CompTIA A+ Core 1 (220-1201) — the full course

Every lesson and every lab is free to read, mapped one-to-one to CompTIA’s published exam objectives. The paid tier adds the 595-question exam simulator; nothing is taken away from the free course to make room for it.

Prefer a book? The 500-question practice-test book is on Amazon in paperback, and as an ebook on Google Play.

Prefer timed practice exams on Udemy? The 500 questions from this course’s bank are there as timed practice tests: see the Udemy course (launch price until 16 Nov 2026).

45written lessons

62hands-on labs

60hours of lab work

45audio episodes

595practice questions

Start with lesson 1 — Inside a laptop: what comes out, what does not, and the order it comes out in Exam simulator

Jump to a domain: 1. Mobile devices · 2. Networking · 3. Hardware · 4. Virtualization and cloud computing · 5. Hardware and network troubleshooting

What the exam weighs

Domain	Share of the exam	Lessons here
1. Mobile devices	13%	6
2. Networking	23%	10
3. Hardware	25%	11
4. Virtualization and cloud computing	11%	5
5. Hardware and network troubleshooting	28%	12

The curriculum

1. Mobile devices 13% of the exam

01 Inside a laptop: what comes out, what does not, and the order it comes out in objective 1.1 part single
- Read a service manual and write the disassembly order before touching anything short · 35 min
02 Displays, cameras and the antennas hidden in the lid objective 1.1 part single
- Build a lid fault decision table and test it against five described symptoms applied · 70 min
- Prove a backlight is alive with a torch, and map what runs through a hinge short · 30 min
03 USB, Bluetooth, NFC and docking: connecting a mobile device to everything else objective 1.2 part single
- Diagnose a dock by symptom, using a table you build from the four negotiations applied · 75 min
- Classify every cable you own by what it actually carries short · 40 min
04 Mobile connectivity: Wi-Fi, cellular data, tethering and hotspots objective 1.3 part single
- Run the three-question split against five real connectivity faults applied · 70 min
- Measure what each tethering method costs in battery and throughput short · 40 min
05 Accounts, mail and synchronisation, and what 'synced' actually means objective 1.3 part single
- Prove the difference between IMAP and POP3 by watching both short · 45 min
06 Mobile fault finding: separating hardware, software and account problems objective 1.4 part single
- Write the pre-wipe checklist and prove each item on your own device applied · 80 min
- Domain 1 capstone: a mobile triage runner that refuses to guess capstone · 120 min
- Find out what your own phone is actually spending battery and storage on short · 30 min

2. Networking 23% of the exam

01 The ports and protocols you have to know cold, and how to learn them once objective 2.1 part single
- Read your own machine's connections and name every service by its port short · 35 min
02 TCP, UDP, and what the transport layer decides for you objective 2.1 part single
- Make a connection refuse, and make another one hang, and time both short · 35 min
03 Wireless standards, frequencies and the channel plan nobody made objective 2.1 part single
- Survey the air around you and record numbers instead of bars short · 40 min
04 DNS, DHCP and the services a network cannot run without objective 2.1 part single
- Break name resolution five ways and find each one from the symptom applied · 80 min
- Watch a lease being taken, and read every field it hands over short · 40 min
05 IPv4 addressing, subnets, and why the mask matters more than the address objective 2.2 part single
- Decide twenty same-network questions by hand, then check every one short · 40 min
06 IPv6, APIPA, and choosing between static and dynamic addressing objective 2.2 part single
- Produce an APIPA address on purpose and read what it tells you short · 35 min
07 Setting up a small office network: the router, the wireless and the defaults objective 2.2 part single
- Build the network in a hypervisor and prove the isolation actually isolates applied · 90 min
- Write the build order and the addressing plan before touching a router short · 40 min
08 VPNs and remote access for the small office objective 2.2 part single
- Predict what a VPN changes, then verify each prediction short · 40 min
09 Copper, fibre, and terminating a cable that actually works objective 2.3 part single
- Terminate one cable correctly, one wrongly, and record what each proves short · 60 min
10 Network tools: what a tester, a toner and an analyser each actually prove objective 2.3 part single
- Choose the cheapest tool for ten stated symptoms and defend every choice applied · 80 min
- Domain 2 capstone: a connectivity runner that stops at the first failed layer capstone · 120 min
- Test both cables and record what the pass did not prove short · 45 min

3. Hardware 25% of the exam

01 CPUs: sockets, cores, and the thermal limit that decides real speed objective 3.1 part single
- Find your own processor's limits and watch it throttle short · 45 min
02 RAM: types, channels, and what actually fails objective 3.1 part single
- Read your own memory configuration and find out whether it is dual channel short · 40 min
03 Storage: spinning disks, solid state, and the interfaces they arrive on objective 3.1 part single
- Identify every drive you own by interface, protocol and form factor short · 40 min
04 RAID levels, and the array that is not a backup objective 3.1 part single
- Compute capacity and survival for twelve array configurations, then answer four outage questions applied · 80 min
05 Display connectors: HDMI, DisplayPort, and the adapter that will not work objective 3.2 part single
- Work out the bandwidth budget for three display configurations short · 40 min
06 USB, Thunderbolt, and cables that charge but do not carry data objective 3.2 part single
- Build the cable and port decision tree, and test it on the awkward cases applied · 75 min
- Measure what each USB port on your machine actually delivers short · 40 min
07 Printer types, and how each one actually puts ink on paper objective 3.3 part single
- Map twelve print quality symptoms onto the stage that produced them short · 40 min
08 Installing, sharing and securing a printer objective 3.3 part single
- Audit a networked printer as the computer it is applied · 70 min
- Clear a stuck queue properly and prove the order of operations matters short · 35 min
09 Scanners, input devices and the peripherals that arrive with them objective 3.3 part single
- Find the settings that change scan file size by a factor of sixteen short · 35 min
10 Motherboards: form factors, headers, and the firmware underneath objective 3.4 part single
- Document your own firmware settings before you ever need them short · 40 min
11 Power supplies, wattage, connectors and keeping the heat out objective 3.4 part single
- Measure the thermal effect of airflow you can change for nothing applied · 90 min
- Domain 3 capstone: a build sheet that refuses an incompatible combination capstone · 130 min
- Size a supply for a real build and compare against what is fitted short · 40 min

4. Virtualization and cloud computing 11% of the exam

01 Hypervisors: type 1, type 2, and what each one is for objective 4.1 part single
- Find out whether your own machine can virtualise, and fix it if not short · 35 min
02 Building a virtual machine that does not fight you objective 4.1 part single
- Prove each network mode isolates what it claims to isolate applied · 85 min
- Build one guest, size it deliberately, and measure what a snapshot costs short · 70 min
03 Virtual desktops, thin clients, and what the endpoint still needs objective 4.1 part single
04 Cloud service models, and who patches what objective 4.2 part single
- Write the responsibility matrix for one service and find what nobody owns applied · 80 min
- Classify twelve real services by what the customer still has to patch short · 40 min
05 Cloud characteristics and deployment models objective 4.2 part single
- Domain 4 capstone: a placement recommender that states what it cannot decide capstone · 120 min

5. Hardware and network troubleshooting 28% of the exam

01 The troubleshooting method, and why the order of the steps matters objective 5.1 part single
- Convert three user stories into symptoms, and find what the story left out short · 35 min
02 A machine that will not start: no power, no POST, no display objective 5.1 part single
- Separate no power, no POST and no display on a machine you can safely stop short · 45 min
03 Intermittent faults: heat, power, and the ones that come back objective 5.1 part single
- Force a thermal condition and instrument it so the evidence survives a reboot short · 60 min
04 Storage failures: reading the warning signs and getting the files off objective 5.1 part single
- Read every drive's health data and rehearse the copy-first order short · 45 min
05 Display problems, from the panel to the cable objective 5.1 part single
- Plant four display faults and time how long each takes to find short · 45 min
06 Printer faults you can diagnose without a service manual objective 5.1 part single
- Prove the self-test page divides the problem in one step short · 35 min
07 A network connection that is not working objective 5.1 part single
- Plant six connectivity faults and prove the sequence stops at the right layer applied · 90 min
- Run the outward sequence on a healthy machine and record what each step proved short · 40 min
08 Wireless problems: signal, interference and roaming objective 5.1 part single
- Map signal against throughput across your own space short · 50 min
09 The multimeter, and what a reading actually tells you objective 5.2 part single
- Prove the meter before you use it, then test a cable, a fuse and a switch short · 50 min
10 Testing a power supply without guessing objective 5.2 part single
- Measure the rails at idle and under load, and compare against tolerance short · 50 min
11 Cable testers, toners and loopback plugs objective 5.2 part single
- Prove a port with a loopback and distinguish it from the loopback address short · 40 min
12 Building a test kit, and knowing what each tool proves objective 5.2 part single
- Merge every table in the course into one symptom-to-tool map applied · 90 min
- Domain 5 capstone: a triage runner with four outcomes, proven on planted faults capstone · 150 min
- Assemble the kit, prove every spare, and label what has not been proven short · 45 min

Supplementary not examined — background reading

01 A bench you can actually build, and what it costs to prove each thing part single
- Inventory the bench you have, price the one you need, and write the safety card short · 45 min

The exam simulator

595 questions, every one mapped to an objective and to the lesson that teaches it. Timed full-length papers drawn to the real domain split, retakes weighted to your weak areas, and a readiness report from your own results.

Open the simulator See the paid tier

Every lesson has an audio episode, and it plays in the lesson itself — there is nothing extra to sign up for.

The episodes are also a podcast: listen on Spotify.

This is an independent study companion for CompTIA A+ Core 1 220-1201 and is not produced by or endorsed by CompTIA.