Training course
This is a free, self-paced reading course for CompTIA A+, the vendor-neutral first credential for hands-on IT work, and the one hiring managers look for when filling help desk, desktop support, field service, and technical support roles. A+ is unusual in that it takes two exams: Core 1 (220-1201) covers hardware, networking, mobile devices, and cloud fundamentals, and Core 2 (220-1202) covers operating systems, security, software troubleshooting, and professional procedures. This course covers both, in one place, in the order CompTIA publishes them.
The course is organized as one module per official exam domain (five for Core 1, four for Core 2, nine in total) and each module carries the domain’s published weight. That structure matters more on A+ than on most exams, because the weighting is uneven in ways that are easy to misjudge. Hardware and Network Troubleshooting alone is 28% of Core 1, and Hardware another 25%; on Core 2 nothing drops below 21%, so there is no domain you can safely skip. Reading in weight order keeps your study time proportional to what the exams actually ask, and each lesson ends with its key terms and suggested further reading so the course works as a reference on a second pass.
What the course covers
Mobile Devices
Module 1 · Core 1 · 13%Laptops, tablets, and phones as physical machines, swapping batteries, displays, and antennas; configuring Bluetooth, NFC, and docking accessories; and getting cellular, Wi-Fi, and synchronization settings right for the users who live on these devices.
Networking
Module 2 · Core 1 · 23%The connectivity layer every support ticket eventually touches: TCP versus UDP and the well-known ports, wireless standards, the services running on networked hosts (DHCP, DNS, file and print) common networking hardware, and configuring a small office/home office network end to end.
Hardware
Module 3 · Core 1 · 25%The physical craft of the job: cables and connectors, RAM types, storage devices from NVMe to RAID, motherboards, CPUs, and power supplies, plus printers and multifunction devices, which remain the great humbler of IT professionals everywhere.
Virtualization and Cloud Computing
Module 4 · Core 1 · 11%The smallest domain on either exam, but a fast-growing part of the role: cloud models and characteristics, client-side virtualization, and the purposes of virtual machines, the concepts a technician needs when the computer being supported does not physically exist.
Hardware and Network Troubleshooting
Module 5 · Core 1 · 28%The largest domain in Core 1, because it is the essence of the job: diagnosing failing drives, RAM, and power issues; video, projector, and display problems; mobile device faults; printer misbehavior; and wired and wireless network symptoms, always in scenario form, asking what you would check next.
Operating Systems
Module 6 · Core 2 · 28%Windows editions, installations, and upgrades headline this domain, through Windows 11, alongside macOS and Linux fundamentals, command-line tools, and the control panels and settings a technician navigates dozens of times a day.
Security
Module 7 · Core 2 · 28%Security at the endpoint, where users actually get compromised: malware types and removal, social engineering, authentication and permissions, wireless security, workstation and mobile hardening, and the physical and logical controls that protect a small environment.
Software Troubleshooting
Module 8 · Core 2 · 23%When the hardware is fine but nothing works: diagnosing Windows operating system problems, resolving application crashes, cleaning up malware infections in the proper sequence of steps, and untangling mobile operating system and app issues.
Operational Procedures
Module 9 · Core 2 · 21%The professional wrapper around the technical work: documentation and ticketing, change management, backup and recovery, safety and environmental practices, privacy and licensing basics, scripting fundamentals, remote access technologies, and communicating with the human attached to the broken machine.
How to use it
Read one Core at a time rather than all nine modules straight through. Because the two exams are scheduled, paid for, and passed separately, the most efficient plan is usually to finish modules 1-5, sit Core 1, then come back for modules 6-9 and sit Core 2, taking them in either order is allowed, but both passes have to come from the same version series. After each module, work the matching questions in the two full-length Core mocks on the A+ certification guide instead of waiting until you have read everything. The course modules themselves open once you are signed in to a free Certifym account.
Both exams lean heavily on performance-based and scenario questions that ask what you would check next, which is a different skill from recalling what a term means, so pair the reading with a machine you are willing to open, a spare drive, and a router you can reconfigure. For exam logistics, including the different cut scores for the two Cores (675 for Core 1, 700 for Core 2 on a 900-point scale), question formats, and version timelines, see the A+ certification guide.
Laptop hardware and component replacement
A laptop is a desktop computer that has been folded, shrunk, and glued. Everything you know about desktop hardware still applies, but the parts are smaller, they share cooling, and several of them are soldered to the board rather than socketed. The exam expects you to know which components you can realistically swap in the field, what they are called, and what has to come off first.
Before you open anything
The order of operations is the same on every laptop and it is examinable. Shut the machine down rather than putting it to sleep, disconnect the AC adapter, and remove the battery if it is externally accessible. On a machine with an internal battery you must open the bottom cover and disconnect the battery connector from the board before touching anything else — the board is live until you do, and shorting a live board is how a repair turns into a replacement.
Wear an antistatic wrist strap connected to a grounded surface, or at minimum keep one hand on unpainted metal chassis while you work. Lay screws out in the pattern they came from, because laptop screws are frequently different lengths within the same cover, and a long screw driven into a short hole will punch through into a board trace or a battery cell.
Batteries
Laptop batteries are lithium-ion or lithium-polymer packs. Modern designs are almost all internal, meaning a bottom-cover removal and a connector release rather than a latch on the underside. Two failure signs matter for the exam. A battery that no longer holds charge is a normal wear item; a battery that has swollen is a safety hazard. A swollen pack pushes the trackpad up from below, makes the machine rock on a flat desk, or bows the lid. Never puncture, compress, or continue to charge a swollen cell. Remove it, place it in an antistatic or fire-resistant container, and dispose of it through a regulated recycling channel rather than the trash.
Keyboards, trackpads, and the top case
Keyboards are among the most commonly replaced laptop parts because they absorb spills and mechanical wear. On older designs the keyboard lifts out from the top after releasing a few clips and a ribbon cable. On many current designs the keyboard is riveted into the top case assembly, so the practical repair is replacing the whole palmrest with the keyboard and often the trackpad attached. Know both patterns; the exam frames this as a scenario where you are asked what the replacement actually involves.
Memory
Laptops use SODIMM modules — Small Outline Dual In-line Memory Modules — which are physically shorter than the DIMMs a desktop takes and are not interchangeable with them. A SODIMM seats at an angle into the slot and then rotates down until side clips latch. To remove one, spread the clips and let the module spring up before pulling it straight out at that same angle.
Two things constrain a memory upgrade. The module generation must match what the board accepts, since DDR4 and DDR5 SODIMMs are keyed differently and will not fit each other's slots. And an increasing number of thin laptops solder memory directly to the mainboard, in which case there is no upgrade path at all and the only remedy for insufficient memory is a different machine. Check the manufacturer's service documentation before promising a customer an upgrade.
Storage
Three physical formats appear in laptops. A 2.5-inch drive bay holds a SATA hard disk or SATA SSD and is common in older and budget machines. An M.2 slot holds a small stick-format SSD; the same slot may accept a SATA-signaling M.2 drive or an NVMe drive that speaks over PCI Express, and the two are keyed differently, so read the notch and the board silkscreen before ordering a part. Some machines also have an M.2 slot reserved for a wireless card, which is shorter and keyed differently again.
Migrating a customer to a new drive means either restoring from a backup onto a clean installation or cloning the old drive. Whichever you choose, verify you have a working backup before the old drive leaves the machine.
Wireless cards and antennas
The Wi-Fi and Bluetooth radio is usually a small M.2 card near the hinge, with two thin coaxial antenna leads clipped onto tiny connectors labeled with numbers or colors. The antennas themselves are not in the base — they run up the sides of the display and terminate near the top of the lid, where they are farthest from the metal chassis and the user's hands. That routing is the reason a display replacement or a lid disassembly nearly always involves rerouting antenna wire, and the reason a laptop with weak Wi-Fi after a screen repair usually has an antenna lead unclipped or pinched.
Some laptops also carry a separate cellular WWAN card with its own antenna pair and a SIM slot. Treat it as a distinct component from the Wi-Fi card.
Display assemblies
Replacing a cracked screen may mean replacing only the panel, or the entire lid assembly including the bezel, hinges, webcam, microphones, and antenna wiring. Touch-enabled laptops add a digitizer bonded to the glass, which usually forces the whole-assembly route. Hinges are worth inspecting on every lid repair: a stiff or seized hinge is what cracks the next panel and the plastic around its mounting points.
What you should be able to do
- State the correct power-down and battery-disconnect sequence before any internal work.
- Recognize a swollen battery as a safety issue rather than a performance one.
- Distinguish SODIMM from DIMM, and M.2 NVMe from M.2 SATA and 2.5-inch SATA.
- Explain why antennas live in the lid and what fails when they are disturbed.
Frequently asked questions about the A+ training course
Is the A+ training course free?
Yes. The course costs nothing to read and opens once you are signed in to a free Certifym account, no payment and no card.
Does the course cover both Core 1 and Core 2?
Yes. There is one module per official exam domain across both exams: modules 1 through 5 are Core 1 (220-1201), modules 6 through 9 are Core 2 (220-1202), each carrying the weight CompTIA publishes for that domain. You do not need a separate course for the second exam.
Does this replace CompTIA’s official training?
No. The complete official exam objectives are published by CompTIA and are the authoritative source for what is testable; download them from comptia.org and study against them. This course is an independent study companion written to be read quickly and to slot alongside practice questions.
Do I need IT experience before starting?
There are no formal prerequisites for A+. CompTIA recommends about 12 months of hands-on IT support experience, but nothing stops you from registering without it, and the course does not assume you already have it. It starts from the hardware and works up.
What should I do after finishing the course?
Work the full-length Core 1 and Core 2 mocks on the A+ certification guide under timed conditions until you are clearing every domain consistently rather than leaning on your strong ones, then schedule the two exams. After A+, the usual next step is Network+, then Security+ or Linux+.
Is the course current with the latest A+ objectives?
The course is built against the V15 series, Core 1 220-1201 and Core 2 220-1202, which launched in March 2025. Retirement is estimated around 2028 on CompTIA’s usual three-year cycle, but that date is not guaranteed. CompTIA can revise the objectives at any time; verify the current version and objectives on CompTIA’s official website before you schedule.
Trademark notice & independence. Certifym.net is operated by Certifym Exam Services, LLC and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by CompTIA, Inc. CompTIA® and A+® are registered trademarks of CompTIA, Inc. Use of these marks is solely to identify the certification for which these study materials are intended. The 220-1201 and 220-1202 exam objectives, including the domain titles and weightings referenced above, are the copyrighted property of CompTIA, Inc.; candidates should download the complete, official objectives directly from CompTIA at comptia.org.
All course content, questions, answers, and explanations on Certifym are original content created for study purposes. They are not actual CompTIA training materials or examination questions and are not represented as such. Studying with these materials does not guarantee a passing result on any live certification exam. Exam requirements, format, domain weights, scoring, and version timelines are set by CompTIA and may change; always verify current details on CompTIA’s official website before scheduling your exams.