CompTIA A+ 2024/2025 Exam Training Manual:
Comprehensive Prep Questions with Solutions
What basic factor might you look at in selecting a high-performance hard disk drive? -
correct answer Revolutions per minute (RPM)—the speed at which it spins. The top-
performing drives are 15,000 (15K) or 10,000 (10K)
If you have a computer with three hard disks, what type of RAID fault-tolerant
configuration will make best use of them? - correct answer RAID 5 (striping with
parity). RAID 0 is not fault tolerant. RAID 1 and RAID 10 require an even number of
disks
You are configuring four 120 GB drives in a RAID 5 array. How much space will be
available? - correct answer 360 GB
What is the minimum number of disks required to implement RAID 10, and how much of
the disks' total capacity will be available for the volume? - correct answer RAID 10
requires at least four disks (two mirrored pairs) and comes with a 50% capacity
overhead, so the volume will only be half the total disk capacity
True or false? A memory card reader is needed to attach a thumb drive to a PC. -
correct answer False—a thumb or pen drive will plug into a USB port
What type of memory technology supports paging? - correct answer Virtual RAM or
virtual memory. The operating system creates a virtual address space for each process.
This address space can use physical system random-access memory (RAM) modules
and swap space or paging files stored on fixed disks (hard drives and ssds). Paging
moves data between system RAM and the swap space as required
You need to upgrade the system RAM on a PC. The motherboard has two 8 GB
modules of DDR3 RAM installed and two free slots. You have two spare 16 GB DDR4
modules in your stores. Can these be used for this upgrade? - correct answer No. The
DDR generation of the motherboard slot and modules must match. You can only use
DDR3 modules
, You are configuring a different workstation with dual-channel memory. You have two
modules and there are four slots. How would you determine which slots to use? -
correct answer Check the vendor's setup/service manual. Many systems will use the
slots marked A1 and B1, but it's best not to proceed without consulting the vendor's
documentation
Consulting the vendor documentation, you find that this system uses DDR4 error-
correcting code (ECC) rdimms. The spares you have are DDR4 ECC udimms. Can they
be used for the upgrade? - correct answer No. If the vendor documentation specifies
registered memory (rdimms), you must use RDIMM modules. Unbuffered dimms
(udimms) will not be compatible even if they are ECC
Why can cache improve performance? - correct answer A CPU tends to repeat the
same routines and access the same data over and over again. If these routines are
stored in fast cache RAM, they can be accessed more quickly than instructions and
data stored in system memory
A workstation has a multi-socket motherboard but only a single LGA 1150 socket is
populated. The installed CPU is a Xeon E3-1220. You have a Xeon E3-1231 CPU in
store that also uses the LGA 1150. Should this be used to enable symmetric
multiprocessing and upgrade system performance? - correct answer No. The CPU
models must be identical. If the cpus are not identical, the system is unlikely to boot.
Even if the system boots, it is not likely to operate reliably
You are specifying a computer for use as a software development workstation. This will
be required to run multiple virtual machines (vms). Can any x64-compatible CPU with
sufficient clock speed be used? - correct answer No. You must verify that the CPU
model supports virtualization extensions (Supporting SLAT, or Second Level Address
Translation, through Intel's EPT or AMD's RVI; Extended Page Table, and Rapid
Virtualization Indexing)
What must you check when inserting a PGA form factor CPU? - correct answer You
must check that pin 1 is aligned properly and that the pins on the package are aligned
with the holes in the socket. Otherwise, you risk damaging the pins when the locking
lever is secured.
Comprehensive Prep Questions with Solutions
What basic factor might you look at in selecting a high-performance hard disk drive? -
correct answer Revolutions per minute (RPM)—the speed at which it spins. The top-
performing drives are 15,000 (15K) or 10,000 (10K)
If you have a computer with three hard disks, what type of RAID fault-tolerant
configuration will make best use of them? - correct answer RAID 5 (striping with
parity). RAID 0 is not fault tolerant. RAID 1 and RAID 10 require an even number of
disks
You are configuring four 120 GB drives in a RAID 5 array. How much space will be
available? - correct answer 360 GB
What is the minimum number of disks required to implement RAID 10, and how much of
the disks' total capacity will be available for the volume? - correct answer RAID 10
requires at least four disks (two mirrored pairs) and comes with a 50% capacity
overhead, so the volume will only be half the total disk capacity
True or false? A memory card reader is needed to attach a thumb drive to a PC. -
correct answer False—a thumb or pen drive will plug into a USB port
What type of memory technology supports paging? - correct answer Virtual RAM or
virtual memory. The operating system creates a virtual address space for each process.
This address space can use physical system random-access memory (RAM) modules
and swap space or paging files stored on fixed disks (hard drives and ssds). Paging
moves data between system RAM and the swap space as required
You need to upgrade the system RAM on a PC. The motherboard has two 8 GB
modules of DDR3 RAM installed and two free slots. You have two spare 16 GB DDR4
modules in your stores. Can these be used for this upgrade? - correct answer No. The
DDR generation of the motherboard slot and modules must match. You can only use
DDR3 modules
, You are configuring a different workstation with dual-channel memory. You have two
modules and there are four slots. How would you determine which slots to use? -
correct answer Check the vendor's setup/service manual. Many systems will use the
slots marked A1 and B1, but it's best not to proceed without consulting the vendor's
documentation
Consulting the vendor documentation, you find that this system uses DDR4 error-
correcting code (ECC) rdimms. The spares you have are DDR4 ECC udimms. Can they
be used for the upgrade? - correct answer No. If the vendor documentation specifies
registered memory (rdimms), you must use RDIMM modules. Unbuffered dimms
(udimms) will not be compatible even if they are ECC
Why can cache improve performance? - correct answer A CPU tends to repeat the
same routines and access the same data over and over again. If these routines are
stored in fast cache RAM, they can be accessed more quickly than instructions and
data stored in system memory
A workstation has a multi-socket motherboard but only a single LGA 1150 socket is
populated. The installed CPU is a Xeon E3-1220. You have a Xeon E3-1231 CPU in
store that also uses the LGA 1150. Should this be used to enable symmetric
multiprocessing and upgrade system performance? - correct answer No. The CPU
models must be identical. If the cpus are not identical, the system is unlikely to boot.
Even if the system boots, it is not likely to operate reliably
You are specifying a computer for use as a software development workstation. This will
be required to run multiple virtual machines (vms). Can any x64-compatible CPU with
sufficient clock speed be used? - correct answer No. You must verify that the CPU
model supports virtualization extensions (Supporting SLAT, or Second Level Address
Translation, through Intel's EPT or AMD's RVI; Extended Page Table, and Rapid
Virtualization Indexing)
What must you check when inserting a PGA form factor CPU? - correct answer You
must check that pin 1 is aligned properly and that the pins on the package are aligned
with the holes in the socket. Otherwise, you risk damaging the pins when the locking
lever is secured.
