CertByte is a bi-weekly blog and segment on the CyberWire Daily podcast hosted by Chris Hare, a content developer and project management specialist at N2K. On CertByte, we share practice questions from our suite of industry-leading content and a study tip to help you achieve the professional certifications you need to fast-track your career growth. View our CertByte series on YouTube.
CertByte: CompTIA® A+ Core Exam 1
On this edition of CertByte, we discuss a question from N2K’s CompTIA® A+ Core Exam 1 practice test.
As your news-to-knowledge partner, N2K will advance your career while bringing you the industry news and trends that help you stay a step ahead. Through our bi-weekly episodes of CertByte on the CyberWire Daily podcast, and these companion articles, we aim to support your certification journey and fast-track your career growth in IT, cybersecurity, and project management. As your host, I or my guest will share a practice question from N2K’s suite of industry-leading content and a study tip (or study “bit” as I like to call it) to increase your confidence and readiness on exam day.
In this segment, my teammate Dan Neville and I break down a question from N2K's CompTIA A+ Core Exam 1 Practice Test. The A+ exam series is meant for candidates who are new to IT and have about 9-12 months of experience, whether that’s in the lab or in the field. As always, the question Dan posed to me is a sample from N2K's CompTIA A+ Core Exam 1 Practice Test*, and not from the actual CompTIA exam.
Quick CompTIA A+ Core Exam 1 study bit.
Here’s an important study bit from Dan that you should know before you sit for the live exam: Make sure you understand the troubleshooting process, and use a lot of flashcards to help you memorize ports and protocols.
This week’s question.
You want to set up a wireless network that uses the 5 GHz band. Which two wireless specifications could you use? (Choose two.)
Answer choices:
- 802.11n
- 802.11ac
- 802.11b
- 802.11g
Working through the logic of each answer choice.
Before considering each answer option, I noted that this question is part of the Networking objective, “Comparing and contrasting protocols for wireless networking.” I asked Dan for some help thinking this through. He offered that it was a memorization question and said that if I Googled “802.11 specifications chart,” I could easily learn the different 802.11 standards and the frequencies (there are only two). Then, when I sat for the test, I could jot down my memorized details from the chart on the whiteboard as a brain dump. However, memorization questions defy logic: you either know them or you don’t. As I had never memorized this information, I had to venture two wild guesses. I chose “A. 802.11n” and “D. 802.11g.”
Dan let me know I was half-right: The correct answers were 802.11n (known as Wi-Fi 4 or the Wireless N specification) and 802.11ac (known as Wi-Fi 5). The 802.11ac wireless standard uses the 5.0 GHz range and can go up to 1.3 Gbps. To remain backward compatible with 802.11n, 802.11ac routers also include protocol support for the 2.4 GHz band at speeds up to 450 Mbps.
After thanking Dan for that brain-twister of a question, Dan reiterated that it is essential to have 9-12 months of experience in the lab or in the field to pass the exam. Just as important, he mentioned that most employers will expect you to walk into most general tech support roles and solve their problems. He added that they may only train you on their specific systems, but the principles embodied in A+ will be your most valuable tools.
As a reminder, candidates for the A+ cert need to take both the Core 1 and Core 2 exams to earn this certification. N2K offers practice exams for Core 1 and Core 2, e-learning from Skillsoft, and our own exclusive, in-house Core 1 video-based training course featuring Dan Neville as the instructor.
In other product news, Dan shared the latest CompTIA updates. Cloud+ was refreshed in September 2024 and Tech+ (formerly known as IT Fundamentals+) was refreshed in November 2024. The new version of PenTest+ and SecurityX have a newly scheduled release date of January 21, 2025. (PenTest+ is an update, while SecurityX is a brand-new expert-level certification that replaces CASP+). All of our corresponding practice tests will be available on our site by early 2025. In the meantime, N2K also offers all of the current versions of these exams, including our newly published practice exam for Data+.
Want more help with this exam?
Whether you are actively studying for the A+ Core Exam 1 or would like to suggest a future certification question, email us at certbyte at n2k.com.
Premium certification prep tools.
If you're studying for an IT, cybersecurity, or project management certification exam, check out N2K’s full exam prep library of certification practice tests, practice labs, and training courses by visiting our website at n2k.com/certify. To get the full news-to-knowledge experience, learn more about our N2K Pro subscription at https://thecyberwire.com/pro.
Explore key terms from the A+ Core Exam 1 certification.
Visit N2K CyberWire’s glossary to dive deeper into these key terms, listed in the order discussed in our segment: CompTIA®, wireless, network, port, protocol, GHz, band, specifications, backward compatible, router, Mbps, deployment, data, frequency, and legacy.
Happy certifying!
*For sources and citations for this practice question, please check out our show notes.