This EX200 practice question tests your understanding of essential tools. 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 script to run every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 2:30 PM. Which cron expression should be used?
30 14 * * 1,3,5
Correct: 30th minute, 14th hour, every day of month, every month, on Monday (1), Wednesday (3), Friday (5).
30 14 * * 1-5
Why wrong: This runs Monday through Friday, not just Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
14 30 * * 1,3,5
Why wrong: The minute and hour fields are reversed; this would run at 14:30 (2:30 PM) but the order is incorrect.
30 14 * * 0,2,4
Why wrong: 0 = Sunday, 2 = Tuesday, 4 = Thursday; not the requested days.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
30 14 * * 1,3,5
Option A is correct because cron uses five fields (minute, hour, day-of-month, month, day-of-week). 2:30 PM is 14:30 in 24-hour format, so minute=30 and hour=14. The day-of-week field uses 0-7 (0 and 7 = Sunday), with Monday=1, Wednesday=3, Friday=5. The asterisks for day-of-month and month mean 'every day' and 'every month', so the expression `30 14 * * 1,3,5` runs the script at 2:30 PM on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
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.
30 14 * * 1,3,5
Why this is correct
Correct: 30th minute, 14th hour, every day of month, every month, on Monday (1), Wednesday (3), Friday (5).
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
30 14 * * 1-5
Why it's wrong here
This runs Monday through Friday, not just Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
14 30 * * 1,3,5
Why it's wrong here
The minute and hour fields are reversed; this would run at 14:30 (2:30 PM) but the order is incorrect.
30 14 * * 0,2,4
Why it's wrong here
0 = Sunday, 2 = Tuesday, 4 = Thursday; not the requested days.
Common exam traps
Red Hat often tests the 24-hour time format and the correct ordering of minute and hour fields, causing candidates to swap them (as in Option C) or to confuse the day-of-week numbering (Sunday=0 vs Monday=1) as seen in Option D.
Detailed technical explanation
The cron daemon parses each line in a crontab file and evaluates the five time fields against the current system time. The day-of-week field accepts both numeric (0-7) and three-letter abbreviations (Sun-Sat), but the numeric values are used in the crontab file. A common subtlety is that if both day-of-month and day-of-week are specified (not asterisks), the job runs when either condition matches — but here, using asterisks for day-of-month ensures the job runs only on the specified weekdays. In a real-world scenario, an administrator might use this pattern for a backup script that runs on specific weekdays to avoid interfering with weekend maintenance windows.
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 EX200 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
Essential Tools — This question tests Essential Tools — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: 30 14 * * 1,3,5 — Option A is correct because cron uses five fields (minute, hour, day-of-month, month, day-of-week). 2:30 PM is 14:30 in 24-hour format, so minute=30 and hour=14. The day-of-week field uses 0-7 (0 and 7 = Sunday), with Monday=1, Wednesday=3, Friday=5. The asterisks for day-of-month and month mean 'every day' and 'every month', so the expression `30 14 * * 1,3,5` runs the script at 2:30 PM on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
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 30, 2026
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