220-1102 macOS Features and Tools Practice Test 2 — 15 Questions

Question 1

A technician is troubleshooting a Mac that fails to boot and displays a prohibitory symbol (a circle with a slash). The user had recently installed a new third-party SSD. What is the most likely cause?

Accepted Answer

The SSD is not properly connected or is incompatible with the Mac’s storage controller. The prohibitory symbol means macOS is found but cannot load due to incompatibility or corruption. A third-party SSD without proper firmware or formatting is a common cause, especially on newer Macs with T2 or Apple Silicon.

Answer

The SSD is formatted as NTFS

Answer

The user’s home folder is corrupted

Answer

The Mac’s NVRAM needs resetting

Question 2

A technician needs to deploy a custom configuration profile to 50 macOS devices in a lab. The profile must restrict access to System Settings and disable iCloud. Which tool is most appropriate for this task?

Accepted Answer

Apple Configurator. Apple Configurator is designed for creating and deploying configuration profiles to iOS and macOS devices. For large-scale deployments, MDM is preferred, but Configurator is the direct tool for profile creation and local deployment.

Answer

Terminal with 'profiles' command

Answer

System Preferences > Profiles

Answer

Remote Desktop

Question 3

A small business owner wants to restrict app installations on company Macs to only the Mac App Store to prevent employees from downloading unapproved software. Which macOS security feature should you configure?

Accepted Answer

Gatekeeper. Gatekeeper controls where apps can be installed from. Setting it to 'App Store' restricts installations to only Mac App Store apps, meeting the business requirement.

Answer

FileVault

Answer

System Integrity Protection (SIP)

Answer

Parental Controls

Question 4

A school IT administrator needs to remotely lock a lost MacBook and display a custom message with contact information. The MacBook is enrolled in the school’s MDM and has an internet connection. Which macOS feature should they use?

Accepted Answer

Find My Mac. Find My Mac is the built-in Apple feature for locating, locking, and erasing lost devices. For MDM-enrolled devices, the school can also use their MDM solution, but Find My Mac is the direct user-facing tool.

Answer

Remote Desktop

Answer

FileVault

Answer

Terminal command 'sudo pmset'

Question 5

During a macOS deployment, you need to create a bootable USB installer for macOS Sonoma to upgrade multiple iMacs. You have the 'Install macOS Sonoma' app in the Applications folder. Which command-line tool should you use to create the installer?

Accepted Answer

createinstallmedia. The 'createinstallmedia' utility is the built-in Apple tool for creating bootable macOS installers. It must be run from Terminal with the correct path to the installer app and the target volume.

Answer

diskutil

Answer

asr

Answer

hdiutil

Question 6

A graphic designer is running out of storage space on their MacBook Air. They have a large collection of old design files that they rarely access but want to keep available on demand without manual intervention. Which macOS feature should you enable to automatically free up space?

Accepted Answer

Turn on iCloud Drive and select 'Optimize Mac Storage'. iCloud Drive with 'Optimize Mac Storage' automatically moves rarely used files to iCloud and keeps recent files locally. This is the correct feature for automatic space management. Manual archiving or external drives require user action, and Time Machine is for backups only.

Answer

Enable Time Machine to an external drive

Answer

Use Disk Utility to erase and repartition the drive

Answer

Configure a local Time Machine snapshot schedule

Question 7

During a forensic investigation, a technician needs to recover files that a user deleted from their Mac's internal SSD several days ago. The Trash has been emptied. Which macOS feature or tool should be attempted first to recover these files?

Accepted Answer

Restore from a Time Machine backup. Time Machine backups are the primary method for recovering deleted files on macOS, assuming backups were configured. If no backup exists, file recovery from an SSD is extremely difficult due to TRIM, and third-party tools may not work. Terminal commands like 'fs_usage' are for monitoring, not recovery. Disk Utility cannot recover deleted files.

Answer

Use the Terminal command 'fs_usage' to locate the deleted files

Answer

Run Disk Utility First Aid on the SSD

Answer

Use a third-party file recovery tool immediately

Question 8

A small business uses a shared iMac for customer check-ins. The manager wants to restrict which apps users can open and prevent changes to system settings without creating separate user accounts. Which macOS feature should you configure to meet this requirement?

Accepted Answer

Configure Parental Controls (Screen Time) for the user account. Managed Apple IDs are for enterprise management but require an MDM. Parental Controls (now Screen Time) can limit app usage and settings changes for standard users. However, the most robust solution is using Configuration Profiles via an MDM, but the question asks for a built-in feature. Guided Access is for iOS, not macOS. The correct answer is to use Parental Controls (Screen Time) to set app and settings restrictions for a standard user account.

Answer

Enable FileVault full-disk encryption

Answer

Use the Guest User account

Answer

Apply a firmware password

Question 9

A technician needs to deploy a custom configuration profile to 20 Mac computers in a small office without using a third-party MDM. The profile must enforce Wi-Fi settings and disable iCloud. Which macOS tool can create and sign this configuration profile?

Accepted Answer

Apple Configurator. Apple Configurator is a free tool from the Mac App Store that can create, sign, and export configuration profiles (.mobileconfig files). These profiles can then be distributed manually or via email. System Preferences cannot create profiles, and Profile Manager is part of macOS Server, which is deprecated. Terminal cannot natively create signed profiles without additional tools.

Answer

System Settings > Profiles

Answer

Terminal with 'profiles' command

Answer

Profile Manager in macOS Server

Question 10

A user reports that their MacBook Pro running macOS Ventura is unable to open any applications after a recent system update. They see a spinning beach ball when clicking app icons. Which macOS tool should you use first to diagnose and resolve this issue?

Accepted Answer

Activity Monitor. Activity Monitor is the primary macOS tool for viewing CPU, memory, energy, disk, and network usage. In this scenario, it can help identify a runaway process or memory pressure causing the system to hang. Force quitting unresponsive apps is a secondary step, but Activity Monitor first provides the diagnostic data needed.

Answer

Terminal

Answer

Disk Utility

Answer

System Information

Question 11

During a security incident, a technician needs to verify whether a specific application was granted camera and microphone permissions on a macOS computer. Which macOS tool should they use to check these privacy settings?

Accepted Answer

System Settings > Privacy & Security. The Security & Privacy pane in System Settings (or System Preferences in older macOS) contains the Privacy tab where app permissions for camera, microphone, location, and more are listed. This is the standard location for auditing privacy permissions on macOS.

Answer

Keychain Access

Answer

Console

Answer

Terminal with 'tccutil' command

Question 12

A user calls the help desk because their MacBook Pro running macOS Sonoma suddenly shows a folder with a flashing question mark when booting. They were not performing any system updates. Which macOS tool or feature should you use to attempt to repair the startup volume?

Accepted Answer

Boot to Recovery mode and run Disk Utility First Aid. The flashing question mark indicates the system cannot find a valid startup volume. Booting to macOS Recovery and using Disk Utility's First Aid is the correct procedure to repair disk errors. Reinstalling macOS is a later step if repair fails. Target Disk Mode is for transferring files between Macs, not for repairing.

Answer

Use the Terminal command 'sudo fsck -fy' at boot

Answer

Reinstall macOS from Internet Recovery

Answer

Enable Target Disk Mode on the Mac

Question 13

A technician is configuring a new Mac mini for a kiosk application. The kiosk should run only a single web browser in full-screen mode, and users should not be able to exit the app or access the desktop. Which macOS feature should be used to enforce this?

Accepted Answer

Configure a user account with Parental Controls set to allow only the browser app. Guided Access is an iOS feature, not available on macOS. Single App Mode is a configuration available through Mobile Device Management (MDM) profiles, not a built-in GUI feature. The built-in macOS feature that can achieve this is to create a user account with Parental Controls (Screen Time) set to allow only a specific app, combined with auto-login and the app set to launch at login. However, the most direct built-in tool is to use the 'Login Items' and 'App Limits' in Screen Time, but for true kiosk mode, a third-party tool or MDM is often needed. Among the options, the best built-in approach is to use Parental Controls to restrict apps.

Answer

Enable Guided Access in Accessibility settings

Answer

Use the 'Single App Mode' setting in System Settings

Answer

Set the browser as a Login Item for a standard user

Question 14

A user reports that their MacBook Pro running macOS Monterey frequently displays a message saying 'Your system has run out of application memory.' They have 16 GB of RAM and are only using Safari and Mail. Which macOS tool should you use to investigate the cause?

Accepted Answer

Activity Monitor. The 'application memory' message indicates that the system's memory pressure is high. Activity Monitor's Memory tab shows memory pressure graphically and lists memory usage by process. This is the correct tool to identify if a specific process is leaking memory or if there is a hardware issue. System Information does not show live memory usage.

Answer

System Information

Answer

Terminal with 'vm_stat' command

Answer

Console

Question 15

A user's MacBook Air running macOS Ventura is experiencing intermittent kernel panics. The crashes seem to occur when the laptop is connected to a specific USB-C hub. Which macOS tool should you use to analyze the crash logs and identify the faulty driver?

Accepted Answer

Console. Console is the macOS tool for viewing system logs, including kernel panic logs. These logs contain stack traces that can point to a specific kernel extension (kext) or driver. System Information shows hardware but not crash details. Terminal with 'log show' can also retrieve logs, but Console provides a graphical interface for filtering and analysis.

Answer

System Information

Answer

Activity Monitor

Answer

Terminal with 'sudo dmesg' command