CompTIA A+ (A Plus - Core 1) Exam Syllabus

• Battery
• Keyboard/keys
• Random-access memory (RAM)
• Hard disk drive (HDD)/solid state drive (SSD) migration
• HDD/SSD replacement
• Wireless cards

- Physical privacy and security components

• Biometrics
• Near-field scanner features

• Liquid crystal display (LCD)
  - In-plane switching (IPS)
  - Twisted nematic (TN)
  - Vertical alignment (VA)
• Organic light-emitting diode (OLED)

- Mobile display components
- WiFi antenna connector/placement
- Camera/webcam
- Microphone
- Touch screen/digitizer
- Inverter

• Universal Serial Bus (USB)/USB-C/microUSB/miniUSB
• Lightning
• Serial interfaces
• Near-field communication (NFC)
• Bluetooth
• Hotspot

- Accessories

• Touch pens
• Headsets
• Speakers
• Webcam

- Docking station
- Port replicator
- Trackpad/drawing pad

• 2G/3G/4G/5G
• Hotspot
• Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) vs. code-division multiple access (CDMA)
• Preferred Roaming List (PRL) updates

- Bluetooth

• Enable Bluetooth
• Enable pairing
• Find a device for pairing
• Enter the appropriate PIN code
• Test connectivity

- Location services

• Global Positioning System (GPS) services
• Cellular location services

- Mobile device management (MDM)/mobile application management (MAM)

• Corporate email configuration
• Two-factor authentication
• Corporate applications

- Mobile device synchronization

• Account setup
  - Microsoft 365
  - Google Workspace
  - iCloud
• Data to synchronize
  - Mail
  - Photos
  - Calendar
  - Contacts
  - Recognizing data caps

• 20/21 – File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
• 22 – Secure Shell (SSH)
• 23 – Telnet
• 25 – Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP)
• 53 – Domain Name System (DNS)
• 67/68 – Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP)
• 80 – Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)
• 110 – Post Office Protocol 3 (POP3)
• 137/139 – Network Basic Input/ Output System (NetBIOS)/ NetBIOS over TCP/IP (NetBT)
• 143 – Internet Mail Access Protocol (IMAP)
• 161/162 – Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)
• 389 – Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)
• 443 – Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS)
• 445 – Server Message Block (SMB)/Common Internet File System (CIFS)
• 3389 – Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP)

- TCP vs. UDP

• Connectionless
  - DHCP
  - Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP)
• Connection-oriented
  - HTTPS
  - SSH

• Managed
• Unmanaged

- Access points
- Patch panel
- Firewall
- Power over Ethernet (PoE)

• Injectors
• Switch
• PoE standards

- Hub
- Cable modem
- Digital subscriber line (DSL)
- Optical network terminal (ONT)
- Network interface card (NIC)
- Software-defined networking (SDN)

• 2.4GHz
• 5GHz

- Channels

• Regulations
• 2.4GHz vs. 5GHz

- Bluetooth
- 802.11

• a
• b
• g
• n
• ac (WiFi 5)
• ax (WiFi 6)

- Long-range fixed wireless

• Licensed
• Unlicensed
• Power
• Regulatory requirements for wireless power

- NFC
- Radio-frequency identification (RFID)

• DNS
• DHCP
• Fileshare
• Print servers
• Mail servers
• Syslog
• Web servers
• Authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA)

- Internet appliances

• Spam gateways
• Unified threat management (UTM)
• Load balancers
• Proxy servers

- Legacy/embedded systems

• Supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA)

- Internet of Things (IoT) devices

• IPv4
  - Private addresses
  - Public addresses
• IPv6
• Automatic Private IP Addressing (APIPA)
• Static
• Dynamic
• Gateway

• Address
  - A
  - AAAA
• Mail exchanger (MX)
• Text (TXT)
  - Spam management
  (i) DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM)
  (ii) Sender Policy Framework (SPF)
  (iii) Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance (DMARC)

- DHCP

• Leases
• Reservations
• Scope

- Virtual LAN (VLAN)
- Virtual private network (VPN)

• Satellite
• Fiber
• Cable
• DSL
• Cellular
• Wireless Internet service provider (WISP)

- Network types

• Local area network (LAN)
• Wide area network (WAN)
• Personal area network (PAN)
• Metropolitan area network (MAN)
• Storage area network (SAN)
• Wireless local area network (WLAN)

• Copper
  - Cat 5
  - Cat 5e
  - Cat 6
  - Cat 6a
  - Coaxial
  - Shielded twisted pair
  (i) Direct burial
  - Unshielded twisted pair
• Plenum
• Optical
  - Fiber
• T568A/T568B

- Peripheral cables

• USB 2.0
• USB 3.0
• Serial
• Thunderbolt

- Video cables

• High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI)
• DisplayPort
• Digital Visual Interface (DVI)
• Video Graphics Array (VGA)

- Hard drive cables

• Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA)
• Small Computer System Interface (SCSI)
• External SATA (eSATA)
• Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE)

- Adapters
- Connector types

• RJ11
• RJ45
• F type
• Straight tip (ST)
• Subscriber connector (SC)
• Lucent connector (LC)
• Punchdown block
• microUSB
• miniUSB
• USB-C
• Molex
• Lightning port
• DB9

• Virtual RAM
• Small outline dual inline memory module (SODIMM)
• Double Data Rate 3 (DDR3)
• Double Data Rate 4 (DDR4)
• Double Data Rate 5 (DDR5)
• Error correction code (ECC) RAM

- Single-channel
- Dual-channel
- Triple-channel
- Quad-channel

• Speeds
  - 5,400rpm
  - 7,200rpm
  - 10,000rpm
  - 15,000rpm
• Form factor
  - 2.5
  - 3.5

- SSDs

• Communications interfaces
  - Non-volatile Memory Express (NVMe)
  - SATA
  - Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe)
• Form factors
  - M.2
  - mSATA

- Drive configurations

• Redundant Array of Independent (or Inexpensive) Disks (RAID) 0, 1, 5, 10

- Removable storage

• Flash drives
• Memory cards
• Optical drives

• Advanced Technology eXtended (ATX)
• Information Technology eXtended (ITX)

- Motherboard connector types

• Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI)
• PCI Express (PCIe)
• Power connectors
• SATA
• eSATA
• Headers
• M.2

- Motherboard compatibility

• CPU sockets
  - Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD)
  - Intel
• Server
• Multisocket
• Desktop
• Mobile

- Basic Input/Output System (BIOS)/Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) settings

• Boot options
• USB permissions
• Trusted Platform Module (TPM) security features
• Fan considerations
• Secure Boot
• Boot password

- Encryption

• TPM
• Hardware security module (HSM)

- CPU architecture

• x64/x86
• Advanced RISC Machine (ARM)
• Single-core
• Multicore
• Multithreading
• Virtualization support

- Expansion cards

• Sound card
• Video card
• Capture card
• NIC

- Cooling

• Fans
• Heat sink
• Thermal paste/pads
• Liquid

• Printer Control Language (PCL) vs. PostScript

- Device connectivity

• USB
• Ethernet
• Wireless

- Public/shared devices

• Printer share
• Print server

- Configuration settings

• Duplex
• Orientation
• Tray settings
• Quality

- Security

• User authentication
• Badging
• Audit logs
• Secured prints

- Network scan services

• Email
• SMB
• Cloud services

- Automatic document feeder (ADF)/flatbed scanner

• Imaging drum, fuser assembly, transfer belt, transfer roller, pickup rollers, separation pads, duplexing assembly
• Imaging process: processing, charging, exposing, developing, transferring, fusing, and cleaning
• Maintenance: Replace toner, apply maintenance kit, calibrate, clean

- Inkjet

• Ink cartridge, print head, roller, feeder, duplexing assembly, carriage belt
• Calibration
• Maintenance: Clean heads, replace cartridges, calibrate, clear jams

- Thermal

• Feed assembly, heating element
• Special thermal paper
• Maintenance: Replace paper, clean heating element, remove debris
• Heat sensitivity of paper

- Impact

• Print head, ribbon, tractor feed
• Impact paper
• Maintenance: Replace ribbon, replace print head, replace paper

- 3-D printer

• Filament
• Resin
• Print bed

• Private cloud
• Public cloud
• Hybrid cloud
• Community cloud
• Infrastructure as a service (IaaS)
• Software as a service (SaaS)
• Platform as a service (PaaS)

- Cloud characteristics

• Shared resources
• Metered utilization
• Rapid elasticity
• High availability
• File synchronization

- Desktop virtualization

• Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) on premises
• VDI in the cloud

• Sandbox
• Test development
• Application virtualization
  - Legacy software/OS
  - Cross-platform virtualization

- Resource requirements
- Security requirements

1. Identify the problem
   - Gather information from the user, identify user changes, and, if applicable, perform backups before making changes
   - Inquire regarding environmental or infrastructure changes
2. Establish a theory of probable cause (question the obvious)
   - If necessary, conduct external or internal research based on symptoms
3. Test the theory to determine the cause
   - Once the theory is confirmed, determine the next steps to resolve the problem
   - If the theory is not confirmed, re-establish a new theory or escalate
4. Establish a plan of action to resolve the problem and implement the solution
   - Refer to the vendor’s instructions for guidance
5. Verify full system functionality and, if applicable, implement preventive measures
6. Document the findings, actions, and outcomes

• Power-on self-test (POST) beeps
• Proprietary crash screens (blue screen of death [BSOD]/ pinwheel)
• Black screen
• No power
• Sluggish performance
• Overheating
• Burning smell
• Intermittent shutdown
• Application crashes
• Grinding noise
• Capacitor swelling
• Inaccurate system date/time

• Light-emitting diode (LED) status indicators
• Grinding noises
• Clicking sounds
• Bootable device not found
• Data loss/corruption
• RAID failure
• Self-monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology (S.M.A.R.T.) failure
• Extended read/write times
• Input/output operations per second (IOPS)
• Missing drives in OS

• Incorrect data source
• Physical cabling issues
• Burned-out bulb
• Fuzzy image
• Display burn-in
• Dead pixels
• Flashing screen
• Incorrect color display
• Audio issues
• Dim image
• Intermittent projector shutdown

• Poor battery health
• Swollen battery
• Broken screen
• Improper charging
• Poor/no connectivity
• Liquid damage
• Overheating
• Digitizer issues
• Physically damaged ports
• Malware
• Cursor drift/touch calibration

• Lines down the printed pages
• Garbled print
• Toner not fusing to paper
• Paper jams
• Faded print
• Incorrect paper size
• Paper not feeding
• Multipage misfeed
• Multiple prints pending in queue
• Speckling on printed pages
• Double/echo images on the print
• Incorrect color settings
• Grinding noise
• Finishing issues
  - Staple jams
  - Hole punch
• Incorrect page orientation

• Intermittent wireless connectivity
• Slow network speeds
• Limited connectivity
• Jitter
• Poor Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) quality
• Port flapping
• High latency
• External interference