Part of the expanding PassProfessor catalog: CompTIA A+ is a two-examination certification: candidates must pass both Core 1 (exam 220-1201) and Core 2 (exam 220-1202) of the current V15 series, launched March 25, 2025. Each examination has a maximum of 90 questions in 90 minutes, mixing multiple-choice and performance-based questions. CompTIA publishes passing scores of 675 for Core 1 and 700 for Core 2, on a scale of 100 to 900. PassProfessor’s A+ program is priced at $29 when enrollment opens.
This program is part of the expanding PassProfessor catalog — join the notify list and we’ll email you when enrollment opens.
The program is in development, built on the published outline for this examination. Join the notify list and we will email you when enrollment opens – then use this guide to plan your preparation area by area.
A+ is the credential employers ask for at the door of IT support: it certifies that a technician can install, configure, secure and troubleshoot the devices and systems the modern workplace runs on. It is earned in two sittings, not one, and the two examinations test different halves of the job. PassProfessor’s CompTIA A+ program is in development as part of the expanding PassProfessor catalog, built on the exam objectives CompTIA publishes for the current V15 series, and organized domain by domain across both cores. The program will be priced at $29 when enrollment opens.
Which IT certification is this – and which exam series?
This page covers CompTIA A+ – and, critically, its current series. Three clarifications. First, A+ is two examinations, Core 1 (220-1201) and Core 2 (220-1202), and both must be passed, from the same series, in either order, before the series retires. Second, the series: A+ V15 (220-1201 / 220-1202) launched on March 25, 2025, and the previous V14 examinations (220-1101 / 220-1102) retired on September 25, 2025 – a pass from the retired series cannot be combined with a V15 pass, and material written for 220-1101 / 220-1102 follows retired objectives. This program is built to V15 only. Third, an honesty note about format: the real examinations include performance-based questions – hands-on simulations of technician tasks – PassProfessor’s practice is question-based; it trains the knowledge and judgment the performance-based questions draw on, but it does not reproduce the simulation environment itself, and this page will not pretend otherwise.
The real exam at a glance
| Fact of record | Detail |
|---|---|
| Certification | CompTIA A+ |
| Certifying body | CompTIA |
| Structure | TWO examinations, both required: Core 1 (220-1201) and Core 2 (220-1202), taken in either order, both from the same series |
| Current series | V15 – launched March 25, 2025. The previous series, V14 (220-1101 / 220-1102), retired September 25, 2025; series cannot be mixed, and a pass from a retired series no longer counts toward the certification |
| Format (each examination) | Maximum of 90 questions in 90 minutes: multiple-choice, drag-and-drop and performance-based questions (hands-on simulations) |
| Passing scores (as CompTIA publishes them) | Core 1 (220-1201): 675 – Core 2 (220-1202): 700 – both on CompTIA’s scaled range of 100 to 900. These are scaled scores, not percentages |
| Core 1 domains | Mobile Devices 13% – Networking 23% – Hardware 25% – Virtualization and Cloud Computing 11% – Hardware and Network Troubleshooting 28% |
| Core 2 domains | Operating Systems 28% – Security 28% – Software Troubleshooting 23% – Operational Procedures 21% |
| Prerequisites | No prerequisite to sit; CompTIA recommends 12 months of hands-on experience in an IT support role, as a recommendation, not a requirement |
| Validity | The certification is valid for three years from the date it is earned and is renewed through CompTIA’s continuing education program (20 continuing education units for A+, as CompTIA publishes) |
| Program price | $29 (PassProfessor program price, when enrollment opens) |
Who can sit the A+ examinations?
Anyone – CompTIA sets no education or experience prerequisite for A+. It recommends 12 months of hands-on experience working in an IT support or help-desk role, and publishes that figure as a recommendation for readiness, not as a gate: students and career-changers routinely sit A+ as their first certification. You register for each examination separately, sit them in either order, and may space them as your preparation dictates – subject to the one hard rule of the credential: both passes must come from the same series, and both must be completed before that series retires. The V15 series launched March 25, 2025, and CompTIA’s cadence retires a series roughly three years after launch – plan to complete both cores well inside that horizon.
The outline, area by area
| Content area | Published weight / status |
|---|---|
| Core 1 (220-1201) – 1.0 Mobile Devices | Core 1 – 13% |
| Core 1 (220-1201) – 2.0 Networking | Core 1 – 23% |
| Core 1 (220-1201) – 3.0 Hardware | Core 1 – 25% |
| Core 1 (220-1201) – 4.0 Virtualization and Cloud Computing | Core 1 – 11% |
| Core 1 (220-1201) – 5.0 Hardware and Network Troubleshooting | Core 1 – 28% |
| Core 2 (220-1202) – 1.0 Operating Systems | Core 2 – 28% |
| Core 2 (220-1202) – 2.0 Security | Core 2 – 28% |
| Core 2 (220-1202) – 3.0 Software Troubleshooting | Core 2 – 23% |
| Core 2 (220-1202) – 4.0 Operational Procedures | Core 2 – 21% |
What does Core 1 Mobile Devices cover? (Core 1 – 13%)
The portable fleet: installing and configuring laptop hardware components, laptop displays, mobile device accessories and connectivity – wired, wireless and docking – and supporting mobile operating systems, synchronization and device management. It tests hands-on component knowledge: what fits, what connects, and what to replace when a symptom points inside the machine.
How should you prepare for Core 1 Mobile Devices? Survey the area early, note where your reasoning breaks down, and return with focused practice rather than rereading. Pair every block of reading with timed practice, then examine why each wrong option was wrong. Revisit the area in mixed practice before you test, so competence does not depend on knowing the topic in advance.
What separates strong candidates in Core 1 Mobile Devices? Usually not more facts, but cleaner sequencing: recognizing the decisive feature of a situation first, discarding options that are true but not responsive, and choosing the action the situation calls for now rather than eventually. When you review practice in this area, classify every miss before you move on – knowledge gap, misread situation, or wrong priority – because each class has a different repair. Revisit the area in mixed practice before you test; competence that only appears when you know the topic in advance is not yet examination competence.
What does Core 1 Networking cover? (Core 1 – 23%)
Connecting devices: TCP and UDP ports and protocols, networking hardware, cables and tools, wireless standards and encryption, internet connection types, network services – DNS, DHCP and the rest – and configuring a small office / home office network. It rewards candidates who can pair a service or symptom with its port, protocol and device, not merely define each term alone.
How should you prepare for Core 1 Networking? Start with the area’s core decisions and work outward to its edge cases. Alternate short reading blocks with timed questions on the same material. Log every miss by cause – knowledge gap, misread situation, or wrong priority – since each cause has a different repair.
What separates strong candidates in Core 1 Networking? Depth shows as discrimination: the strong candidate separates the option that is merely plausible from the option the facts of the case actually support, and can say why the plausible one fails. Train that discrimination deliberately – after every practice block, write one line per miss naming the feature of the situation you underweighted. Over weeks that log becomes the most personal syllabus you own.
What does Core 1 Hardware cover? (Core 1 – 25%)
The machine itself: displays, cables and connectors, RAM, storage devices and RAID, motherboards, CPUs and add-on cards, power supplies, and installing and maintaining printers and multifunction devices. A quarter of Core 1 sits here, examined as selection and installation judgment – the right component, in the right slot, meeting the stated requirement.
How should you prepare for Core 1 Hardware? Treat this area as a set of decisions, not a set of facts: for each topic, ask what the practitioner must notice first, what must happen next, and what must never happen. Practise in timed blocks and review every error the same day.
What separates strong candidates in Core 1 Hardware? Command of this area looks quiet on the surface: fewer rereads, steadier pacing, and answers chosen for the situation presented rather than for the situation remembered from a textbook example. Build it by practising against varied presentations of the same underlying problem, so the principle, not the surface story, is what you learn to recognize.
What does Core 1 Virtualization and Cloud Computing cover? (Core 1 – 11%)
The smallest Core 1 domain: virtualization concepts and hypervisors, virtual machine resource requirements and purposes, cloud computing models and service types, cloud characteristics and desktop virtualization. Compact and conceptual – the domain where complete preparation is cheapest, and where candidates most often leave points by treating it as an afterthought.
How should you prepare for Core 1 Virtualization and Cloud Computing? Build a one-page map of this area before drilling it: its central concepts, its recurring traps, and the situations in which its rules change. Finish with mixed practice alongside earlier areas, so the knowledge has to be selected, not merely recalled.
What separates strong candidates in Core 1 Virtualization and Cloud Computing? The separating skill is transfer: the same rule met in an unfamiliar setting, recognized anyway. Deliberately vary the surface of your practice – different settings, roles and stakes around the same underlying decision – and, on review, name the principle each question was really testing before you look at the keyed answer. Areas studied this way hold up when the examination changes the scenery, which it will.
What does Core 1 Hardware and Network Troubleshooting cover? (Core 1 – 28%)
Core 1’s largest domain: diagnosing described failures across motherboards, RAM, CPUs and power; storage and RAID; video and displays; mobile devices; wired and wireless networks; and printers. Every scenario is a symptom in search of its most likely cause and correct first action.
How should you prepare for Core 1 Hardware and Network Troubleshooting? Survey the area early, note where your reasoning breaks down, and return with focused practice rather than rereading. Pair every block of reading with timed practice, then examine why each wrong option was wrong. Revisit the area in mixed practice before you test, so competence does not depend on knowing the topic in advance.
What separates strong candidates in Core 1 Hardware and Network Troubleshooting? Usually not more facts, but cleaner sequencing: recognizing the decisive feature of a situation first, discarding options that are true but not responsive, and choosing the action the situation calls for now rather than eventually. When you review practice in this area, classify every miss before you move on – knowledge gap, misread situation, or wrong priority – because each class has a different repair. Revisit the area in mixed practice before you test; competence that only appears when you know the topic in advance is not yet examination competence.
What does Core 2 Operating Systems cover? (Core 2 – 28%)
The systems a technician administers: Windows editions and their features, installation and upgrade paths and their requirements, Windows tools, settings and command-line utilities, network sharing and mapping, and the essentials of macOS and Linux administration. Command fluency is examined as working knowledge.
How should you prepare for Core 2 Operating Systems? Start with the area’s core decisions and work outward to its edge cases. Alternate short reading blocks with timed questions on the same material. Log every miss by cause – knowledge gap, misread situation, or wrong priority – since each cause has a different repair.
What separates strong candidates in Core 2 Operating Systems? Depth shows as discrimination: the strong candidate separates the option that is merely plausible from the option the facts of the case actually support, and can say why the plausible one fails. Train that discrimination deliberately – after every practice block, write one line per miss naming the feature of the situation you underweighted. Over weeks that log becomes the most personal syllabus you own.
What does Core 2 Security cover? (Core 2 – 28%)
Securing the endpoint and its user: physical and logical security controls, authentication and access management, Windows security settings and permissions, wireless security, malware types and the best-practice removal procedure, social engineering, workstation and mobile hardening, secure data destruction and disposal, and browser security. Joint-largest on Core 2.
How should you prepare for Core 2 Security? Treat this area as a set of decisions, not a set of facts: for each topic, ask what the practitioner must notice first, what must happen next, and what must never happen. Practise in timed blocks and review every error the same day.
What separates strong candidates in Core 2 Security? Command of this area looks quiet on the surface: fewer rereads, steadier pacing, and answers chosen for the situation presented rather than for the situation remembered from a textbook example. Build it by practising against varied presentations of the same underlying problem, so the principle, not the surface story, is what you learn to recognize.
What does Core 2 Software Troubleshooting cover? (Core 2 – 23%)
When software misbehaves: troubleshooting Windows operating system problems – boot failures, crashes, performance and update issues – mobile operating system and application problems, mobile security symptoms, and personal computer security symptoms such as pop-ups, redirects and certificate warnings. Scenarios reward an ordered diagnostic path over random remediation.
How should you prepare for Core 2 Software Troubleshooting? Build a one-page map of this area before drilling it: its central concepts, its recurring traps, and the situations in which its rules change. Finish with mixed practice alongside earlier areas, so the knowledge has to be selected, not merely recalled.
What separates strong candidates in Core 2 Software Troubleshooting? The separating skill is transfer: the same rule met in an unfamiliar setting, recognized anyway. Deliberately vary the surface of your practice – different settings, roles and stakes around the same underlying decision – and, on review, name the principle each question was really testing before you look at the keyed answer. Areas studied this way hold up when the examination changes the scenery, which it will.
What does Core 2 Operational Procedures cover? (Core 2 – 21%)
The professional frame: documentation and ticketing, change management, backup and recovery strategies, safety procedures and environmental controls, prohibited content and privacy and licensing awareness, professional communication, scripting basics, remote access technologies, and the operational use of artificial intelligence in support work.
How should you prepare for Core 2 Operational Procedures? Survey the area early, note where your reasoning breaks down, and return with focused practice rather than rereading. Pair every block of reading with timed practice, then examine why each wrong option was wrong. Revisit the area in mixed practice before you test, so competence does not depend on knowing the topic in advance.
What separates strong candidates in Core 2 Operational Procedures? Usually not more facts, but cleaner sequencing: recognizing the decisive feature of a situation first, discarding options that are true but not responsive, and choosing the action the situation calls for now rather than eventually. When you review practice in this area, classify every miss before you move on – knowledge gap, misread situation, or wrong priority – because each class has a different repair. Revisit the area in mixed practice before you test; competence that only appears when you know the topic in advance is not yet examination competence.
How are the A+ examinations scored?
CompTIA publishes the passing scores plainly: Core 1 (220-1201) requires a scaled score of 675 and Core 2 (220-1202) requires 700, each on a scaled range of 100 to 900. These are scaled scores, not percentages – 700 does not mean 70 percent of questions answered correctly, and CompTIA publishes no conversion from scaled score to number correct, so none is printed here. The two examinations are scored independently: each produces its own result, a pass in one core is banked while you prepare for the other, and the certification is awarded only when both are passed – from the same series, before that series retires.
The format shapes the scoring risk. With a maximum of 90 questions in 90 minutes and performance-based simulations in the mix, time allocation is a scoring skill: the performance-based questions reward the same underlying knowledge as the multiple-choice items but consume minutes differently, and candidates who rehearse only untimed knowledge arrive unpractised at the examination’s real constraint. Treat pace as part of the syllabus from the first practice block, on both cores.
How do the two A+ examinations fit together – and what happens after?
Treat the two cores as one syllabus with a seam down the middle, not as two unrelated tests. Core 1 owns the physical and network layer – devices, hardware, connectivity, virtualization and the troubleshooting of all four. Core 2 owns the software and professional layer – operating systems, security, software troubleshooting and operational procedure. Knowledge crosses the seam constantly: a Core 2 security scenario presumes Core 1’s networking, and a Core 1 troubleshooting scenario ends where Core 2’s procedures begin. Studying the cores in sequence, with deliberate mixed practice across the seam before your second sitting, is worth more than studying either in isolation twice.
Order is a genuine choice. Candidates with hands-on hardware experience often sit Core 1 first while it is familiar; candidates from support-desk work often find Core 2’s operating systems and procedures the warmer start. What is not flexible is the series rule, and it has teeth: if a series retires between your two passes, the earlier pass no longer counts, as CompTIA publishes. Book the second examination when you pass the first, not when you feel finished preparing for it.
After certification, A+ runs on a three-year cycle: the credential expires three years from the date you earn it and is renewed through CompTIA’s continuing education program – 20 continuing education units for A+, as CompTIA publishes – or by passing a qualifying higher examination. Log the renewal path at the moment you certify; three years is long enough to forget, and an expired A+ must be re-earned by examination.
What does the real examination cost?
CompTIA publishes its fees in its current candidate materials; take the current figures from the body when you apply, as this guide states no fee figure it has not taken from the body’s own current publications. PassProfessor’s CompTIA A+ program is priced at $29; that is a separate preparation purchase, announced here as the program’s price of record, and enrollment opens when the program launches.
How should you study for this examination?
- Build to V15 and only V15: check every resource against the 220-1201 and 220-1202 objectives. Material for the retired 220-1101 / 220-1102 series follows retired objectives and will misweight your preparation, however good it was.
- Split the plan by core and by weight: Hardware and Network Troubleshooting plus Hardware is 53% of Core 1; Operating Systems plus Security is 56% of Core 2. Those four domains decide the certification; study the other five completely, but after the big four are secure.
- Train for performance-based questions honestly: they test hands-on configuration and diagnosis in a simulated environment, and question practice alone cannot rehearse the manipulation itself. Pair every study block with real or virtual lab work – build, configure, break and repair actual systems – so the simulations meet practised hands.
- Practise at the real pace from early on: 90 questions in 90 minutes, simulations included, is one minute a question on average, and the candidates who discover that arithmetic on the day have already spent it.
- Bank one core, then book the other immediately: the same-series rule makes an unbooked second examination the one genuine deadline risk in the whole credential.
What does a four-week study plan look like?
Week one – survey and foundations. Work through every content area once, at survey depth: Core 1 Mobile Devices; Core 1 Networking; Core 1 Hardware; Core 1 Virtualization and Cloud Computing; Core 1 Hardware and Network Troubleshooting; Core 2 Operating Systems; Core 2 Security; Core 2 Software Troubleshooting; Core 2 Operational Procedures. The goal is an honest map, not mastery – finish the week knowing which areas are familiar, which are rusty and which are genuinely new, and set your remaining weeks from that map rather than from preference.
Week two – the heavy areas, deeply. Give the largest published weights the largest blocks: Core 1’s troubleshooting and hardware domains (28% and 25%) and Core 2’s operating systems and security domains (28% each) take the deepest blocks. Study each heavy area in the order the outline presents it, pairing reading with timed questions the same day, and keep the error log started in week one: every miss classified as knowledge, reading or priority. By the end of week two the heavy areas should feel worked, not merely visited.
Week three – the remaining areas, plus repair. Cover the smaller areas completely – on a weighted outline, small areas are where prepared candidates separate, because everyone studies the large ones. In parallel, run repair blocks on week two’s error patterns. Mix areas within each study day from this week onward, so retrieval stops depending on knowing the topic in advance.
Week four – full timed practice and taper. Sit at least one full practice sitting at the real examination’s length and pace, review it question by question, and spend the remaining days on the two weakest areas and on logistics: identification, check-in, breaks and timing discipline. Arrive with the outline’s shape in your head and your own weak ground already repaired.
What happens on test day, and after?
Before the sitting. Confirm the delivery route and its rules from the certifying body’s current candidate materials – identification requirements, check-in timing, what may and may not be brought into the testing room, and how breaks work on this examination. These rules are administrative, but they are absolute on the day, and learning them the week before costs nothing while learning them at check-in can cost the sitting.
During the sitting. Work to the pace the recorded facts imply: divide the sitting’s length by its question count early, check yourself against that pace at the quarter marks, and do not let one hard question buy time from three later ones. Unscored questions, where the examination uses them, are not identified – the disciplined response to a question that feels foreign is the same as to any other: answer it as well as you can and move at pace.
After the sitting. Read the result and any score reporting the body provides as study documents. Where area-level reporting is given, it is the certifying body’s own account of your sitting and it outranks any reconstruction from memory – a retake plan, if one is needed, should be built from it area by area. Where the result is a pass, note the credential’s validity and renewal terms while they are in front of you, so maintenance never becomes a surprise.
PassProfessor’s CompTIA A+ program is in development as part of the expanding PassProfessor catalog. The CompTIA A+ Exam Prep program page carries the notify list; join it and we will email you when enrollment opens.
Frequently asked questions
What is CompTIA A+? CompTIA’s entry-level IT certification for support technicians, earned by passing two examinations – Core 1 (220-1201) and Core 2 (220-1202) of the current V15 series – covering hardware, networking, operating systems, security, troubleshooting and operational procedures.
How many exams do I have to pass for A+? Two. Core 1 and Core 2 are separate examinations with separate scores, they may be taken in either order, and both passes must come from the same series – a pass from a retired series cannot be combined with a current-series pass.
What are the passing scores? Core 1 (220-1201): a scaled score of 675. Core 2 (220-1202): a scaled score of 700. Both are on CompTIA’s scaled range of 100 to 900, as CompTIA publishes them. They are scaled scores, not percentages of questions answered correctly.
Which A+ series is current? V15 – exams 220-1201 (Core 1) and 220-1202 (Core 2), launched March 25, 2025. The previous series, 220-1101 / 220-1102, retired on September 25, 2025 and can no longer be taken or combined with V15.
What kinds of questions are on the examinations? Each examination has a maximum of 90 questions in 90 minutes: multiple-choice, drag-and-drop and performance-based questions – hands-on simulations of technician tasks. PassProfessor’s program is question-based practice: it trains the knowledge and judgment the performance-based questions draw on, and does not reproduce the simulation environment itself.
Do I need experience to take A+? No prerequisite applies. CompTIA recommends 12 months of hands-on experience in an IT support role as a readiness guideline, and publishes it as a recommendation, not a requirement.
What does the PassProfessor program cost? $29, when enrollment opens. The program is in development as part of the expanding PassProfessor catalog; join the notify list and the launch email will carry the enrollment link.
Are these CompTIA’s actual examination questions? No. When this program opens, its questions will be original practice questions written by PassProfessor to CompTIA’s published V15 exam objectives. We never use actual examination items, recalled items, or another provider’s material.
When will enrollment open? The program is in development. Join the notify list on this page and we will email you when enrollment opens at the $29 program price.
How long is A+ valid? Three years from the date you earn it. It is renewed through CompTIA’s continuing education program – 20 continuing education units for A+, as CompTIA publishes – or by passing a qualifying higher-level examination before expiry.
What is the difference between Core 1 and Core 2? Core 1 is the physical and network layer: mobile devices, networking, hardware, virtualization and cloud, and hardware and network troubleshooting. Core 2 is the software and professional layer: operating systems, security, software troubleshooting and operational procedures. Both are required.
What happens if I pass one core and the series retires? The pass no longer counts toward the certification – CompTIA publishes that both examinations must be passed from the same series before it retires. Book your second examination promptly after passing the first.
What if I fail one examination? Only that examination is retaken – the other core’s pass stands, within the same series. CompTIA’s retake policy, as it publishes it, sets no waiting period before a second attempt and a waiting period before a third and subsequent attempts; confirm the current policy when you rebook.
Disclaimer
PassProfessor is an independent exam-preparation provider; this guide is not endorsed by, affiliated with or sponsored by CompTIA. The credential name is used in this guide as a factual reference to the certifying body’s examination. This guide is general information about examination preparation, current as of November 2026; it confers no certification or license. The certification is awarded by CompTIA alone when both of its examinations are passed; this program confers no certification or license. CompTIA’s official publications govern if anything here differs from them.