Part of the expanding PassProfessor catalog: CompTIA Network+ is CompTIA’s vendor-neutral networking certification, and its current examination is Network+ (V9), exam code N10-009: a single examination of up to 90 multiple-choice and performance-based questions in 90 minutes, scored on a 100–900 scale with a passing score of 720. The N10-009 objectives span five weighted domains — Networking Concepts, Network Implementation, Network Operations, Network Security and Network Troubleshooting. PassProfessor’s Network+ program, built to the N10-009 objectives, is in development at $29.
This program is part of the expanding PassProfessor catalog — join the notify list and we’ll email you when enrollment opens.
Network+ is the networking credential employers ask for when the job is keeping a real network running: configuring it, monitoring it, securing it and — above all — troubleshooting it when it breaks. PassProfessor’s Network+ program is in development as part of the expanding PassProfessor catalog, built on the current examination’s published objectives: Network+ (V9), exam code N10-009, the version CompTIA publishes today. The program will be priced at $29 when enrollment opens.
Which networking certification is this?
This page covers CompTIA Network+ in its current version — Network+ (V9), examination code N10-009. Three clarifications. First, version matters: CompTIA retires examination versions on a cycle, and this program is built to N10-009, the current published examination — not to the retired N10-008 objectives. If CompTIA publishes a successor version, confirm which examination your voucher will sit before you study from any source, including this one. Second, Network+ is a single examination, unlike CompTIA A+, which is two: one sitting, up to 90 questions, one scaled score. Third, Network+ is vendor-neutral — it certifies networking skill across vendors’ equipment rather than one manufacturer’s command line — and it is a certification, not a license: CompTIA grants it, and no regulator is involved.
What will the program cover?
Practice mapped to the published outline, area by area. The program is being built on the certifying body’s own published content structure for this examination, organized around the areas the outline itself defines, as recorded in the table below. Preparation time lands where the examination itself puts the emphasis, instead of spreading evenly across ground the outline treats unevenly.
Results you can read by content area. Because practice will be organized by the outline’s areas, your results can be read area by area — a thin area shows while there is still time to repair it, instead of hiding inside an overall score.
Original questions, written from the outline outward. When the program opens, every question will be an original PassProfessor practice question written to the published outline and current authoritative sources for this field. None will be an actual examination item, a recalled item, or another provider’s material, and no question will ask you to recite a code, section number or citation — knowledge is tested, citations never are.
Timed practice at the real sitting’s shape. The program’s design includes sustained timed practice modeled on the recorded facts of the real sitting — its length and pace as set out in the fact table below — so pacing is trained rather than discovered on the day. That design is PassProfessor’s preparation choice; the real examination’s own facts stand in their own table.
An honest format boundary. The real N10-009 contains performance-based questions (PBQs) — interactive simulations — alongside multiple-choice questions. This program is question-based preparation: it trains the knowledge and scenario reasoning the PBQs draw on, and does not reproduce CompTIA’s simulations. The guide states this in full.
The real exam at a glance
| Fact of record | Detail |
|---|---|
| Certification | CompTIA Network+ (V9) |
| Awarding body | CompTIA |
| Examination code | N10-009 — the current Network+ examination version as CompTIA publishes it |
| Questions | Maximum of 90 questions |
| Question types | Multiple-choice (single and multiple response) and performance-based questions (PBQs) — see the format note below |
| Time | 90 minutes |
| Scoring | Scaled score on a 100–900 scale; passing score 720, as CompTIA publishes it. A scaled score is not a percentage of questions answered correctly |
| Content | Five weighted objective domains (see outline below) |
| Prerequisites | CompTIA sets no mandatory prerequisite examination for Network+; it is an examination candidates may sit directly |
| Program price | $29 (PassProfessor program price, when enrollment opens) |
How will practice map to the outline?
| Content area | Share of the examination |
|---|---|
| Networking concepts | 23% |
| Network implementation | 20% |
| Network operations | 19% |
| Network security | 14% |
| Network troubleshooting | 24% |
What does Networking concepts cover? (23%)
The conceptual foundation: the OSI model’s seven layers and what happens at each; networking appliances — routers, switches, firewalls, IDS/IPS, load balancers, proxies, NAS, SAN and wireless devices; cloud concepts, from NFV and VPCs to network security groups, cloud gateways and deployment and service models; the ports and protocols working networks run on — FTP, SFTP, SSH, Telnet, SMTP, DNS, DHCP, HTTP, HTTPS, SNMP, LDAP, RDP and SIP; traffic types — unicast, multicast, anycast, broadcast; transmission media, wired and wireless; transceivers and connectors; network topologies; and IPv4 addressing — public and private ranges, APIPA, RFC 1918, loopback, VLSM and CIDR subnetting, and address classes.
How should you prepare for Networking concepts? Survey the area early, note where your reasoning breaks down, and return with focused practice rather than rereading. The work here rewards applied judgment in realistic situations, so pair every block of reading with timed practice, then examine why each wrong option was wrong. Keep a running list of the distinctions this area tests most finely, and revisit the area in mixed practice before you test, so competence does not depend on knowing the topic in advance.
What does Network implementation cover? (20%)
Building the network: routing technologies — static and dynamic routing with BGP, EIGRP and OSPF, route selection, NAT and PAT, first-hop redundancy and virtual IPs, and subinterfaces; switching technologies — VLANs, interface configuration, spanning tree, MTU and jumbo frames; wireless — channels and frequencies, SSIDs, network types, encryption, guest networks, authentication, antennas and access points; and physical installations — placement implications, power considerations and environmental factors.
How should you prepare for Network implementation? Start with the area’s core decisions and work outward to its edge cases. Preparation should alternate short reading blocks with timed questions on the same material, because retrieval under time pressure is the skill the sitting itself demands. Log every miss by cause — knowledge gap, misread situation, or wrong priority — since each cause has a different repair, and lumping them together hides the pattern your next study block should attack.
What does Network operations cover? (19%)
Running the network day to day: documentation — physical and logical diagrams, rack diagrams, cable maps, asset inventory, IPAM, service-level agreements and wireless surveys; life-cycle management — end of life, end of support, software management and decommissioning; change and configuration management; network monitoring — SNMP, flow data, packet capture, baselines, log aggregation, API integration and port mirroring; disaster recovery — RPO, RTO, MTTR and MTBF, site types and recovery testing; network services — DHCP, SLAAC, DNS, NTP, PTP and NTS; and access and management by VPN, SSH, GUI, API and console.
How should you prepare for Network operations? 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, review every error the same day, and return to the area after a gap of several days so that retention, not recognition, is what carries you.
What does Network security cover? (14%)
Defending the network: logical security — encryption in transit and at rest, PKI, identity and access management, multifactor authentication, single sign-on, RADIUS, LDAP, SAML and TACACS+, least privilege, role-based access control and geofencing; physical security; deception technologies — honeypots and honeynets; the core terminology of risk, vulnerability, exploit and threat, and the CIA triad; audits and compliance, including data locality, PCI DSS and GDPR; network segmentation across IoT, industrial, guest and BYOD populations; the attack catalogue — denial of service, VLAN hopping, MAC flooding, ARP and DNS poisoning and spoofing, rogue devices, evil twins, on-path attacks and social engineering; and defensive features — device hardening, network access control, key management, ACLs, content filtering and screened subnets.
How should you prepare for Network security? 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. Then work timed practice against that map, correcting the map whenever a question exposes a gap in it. Finish the area with mixed practice alongside earlier areas, so the knowledge has to be selected, not merely recalled.
What does Network troubleshooting cover? (24%)
The examination’s largest domain, and the one that most resembles the job. The troubleshooting methodology itself — identifying the problem, establishing and testing a theory, planning and implementing a solution, verifying functionality and documenting findings; cabling and physical-interface issues — wrong cable type, signal degradation, improper termination, transposed pairs, interface counters and port status, PoE and transceiver mismatches, signal strength; network-services issues — spanning tree and VLAN assignment, ACLs, routing tables and default routes, address-pool exhaustion, wrong gateway, address or mask; performance issues — congestion, latency, packet loss and wireless interference; and the tools of the trade — protocol analyzers, command-line tools, cable testers and Wi-Fi analyzers.
How should you prepare for Network troubleshooting? Survey the area early, note where your reasoning breaks down, and return with focused practice rather than rereading. The work here rewards applied judgment in realistic situations, so pair every block of reading with timed practice, then examine why each wrong option was wrong. Keep a running list of the distinctions this area tests most finely, and revisit the area in mixed practice before you test, so competence does not depend on knowing the topic in advance.
How is Network+ scored?
CompTIA scores Network+ on a scale of 100 to 900 and publishes the passing score for N10-009 as 720. It is a scaled score, not a percentage: 720 cannot be converted into a number or share of questions answered correctly, because the scaling accounts for the difficulty of the questions a candidate’s form contains. CompTIA does not publish a pass rate for the examination. The practical reading is the one CompTIA’s own structure implies — prepare to a consistent margin across all five domains in timed practice, because a single scaled threshold decides the result and no domain has its own pass mark to hide behind.
Who can take Network+, and what does it certify?
Network+ is open: CompTIA sets no mandatory prerequisite examination, so candidates may sit N10-009 directly, and the certification is vendor-neutral — it attests that the holder can troubleshoot, configure and manage networks across vendors’ equipment, which is why it appears in postings for network technician, help-desk-to-network and junior network administrator roles. It sits naturally after foundational IT study (many candidates hold A+ first, by choice rather than by rule) and before deeper vendor or security specializations. CompTIA certifications are maintained under CompTIA’s continuing-education framework as CompTIA publishes it; confirm the current renewal terms in CompTIA’s certification policies before relying on any summary, including this one.
How should you use this page while the program is in development?
- Join the notify list today. Enrollment is not open yet, and the notify list is how you hear the moment it is. While you wait, read the CompTIA Network+ exam guide — it walks the outline area by area and lays out eligibility, scoring and study planning in full.
- Study from the official outline now. The published outline quoted on this page is the syllabus; organizing your reading by its areas and weights is useful work today, before any practice program opens.
- When the program opens, survey every area first. Early practice should touch each content area, so your first area-by-area picture of yourself is honest rather than flattering.
- Drill the area that costs you. Let results, not preferences, set the next block of study — outlines reward the candidate with no thin area.
- Finish with timed, mixed practice. Sit full timed practice at the real sitting’s pace, and test when your practice is consistently strong across areas.
Frequently asked questions
What version of Network+ does this program cover? The current version: Network+ (V9), examination code N10-009, as CompTIA publishes it. The program is built to the N10-009 objectives, not to the retired N10-008 examination.
How many questions are on Network+? A maximum of 90 questions in 90 minutes — a mix of multiple-choice questions (single and multiple response) and performance-based questions (PBQs).
What score do I need to pass Network+? 720 on CompTIA’s 100–900 scale, as CompTIA publishes it for N10-009. The scaled score is not a percentage of questions answered correctly.
What is a performance-based question, and does this program include them? A PBQ is an interactive item on the real examination that asks you to perform or configure within a presented scenario or simulated environment. This program is question-based preparation — it trains the knowledge, scenario reasoning and troubleshooting method PBQs examine, but it does not reproduce CompTIA’s simulations. The exam guide covers PBQ strategy in full.
Do I need A+ before Network+? No — CompTIA sets no mandatory prerequisite examination for Network+. Many candidates study A+ material first by choice; the rule book does not require it.
Which domain is biggest on N10-009? Network Troubleshooting at 24%, followed by Networking Concepts at 23% — together 47% of the examination. Implementation is 20%, Operations 19% and Security 14%, per CompTIA’s published objectives.
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 N10-009 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.
Disclaimer
PassProfessor is an independent exam-preparation provider; this program is not endorsed by, affiliated with or sponsored by CompTIA. The credential name is used on this page as a factual reference to the certifying body’s examination. This program is examination preparation only: examination details on this page are drawn from the official sources recorded in the companion guide and are current as of November 2026; the certifying body’s official publications govern if anything here differs from them. The certification is awarded by CompTIA alone when its requirements are complete; this program confers no certification or license.