Every lesson in APlus Academy Core 1
Self-paced CompTIA A+ Core 1 (220-1201) course with adaptive training and practice exams.
The exam
| Exam | CompTIA A+ Core 1 |
|---|---|
| Code | 220-1201 |
| Questions | Up to 90 |
| Time | 90 minutes |
| Passing | The real exam passes at 675 on a 100 to 900 scale. This course's official-format test uses 75%, that score divided by 900. |
| Lessons | 41 lessons across 9 units, about 6.7 hours of reading |
Exam domains
| Domain | Weight | Lessons |
|---|---|---|
| Mobile Devices | 13% | 4 |
| Networking | 23% | 11 |
| Hardware | 25% | 13 |
| Virtualization and Cloud Computing | 11% | 4 |
| Hardware and Network Troubleshooting | 28% | 9 |
How the course works
- Cheat sheet. Everything the exam expects you to recall cold, printable.
- Starter test. A few questions per exam domain, with a confidence rating on each.
- Your tutorial. Lessons chosen from what you missed or guessed, each with a checkpoint and a deeper explanation.
- Practice tests and retraining. 50 questions, weighted like the real exam. Every miss is explained and feeds back into your lessons.
- 3 of your last 5 at 80%. That unlocks one full-length test on the real exam's clock: 90 questions in 90 minutes, at its real passing score of 75%. Pass it once and you are ready to book.
Every lesson
The first 15 lessons are open to read here. Every lesson, with its checkpoint, is free inside the course.
Unit 1: Mobile Devices
Laptops, phones, and tablets: the parts you replace, the ports and accessories you connect, the radios that get them online, and the management that keeps company data safe on them.
- Laptop Hardware: Replacing Batteries, Keyboards, RAM, Storage, Wireless Cards, Cameras, and Biometrics 10 min
- Mobile Connections and Accessories: USB-C, Lightning, NFC, Bluetooth, Tethering, Docks, and Styluses 9 min
- Mobile Network Connectivity: Cellular, SIM and eSIM, Wi-Fi, Hotspots, Bluetooth Pairing, and Location 9 min
- MDM, BYOD, and Synchronization: Device Configurations, Policy Enforcement, Corporate Apps, Sync, and Data Caps 9 min
Unit 2: Networking Fundamentals
How data actually moves, the port numbers and protocols every technician memorizes, the wireless standards, and the boxes and servers that make a network work.
- How Data Moves: MAC and IP, Frames and Packets, Switches and Routers, and the Layers in Plain Terms 9 min
- TCP Versus UDP and the Port List 11 min
- Wireless Technologies: Bands, Channels, Widths, 802.11 Standards, Bluetooth, NFC, and RFID 10 min
- Network Hardware: Routers, Switches, Access Points, Patch Panels, Firewalls, PoE, Modems, ONTs, and NICs 10 min
- Services of Networked Hosts: Server Roles, Internet Appliances, SCADA, and IoT 9 min
Unit 3: Network Configuration
IPv4 and IPv6 addressing, DNS and email authentication records, DHCP, VLANs, and VPNs, setting up a small office network, and the tools that test cables and connections.
- IPv4 Addressing: Private and Public Ranges, Masks, Gateways, APIPA, and Static Versus Dynamic 11 min
- IPv6 Essentials: Address Format, Link-Local, Global, Loopback, and Dual Stack 8 min
- DNS Records and Email Authentication: A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, TXT, SPF, DKIM, and DMARC 10 min
- DHCP, VLANs, and VPNs 10 min
- SOHO Network Setup, Internet Connection Types, and Network Types 11 min
- Networking Tools: Crimper, Stripper, Punchdown, Tester, Toner Probe, Loopback Plug, Wi-Fi Analyzer, and Tap 8 min
Unit 4: Cables, Connectors, and Displays
Every cable and connector a technician must recognize by name and number, from copper categories and fiber to USB, Thunderbolt, video, and drive interfaces, plus the display panels they feed.
- Network Cables: Copper Categories, T568A and T568B, Shielding, Plenum, Direct Burial, Coax, and Fiber in the course
- Peripheral, Video, and Drive Interfaces: USB, Thunderbolt, Lightning, Serial, HDMI, DisplayPort, DVI, VGA, SATA, and Adapters in the course
- Displays: LCD Types, OLED, Mini-LED, Digitizers, Inverters, Resolution, Density, Refresh, and Gamut in the course
Unit 5: Memory, Storage, Motherboards, and Power
The inside of the box: RAM generations, hard drives and SSDs, RAID levels with the math, motherboard form factors and slots, firmware settings, CPUs and cooling, and power supplies.
- RAM: DIMM and SODIMM, DDR3 to DDR5, ECC, Channels, and Virtual Memory in the course
- Storage Devices: HDDs, SATA and NVMe SSDs, M.2, mSATA, SAS, Removable Media, and Optical in the course
- RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, and 10 With Capacity Math in the course
- Motherboards: Form Factors, Slots, Power Connectors, Headers, Sockets, and Chipsets in the course
- BIOS and UEFI: Boot Options, Secure Boot, TPM, Passwords, Fans, Virtualization Support, HSM, and CMOS in the course
- CPUs, Expansion Cards, and Cooling in the course
- Power Supplies: Input Voltage, Rails, Connectors, Wattage, Efficiency, Modular, and Redundant in the course
Unit 6: Printers
Deploying and securing printers, the laser imaging process step by step, and the parts and maintenance of laser, inkjet, thermal, and impact printers.
- Printer Deployment and Configuration: Drivers, PCL Versus PostScript, Connectivity, Sharing, Settings, Security, and Scanning in the course
- Laser Printers: The Seven-Step Imaging Process, Components, and Maintenance in the course
- Inkjet, Thermal, and Impact Printers: Components and Maintenance in the course
Unit 7: Virtualization and Cloud
Running many computers on one, and renting computers from someone else: hypervisors, virtual machines, containers, VDI, and the cloud models and characteristics the exam names.
- Virtualization: Purposes, Hypervisor Types, VDI, and Containers in the course
- Building a Virtual Machine: Requirements, Network Modes, Storage, Snapshots, and Security in the course
- Cloud Models: Public, Private, Hybrid, Community; IaaS, PaaS, SaaS in the course
- Cloud Characteristics: Shared Versus Dedicated, Metering, Elasticity, Availability, File Sync, and Multitenancy in the course
Unit 8: Troubleshooting Hardware
The method the exam expects, the tools on the bench, and the symptom-to-cause pairs for motherboards, RAM, CPUs, power, drives, RAID, displays, projectors, and mobile devices, finished with complete worked cases.
- The Troubleshooting Method and the Technician's Toolkit in the course
- Motherboard, RAM, CPU, and Power Symptoms in the course
- Drive and RAID Symptoms in the course
- Video, Projector, and Display Symptoms in the course
- Mobile Device Symptoms in the course
- Worked Hardware Cases: From Symptom to Fix, Five Complete Walkthroughs in the course
Unit 9: Troubleshooting Networks and Printers
Wired and wireless network symptoms from slow speeds to port flapping, and printer symptoms from streaks and ghosting to jams, stuck queues, and finisher faults.
- Network Symptoms: Wireless, Speed, Limited Connectivity, Latency and Jitter, Port Flapping, Interference, and Authentication in the course
- Printer Output Problems: Lines, Faded, Speckling, Ghosting, Garbled, Fusing, Color, and Orientation in the course
- Printer Feed, Queue, Connectivity, and Finishing Problems in the course
On exam day
- Up to 90 questions in 90 minutes with performance-based items; do the multiple choice first if a simulation stalls you, flag it and return.
- Port numbers, 802.11 standards, cable categories, connector names, DDR generations, and the seven laser steps are pure recall; know them cold.
- In troubleshooting items the simplest physical cause usually wins: cable, input source, seating, power, toner, rollers.
- Read for the qualifier: BEST, MOST likely, FIRST, NEXT. Never pick reinstalling the OS when a driver or setting fixes it.
- Two forms of ID, arrive early, sleep the night before.