CompTIA A+ Core 2 (220-1202) — 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 594-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).

2 lessons end with a short “try it” on a real Linux machine that runs in your browser and checks each step, and the Linux sandbox gives you that machine with no task at all.

50written lessons

62hands-on labs

46hours of lab work

50audio episodes

594practice questions

Start with lesson 1 — Windows editions, and choosing the one the job actually needs Exam simulator

Jump to a domain: 1. Operating systems · 2. Security · 3. Software troubleshooting · 4. Operational procedures

What the exam weighs

Domain	Share of the exam	Lessons here
1. Operating systems	28%	14
2. Security	28%	14
3. Software troubleshooting	23%	11
4. Operational procedures	21%	10

The curriculum

1. Operating systems 28% of the exam

01 Windows editions, and choosing the one the job actually needs objective 1.1 part single
- Turn four stated requirements into an edition you can defend short · 25 min
02 Boot media, partition schemes, and the choices you cannot undo later objective 1.1 part single
- Create installation media and record the scheme it produced short · 40 min
03 Installing Windows: clean install, upgrade, and the unattended middle objective 1.1 part single
- Install to the disposable machine and record what each route keeps short · 60 min
04 Installing macOS and Linux, and what is genuinely different on first boot objective 1.1 part single try it
- Install a Linux guest and record every first-boot task Windows does not need short · 50 min
05 Android and iOS: provisioning, enrolment, and what a reset destroys objective 1.1 part single
- Plan a reset for a real device without performing one applied · 40 min
06 The command line, and the twenty commands that earn their place objective 1.2 part single
- Diagnose a configuration from four commands and write down what each proved short · 30 min
07 PowerShell and scripting, at the depth a support role actually uses objective 1.2 part single
- Read a script before running it, then run it with -WhatIf short · 35 min
08 Task Manager, Resource Monitor, and reading a machine that is slow objective 1.2 part single
- Diagnose a slow machine end to end and write the recommendation applied · 45 min
- Load one resource deliberately and prove which one the tools blame short · 35 min
09 Disk Management: volumes, partitions, drive letters and the things that go missing objective 1.2 part single
- Take a disk through every state and record what each one looks like short · 40 min
10 Control Panel, Settings, and the management consoles behind both objective 1.2 part single
- Build a management console and record the direct route to twelve settings short · 30 min
11 Remote access: RDP, remote assistance, SSH, and the third-party tools objective 1.2 part single
- Connect three ways and record what each one does to the person at the keyboard short · 40 min
12 File systems: NTFS, FAT32, exFAT, APFS and ext4, and choosing between them objective 1.3 part single try it
- Prove the 4 GB limit and watch permissions disappear short · 35 min
13 Updates, patches and feature upgrades, which are three different things objective 1.3 part single
- Break Windows Update deliberately, then repair it in the documented order short · 40 min
14 Upgrading an operating system in place, without losing the machine objective 1.3 part single
- Perform an upgrade with a real backup and a real rollback applied · 70 min
- Build, document and hand over a machine somebody else could rebuild capstone · 90 min
- Run the compatibility assessment properly before any upgrade short · 35 min

2. Security 28% of the exam

01 Physical security, and the controls that come before every other one objective 2.1 part single
- Survey a real space and map each gap to the control that closes it short · 30 min
02 Authentication factors, multifactor, and why the password is the weak one objective 2.1 part single
- Audit your own factors and find the account that unlocks the others short · 35 min
03 User accounts, groups, and least privilege as something you can actually do objective 2.1 part single
- Run the same action as three account types and record what each is refused short · 35 min
04 NTFS permissions, share permissions, and working out which one wins objective 2.1 part single
- Design permissions for a stated organisation and prove the result applied · 50 min
- Predict every effective permission in writing, then test each one short · 40 min
05 Full disk encryption, and the things it does not protect you from objective 2.1 part single
- Encrypt a volume, escrow the key, and prove what encryption does not stop short · 45 min
06 Wireless security: WEP, WPA2, WPA3 and the settings that actually matter objective 2.1 part single
- Audit a network you own and separate the real controls from the theatre short · 35 min
07 Hardening a small network, and the defaults that must not survive first boot objective 2.1 part single
- Harden a router you own and record every forward with its reason short · 45 min
08 Browser security, and the handful of settings that actually help objective 2.1 part single
- Audit every extension's permissions and rebuild a browser profile deliberately short · 35 min
09 Social engineering, and the attacks that go around every control you set objective 2.1 part single
- Analyse real messages you were sent and write the user guidance from them short · 35 min
10 Malware types, told apart by what they do rather than by what they are called objective 2.2 part single
- Classify described behaviour into categories and name the response each implies short · 30 min
11 Detecting an infection without trusting the machine you are standing at objective 2.2 part single
- Use the harmless test file to prove your protection alerts, then scan from outside short · 40 min
12 The removal procedure, and why its order is the thing being examined objective 2.2 part single
- Run the whole procedure against a scenario and defend clean against rebuild applied · 50 min
- Plant your own persistence, then remove it in the prescribed order short · 45 min
13 After a removal: credentials, tokens, and the trust that does not come back by itself objective 2.2 part single
- Audit one account's persistence surface and time how long it takes short · 35 min
14 Preventing reinfection, and the handful of controls that actually hold objective 2.2 part single
- Secure one machine end to end and write the evidence that it is secured capstone · 90 min
- Rank the controls by what they actually prevent, and implement the top three short · 40 min

3. Software troubleshooting 23% of the exam

01 A method for software faults, and why it is the same method as for hardware objective 3.1 part single
- Diagnose a fault you did not plant, using scope tests only short · 35 min
02 Windows that will not boot, and the recovery tools in the order they help objective 3.1 part single
- Rescue data from a machine that will not boot, then decide its fate applied · 50 min
- Break the boot at three different stages and identify each from the screen short · 50 min
03 Stop errors, services and startup faults, and reading what they tell you objective 3.1 part single
- Produce a stop error on purpose and read it back from the logs short · 40 min
04 Applications that crash, hang, or will not install at all objective 3.1 part single
- Break an application four ways and find each cause from evidence short · 40 min
05 Performance problems that are not hardware, and proving which is which objective 3.1 part single
- Make a machine slow four different ways and produce the recommendation each needs short · 40 min
06 Mobile connectivity faults, from the software side objective 3.2 part single
- Produce the connectivity decision tree and test it against four real faults applied · 45 min
- Work the four-question split on a real device before changing anything short · 30 min
07 Apps that crash, drain the battery, or refuse to update objective 3.2 part single
- Read the per-app figures honestly and find one anomaly short · 30 min
08 Mobile storage, battery and performance faults, and their real causes objective 3.2 part single
- Separate storage, battery health and age with three measurements short · 30 min
09 Symptoms of compromise on a desktop, and what each one narrows down objective 3.3 part single
- Correlate the machine against the network and defend the escalate decision applied · 50 min
- Build a hijack from your own extension and find every place it persists short · 45 min
10 Symptoms of compromise on a mobile device, where the tooling is thinner objective 3.3 part single
- Check the five mobile persistence surfaces on a device you own short · 30 min
11 Recovering an account after unauthorised access, in the order that works objective 3.3 part single
- Run a full incident from report to handover, and write what you would tell the user capstone · 90 min
- Rehearse the recovery order on your own account and time each step short · 40 min

4. Operational procedures 21% of the exam

01 Documentation that is actually used, and the kind that is only written objective 4.1 part single
- Write the seven-field asset record and the one-page network document short · 40 min
02 Change management, and the plan that exists before anything is changed objective 4.1 part single
- Write a change record with a rollback that has been tested short · 40 min
03 Ticketing, and writing a ticket the next person can actually use objective 4.1 part single
- Write a ticket somebody else could pick up cold, and have them try short · 35 min
04 Regulated data, incidents, and the chain of custody you may have to keep objective 4.1 part single
- Produce a custody record for a stated scenario, with no gap in the timeline applied · 45 min
05 Safety: electrical, electrostatic and physical, and the rules that do not bend objective 4.2 part single
- Audit your own working area against the hazards this exam names short · 30 min
06 Environmental controls, disposal, and the documents that govern them objective 4.2 part single
- Find the lawful disposal route for five items, and read one safety data sheet short · 35 min
07 Communication, professionalism, and the conversations nobody enjoys objective 4.2 part single
- Rewrite real support messages that are correct and unusable applied · 40 min
08 Backup schemes: full, incremental, differential, synthetic, and where each fits objective 4.3 part single
- Run all three schemes and measure the restore cost of each short · 45 min
09 The 3-2-1 rule, and a restore you have actually tested objective 4.3 part single
- Write a restore procedure and have somebody else run it applied · 50 min
- Restore a file, a folder and a machine, and record how long each took short · 60 min
10 Recovering a workstation that is gone, and the order that gets someone working objective 4.3 part single
- Lose a machine on purpose and recover the person, not just the computer capstone · 120 min
- Recover a machine to working order and time the two halves separately short · 60 min

Supplementary not examined — background reading

01 A machine you can safely break, and how to get it back part single
- Build the disposable machine, snapshot it, and prove the revert works short · 45 min

The exam simulator

594 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 2 220-1202 and is not produced by or endorsed by CompTIA.