220-1201 Timed Practice Test 2 — 10 Questions

Question 1

A small office has a single public IP address and uses a router to provide internet access to 20 devices. Users report that some websites load slowly or time out, while others work fine. The router's NAT table shows many entries. Which protocol is most likely being exhausted, causing these intermittent issues?

10 minute time limit — choose an answer to begin.

Accepted Answer

NAT. The router's NAT table has many entries, indicating that the single public IP address is being heavily used to translate private IPs for 20 devices. When the NAT table exhausts its available port mappings (typically 65,535 per public IP, but often limited by router resources), new outbound connections cannot be established, causing some websites to time out while existing connections continue to work. This is a classic symptom of NAT overload (PAT) exhaustion.

Answer

DNS

Answer

DHCP

Answer

ICMP

Question 2

A network engineer is designing a new data center and needs to connect multiple servers to a core switch with redundant paths. To prevent loops while allowing failover, which networking hardware feature should be implemented?

Accepted Answer

Enable Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol (RSTP) on all switches.. Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol (RSTP) is the correct choice because it provides loop prevention in redundant switch topologies while offering faster convergence than classic STP. In a data center with multiple servers connected to a core switch via redundant paths, RSTP (IEEE 802.1w) ensures that only one active path exists at a time, blocking redundant links to prevent broadcast storms and MAC table instability, yet automatically unblocking them if the primary path fails.

Answer

Enable Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP) on the server connections.

Answer

Use a hub instead of a switch for the core connection.

Answer

Configure all switch ports as access ports.

Question 3

A network administrator is designing a new subnet scheme for a company with 4 departments: Sales (50 devices), HR (25 devices), IT (10 devices), and Management (5 devices). The company uses the 10.0.0.0/8 network. To minimize wasted IP addresses, which subnet mask should be used for the Sales department?

Accepted Answer

255.255.255.192. The Sales department requires 50 usable IP addresses. A /26 subnet mask (255.255.255.192) provides 64 total addresses, with 62 usable addresses (2^6 - 2 = 62), which is the smallest subnet that can accommodate 50 devices without wasting IPs. This aligns with the goal of minimizing wasted addresses in the 10.0.0.0/8 network.

Answer

255.255.255.0

Answer

255.255.255.224

Answer

255.255.255.240

Question 4

A customer complains that their VoIP phone intermittently drops calls. A technician checks the network and finds high latency and jitter during peak hours. Which network service should be configured to prioritize VoIP traffic?

Accepted Answer

QoS. B is correct because Quality of Service (QoS) is the network service designed to manage bandwidth and prioritize time-sensitive traffic like VoIP. By marking VoIP packets (e.g., with DSCP EF or CoS 5) and applying queuing mechanisms such as LLQ or CBWFQ, QoS reduces latency and jitter during congestion, directly addressing the intermittent call drops during peak hours.

Answer

DHCP

Answer

DNS

Answer

VPN

Question 5

A technician is troubleshooting a server that uses a RAID 6 array with six 4 TB HDDs. One drive fails, and after replacement, the rebuild process is taking much longer than expected. The array is still online. What is the most likely reason for the slow rebuild?

Accepted Answer

The large capacity of the drives and the double parity overhead are causing the slow rebuild.. RAID 6 uses double parity, requiring more calculations during rebuild. Additionally, large-capacity drives (4 TB) take longer to rebuild because the entire drive surface must be read and written. The rebuild process also competes with normal I/O, slowing it further.

Answer

The replacement drive is of a different RPM.

Answer

The RAID controller is faulty.

Answer

The array is performing background consistency checks.

Question 6

A user reports that their external monitor connected to a laptop via HDMI flickers intermittently. The laptop's built-in display works fine. You have tried a different HDMI cable and a different monitor, but the flickering persists. What should you check next?

Accepted Answer

Inspect the HDMI port on the laptop for physical damage or debris.. The issue is isolated to the external monitor connection, and swapping cable and monitor didn't help. This points to a defective or loose HDMI port on the laptop, which can cause intermittent signal loss. Testing with a known-good display on a different port or device confirms the port as the root cause.

Answer

Update the graphics driver to the latest version.

Answer

Replace the video cable with a DisplayPort cable.

Answer

Disable the laptop's built-in display to force the external monitor as primary.

Question 7

A technician is troubleshooting a laptop that will not charge. The battery is removable, and the power adapter works on another laptop. When the battery is inserted, the laptop powers on but shows '0% available (plugged in, not charging)'. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The battery is defective and needs replacement.. The 'plugged in, not charging' message often indicates a failed battery that cannot accept a charge, even though the system detects it. A defective battery cell will prevent charging. The power adapter and charging circuit are likely fine since the laptop powers on.

Answer

The charging port is loose.

Answer

The power management driver is outdated.

Answer

The CMOS battery is dead.

Question 8

A customer brings in a smartphone with a broken charging port. They want the port replaced. During disassembly, the technician finds that the charging port is soldered directly to the main board. Which tool is essential for this repair?

Accepted Answer

A soldering iron with a fine tip.. The charging port is soldered directly to the main board, requiring a soldering iron with a fine tip to precisely heat and remove the existing solder joints and then re-solder the new port without damaging nearby components. A fine tip allows controlled heat application on small surface-mount pads, which is essential for this type of micro-soldering repair.

Answer

A heat gun with a narrow nozzle.

Answer

A Phillips-head screwdriver.

Answer

A plastic spudger.

Question 9

A technician is troubleshooting a laptop that shuts down randomly after a few minutes of use. The fan is spinning, and the vents are clear. The CPU temperature reaches 95°C quickly. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The thermal paste between the CPU and heatsink has dried out.. High CPU temperature despite a spinning fan indicates poor thermal transfer, often due to dried-out thermal paste or a heatsink that is not making proper contact. Reapplying thermal paste and reseating the heatsink is the solution. The fan working rules out a fan failure.

Answer

The fan is running at low speed due to a faulty fan controller.

Answer

The CPU is faulty and needs replacement.

Answer

The BIOS is set to an aggressive power-saving mode.

Question 10

You are deploying 50 tablets for a school and need to secure them in kiosk mode so students can only access a specific learning app. Which hardware servicing step is essential before configuring the software?

Accepted Answer

Charge each tablet to at least 50% and apply all system updates.. This question tests understanding of device preparation for deployment. Before any software configuration, you must ensure the device has a full charge and is updated to avoid interruptions. Kiosk mode is set via software after the device is ready.

Answer

Install a screen protector on each tablet.

Answer

Remove the SIM card from each tablet.

Answer

Replace the stock ROM with a custom firmware.