CompTIA A+ Practice Test
Free CompTIA A+ practice questions in English, Chinese, and Spanish — hardware, networking and cloud, operating systems, security, and troubleshooting, each answer explained.
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Practice questions written to the published CompTIA A+ Core 1 and Core 2 exam objectives and to standard IT support practice. CompTIA and A+ are marks of CompTIA; this site is not affiliated with or endorsed by CompTIA. The exam objectives are revised periodically — confirm the current objectives and exam requirements with CompTIA before testing.
About the CompTIA A+ certification exam
CompTIA A+ is the standard entry point into IT support work, and one of the few technical credentials that expects no degree and no prior experience. You earn it by passing two separate exams: Core 1 covers hardware, networking, virtualization and cloud, and hardware troubleshooting; Core 2 covers operating systems, security, software troubleshooting, and the operational procedures a technician is expected to follow. It is vendor-neutral, so what you learn applies whether the shop runs Windows, macOS, or Linux, and it is recognized nationally rather than state by state. This free practice test covers all five areas in English, Simplified Chinese, or Spanish, with every answer explained.
How to Study for the CompTIA A+ Exams
Start with the six-step troubleshooting methodology, because it is the backbone of both exams and the cheapest marks available. In order: identify the problem (question the user, and back up before you change anything), establish a theory of probable cause (question the obvious first), test the theory to determine the cause (and if it is disproved, establish a new theory or escalate — never jump straight to a fix), establish a plan of action and implement the solution, verify full system functionality and implement preventive measures, and finally document findings, actions and outcomes. Exam questions rarely ask you to recite the list; they describe a technician doing something and ask which step that is, or what should happen next. Two traps recur: documentation is always last, and a disproved theory sends you back to theorizing, not forward to repairing.
Next, drill the well-known ports and the protocols that ride on them, because they are pure recall and they never change: secure shell on 22, secure file transfer over that same session, plain file transfer on 20 and 21, mail submission on 25, name resolution on 53, web on 80 and secure web on 443, directory access on 389, remote desktop on 3389, and Windows file and printer sharing on 445. Learn them paired with what breaks when the port is blocked, because that is how the exam asks — a user who can reach a site by IP address but not by name has a name-resolution problem, not a connectivity problem. Alongside these, learn what an automatic self-assigned address in the 169.254 range tells you: the client asked for a lease and no DHCP server answered, which points you at the server or the path to it rather than at the workstation.
For Core 2, permissions and malware removal carry the most weight. On permissions, the rule that trips people up is what happens when share permissions and file-system permissions both apply: the effective access over the network is the most restrictive combination of the two, so read-only sharing beats full-control file permissions every time. Learn also that moving a file within the same volume keeps its original permissions while copying it — or moving it to a different volume — creates a new object that inherits from its destination folder. For malware, memorize the removal order and the reasoning: identify and verify the symptoms, quarantine the infected system, disable system restore before you clean (otherwise you re-infect from your own restore points), remediate and update definitions, re-enable restore and create a fresh clean point, and finally educate the user so it does not recur.
Finish with the parts people skip and then lose marks on: safety, change management and professionalism. Know that an anti-static strap and mat protect components from electrostatic discharge but must never be worn when working inside high-voltage equipment such as a power supply or a CRT, that electrical fires need a Class C extinguisher, and that a safety data sheet is where you look up handling and disposal for toner and batteries. Change management questions want the documented plan, the rollback plan, the risk analysis and the approval — all before implementation. Professionalism questions almost always reward the same instincts: listen without interrupting, avoid jargon with a non-technical user, do not dismiss what they describe, keep anything you find on a customer device confidential, and if you encounter prohibited content, follow policy and preserve the evidence rather than investigating it yourself. A practical study rhythm: work one pool at a time until you are consistently above 85%, then mix all five so you practice recognizing which domain a question belongs to — that recognition is half the skill on exam day.
FAQ
Is this practice test free?
Yes, completely free. There is no account to create and no payment. Your progress is saved in your own browser, so you can leave and come back to keep studying.
Do I need to pass two exams to get A+ certified?
Yes. A+ is awarded only after you pass both Core 1 and Core 2, and they are taken separately — most people schedule them weeks apart and study for one at a time. Core 1 leans toward physical hardware, networking and troubleshooting; Core 2 leans toward operating systems, security and procedure. The pools on this page are organized the same way, so you can drill whichever exam you are sitting next.
Do I need experience or a degree first?
No. There is no formal prerequisite — no degree, no prior certification, and nothing stopping you from registering. CompTIA suggests some hands-on familiarity, and that genuinely helps on the troubleshooting questions, but plenty of people pass by studying the material and practicing on their own computer. If you have ever installed RAM, reinstalled an operating system, or fixed a home network, you already have a foothold.
Why do the questions avoid naming specific Windows versions or hardware models?
Because those details go stale faster than the exam does. CompTIA revises the A+ objectives every few years, and processors, memory generations and OS releases turn over even faster — a question pinned to one of them would be teaching you something wrong within a year or two. So this bank tests the layer underneath, which does not move: what a subnet mask determines, why share and file permissions combine to the most restrictive result, the order of the laser imaging process, and the six troubleshooting steps. That knowledge stays correct across revisions and is what the exam is really checking.
What is the single most important thing to memorize?
The six-step troubleshooting methodology, in order: identify the problem, establish a theory of probable cause, test the theory, establish a plan of action and implement it, verify full functionality and take preventive measures, and document everything. It appears on both exams, it shows up as scenario questions that ask which step you are in, and it is the framework the graders expect you to reason inside. After that, the well-known port numbers and the malware removal order give you the most marks for the least study time.