WyzGuys Tech Talk

The CompTIA A+ exam may be the best entry-level information technology course and certification exam.  I started my certification training career teaching the A+ course for CompTIA’s IT Ready program back in 2014.  I have tested for all the versions of the A+ since 200-701 and 702, 220-801 and 802, 220-901 and 902, 220-1001 and 1002.

Last April CompTIA release the latest set of exams, the 220-1101 and 220-1102.  I finally scheduled the new exam, and took it on September 26.  I passed with a score of 780 our of 900.  675 was needed to pass.  There were 80 questions, and the time allowed was 90 minutes

The first three question were the Performance Based Question type.  PBQs are very important questions to get right, they are worth a lot more on your total score than the simple multiple choice questions.  Preparing for these questions is imperative. Here is what I can share about these questions.

First, my recommendation for completing the PBQs are:  Read each of the questions completely, and look at the diagram that is provided.  Do this for each PBQ.  Then mark these for review using the flag icon, and move on.  You want your subconscious mind to be thinking about the solution “in the background” while you go through the   I had three PBQs, you may get one more or less, and you may get different versions of these exercises or an entirely different questions than I had.

Question 1 – Wireless Router Configuration  The first PBQ is an exercise configuring a wireless access point to meet security requirements as described in the scenario.  There is a simulated router configuration interface with three sections or tabs.  Be sure to open all the available tabs.  There is something to do on each tabs

You are given the IP addresses and MAC addresses of the devices on the wireless network, and you are required to use MAC address filtering to permit only these devices to connect.  You also have to pick a channel that is not used by neighboring Wi-Fi networks to prevent bandwidth contention and interference.  You will have to configure the SSID (network name) and the network passphrase or pre-shared key.  You also have to change the router administrative password.

There is an excellent website at https://ui.linksys.com where you can practice router configurations like you will see in this question.  A good representative graphical user Interface or GUI is the E1500.

Here is a list of tasks you should be able to perform on any wireless router user interface:

Wireless Router Configuration

• Basics
  • Secure the router or AP administration interface.
  • Change default administrative password and user names.
  • Disable remote administration.
  • Secure or disable the reset switch or function.
  • Change default SNMP parameters.
  • Upgrade firmware.
• SSID
  • Change default SSID.
  • Verify no broadcasting to the network.
• Passphrase or Pre-Shared Key
  • Know how to add or change a passphrase
• MAC filtering
  • Apply address filtering.
  • Controls which wireless clients can access the network.
• Channels
  • Change the default channel.
• ISP Connection – DHCP or Static IP
  • Configure DHCP or disable it and enter a static IP address.
• DHCP for the WLAN
  • Configure DHCP scope for Wi-Fi clients or disable
• Updates from manufacture
  • For new features, fixing security issues, or patching other issues.
• Updates from other sources
  • Change the functionality of the wireless router or device.
  • OpenWrt and DD-WRT.

And here are a couple of downloadable PDFs to help you create and practice for this PBQ

Configure Wireless Access Point Activity and Wireless Networking Scenarios

Question 2 – Printer Troubleshooting and Repair. The second question involves a scenario where a laser printer is malfunctioning.  The user says the finished pages smudge easily, and that print jobs run on legal size paper always jam before going through the printer.  You are shown a picture of a laser printer, with 4 places to drag and drop your solutions

Based on this scenario, you are given a list of five parts to use to solve these two problems.  You do not have to fill all four spaces, just as many as the parts you select.  you move the parts by drag and drop into the space where the problem is occurring.  The parts include replacing toner, replacing ink, pickup rollers, fuser assembly, and replacing paper in try with new paper.

Besides this question, I had a lot (5 or 6) of printer repair questions.  Know your printer types and parts that identify them.  The printer types are ink jet, laser, impact, thermal, and 3Dprinter  Ink only goes in an ink jet printer, toner into a laser printer.  3D printers use a filament.  Thermal printers use treated paper usually on rolls, or sometimes label stock.  Impact printers use an inked ribbon typically with pin-fed carbonless or carbon paper interleaved multi-part forms, using a dot matrix or daisy wheel print head.

Question 3 – Networking Cables and Connections  In this scenario you are a new technician in training for an ISP, and you are learning how to make network patch cables of various types, and how to use them to connect them into a working network for the customer.  There are two parts to this question.

Part One – You are shown three types of cables, 4-wire unshielded twisted pair Category 3 cable, coaxial cable, and 8 wire (four pair) UTP Category 5e cable.  You are shown 3 cable connectors, an RJ-11, RJ45, and F connector.  You are shown three tools, a UTP cable crimper, a coaxial cable crimper, and a punch-down tool.

To solve part one, you have to choose cable connections for each cable type and drag them into place, and you also need to choose the correct cable tools to attach the connector. The tools may be used more than once, which means all the tools may not be necessary.

Part Two –  In part two you will use the cables you made to connect the network together.  The devices on the network include a coaxial wall jack (the ISP demarc), a cable modem with a coaxial connector and an RJ45 Ethernet connector, A telephone with an RJ11 connection.  A customer switch that has an uplink Ethernet port, 4 LAN ports, and an RJ11 connection.  There is a computer with an RJ45 Ethernet connector on the network card.  You have to use the right cables.  Some cables get used more than once.  Work it out for yourself on paper, my NDA prevents me from giving you the solution.

It would be great if your can actually assemble your own network by purchasing all the components and tools, and doing this exercise for real.  Some of the labs you can purchase have pretty details simulations that will get you there.  But you can always draw it out on paper too. If you think you got it, and want to know how you did, send me an image attachment of your network map and I’ll send a response.

In addition to A LOT of printer questions, here is what I can share about the topics I was tested on:

Cloud Services questions – I had at least 3, maybe 4.  Know this:

Cloud Platforms

• Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)  Hardware and rack space only
• Platform as a Service (PaaS) Hardware, operating systems, and some configuration
• Software as a Service (SaaS) Turn-key software applications such as Office365, Salesforce CRM

Cloud Types

• Public Cloud – available to anyone
• Private Cloud – provisioned for the exclusive use of a single organization
• Community Cloud – provisioned for a group of similar organizations or individuals to provide shared resources
• Hybrid Cloud – two or more types of cloud infrastructure

Virtualization – again, at least 3 maybe 4.  For virtualization knowing what has to be enabled in the BIOS.UEFI is important.  Knowing when you would use VDI (virtual desktop infrastructure) would be helpful.  Cloud and virtualization work together, understanding how pooled resources work might be helpful.

Troubleshooting – Probably as many as 10 question on troubleshooting and repair, mostly hardware devices, and maybe a could networking issues.  Lots of the questions gave you a scenario where you have identify the NEXT step.  The NEXT step is not necessarily the step where you fix it.  Both the next step and the repair step will be in the answers, so pick the next step, not the fix (unless it is what’s next.  Knowing the CompTIA troubleshooting methodology is important to answering these questions.

This is what I can tell you about the new A+ 220-1101 exam.  If you have questions, comments, or tips of your own, please add them into the comments.  Come back in two weeks for the 220-1102 exam.