CompTIA A+ Cheat Sheet

You’ve made an excellent choice aiming for the CompTIA A+ certification. It goes without
saying that you want to excel in this exam. As A+ covers many technical topics broadly, it is
tricky to remember fine details, especially when troubleshooting the problems described in
the exam questions.

A+ is a popular entry point into the IT and cyber security industry. To become a technical
support specialist, field service technician, help desk technician, service desk analyst, data
support technician, or desktop support administrator, the CompTIA A+ certification will get
your foot in the door. It also contains essential IT knowledge for a career in cyber security.

Therefore, we’ve prepared this CompTIA A+ cheat sheet for you as an ongoing revision
checklist and provide direction in your exam preparation. Get a copy of this CompTIA A+
cheat sheet for your desk here. When you’re ready, let’s review our must-know concepts
below.
 About CompTIA A+ Certifications
CompTIA A+ comprises two examinations: Core 1, which focuses on hardware, and Core 2, which is abou

Each of the Core examinations has at most 90 questions, usually 82–83, and you must complete each exa

Here is a chart on CompTIA A+ exam objectives (domains):

CompTIA A+ Exam Domains

Core 1 220-1101 Cheat Sheet

This section covers important concepts for Core 1.
 Technical Troubleshooting—Best Practice Methodology

Hardware and Mobile Devices

Revisit these hardware-related concepts often.

Concept Elaboration
Motherboard ● For connecting all components.
● Form factors: ATX, microATX, and
ITX.
 ● Types of expansion buses: PCI
Express (PCIe) and PCI.
● Intel chipsets link to CPU via DMI or
QPI.
● AMD CPU-to-chipset connection is
HyperTransport.
Central processing unit (CPU) Handles most calculations. Each core
contains L1/L2 cache. The entire CPU
shares L3 cache.

Intel CPUs use these sockets:

● LGA775
● 1150
● 1155
● 1156
● 1366
● 2011

AMD CPUs use these sockets:

● AM3
● AM3+
● FM1
● FM2
● FM2
Random Access Memory (RAM) ● RAM DIMMs include DDR (184
pins), DDR2 (240 pins), DDR3 (240
pins) and DDR4 (288 pins).
● RAM SODIMMs include DDR (200
pin), DDR2 (200 pin), DDR3 (204
pin), and DDR4 (260 pin).
● Dual-channel: 2× width of 128-bit
bus.
● Triple-channel: 3× width of 192-bit
bus.
● Quad-channel: 4× width of 256-bit
bus.
● Latency measured as CL or CAS.
Serial Advanced Technology Attachment Consists of a 15-pin power connection and
(SATA) a 7-pin data connector.

Revisions:
● Rev 1 (1.5 Gb/s),
● Rev 2 (3 Gb/s),
● Rev 3 (6 Gb/s),
● Rev 3.2 (SATA Express) (16 Gb/s),
● Rev 3.2 (SATA Express) (16 Gb/s).

mSATA = mini-SATA.
Hard disk drive (HDD) Speeds: 5,400 RPM, 7,200 RPM, 10,000
RPM, 15,000 RPM

Form factors: 3.5”, 2.5”

Solid-state drive (SSD) Communication interfaces:
● Non-Volatile Memory Express
 (NVMe)
● SATA
● Peripheral Component Interconnect
Express (PCIe): x1, x2, x8, x16

Form factors: M.2, mSATA

Solid-state media Examples:
● SSDs
● USB flash drives
● CompactFlash
● Secure Digital (SD) cards
Redundant Array of ● RAID 0 = striping; not fault-tolerant.
Independent/Inexpensive Disks (RAID) ● RAID 1 = mirroring. RAID 1 + two
disk controllers = disk duplexing.
● RAID 5 = striping with parity.
● RAID 10 = mirrored sets in a striped
set.
Small Computer Systems Interface (SCSI) Modern SCSI standards:
● Serial Attached SCSI (SAS)
● Internet SCSI
IPS In-plane switching. Possesses wider
viewing angle.
TN Twisted nematic
Optical media Optical disc drives use changeable media
to store and retrieve data.

Versions:
● read-only memory (ROM)
● write-once ®
● rewritable/write-many (RW)
Compact Disc (CD) Capacity: 650–700 MB
Digital video/versatile disc (DVD) Special formats:
● DL: dual-layered
● DS: double-sided

Capacity: 4.37 – 17 GB

Recording technologies: DVD+R, DVD-R,

DVD+RW, and DVD-RW.
Blu-ray disc (BD) For games and HD movies.

Capacity: 25–128 GB
(Mini-disc capacity: 7.8 or 15.6 GB)
Laptop Portable miniaturized versions of desktop
computers. Uses M.2, Mini PCIe, and Mini
PCI (internal) and ExpressCard /34 and /54
(external).

Replaceable components:
● Keyboards
● Touchpads
● SODIMM RAM
● Screens
● Inverters
 ● Batteries
● Optical disc drives
● Smart card readers
● Hard drives (SSD, HDD, or hybrid).
Heat sink When installing a heat sink, use thermal
paste or pads for filling in gaps and
increasing thermal conductivity between
CPU and heat sink.

Liquid-based cooling systems have higher

thermal transfer capabilities than air
cooling.

To minimize overheating, a “dual-rail” power

supply unit (PSU) separates and controls
the current in each wire.
Sound card Links as x1 PCIe (or PCI cards) and will
typically have PC 99 color-coded 1/8” mini-
jacks for I/O and speakers and optical I/Os
known as S/PDIF.
Video card You link them to motherboards through x16
PCIe or PCI expansion slots.

Video connector types and cables:

● DVI
● VGA
● HDMI
● Mini-HDMI
● DisplayPort
● Mini DisplayPort
● S-Video
● Component Video/RGB
● Composite

Typical color depths:

● 16-bit
● 24-bit
● 32-bit

Typical resolutions (aspect ratio)

● 1280×720 (720p, 16:9)
● 1920×1080 (1080p, 16:9)
● 1366×786 (16:9)
● 1680×1050 (WSXGA+, 8:5)
● 1920×1200 (WUXGA, 8:5)
● 640×480 (VGA, 4:3)
Image processing of laser printing 1. Processing
2. Charging
3. Exposing
4. Developing
5. Transferring
6. Fusing
7. Cleaning
Printer configuration settings ● Duplexing: printing on both sides.
 ● Collation: printing many jobs in a
row.
● Orientation: portrait/landscape.
● Quality: 600 or 1200 DPI.
BIOS/UEFI ● Locates, tests, and initializes
components and boots to the hard
drive, optical disc, USB flash drive,
or network by PXE.
● CMOS stores time/date and
passwords.
● A CR2032 lithium battery powers
the CMOS.
BIOS/UEFI configurations ● Time/date
● Boot device order
● Passwords
● Power management
● WOL
● Monitoring
● Clock and bus speeds
● Virtualization support (Intel VT or
AMD-V)
● Enable/disable devices
● Diagnostics
● Security
● Intrusion detection

Networking
A+ covers network topologies and the devices connecting them.

Concept Explanation
LAN Local area network
WAN Wide area network
MAN Metropolitan area network
PAN Personal area network
SAN Storage area network
WLAN Wireless local area network
Network Address Translation (NAT) Modifying IP address as it crosses a router
Port forwarding Forwards outside network port to internal IP
address and port
Switch Connect computers in LAN
Router Connects ≥2 LANs to the Internet
Firewall Safeguards computers and networks
against unauthorized access
IDS Intrusion detection system
IPS Intrusion prevention system
UTM Unified threat management

Network cables: Familiarize yourself with the examples.

Type Examples/Elaboration
Twisted pair RJ45, RJ11
 Fiber optic SC, ST, LC
Coaxial F-connector, BNC
Plenum-rated Fire-resistant cable designed for airways,
conduits, and regions where sprinklers
cannot reach.

Cabling standards:

Category Rated for

3 10 Mb/s
5 100 Mb/s
5e 100 Mb/s and gigabit networks
6/6a gigabit and 10 Gb/s networks
7 gigabit and 10 Gb/s networks

Wiring patterns:

Standard Explanation
T568A 1. White/green
2. Green
3. White/orange
4. Blue
5. White/blue
6. Orange
7. White/brown
8. Brown
T568B Swap “green” and “orange” in T568A.

Connection methods:

Concept Elaboration
Thunderbolt ● Version 1 is 10 Gb/s and uses
DisplayPort;
● Version 2 is 20 Gb/s and also uses
DisplayPort;
● Version 3 is 40 Gb/s and uses USB-
C.
Universal Serial Bus (USB) Can support up to 127 devices.

● USB 1.1 (full speed) runs at 12 Mb/s

by a max cable length of 3m.
● USB 2.0 (high-speed) runs at 480
Mb/s by a max cable length of 5m.
● USB 3.0 (SuperSpeed) runs at 5
Gb/s.
● USB 3.1 (SuperSpeed+) runs at 10
Gb/s.

Version 3.x ports are blue.

Desktop/laptop computers use USB-A/B

connectors.
 Tablets/smartphones use mini- and micro-
connectors.

USB-C: one-third size of USB-A plug;

compatible with USB 3.1.
Bluetooth Short-range technology for simplifying
communication and connectivity among
network devices
Bluetooth transmission range lengths ● Class I: 100m
● Class II: 10m (most popular)
● Class III: 1m (unpopular)
Bluetooth maximum data transfer rate ● Version 1: 721 Kb/s
● Version 2: 2.1 Mb/s
● Version 3: 24 Mb/s

Internet Protocol (IP) addressing:

Concept Elaboration
IPv4 address 32-bit number, consisting of four decimals
from 0 to 255 separated by period (.), e.g.,
192.168.1.1

Manual entry or Dynamic Host

Configuration Protocol (DHCP) determines
your IPv4 address.
IPv4 loopback 127.0.0.1
APIPA/link-local 169.254.x.x
Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR) CIDR IPv4 addresses have a prefix; e.g.,
“/24” in “10.150.23.58/24” denotes a
255.255.255.0 subnet mask.
IPv6 address 128-bit hexadecimal number, e.g.,
2001:7120:0000:8001:
0000:0000:0000:1F10
IPv6 loopback ::1 (unicast)
Network speed ● 1000 Mb/s (gigabit Ethernet)
● 10 Gb/s (10 Gb Ethernet)

IPv4 address classes:

Class Range (1st decimal) Subnet mask Private

A 1–126 255.0.0.0 10.x.x.x
B 128–191 255.255.0.0 172.16.0.0–172.31.255.255
C 192–223 255.255.255.0 192.168.x.x

Wireless Ethernet:

Version Data transmission rate Frequency modulation

(GHz)
802.11a 54 Mb/s 5
802.11b 11 Mb/s 2.4
802.11g 54 Mb/s 2.4
802.11n 300/600 Mb/s 2.4, 5
 802.11ac ≥1.7 Gb/s 5
802.11ax ≤9.6 Gb/s 2.4, 5, 6

Ports and Protocols:

Port Network protocol

21 File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
22 Secure Shell (SSH)
23 Telnet
25, 587 Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP)
53 Domain Naming System (DNS)
80 Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)
110 Post Office Protocol (POP3)
137–139 NetBIOS
143 Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP)
443 HTTP Secure (HTTPS)
445 Server Message Block (SMB)
548 Apple Filing Protocol (AFP)
3389 Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP)

Remember to check out our Common Ports Cheat Sheet.

 Well-Known Ports: Unencrypted vs Encrypted

Virtualization and Cloud Computing

Despite its small weighting, we’d like to cover basic concepts in this domain.

Abbreviation Explanation
IaaS Infrastructure as a service
PaaS Platform as a service
SaaS Software as a service
VDI Virtual desktop infrastructure

Virtual machines (VMs) come in these two types:

Hypervisor Elaboration
Type 1 Bare or native metal
Type 2 App-like VM on the operating system
Core 2 220-1102 Cheat Sheet
This section covers key ideas for Core 2.

Operating Systems
The following table focuses on the Windows operating system. You can also get our
command-line cheat sheets for Linux and Unix (applies to Mac).

Concept Elaboration
Microsoft Management Console (MMC) Examples: Computer Management,
snap-in Performance Monitor
Master boot record (MBR) Hard drive has up to four partitions but only
one extended partition.
GPT (GUID Partition Table) Hard drive has 128 partitions and may
exceed MBR’s 2 TB limit. Stored in multiple
locations. Requires UEFI-compliant
motherboard.
Logical drive Segment of an extended partition
Active partition Computer boots from here, usually contains
operating system
Volume Any section of a drive with a letter
Samba File- and printer-sharing service
EOL End-of-life
CDFS Compact disc file system
NFS Network file system
NTFS New Technology File System
FAT32 File Allocation Table 32
ext3, ext4 Third and fourth extended file systems
APFS Apple File System
exFAT Extensible File Allocation Table

Common system tools in Windows:

Tool Purpose
Command Prompt Command-line program.

For elevated privileges: Click START

(bottom left corner) > type “cmd” > select
“Run as administrator”.
Control Panel View/change settings
Registry Store settings
Task Manager Monitor and start/end processes
Device Manager Monitor and (dis)connect devices
Remote Desktop software View/control a remote computer
User State Migration Tool (USMT) Move user data
System Restore Revert to earlier system configuration
(“restore point”)
Windows upgrade minimum prerequisites:

Windows CPU (GHz) RAM (GB) Free disk space (GB)

10 (32-bit) 1 1 16
10 (64-bit) 1 2 20
11 1; 2 cores 4 64

Security
Know the advantages and vulnerabilities of these protocols.

Wireless encryption protocol Explanation

WPA Wi-Fi Protected Access
TKIP Temporal Key Integrity Protocol
AES Advanced Encryption Standard
RADIUS Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service
TACACS+ Terminal Access Controller Access-Control
System

Social Engineering:

Technique Explanation
Phishing Attack by email; single target
Vishing Attack by telephone or voicemail
Shoulder surfing Look over someone’s shoulder, often with a
recording device
Whaling Phishing that targets high-ranking people,
such as C-suite executives
Tailgating Unauthorized entity follows authorized party
into secured premises
Impersonation Attacks using stolen credentials or personal
information
Dumpster diving Recover information from trash
Evil twin Setting up a fake Wi-Fi access point, hoping
people choose it over the genuine one.

Threats:

Name Explanation
Denial of service (DoS) Overwhelming a target using a single
machine
Distributed denial of service (DDoS) DoS using multiple machines
Zero-day attack Vulnerability unbeknownst to developers
Spoofing Gain unauthorized access by pretending to
be authorized
On-path attack Setting up Wi-Fi networks to trap
unsuspecting users
Brute-force attack Trying character combinations
Dictionary attack Using lists of probable passwords
 Insider threat Potential for an insider to use their
authorized access or understanding of an
organization to harm that organization
Structured Query Language (SQL) injection Manipulating SQL to modify remote
database (such as by using sqlmap)
Cross-site scripting (XSS) Injecting malicious scripts into normal
websites

Malware:

Name Explanation
Virus Runs on a computer without the user’s
knowledge.

Examples: Boot Sector, Macro, Program,

Polymorphic, Stealth, and Multipartite.
Worm Replicates itself across a network
Trojan Horse Performs useful functions superficially but
runs malicious programs covertly
Spyware Spies on a computer and records its
activities.

Examples: keylogger and browser-hijacking

adware
Rootkit Gains administrator-level access to the
system core undetected
Ransomware Holds a computer hostage until the user
pays
Best Practice Procedures for Malware Removal
Proper Communication Techniques and Professionalism for
Technicians
 Location of A+ in the StationX Cyber Security Certification Roadmap

Conclusion
We hope this CompTIA A+ cheat sheet helps you in your studies as a brief recap of key
points. Don’t forget to look into our latest CompTIA A+ courses and practice tests for
comprehensive exam preparation. Above all, we wish you success in the exam and beyond.
he terminal and start Tmux again.