Why Take the CompTIA A+ Exam?

In any career field, it's a good idea to start with the basics before moving onto specialized areas of study. For the aspiring IT professional, you can't do better than to prepare for and take the CompTIA A+ exam for learning the fundamentals. Many IT help desks require it, and it can certainly look good on a resume.

The lessons learned in A+ exam preparation will make you a better IT professional. Here's a look at why A+ is a great way to jumpstart your IT career.

A+: The Universal Test

There's no question that A+ preparation will fill in knowledge gaps about IT support. Even if you've been in the field for 20+ years, it wouldn't hurt to go back and do this exam to refresh your skills and keep up with advancements. No one can possibly know it all, and the best IT professionals never stop learning.

People get into IT from all walks of life and for many reasons. Sometimes companies are willing to take people off the street so long as they have the interest and ability to adapt to the job.

After some time tinkering around, it may become clear that some additional understanding of PCs, networks, mobile, and now cloud/virtualization is needed. Experience is important, but there's no substitute for disciplined study. The A+ exams bring together many aspects of hardware and network troubleshooting that will improve your IT skills. You will need to complete 2 exams, the Core 1 (220-1201) and Core 2 (220-1202), to get your A+ cert.

Core 1 (220-1201)

The A+ Core 1 exam looks at foundational concepts about hardware and networking, with a focus on support and other important beginner level IT-technician skills. Candidates learn how to install and configure: 

Mobile Devices: 13%

The A+ exam is ideal for an IT helpdesk technician. These people are on the front lines of support and generally have to deal with a little bit of everything. Mobile computing has been with us for years now and help desk techs find themselves having to look after "road warriors" who take their computing with them. Just as knowledge of PC hardware is required for the IT professional, the components of laptops and other mobile devices are another important area of study.

This domain also covers accessory options and how to configure USB, Bluetooth, NFC, and other hardware like docking stations.

Networking: 23%

Anyone who wants to know networking has got to learn something about TCP/IP. It has been the de facto protocol stack from the internet's beginning . That's only a small portion of the exam, but it's a very important one. Do you know the difference between IPv4 and IPv6? Do you know the difference between public and private IP addresses? Do you know about subnet masks and gateways? A+ only offers an introduction to these things, while Network+ goes into detail.

Networking skills are essential for any IT professional. You need to know something about switches, routers, and firewalls, but you also need to know the common ports and protocols used by personal computers. Email uses TCP 25 and the SMTP protocol, for instance. And now every office has Wi-Fi, so it's important to have an understanding of wireless networking standards and the encryption that they use. Take a look at this primer on how to choose the right wireless setup to glean what considerations must be taken.

A network is the way that computers communicate with each other, and it is nothing without connectivity, whether it is wireless radio waves or physical cables. A+ students learn about LAN vs. WAN, cable, DSL, fiber, satellite, and other technologies for linking computers. These may seem basic, but many people don't know the first thing about them. Studying for A+ will give you an edge over others and make you a more valuable player in the office.

Hardware: 25%

When something goes wrong with your computer or laptop, you want to be able to make an accurate diagnosis so that you can fix it. But just like when you have car problems, you really need to know something about it before you begin. You need to know what the parts are before you go changing them -or before deciding whether you need to.

The largest part of the A+ exam requires you to be able to identify components and peripherals and know something about how they operate. You may be familiar with a computer motherboard, but naming all the parts that are connected to it is another story. There are expansion slots, memory cards, power connections, fan, CPU, and more. When you take the cover off a PC, you should know what is what before you do anything.

And going beyond that, there are different types of pretty much every component in the PC. As for RAM, for instance, you could have DDR4, DDR5, SODIMM, or DIMM. Knowing the difference is paramount. There are various types of form factors, expansion slots, drives, media, and interfaces. There is a lot to learn.

The A+ exam covers a lot of ground, and it starts with hardware. Computers may have gotten smaller, but there are still a lot of components in those little packages.

Virtualization and Cloud Computing: 11%

Newcomers to IT might not have ever dealt with virtual machines or cloud services before, and it can be difficult to understand how they work if you’ve never had to use them. Virtualization lets us run multiple machines inside of a hypervisor, each one with its own operating system and virtual devices. This section introduces learners to the basic concepts of hypervisors and how to manage virtual machines. 

Many cloud services use virtualization to spin up new computers inside remote hypervisors, so it makes sense that both of these topics are grouped together.  You’ll learn about Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and the offering that almost everyone has heard of before, Software as a Service  (SaaS). Modern businesses use many of these services, so learning about them is an important step if you want to enter the job market with your newly earned A+ cert.

Hardware & Network Troubleshooting: 28%

Troubleshooting is the name of the game. In a perfect computing world, there would never be tasks that require so much of our attention. But equipment failures are common with electrical and electronic parts, and software conflicts and Kills persist. Objective 4.0 of the A+ exam deals with a variety of scenarios that computer users - and IT professionals - are faced with.

Assessing a computing problem can be like dealing with an illness. To come up with a good diagnosis, a doctor will first see what symptoms present themselves. When you're working on an important project, unexpected hardware or network issues can be very frustrating. A+ preparation will teach you to observe what is going wrong and associate these symptoms with the right computing component or network element.

If you have used computers for any length of time, then you know what it's like to experience the "blue screen of death," a failure to boot, or a flickering screen image. CompTIA divides this A+ objective into six discrete areas, each with its own common symptoms and tools for repair. Once you are familiar with each of these problems and how to deal with them, you will be on your way as a skilled IT professional.

Not only that, you will be prepared to deal with many issues faced by your family and friends on their own systems. Preparing for A+ will serve double duty for you as a check against computing and networking problems that you as a user may face - whether at home, at the university, or on the job.

Exam Domain Breakdowns

Updated CompTIA A+ Core 1 Domains (220-1201)

Updated CompTIA A+ Core 2 Domains (220-1202)

Core 2 (220-1202)

The Core 2 exam looks at software, and the procedures that are followed for different tasks relating to operating systems, security measures, and how to apply these concepts in a professional setting.

Operating Systems: 28%

This domain looks at everything related to the software that runs our computers—the operating system. It covers installing and upgrading operating systems and how to maintain them with patches and updates. It covers the main platforms that you are likely to come across, like Windows, Linux, macOS, Android, and iOS. It goes into some command-line techniques and how to manage files, along with file permissions and system utilities.

Security: 28% 

Security is more important than ever if you are responsible for maintaining a company’s IT infrastructure. Most systems are interconnected and exposed to the internet, so understanding basic security procedures to protect devices and data is a must. You’ll learn about malware, security best practices, and how different devices need to be secured. This domain also goes into detail about authentication, firewalls, and data privacy.

Software Troubleshooting (23%)

When you work in an IT department, users will look to you for help when software applications don’t work as expected. This can be daunting if you don’t know how to troubleshoot and fault-find issues, and luckily, this domain goes into a lot of detail about how to fix common operating system and application errors. It also deals with malware-affected systems and how you can identify if a system has been compromised, and what to do when this happens.

Operating Procedures: 21%

Like most professions, there is a lot more to being good at what you do other than just nailing the technical parts of the job. Professional work environments have certain standards and requirements to keep management and the auditors happy. The topics in this domain cover safety procedures, documentation, change management, and how to communicate with users. It also covers backup and recovery procedures, which form part of a larger disaster recovery plan for companies.  

Find the official exam objectives for the 220-1201 and 220-1202 here.

FAQ: Common Questions About the CompTIA A+ Exam

What is the latest version of the CompTIA A+ certification?

As of September 2025, it's Core 1 (220-1201) and Core 2 (220-1202), launched in March 2025. You must pass both to certify.

How long is the A+ certification valid?

Three years from the date you pass, with options to renew with CEUs or retaking exams.

What new topics are in the CompTIA A+ 2025 update?

Emphasis on cloud computing, virtualization, AI in troubleshooting, and expanded security like phishing awareness.

Is A+ still entry-level?

Yes, it's ideal for beginners, covering fundamentals for roles like help desk technician.

Does A+ help with job prospects?

Absolutely! It's vendor-neutral and recognized globally, often required for IT support jobs.

What's the passing score?

Around 675/900 for Core 1 and 700/900 for Core 2 (on a scaled basis).

The Bottom Line

Daily learning is a life principle that everyone should adopt, whether in technology or anything else. Exams are excellent tools for the mind, both to test what you have already learned and to motivate you to prepare to take them. Even if you never become an IT professional, preparing for exams like CompTIA's A+, Network+, and Security+ can only help you on your journey. What you learn during this disciplined time of study could save your own business, make or save you money, or protect your brand's reputation.

Applying these skills as an IT professional can provide these same benefits for your clients or the company that employs you. Smart people like tests because of what they do for us. They can make us better at our jobs, and might even make us better people.