Performance-based
220-1201A+ Core 1 performance-based questions
The 220-1201 exam does not end at multiple choice. These are 22 original tasks in four interaction shapes, scored slot by slot the way the real one is, with the reasoning and the official page behind every answer.
No account. Every walkthrough and every source link open on all 5.
- 22tasks
- tasks
- 4interaction types
- interaction types
- 5of 5 exam domains
- of 5 exam domains
- 19official pages cited
- official pages cited
What a PBQ is on this exam
Multiple choice, multiple response, and performance-based questions. The performance-based items drop you into a simulated console, network diagram, or configuration screen and score what you actually do.
Ours are written from the published objectives, never from anyone’s memory of a live exam. What follows is what each shape asks you to do.
The four shapes
Matching
9 tasksPair each item with the one that fits it, from a pool holding more options than slots, so the last pair cannot fall out by elimination.
Sequencing
6 tasksPut steps in the order a process actually runs. Getting the steps right and the order wrong scores the way it does on the exam, which is partly.
Sorting
4 tasksDrop each item into the category it belongs to. Several items per category, so knowing one does not give you the rest.
Log and output analysis
3 tasksRead a log extract, a config, or a network diagram, and answer what it shows. The artifact is on screen and the answer is in it.
Every task is scored slot by slot, so a sequence with two steps out of place is not marked the same as one with none right. Partial credit is how the real exam scores these, and a practice set that marks them all-or-nothing tells you less than the number it prints.
Coverage against the published blueprint
CompTIA publishes the weight of each domain. The set is written to those weights rather than to whichever domain is easiest to build a task from, which is the difference between a sample of the exam and a pile of exercises.
- Mobile Devices2 tasks · 13% of the exam
- Networking7 tasks · 23% of the exam
- Hardware5 tasks · 25% of the exam
- Virtualization and Cloud Computing2 tasks · 11% of the exam
- Hardware and Network Troubleshooting6 tasks · 28% of the exam
What each answer rests on
Every task carries the page its answer was checked against, and the link is in the walkthrough where you can open it. Here they are up front, so you can check us before starting rather than after.
- Microsoft12 pages · 15 tasks
- usb.org2 pages · 2 tasks
- cisa.gov1 page · 1 task
- iana.org1 page · 1 task
- ieee802.org1 page · 1 task
- NIST1 page · 1 task
- wi-fi.org1 page · 1 task
- Microsoft Learn, ipconfig3 tasks
- Microsoft Learn, Storage Spaces Direct overview2 tasks
- CISA, Home Network Security1 task
- IANA, Service Name and Transport Protocol Port Number Registry1 task
- IEEE 802.1Q, Bridges and Bridged Networks1 task
- Microsoft Learn, Documents and Printing1 task
- Microsoft Learn, Domain Name System (DNS) in Windows Server1 task
- Microsoft Learn, how multifactor authentication works1 task
- Microsoft Learn, Hyper-V overview and hardware requirements1 task
- Microsoft Learn, Introduction to Hyper-V on Windows1 task
- Microsoft Learn, ping1 task
- Microsoft Learn, System File Checker1 task
- Microsoft Learn, tracert1 task
- Microsoft Learn, Troubleshoot TCP/IP connectivity1 task
- Microsoft Learn, troubleshooting Windows boot problems1 task
- NIST SP 800-145, The NIST Definition of Cloud Computing1 task
- USB Implementers Forum, published specifications1 task
- USB Implementers Forum, USB41 task
- Wi-Fi Alliance, Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 61 task
Sit all 22
5 are free with no account, and every one of them opens its full walkthrough and the page its answer rests on. The other 17 come with A+ Core 1 for $49, along with the A+ Core 1 question bank and every full-length practice exam on it. Untimed, and you can run them again as often as you like.