220-1201 Practice Test 44 — 15 Questions

Question 1

A company is upgrading its network to support 10 Gbps speeds for a server farm. The existing cabling is Cat6a, and the switches are Gigabit. The IT manager wants to minimize cost while achieving 10 Gbps. Which hardware change is required?

Choose an answer to begin — your selection is scored in the full session.

Accepted Answer

Install 10 Gbps switches and use the existing Cat6a cabling.. Cat6a cabling is rated to support 10 Gbps Ethernet up to 100 meters, so no cable replacement is needed. The bottleneck is the existing Gigabit switches, which must be upgraded to 10 Gbps switches to achieve the desired speed. This is the most cost-effective approach because it avoids the expense of new cabling.

Answer

Replace the Cat6a cabling with Cat7 cabling.

Answer

Replace the switches with Gigabit models that have SFP+ ports for fiber.

Answer

Add a repeater to boost the signal on the existing Cat6a cabling.

Question 2

A technician is troubleshooting a Samsung Galaxy tablet that will not rotate the screen when the device is turned sideways. Auto-rotate is enabled in the settings, and the screen rotates correctly in safe mode. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

A third-party app is preventing rotation.. Since auto-rotate is enabled in settings and rotation works correctly in safe mode, the hardware (accelerometer/gyroscope) is functioning properly. Safe mode disables all third-party apps, so the fact that rotation works there proves a third-party app is interfering with the rotation service. This is the classic diagnostic pattern for isolating software vs. hardware faults on Android devices.

Answer

The accelerometer is faulty.

Answer

The auto-rotate setting is only enabled for certain apps.

Answer

The tablet's gyroscope needs calibration.

Question 3

A user complains that their wired connection drops randomly for a few seconds then reconnects. The technician suspects electromagnetic interference (EMI) from nearby power cables. Which tool can best confirm the presence of excessive EMI on the network cable?

Accepted Answer

Spectrum analyzer. A spectrum analyzer is the correct tool because it can detect and measure electromagnetic interference (EMI) by analyzing the frequency spectrum of signals radiated from the cable. This allows the technician to identify excessive EMI from nearby power cables. A standard cable tester checks for continuity, wire mapping, and basic crosstalk but does not directly measure external EMI. A multimeter measures electrical properties like voltage and resistance, not interference. A loopback plug is used to test network ports by sending data back to the device; it does not detect interference.

Answer

Multimeter

Answer

Cable tester

Answer

Loopback plug

Question 4

A technician is selecting a power supply for a workstation that will run 24/7 in a dusty environment. The PSU will be installed in a case with limited airflow. Which PSU feature is most important to prioritize for long-term reliability in this scenario?

Accepted Answer

A fan with a fluid dynamic bearing and a dust filter.. In a dusty, low-airflow environment, the PSU's cooling system is the critical failure point. A fluid dynamic bearing (FDB) fan produces less friction and heat than sleeve or ball bearings, extending lifespan, while a dust filter prevents particulate buildup on heatsinks and fan blades that would otherwise cause overheating and premature failure. Together, these features directly address the environmental stressors described, making C the most important reliability feature.

Answer

A high total wattage rating to ensure headroom.

Answer

A modular cable design for easier cable management.

Answer

An 80 Plus Bronze efficiency rating.

Question 5

A user reports that their laptop's built-in display shows a dim image that is barely visible even at maximum brightness. An external monitor works perfectly. The laptop uses an LED-backlit screen. What component is most likely failing?

Accepted Answer

The backlight LED driver is failing.. A dim image that is barely visible at maximum brightness on an LED-backlit laptop, while an external monitor works perfectly, points to the backlight system. In LED-backlit displays, the backlight LED driver circuit regulates power to the LEDs — if it fails, the LEDs dim or shut off, leaving a faint image visible only under ambient light. The LCD panel itself is still rendering the image, which is why the picture is present but dark.

Answer

The LCD panel is defective.

Answer

The inverter board is failing.

Answer

The graphics card is outputting a low signal.

Question 6

A customer reports that after a recent fall, their smartphone's screen is completely black, but the device still vibrates when calls come in. The technician suspects the display cable is loose. What is the correct sequence of steps to access and reseat the display cable?

Accepted Answer

Remove the back cover, disconnect the battery, then reseat the display cable.. The correct sequence is to remove the back cover first to access internal components, then disconnect the battery before reseating the display cable. Disconnecting the battery prevents electrical damage or short circuits while working on the display connector, which is a critical safety step in mobile device repair.

Answer

Remove the battery first, then the back cover, and reseat the display cable.

Answer

Reseat the display cable by inserting a spudger through the charging port.

Answer

Perform a factory reset to rule out software issues.

Question 7

During a site survey, a technician needs to measure the signal strength of a wireless access point from various locations in an office to ensure adequate coverage. Which tool should be used for this task?

Accepted Answer

Wi-Fi analyzer. A Wi-Fi analyzer is the correct tool because it is specifically designed to measure wireless signal strength (RSSI), channel utilization, and interference from access points. During a site survey, the technician uses a Wi-Fi analyzer to collect real-time signal data from various locations, ensuring adequate coverage and identifying dead zones or co-channel interference.

Answer

Multimeter

Answer

Spectrum analyzer

Answer

Cable tester

Question 8

A user reports that their laptop's touchpad is not working after they spilt a small amount of coffee on the keyboard. The keyboard still works, but the touchpad cursor does not move. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The liquid has damaged the touchpad or its ribbon cable. Liquid spills cause physical damage — corrosion, short circuits, or residue bridging contacts — most commonly to the touchpad's ribbon cable or the touchpad PCB itself, especially since the touchpad sits directly below the keyboard where the coffee pooled. The keyboard surviving while the touchpad fails is consistent with localized physical damage to the touchpad assembly rather than a software or firmware issue.

Answer

The touchpad driver has been corrupted by the liquid

Answer

The touchpad has been disabled in the BIOS due to a safety feature

Answer

The laptop's operating system has detected the liquid and disabled input devices

Question 9

A client wants to upgrade their desktop PC with a new, faster processor. They have purchased a CPU that is listed as compatible with the motherboard's socket type. After installation, the system powers on but displays a blank screen. What is the most likely issue?

Accepted Answer

The motherboard BIOS needs an update. The most likely issue is that the motherboard BIOS needs an update to support the new CPU. Even if the socket type is compatible, older BIOS versions may not recognize newer CPU models, causing the system to power on but fail to POST.

Answer

The CPU is not seated properly

Answer

The RAM is incompatible with the new CPU

Answer

The power supply is insufficient

Question 10

A company’s web server is accessible from the internal network but not from the internet. The server has a static IP of 192.168.1.10, and the router’s public IP is 203.0.113.50. What configuration is most likely missing?

Accepted Answer

Port forwarding is not configured on the router.. The server has a private IP (192.168.1.10) and is reachable internally, but external users cannot reach it because the router is not translating inbound traffic on the public IP (203.0.113.50) to the internal server. Port forwarding (destination NAT) must be configured on the router to map the public IP and port to the internal server's IP and port. Without it, inbound connections from the internet never reach the web server.

Answer

The server’s default gateway is incorrect.

Answer

A firewall rule on the server is blocking inbound traffic.

Answer

The DNS A record for the server points to the wrong IP.

Question 11

A user reports that a VM running Linux suddenly displays a 'Kernel Panic' error after the technician applied a snapshot and then reverted to it. The snapshot was taken while the VM was running. What is the most likely cause of the kernel panic?

Accepted Answer

The snapshot captured the VM in a state where the file system was inconsistent (e.g., during a write operation).. A snapshot taken while a VM is running captures the disk state at a point in time, but the guest OS may have in-flight writes and an inconsistent file system/journal. Reverting to such a snapshot can present the Linux kernel with a corrupted or inconsistent root filesystem, causing a kernel panic on boot. This is why hypervisors recommend quiescing or shutting down the VM before snapshotting for critical workloads.

Answer

The snapshot file became corrupted due to insufficient disk space.

Answer

The VM’s virtual disk was configured as thin provisioned and ran out of space.

Answer

The hypervisor’s time synchronization caused a clock skew.

Question 12

A technician is configuring a cloud-based virtual machine for a developer who needs to run a custom application that requires 16 GB of RAM and 4 vCPUs. The technician selects an instance type that meets these specs. After launching, the developer complains the application runs slowly. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

Resource contention from other tenants. In public cloud environments, instance types are often oversubscribed, meaning the physical host's CPU, memory, and I/O are shared among multiple tenants. Even if the VM is allocated 16 GB RAM and 4 vCPUs, noisy-neighbor effects from other tenants on the same host can cause performance degradation. This is the most likely cause when specs match but performance lags.

Answer

Insufficient storage IOPS

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Network bandwidth throttling

Answer

Incorrect operating system version

Question 13

A user reports that their PC sometimes fails to boot, and when it does, they see a message saying 'Memory Management Error.' They have two 4 GB sticks of DDR3 RAM installed. A technician runs Windows Memory Diagnostic and finds errors on one stick. What should the technician do next?

Accepted Answer

Replace the faulty RAM stick with a new one of the same specifications.. Windows Memory Diagnostic has already identified errors on one specific RAM stick, so the correct next step is to replace that faulty stick with a new one of matching specifications (DDR3, same speed, ideally same capacity). RAM errors are physical hardware failures and cannot be resolved by software restores or BIOS updates. Cleaning contacts might help with intermittent detection issues, but the diagnostic has already confirmed the module is faulty.

Answer

Run a full system restore to fix the memory management error.

Answer

Update the motherboard BIOS to improve memory compatibility.

Answer

Remove both sticks and clean the contacts with a pencil eraser.

Question 14

A company's IT policy requires that all network traffic from the guest Wi-Fi be isolated from the internal corporate network. The guest network uses a separate SSID and VLAN. Which additional configuration is necessary to ensure complete isolation?

Accepted Answer

Implement an ACL that denies traffic from the guest VLAN to the corporate VLAN. VLANs and separate SSIDs provide logical segmentation at Layer 2, but they do not by themselves prevent Layer 3 traffic from being routed between VLANs. If the guest VLAN has an SVI or router interface with a route to the corporate VLAN, traffic can flow between them. An ACL applied to the guest VLAN's router interface (or inter-VLAN routing path) that explicitly denies guest-to-corporate traffic and permits guest-to-internet is what enforces the isolation required by policy.

Answer

Enable DHCP snooping on the guest VLAN

Answer

Configure a router-on-a-stick with subinterfaces

Answer

Set the guest network to use a different subnet mask

Question 15

A user complains that their computer with a 256 GB NVMe SSD is running out of storage space. They want to add more internal storage but only have one M.2 slot. What is the best solution to expand capacity without sacrificing performance?

Accepted Answer

Replace the NVMe SSD with a larger capacity NVMe SSD.. Replacing the existing NVMe SSD with a larger capacity NVMe SSD is the best solution because it maintains the same high-speed performance (PCIe/NVMe) while expanding storage. The user only has one M.2 slot, so swapping the drive directly addresses capacity without adding slower interfaces or external dependencies. This avoids performance degradation and keeps the system simple.

Answer

Install a SATA SSD in an available 2.5-inch drive bay.

Answer

Use an external USB SSD for additional storage.

Answer

Add a second M.2 drive using a PCIe adapter card.