220-1201 Practice Test 28 — 15 Questions

Question 1

A customer reports that their new printer, configured with a static IP of 192.168.1.100, cannot be accessed from any computer on the network. The technician pings 192.168.1.100 from a workstation and gets no reply. The workstation's IP is 192.168.1.50 with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0. What is the most likely cause?

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

Accepted Answer

The printer's static IP address conflicts with another device on the network.. The most likely cause is that the printer's static IP address (192.168.1.100) conflicts with another device on the same subnet. When two devices share the same IP, the network becomes unreachable for one or both due to ARP table instability. The ping fails because the workstation's ARP cache may resolve the IP to the wrong MAC address, or the printer may not respond at all if it detects the conflict via gratuitous ARP.

Answer

The printer's IP address is on a different subnet than the workstation.

Answer

The workstation's subnet mask is set to 255.255.0.0.

Answer

The printer's default gateway is misconfigured.

Question 2

A technician is troubleshooting a network where a user cannot access the internet. The user's workstation has an IP of 192.168.1.15, subnet mask 255.255.255.0, and default gateway 192.168.1.1. The technician pings 192.168.1.1 successfully but cannot ping 8.8.8.8. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The router's WAN connection is down or misconfigured.. Successful pings to the default gateway (192.168.1.1) confirm that Layer 2 and Layer 3 connectivity within the local subnet is working, and that the workstation's IP, subnet mask, and default gateway are correctly configured. Failure to ping 8.8.8.8 (a public IP) indicates that traffic is not being routed beyond the local network, which points to an issue with the router's WAN connection or its routing configuration to the internet.

Answer

The workstation's subnet mask is incorrect.

Answer

The DNS server is not configured on the workstation.

Answer

The workstation's IP address is a duplicate.

Question 3

A technician is installing a new video card in a desktop PC used for graphic design. The card has one HDMI port, one DisplayPort, and two DVI ports. The user wants to connect two 1920x1080 monitors. Which combination of ports and cables will provide the best image quality and support for both monitors?

Accepted Answer

Use the HDMI port for one monitor and the DisplayPort for the other. The DisplayPort and HDMI ports both support digital video and audio, and at 1920x1080 resolution, both can deliver excellent image quality. However, DisplayPort is the preferred choice for the primary monitor in a graphic design setup because it supports higher color depths and refresh rates over longer cable lengths, and it is the native interface for modern video cards. Using HDMI for one monitor and DisplayPort for the other allows both monitors to run at their native resolution without signal degradation, while DVI (especially single-link DVI) is limited to 1920x1080 at 60 Hz and lacks the bandwidth for higher color fidelity or future upgrades.

Answer

Use the HDMI port for one monitor and a DVI port for the other

Answer

Use both DVI ports for the monitors

Answer

Use a DisplayPort splitter to run both monitors from the single DisplayPort

Question 4

A technician is deploying a point-to-point wireless bridge between two buildings 500 meters apart. The link must support at least 1 Gbps throughput. Both buildings have clear line of sight. Which antenna type and frequency combination is most appropriate?

Accepted Answer

Parabolic dish antennas on 5 GHz. A point-to-point bridge over 500 meters requiring 1 Gbps throughput needs high-gain, directional antennas and a frequency band with sufficient bandwidth. Parabolic dish antennas on 5 GHz provide the necessary high gain (typically 20-30 dBi) and utilize the wider 5 GHz channel bandwidth (up to 80 or 160 MHz) to achieve gigabit speeds, while maintaining a narrow beamwidth to focus the signal between the two buildings.

Answer

Omnidirectional antennas on 2.4 GHz

Answer

Yagi antennas on 2.4 GHz

Answer

Patch antennas on 5 GHz

Question 5

During a network cable installation, a technician needs to verify that a newly run Cat6 cable is properly terminated and free of shorts or opens. The cable is not yet connected to any switch or device. Which tool should the technician use?

Accepted Answer

Cable tester. A cable tester is specifically designed to verify proper termination and detect faults like shorts, opens, or miswires in copper Ethernet cables. Since the cable is not connected to any network device, a cable tester can independently validate the integrity of each wire pair by sending signals and checking continuity, which is exactly what this scenario requires.

Answer

Tone generator and probe

Answer

Multimeter

Answer

Loopback plug

Question 6

A user reports that their wired connection is intermittent. They are using a Cat5e cable connected to a 1000BASE-T switch. The link light on the switch port is blinking rapidly. What is the most likely cause of the intermittent connection?

Accepted Answer

The cable is damaged or has a loose connector. A rapidly blinking link light typically indicates active data transmission, but when paired with an intermittent connection, it often points to physical-layer issues. A damaged Cat5e cable or loose connector can cause frequent link flaps and CRC errors, leading to the rapid blinking as the switch repeatedly attempts to re-establish the link. This is the most likely cause because the symptom (blinking link light) aligns with physical-layer problems rather than configuration or load issues.

Answer

The switch port is set to half-duplex

Answer

The network card is configured for 10 Mbps

Answer

The switch is overloaded with traffic

Question 7

A small office uses a network printer that is shared via a print server. Users report that print jobs are not reaching the printer. The technician pings the print server successfully but cannot connect to the printer's web interface using its IP address. Which protocol is most likely blocked or malfunctioning?

Accepted Answer

HTTP. The technician can ping the print server (ICMP success) but cannot connect to the printer's web interface via its IP address. The web interface uses HTTP (port 80) or HTTPS (port 443). Since ICMP is working but HTTP is not, the most likely issue is that HTTP traffic is being blocked by a firewall or the HTTP service on the printer is malfunctioning. This directly points to HTTP as the blocked or malfunctioning protocol.

Answer

TCP

Answer

UDP

Answer

SNMP

Question 8

A user reports that their tablet's screen is completely black but the device vibrates when powered on. You have already tried a forced restart and checked for physical damage. What is the most likely hardware cause?

Accepted Answer

The LCD panel or display ribbon cable is faulty.. The device vibrating on power-on indicates the system board, processor, and power management are functioning, but the display subsystem is not. Since a forced restart and physical damage inspection have been ruled out, the most likely hardware cause is a faulty LCD panel or a damaged display ribbon cable connecting the mainboard to the screen. This explains why the device is operational (vibration) yet the screen remains black.

Answer

The battery is completely drained.

Answer

The digitizer is cracked.

Answer

The OS is corrupted.

Question 9

A user reports that their smartphone's charging port is loose and the cable falls out easily, making it difficult to charge. The technician inspects the port and sees no visible debris. What is the most likely cause and the appropriate repair?

Accepted Answer

The charging port has worn-out pins; replace the charging port assembly.. The user reports a loose physical connection with no visible debris, which points to mechanical wear of the port's internal retention mechanism (e.g., the spring-loaded pins or the port's latch). Since the cable falls out easily, the most likely cause is worn-out pins inside the charging port assembly, and the appropriate repair is to replace the entire charging port assembly, as individual pins cannot be serviced separately.

Answer

The charging cable is defective; replace the cable.

Answer

Use compressed air to blow out the port.

Answer

Apply a small amount of super glue to the port to tighten it.

Question 10

A technician is deploying a fleet of tablets for a retail store that uses a captive portal for guest Wi-Fi. After connecting to the Wi-Fi, the tablets do not automatically open the login page. What is the most likely missing configuration?

Accepted Answer

The tablets have a static IP address configured.. A captive portal intercepts HTTP traffic and redirects the client to a login page, typically by performing a DNS or HTTP redirect. If the tablet has a static IP address configured, it may not receive the DHCP options (e.g., option 114 for captive portal URL) or the proper DNS server settings, preventing the redirect from functioning. Without a valid DHCP lease, the tablet cannot be redirected to the captive portal login page.

Answer

The tablets are using a VPN.

Answer

The Wi-Fi network is hidden.

Answer

The tablets have Bluetooth disabled.

Question 11

A technician is troubleshooting a network where users intermittently lose connectivity to a critical database server. The technician notices that the server's IP address is being duplicated on the network. Which protocol is responsible for detecting and reporting this conflict?

Accepted Answer

ARP. The Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) is responsible for detecting and reporting IP address conflicts. When a device sends an ARP probe or gratuitous ARP, it announces its IP address; if another device responds, a conflict is detected. This mechanism allows the operating system to alert the user or log the error, as seen in Windows with the 'IP address conflict' notification.

Answer

DHCP

Answer

ICMP

Answer

DNS

Question 12

A technician is setting up a new wireless network for a small office. The office has three access points (APs) that should allow seamless roaming. The technician configures all APs with the same SSID and security settings. What additional configuration is necessary to prevent clients from staying connected to a weak signal?

Accepted Answer

Adjust the minimum RSSI value on each AP. Adjusting the minimum RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indicator) value on each AP forces clients to roam away from an AP when the signal drops below a configured threshold. This prevents sticky clients from holding onto a weak signal, which is essential for seamless roaming in a multi-AP environment with the same SSID.

Answer

Set each AP to a different channel to avoid interference

Answer

Enable WPA3 encryption on all APs

Answer

Configure the APs with different SSIDs for each AP

Question 13

A technician is configuring a network printer for secure printing using IPsec. After enabling IPsec on the printer and the print server, print jobs fail to reach the printer. The technician can ping the printer from the server. Which protocol negotiation step is most likely failing?

Accepted Answer

The IPsec security association (SA) is not being established due to IKE failure.. IPsec requires the Internet Key Exchange (IKE) protocol to negotiate and establish a security association (SA) between the printer and the print server. Since the technician can ping the printer, basic network connectivity (including ARP and IP routing) is working, but the print jobs fail because the IPsec SA is not established. An IKE failure—often due to mismatched pre-shared keys, authentication methods, or IKE phase parameters—prevents the encrypted tunnel from forming, causing all IPsec-protected traffic to be dropped.

Answer

The printer is not responding to ARP requests.

Answer

The printer's TCP/IP stack is misconfigured.

Answer

The print server is using the wrong port number.

Question 14

A user reports that they can send emails but cannot receive any. The email client is configured with SMTP for outgoing and POP3 for incoming. The server is reachable. Which port is most likely blocked on the firewall for the incoming mail protocol?

Accepted Answer

Port 110. The user can send emails (SMTP works) but cannot receive them, and the incoming protocol is POP3. POP3 uses port 110 by default. Since the server is reachable, a firewall blocking port 110 would prevent the email client from retrieving incoming messages, while SMTP on port 25 remains unaffected.

Answer

Port 25

Answer

Port 443

Answer

Port 53

Question 15

A user reports that their 4K monitor connected via DisplayPort 1.2 only shows a 30Hz refresh rate at native resolution, causing mouse movement to feel laggy. The monitor supports 60Hz at 4K. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The DisplayPort cable is only rated for DisplayPort 1.1. DisplayPort 1.2 has sufficient bandwidth (17.28 Gbps) to support 4K at 60Hz with 8-bit color. However, a cable only rated for DisplayPort 1.1 is limited to 8.64 Gbps, which cannot handle the full data rate required for 4K at 60Hz, forcing the signal to drop to 30Hz. This is the most likely cause because the cable is a physical bottleneck, even though the GPU and monitor both support the higher refresh rate.

Answer

The monitor's firmware is outdated

Answer

The graphics card does not support 4K at 60Hz

Answer

The monitor's refresh rate is set to 30Hz in the display settings