A+ Core 1: study guide and free practice questions The ideas the A+ Core 1 (220-1201) exam tests, one page each: what the manufacturers and standards bodies say, the traps the questions set, and real practice questions to try. Every page links to its sources.
Topics Virtualization and Cloud Computing Hardware and Network Troubleshooting 10 free practice questions Drawn from every domain. Pick an answer to see why each option is right or wrong.
An organization is buying smartphones for field staff. It wants each phone's carrier plan activated without shipping cards to workers, and it wants nothing that a thief could pull out of a stolen phone. Which of the following should the phones use? Right. In the game that’s Renown for your Mobile Devices building.
Not that one: A is right. In the game your Mobile Devices building would lose a little Renown, and this question would come back later.
The answer A. eSIMAn eSIM is an industry-standard digital SIM that activates a cellular plan from the carrier without a physical SIM. Because it is built in, it cannot be removed if the phone is lost or stolen, and nobody has to obtain, carry or ship SIM cards. Your answer B. SIM cardA physical SIM card has to be shipped to each worker and can be removed from a stolen phone, which is what the organization wants to avoid. Your answer C. BiometricsBiometrics protect who can unlock the phone. They do not activate a carrier plan or change what can be removed from the device. Your answer D. MDMMDM enforces policies on managed phones, but the requirement here is about how the cellular plan is held: digitally, with no card to ship or remove.
A mail server receives a message whose From field shows a bank's domain, and the bank's DMARC record requests rejection of failing mail. The message passes SPF and carries a valid DKIM signature, but both checks authenticate an unrelated domain. Which of the following should the receiving server most likely do? Right. In the game that’s Renown for your Networking building.
Not that one: D is right. In the game your Networking building would lose a little Renown, and this question would come back later.
Your answer A. Deliver it to the user's inbox.SPF and DKIM both passed, but for an unrelated domain. RFC 7489 requires the authenticated domain to match the From domain, so the message fails DMARC and the bank's policy asks for rejection. Your answer B. Move it to the spam folder.Placing failing mail in the spam folder is what the quarantine policy requests. The bank published a policy requesting rejection, which RFC 7489 says should happen during the SMTP transaction. Your answer C. Deliver it, then send the bank a report.DMARC lets receivers send reports to the domain owner, but reporting does not make the message authentic. With no aligned pass, the message fails and the bank asked for it to be rejected. The answer D. Refuse it during the SMTP session.DMARC passes only when SPF or DKIM authenticates a domain aligned with the From domain. RFC 7489 says a valid signature from any domain, including a bad actor's, is not enough to infer the author domain is authentic.
Show the full explanation and doc quotes Neither check here authenticates the bank's domain, so the message fails DMARC, and the bank's reject policy asks receivers to reject it, which should occur during the SMTP transaction.
Written from www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc7489.html
A customer buys a newly released Socket AM5 processor to upgrade a desktop whose Socket AM5 motherboard was bought when the socket first launched. With the new processor installed, the desktop will not POST, but the original processor still works in it. Which of the following should the technician do? Right. In the game that’s Renown for your Hardware building.
Not that one: B is right. In the game your Hardware building would lose a little Renown, and this question would come back later.
Your answer A. Replace the motherboard with a newer chipset model.A new board would work, but it is not needed. AMD says every Socket AM5 motherboard is compatible with every Socket AM5 processor, with a BIOS update sometimes required on the earlier 600 series boards. The answer B. Update the motherboard's BIOS.AMD states that all Socket AM5 motherboards are compatible with all Socket AM5 processors, but a BIOS update may be required for Ryzen 8000 and 9000 series processors on 600 series boards. Your answer C. Install DDR5 memory modules.Socket AM5 boards already take DDR5 memory, so new modules would not change whether the new processor starts. Your answer D. Clear the CMOS settings and restart.Clearing the CMOS only restores default settings. It cannot give older firmware support for a newer processor; a BIOS update does that.
Show the full explanation and doc quotes A board bought at the socket's launch can therefore run the new processor once its BIOS is updated, which the technician can do with the original processor installed.
Written from www.amd.com/en/products/processors/chipsets/am5.html
A defense contractor's security policy forbids running its cloud workloads on any physical server that also hosts another customer's workloads. The contractor still wants to rent on-demand servers from a public provider. Which of the following cloud characteristics should the contractor request? Right. In the game that’s Renown for your Virtualization and Cloud Computing building.
Not that one: C is right. In the game your Virtualization and Cloud Computing building would lose a little Renown, and this question would come back later.
Your answer A. Shared resourcesShared resources is the cloud's default arrangement, where other customers may share the same physical hardware. That is the very thing the policy forbids. Your answer B. MultitenancyMultitenancy means many customers' workloads live on the same systems. The contractor's policy rules that out. The answer C. Dedicated resourcesBy default, cloud instances run on shared-tenancy hardware that other customers' instances may share. Your answer D. ElasticityElasticity lets the contractor add or remove capacity on demand, but the extra capacity could still sit on hardware other customers use.
A user connects a game console to a new television, and both support HDMI modes that need up to 48Gbps. The picture blanks and sparkles in the highest mode but is clean at lower settings. The user reused an HDMI cord bought years ago. Which of the following is most likely causing the issue? Right. In the game that’s Renown for your Hardware and Network Troubleshooting building.
Not that one: A is right. In the game your Hardware and Network Troubleshooting building would lose a little Renown, and this question would come back later.
The answer A. Physical cabling issuesSignals that need up to 48Gbps require an Ultra High Speed HDMI Cable, a cable introduced with HDMI 2.1 that must pass certification and carry a certification label. Your answer B. Incorrect input sourceAn incorrect input source shows no console picture at all. Here the picture is clean at lower settings, so the input is right. Your answer C. Display burn-inBurn-in is a faint image that stays on the screen. It does not appear and disappear as the console changes modes. Your answer D. Dead pixelsDead pixels are dots that stay dark at every setting. They do not cause the picture to blank only in the highest mode.
Show the full explanation and doc quotes An older cord made before it was certified for that bandwidth is the likely limit when only the highest mode fails.
Written from www.hdmi.org/spec21sub/ultrahighspeedcable
A hiker's smartphone shows no cellular signal and finds no Wi-Fi networks on an open mountain ridge, yet an offline map app still tracks the hiker's position as the hiker walks. Which of the following is the phone most likely using to locate itself? Right. In the game that’s Renown for your Mobile Devices building.
Not that one: A is right. In the game your Mobile Devices building would lose a little Renown, and this question would come back later.
The answer A. GPSGPS uses line-of-sight communication with a constellation of satellites, and it runs independently of cellular networks. On an open ridge the phone can see the satellites, so it can track the hiker with no cellular or Wi-Fi connection at all. Your answer B. Cellular positioningAssumes the phone's position always comes from the carrier's network, though there is no cellular signal. Your answer C. Wi-Fi-assisted positioningWi-Fi-assisted positioning needs Wi-Fi networks nearby, and the phone finds none. Your answer D. IP geolocationGeolocating an IP address needs a network connection with an address to look up. The phone has no connection here.
A technician connects two laptops to an unmanaged switch that has no router or DHCP server attached. Nobody has entered an address on either laptop, yet they exchange files with each other. Which of the following types of IPv4 addressing are the laptops using? Right. In the game that’s Renown for your Networking building.
Not that one: A is right. In the game your Networking building would lose a little Renown, and this question would come back later.
The answer A. APIPAWith no DHCP server and no manual configuration, each laptop gives itself an IPv4 link-local address in 169.254/16, which the objectives call APIPA. Your answer B. PrivateRFC 3927 sets private addresses such as 10/8 apart from 169.254/16: they are routable and need configuring. These laptops configured themselves in 169.254/16. Your answer C. StaticStatic addresses are entered by hand. RFC 3927 exists so hosts can talk without manually configuring static addresses or setting up a DHCP server. Your answer D. PublicGlobal addresses are routable through routers. The laptops' self-assigned 169.254/16 addresses work only on their own link and are never forwarded.
Show the full explanation and doc quotes RFC 3927 says such addresses are valid for communication with other devices on the same link, which is all two laptops on one switch need.
Written from www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc3927.html
A user moves to a new laptop whose much smaller screen runs the same resolution as the user's old desktop monitor. An older application that looked crisp on the monitor now looks blurry on the laptop, while newer applications look sharp. Which of the following display attributes differs between the two screens? Right. In the game that’s Renown for your Hardware building.
Not that one: C is right. In the game your Hardware building would lose a little Renown, and this question would come back later.
Your answer A. Screen resolutionBoth screens run the same resolution, so the number of pixels did not change. What changed is how tightly those pixels are packed into each inch. Your answer B. Refresh rateRefresh rate is how often the image is redrawn; it does not make one application's text blurry while others stay sharp. The answer C. Pixel densityPixel density is the number of pixels per linear inch of screen. The same number of pixels on a much smaller screen gives a much higher pixel density. Your answer D. Color gamutColor gamut describes which colors a screen can show. A wider or narrower gamut does not blur text.
After an organization moves its desktops to a newer operating system, a required inventory application no longer runs because it supports only the previous version. Which of the following purposes of a VM addresses this? Right. In the game that’s Renown for your Virtualization and Cloud Computing building.
Not that one: B is right. In the game your Virtualization and Cloud Computing building would lose a little Renown, and this question would come back later.
Your answer A. SandboxA sandbox restricts what software can reach. The inventory application is trusted; it simply needs the previous OS version. The answer B. Legacy software/OSDesktop virtualization can enable applications that only run on an older version of an OS while the user's desktop runs a newer version. Running the previous version as a guest keeps the inventory application working without rolling back the desktops. Your answer C. Test developmentTest development uses guests to test applications on many configurations. The inventory application is already in production use. Your answer D. Cross-platform virtualizationCross-platform virtualization runs software built for a different hardware platform. Here the platform is the same and only the OS version differs.
Over recent weeks a user's desktop has become sluggish during everyday work, and its fans now run much louder than they used to. Which of the following is most likely causing the issue? Right. In the game that’s Renown for your Hardware and Network Troubleshooting building.
Not that one: C is right. In the game your Hardware and Network Troubleshooting building would lose a little Renown, and this question would come back later.
Your answer A. Insufficient RAMAdding memory can help a slow computer, but a memory shortage does not make the fans louder. Both symptoms together point to heat. Your answer B. Failing hard driveA failing drive slows the system and usually makes clicking or grinding sounds of its own. It does not make the fans spin harder. The answer C. Processor overheatingIntel lists general slowness of the system and excessive CPU/system fan noise among the symptoms of an overheating processor. Your answer D. Failing CMOS batteryThe CMOS battery keeps the clock and firmware settings when the computer is off. It has nothing to do with speed or fan noise.
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