This XK0-005 practice question tests your understanding of system management. Read the scenario carefully and evaluate each option against the stated constraints before committing to an answer. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
An administrator needs to schedule a system maintenance task to run at 3 AM every Sunday. Which cron expression should be used?
0 3 * * 7
Why wrong: Sunday=0 or 7, but in some systems 7 is Saturday; best to use 0.
0 3 * * 0
Correct: minute 0, hour 3, every day, every month, Sunday.
0 3 * * 1
Why wrong: Runs on Monday, not Sunday.
* 3 * * 0
Why wrong: Runs every minute between 3:00 and 3:59 AM on Sunday.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
0 3 * * 0
Option B is correct because in cron, Sunday can be specified as either 0 or 7. The expression '0 3 * * 0' means the task runs at minute 0, hour 3 (3 AM), every day of the month (*), every month (*), and only on Sunday (0). This matches the requirement exactly.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
0 3 * * 7
Why it's wrong here
Sunday=0 or 7, but in some systems 7 is Saturday; best to use 0.
0 3 * * 0
Why this is correct
Correct: minute 0, hour 3, every day, every month, Sunday.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
0 3 * * 1
Why it's wrong here
Runs on Monday, not Sunday.
* 3 * * 0
Why it's wrong here
Runs every minute between 3:00 and 3:59 AM on Sunday.
Common exam traps
The trap here is that candidates may remember that Sunday can be 0 or 7 and choose Option A, not realizing that the XK0-005 exam expects the standard POSIX value of 0 for Sunday, and that 7 is non-standard or implementation-specific.
Detailed technical explanation
The cron daemon parses five time-and-date fields: minute, hour, day-of-month, month, and day-of-week. The day-of-week field uses 0 for Sunday and 6 for Saturday; some implementations also accept 7 as Sunday, but POSIX and the Vixie cron used in most Linux distributions only guarantee 0-6. The asterisk (*) in a field means 'every possible value,' so using '*' in the minute field triggers execution every minute within the specified hour range.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
A practitioner preparing for the XK0-005 exam encounters this exact type of scenario on the job. The correct answer here is not the most general option — it is the best answer for the specific constraint described. Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option. Real exam questions reward reading the full scenario before eliminating options, because the constraint defines which answer fits.
What to study next
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FAQ
System Management — This question tests System Management — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: 0 3 * * 0 — Option B is correct because in cron, Sunday can be specified as either 0 or 7. The expression '0 3 * * 0' means the task runs at minute 0, hour 3 (3 AM), every day of the month (*), every month (*), and only on Sunday (0). This matches the requirement exactly.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 11, 2026
This XK0-005 practice question is part of Courseiva's free CompTIA certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the XK0-005 exam.
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