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CompTIA A+ Core 1 220-1201

CompTIA A+ Core 1 220-1201 PBQ Practice

Performance-based questions ask you to do the task, not pick the letter. The real exam opens with a handful. Here are 3 of the course's 10, with every task answered and explained: A+ Core 1 PBQs, 220-1201 performance-based questions, A+ PBQ practice.

Match the connector to the job

A help desk keeps a bin of cables and adapters for walk-up requests. Six requests come in on the same morning, and the technician must hand over the right connector for each one.

  1. Match each request to the connector that does the job.

    Items: Send video and audio to a TV over one cable; Carry data, power, and video over one small reversible connector; Connect a SATA drive's data cable to the motherboard; Charge an older iPhone; Plug in an external drive at 10 Gb/s through a flat rectangular port on the PC; Connect a monitor over a 20-pin video connector with a locking latch. Slots: HDMI; USB-C; SATA (7-pin data); Lightning; USB-A (USB 3.1 Gen 2); DisplayPort; VGA; Molex

    Expected: Send video and audio to a TV over one cable: HDMI; Carry data, power, and video over one small reversible connector: USB-C; Connect a SATA drive's data cable to the motherboard: SATA (7-pin data); Charge an older iPhone: Lightning; Plug in an external drive at 10 Gb/s through a flat rectangular port on the PC: USB-A (USB 3.1 Gen 2); Connect a monitor over a 20-pin video connector with a locking latch: DisplayPort

    HDMI is the 19-pin connector that carries digital video and audio to a TV, and DisplayPort is the 20-pin connector with the locking latch. USB-C is the reversible connector that can carry data, power, and video at once; Lightning is the 8-pin reversible connector on older iPhones; SATA data is the 7-pin cable; and the flat rectangle on the PC is Type A, which reaches 10 Gb/s at USB 3.1 Gen 2. VGA is analog video with no audio, and Molex is a 4-pin power connector, so neither fits any request.

  2. A docking station needs a Thunderbolt 3 or 4 port on the laptop. Which connector does that port use?

    1. USB-C
    2. Lightning
    3. USB-A
    4. HDMI

    Expected: USB-C

    Thunderbolt 3 and 4 run at 40 Gb/s over the USB-C connector, carrying PCIe, DisplayPort, and power. Lightning is a phone connector at USB 2.0 speed, USB-A is the older flat rectangle, and HDMI is a video connector.

  3. Pick every connector that can charge the phone or laptop plugged into it.

    1. USB-C
    2. Lightning
    3. HDMI
    4. DisplayPort
    5. VGA

    Expected: USB-C; Lightning

    USB-C carries power along with data and video, which is why one cable can charge a laptop, and Lightning is the charging port on older iPhones. HDMI, DisplayPort, and VGA are video connectors; they carry a picture to a display, not charging power to a device.

From the lesson Peripheral, Video, and Drive Interfaces: USB, Thunderbolt, Lightning, Serial, HDMI, DisplayPort, DVI, VGA, SATA, and Adapters.

Set up the manager's phone

A clinic manager is getting a corporate-owned phone. Her mail must stay on the server so her phone, laptop, and tablet all show the same folders, and every connection to the mail server must be encrypted. The mail server accepts outgoing mail from clients only over TLS-encrypted submission. The company's MDM policy says a lost phone must not expose company data and must be erasable from the office.

  1. Fill in the mail account settings.

    Fields: Incoming mail protocol; Incoming port; Outgoing (SMTP) port; Encryption

    Expected: Incoming mail protocol: IMAP; Incoming port: 993; Outgoing (SMTP) port: 587; Encryption: TLS

    IMAP keeps mail on the server and syncs it to every device, which is what one set of folders on three devices needs; POP3 downloads mail to one device. The secure IMAP port is 993. Clients submit outgoing mail on 587 with TLS, and some servers instead take submission over implicit TLS on 465, so either is accepted; port 25 is for mail moving between servers and 143 is unencrypted IMAP. The encryption is TLS, which mail clients label SSL/TLS, or STARTTLS on port 587, where the session opens plain and upgrades to TLS before any mail moves.

  2. Pick every MDM setting that meets the policy.

    1. Require a screen lock with a passcode or biometric
    2. Allow remote wipe
    3. Require device encryption
    4. Share the phone's location with every installed app

    Expected: Require a screen lock with a passcode or biometric; Allow remote wipe; Require device encryption

    MDM policies enforce a passcode or biometric lock, device encryption, and remote lock and wipe, which together keep a lost phone's data unreadable and erasable. Sharing location with every app protects nothing and leaks more data; MDM locates the device itself without opening location to all apps.

  3. Next month a nurse joins the program with her personal phone under BYOD. If she leaves the company, what does the MDM wipe remove?

    1. Only the managed work profile or container and its data
    2. The whole phone, including her photos and personal apps
    3. Nothing; MDM cannot wipe a personal phone
    4. Only the phone's SIM card

    Expected: Only the managed work profile or container and its data

    On a BYOD phone MDM creates a separate managed work profile, and a selective wipe removes only that work container, leaving her photos and personal apps alone. A full wipe is for corporate-owned devices; MDM can wipe the work data, and the SIM holds the carrier identity, not company data.

From the lesson MDM, BYOD, and Synchronization: Device Configurations, Policy Enforcement, Corporate Apps, Sync, and Data Caps.

Work the connectivity complaint

A user on a Windows PC can open the file server by its address, 10.0.1.20, but not by its name, fileserver, and no websites load. The technician works up the isolation ladder from the command prompt, using the public test addresses 8.8.8.8 and 1.1.1.1 to check the path to the internet.

  1. Type the command that shows the adapter's full configuration, including its DNS servers and physical address.

    Expected: ipconfig /all

    Ipconfig /all shows the full configuration: address, mask, gateway, DNS servers, DHCP status, and the physical (MAC) address; Windows accepts the switch as /all or -all. Plain ipconfig shows only the address, mask, and gateway, so it would hide the DNS server setting you need to check here.

  2. Type the command that tests whether the PC can reach one of the two public test addresses.

    Expected: ping 8.8.8.8

    Ping tests reachability; after the gateway, the next rung of the isolation ladder is a public IP address, and either test address serves. A reply proves the path to the internet works by address, so the problem is higher up; no reply puts it at the gateway or beyond.

  3. Type the command that lists each router hop on the way to 8.8.8.8, so you can see where the path stops.

    Expected: tracert 8.8.8.8

    Tracert lists each router hop with its round-trip time, so the last hop that answers shows where the path stops. Windows calls it tracert; Linux and macOS call the same tool traceroute, and either form is accepted here.

  4. Type the command that queries the configured DNS server directly. Look up either the file server's name, fileserver, or the public name www.example.com.

    Expected: nslookup fileserver

    Nslookup asks the configured DNS server to resolve a name, testing name resolution apart from the browser and the network path; the file server's name and a public name are both fair tests. If it returns an address, DNS works; if it times out or fails, the DNS server setting or the server itself is the fault.

  5. Pings by address succeed, but every lookup by name fails. Where is the fault?

    1. DNS
    2. DHCP
    3. The default gateway
    4. The network cable

    Expected: DNS

    When addresses work and names fail, the path is fine and name resolution is broken: DNS. A DHCP failure would leave an APIPA address and nothing would work, a bad gateway would stop pings to public addresses, and a bad cable would stop everything.

From the lesson Network Symptoms: Wireless, Speed, Limited Connectivity, Latency and Jitter, Port Flapping, Interference, and Authentication.

Questions people ask

How many PBQs are on the CompTIA A+ Core 1 220-1201 exam?

CompTIA does not publish the count. Expect a handful at the start of the exam, each taking longer than a multiple-choice question.

Can you skip a PBQ and come back to it?

Yes. Flag it, answer the multiple-choice questions, and return with the time you have left.

Are PBQs weighted more than other questions?

CompTIA does not disclose its weighting. Treat each task inside a PBQ as a question you can get right or wrong.

How does APlus Academy Core 1 practice PBQs?

The course has 10 interactive PBQs: drag items into order, match terms, pick lines in a log, fill a configuration, type a command. Every task is graded and explained, and the official-format test opens with 2 of them.