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The CompTIA certification series
A+, Network+ and Security+: the vendor-neutral certifications IT careers are built on, mapped to the current exam codes in plain English.
Choose your path
The classic CompTIA ladder: A+ for IT support, Network+ for infrastructure, Security+ for security. Exam codes retire on a schedule, and these editions are written to the current ones.
Entry • exam 1 of 2
Core 1 of the A+ pair: mobile devices, networking, hardware, virtualisation and troubleshooting. All six Domain 5 objectives are scenario PBQs.
Official weights · current outline
Entry • exam 2 of 2
Core 2 of the A+ pair: operating systems, security, software troubleshooting and operational procedures, including scripting and AI basics.
Official weights · current outline
Infrastructure
Networking from concepts to troubleshooting, with worked drills for all ten 'given a scenario' objectives and the subnetting math shown in full.
Official weights · current outline
Security baseline
The security baseline: threats, architecture, operations and program management, with two full 90-question practice exams in the book.
Official weights · current outline
What is included
The books differ in length and in how practice is arranged, because the exams differ. Everything else is the same in all 4.
Chapters follow the certifying body's own outline, and each area gets its own section with a scoping paragraph, the explanation and Key Takeaways.
220-1201 27 · 220-1202 36 · N10-009 5 · SY0-701 28Callouts sit beside the concept they belong to, flagging the distinctions the exam tests and the answers that look right under time pressure.
Throughout every chapterQuestions are printed with the answer key in the same volume, written in the exam's own style and tagged to the domain they came from.
344 questions across 4 titlesDelivery, scoring and the published domain weights, then a domain-weighted study plan for where the remaining hours should go.
Front matter, every titleLook inside
This is page 99 of the SY0-701 guide. Every section in every CompTIA title is built from the same parts. Select a marker to see what each one does.
Marker 1 · The section heading
The heading on this page is Business Impact Analysis. Sections follow the certifying body's own outline, so the table of contents doubles as the exam blueprint, and each one is self-contained enough to study alone.
Marker 2 · The explanation
Concepts lead with the term, then say what it is and what it is for. This page continues:
Recovery Time Objective (RTO)…Verbatim from page 99
Marker 3 · Exam Tip
Exam Tips sit beside the concept they belong to, naming the distinction the exam tests.
Exam Tip. Memorize the quantitative risk formulas cold: SLE = AV × EF; ALE = SLE × ARO. The exam presents calculation questions where you are given two of the three values and must produce the third. Also know that residual risk acceptance belongs to the business owner, not the security team.Verbatim from page 99
Marker 4 · Common Pitfall
Common Pitfalls name the plausible answer that costs you the mark, placed where you first meet the idea.
Common Pitfall. Confusing RTO and RPO. RTO is about time to restore a system. RPO is about data loss tolerance. They are measured in the same units, time, but answer different questions. An RPO of zero means no data loss is acceptable and requires synchronous replication.Verbatim from page 99
Marker 5 · Key Takeaways
Every section closes with Key Takeaways, the shortest version of what you have just read, built for the final-week pass.
Straight out of the book
Printed here exactly as they appear in the practice sets. Nothing has been simplified for the website.
A network engineer reviews the output of `show interfaces trunk` and sees that VLAN 50 does not appear in the "VLANs allowed and active in management domain" column, even though it appears in the "VLANs allowed on trunk" column. What is the MOST likely reason?
Correct answer: B
`show interfaces trunk` displays three VLAN columns. "Allowed on trunk" reflects the configured allowed list. "Allowed and active in management domain" shows only VLANs that both exist in the VLAN database AND appear in the allowed list. If VLAN 50 appears in the allowed list but not in the active column, the VLAN database does not contain VLAN 50, it was added to the allowed list before being created. Creating the VLAN with `vlan 50` resolves this. (source: chapter-2.2.md, "VLANs must exist in the VLAN database before any port can be assigned to them … Trunk ports only advertise VLANs that exist in this table")
The N10-009 guide explains every answer.
An organization notices that one of its cloud-hosted virtual machines is consuming 100% CPU for an extended period despite no legitimate workloads. Investigation reveals the VM is mining cryptocurrency. Which indicator of malicious activity does this BEST represent?
Correct answer: D
Unexplained high resource consumption (such as CPU spikes from cryptocurrency mining malware) is listed as an indicator of malicious activity under resource consumption.
The SY0-701 guide explains every answer.
220-1201 and 220-1202: practice lives in the printed question banks, sample coming with the next data pass.
Side by side
Exam facts come from each book's own exam overview. Book facts come from the printed interior. A dash means the book does not state it.
| Comparison | 220-1201 | 220-1202 | N10-009 | SY0-701 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Focus | Entry | Entry | Intermediate | Intermediate |
| Experience | None; 9-12 months IT exposure recommended | None; sit after Core 1 | None; 9-12 months networking recommended | None; Network+ level knowledge recommended |
| Domains | 5 | 4 | 5 | 5 |
| Objectives | 27 | 36 | — | 28 |
| Questions | 90 | 90 | 90 | 90 |
| Time limit | 90 min | 90 min | 90 min | 90 min |
| Pass mark | 675 / 100 | 700 / 100 | 720 / 100 | 750 / 100 |
| Practice in the book | — | — | 164 by domain | 180 in 2 mocks |
| Pages | 302 | 384 | 217 | 187 |
| Price | $20.99 | $20.99 | $20.99 | $20.99 |
Why Simply Certified
Simply Certified is a study guide series for working professionals who need to certify efficiently, without a two-thousand-page reference. Chapters and practice questions are both mapped to the certifying body's published exam objectives, so your practice results point directly to the domains that need more work.
Questions