WGU D386 Hardware and Operating Systems Essentials –
Objective Assessment (2025–2026) Complete Exam
Questions with Verified Correct Answers
Introduction:
This comprehensive study document covers the WGU D386 Hardware
and Operating Systems Essentials Objective Assessment for the
2025–2026 academic year. It includes the complete set of actual
exam questions with verified correct answers, ensuring full
alignment with the latest WGU curriculum. Topics span across
hardware components, operating systems, virtualization, memory
technologies, RAID configurations, cloud computing, and networking
fundamentals. Ideal for students preparing for the official WGU D386
exam who want a reliable and up-to-date question-and-answer
reference.
Exam Questions and Answers
Operating system --- correct answer ---system software that acts as
a "go-between", allowing computer hardware and other software to
communicate with each other
wear leveling --- correct answer ---A technique used on a solid-
state drive that ensures the logical block addressing does not
always address the same physical blocks in order to distribute write
operations more evenly across the device.
,PCIe --- correct answer ---A high-speed serial computer expansion
bus standard designed to replace the older PCI, PCI-X, and AGP bus
standards
Thick-client computing --- correct answer ---Client-server model
where the client performs the majority of processing
Internal shared resources --- correct answer ---In cloud computing,
resources such as servers, applications, hardware such as CPUs and
RAM, data storage, and network infrastructure equipment that are
shared among people within an organization
client-side virtualization --- correct answer ---Using this
virtualization, a personal computer provides multiple virtual
environments for applications
Cloud Computing --- correct answer ---a client is utilizing servers,
data storage, and software development platforms over an internet
connection
NVMe --- correct answer ---SSD tech that supports a
communication between the operating system and the SSD directly
through a PCIe bus lane, reducing latency and taking full advantage
of the speeds high-end SSDs. ______ SSDs come in a couple of
formats, such as an add-on expansion card and a 2.5 inch drive, like
,the SATA drives for portables. _____ drives are a lot more
expensive currently than other SSDs, but offer much higher speeds.
mSATA --- correct answer ---Standardized smaller SATA form factor
for use in a portable devices
flash memory --- correct answer ---type of nonvolatile memory that
can be erased electronically and rewritten
Hot-swappable devices --- correct answer ---Device that can be
added and removed without shutting down the computer
Optical drives --- correct answer ---disc drives that use a laser to
store and read data
CISC --- correct answer ---A general-purpose microprocessor chip
designed to handle a wider array of instructions than RISC chip
Raid 1 --- correct answer ---duplicates (not back up) data across
two disks in the array, providing full redundancy
Raid 0 --- correct answer ---taking any number of disks and
merging them into one large volume
, Raid 5 --- correct answer ---requires the use of at least three
drives. It combines these disks to protect data against loss of any
one disk; the array's storage capacity is reduced by one disk
Raid 6 --- correct answer ---similar to Raid 5, but the parity data
are written to two drives
Nested RAID levels --- correct answer ---combining two different
raid types together, to get the benefits of both. EX: RAID 1+0 and
RAID 0+1
RAID 01 --- correct answer ---Also called nested Raid. Minimum of
4 drives. Described as two striped sets of mirrored drives
RAID 10 --- correct answer ---Data is distributed as a stripe of
mirrors requiring a minimum of four disks to be implemented; good
performance with fault tolerance (no parity blocks)
RAID 7 --- correct answer ---Non-standard RAID levels
Peripherals --- correct answer ---An input device, output device, or
secondary storage device that is not part of the central processing
unit (CPU)
Objective Assessment (2025–2026) Complete Exam
Questions with Verified Correct Answers
Introduction:
This comprehensive study document covers the WGU D386 Hardware
and Operating Systems Essentials Objective Assessment for the
2025–2026 academic year. It includes the complete set of actual
exam questions with verified correct answers, ensuring full
alignment with the latest WGU curriculum. Topics span across
hardware components, operating systems, virtualization, memory
technologies, RAID configurations, cloud computing, and networking
fundamentals. Ideal for students preparing for the official WGU D386
exam who want a reliable and up-to-date question-and-answer
reference.
Exam Questions and Answers
Operating system --- correct answer ---system software that acts as
a "go-between", allowing computer hardware and other software to
communicate with each other
wear leveling --- correct answer ---A technique used on a solid-
state drive that ensures the logical block addressing does not
always address the same physical blocks in order to distribute write
operations more evenly across the device.
,PCIe --- correct answer ---A high-speed serial computer expansion
bus standard designed to replace the older PCI, PCI-X, and AGP bus
standards
Thick-client computing --- correct answer ---Client-server model
where the client performs the majority of processing
Internal shared resources --- correct answer ---In cloud computing,
resources such as servers, applications, hardware such as CPUs and
RAM, data storage, and network infrastructure equipment that are
shared among people within an organization
client-side virtualization --- correct answer ---Using this
virtualization, a personal computer provides multiple virtual
environments for applications
Cloud Computing --- correct answer ---a client is utilizing servers,
data storage, and software development platforms over an internet
connection
NVMe --- correct answer ---SSD tech that supports a
communication between the operating system and the SSD directly
through a PCIe bus lane, reducing latency and taking full advantage
of the speeds high-end SSDs. ______ SSDs come in a couple of
formats, such as an add-on expansion card and a 2.5 inch drive, like
,the SATA drives for portables. _____ drives are a lot more
expensive currently than other SSDs, but offer much higher speeds.
mSATA --- correct answer ---Standardized smaller SATA form factor
for use in a portable devices
flash memory --- correct answer ---type of nonvolatile memory that
can be erased electronically and rewritten
Hot-swappable devices --- correct answer ---Device that can be
added and removed without shutting down the computer
Optical drives --- correct answer ---disc drives that use a laser to
store and read data
CISC --- correct answer ---A general-purpose microprocessor chip
designed to handle a wider array of instructions than RISC chip
Raid 1 --- correct answer ---duplicates (not back up) data across
two disks in the array, providing full redundancy
Raid 0 --- correct answer ---taking any number of disks and
merging them into one large volume
, Raid 5 --- correct answer ---requires the use of at least three
drives. It combines these disks to protect data against loss of any
one disk; the array's storage capacity is reduced by one disk
Raid 6 --- correct answer ---similar to Raid 5, but the parity data
are written to two drives
Nested RAID levels --- correct answer ---combining two different
raid types together, to get the benefits of both. EX: RAID 1+0 and
RAID 0+1
RAID 01 --- correct answer ---Also called nested Raid. Minimum of
4 drives. Described as two striped sets of mirrored drives
RAID 10 --- correct answer ---Data is distributed as a stripe of
mirrors requiring a minimum of four disks to be implemented; good
performance with fault tolerance (no parity blocks)
RAID 7 --- correct answer ---Non-standard RAID levels
Peripherals --- correct answer ---An input device, output device, or
secondary storage device that is not part of the central processing
unit (CPU)
