CompTIA A+ Core 1 Study Plan

An effective Core 1 study plan does three things: it works through the official objectives in a deliberate order (hardware and networking first, because everything else leans on them), it puts your hands on real equipment every week, and it finishes with timed practice testing rather than more reading. This article lays that out as an eight-week schedule you can compress or stretch to fit your life.

First, a version check that trips up many searchers. The current A+ Core 1 exam is 220-1201, launched in March 2025. The previous English-language exam, 220-1101, retired in September 2025 — so if you are following a "1101 study schedule" from an older article or course, confirm your materials against the current objectives before committing weeks to them. The good news: passing either version's pair granted the identical CompTIA A+ credential, and the 220-1201 refresh added content (more cloud, virtualisation, IoT security and remote troubleshooting) rather than discarding the fundamentals, so older resources overlap heavily — they are just not sufficient on their own.

This plan covers Core 1 only. Core 1 and Core 2 are separate exams you can sit in any order — though both must come from the same version series — and most candidates take Core 1 first because its hardware and networking content is the more natural starting point. When you are ready to plan the second exam, the operating systems and security content has its own schedule in the CompTIA A+ Core 2 study plan. For the certification as a whole — both exams, registration, what A+ is for — see the CompTIA A+ certification guide.

What you are planning for: the Core 1 exam at a glance

Before scheduling anything, know the target. As of 2026, the Core 1 (220-1201) exam is a maximum of 90 questions in 90 minutes — a mix of multiple-choice (single and multiple response), drag-and-drop and performance-based questions. The passing score is 675 on a scale of 100–900. Note that this differs from Core 2, which requires 700 — the two exams have different passing scores, and mixing them up is a common error.

The exam costs $274 in US retail pricing as listed by CompTIA's authorised resellers in June 2026; prices vary by country, and discounted vouchers around $238 are available through authorised resellers. There are no prerequisites — CompTIA recommends about 12 months in an IT support role, but nothing is enforced, and complete beginners pass Core 1 regularly with structured preparation.

Content-wise, Core 1 is the hands-on half of A+: hardware components and peripherals, mobile devices, networking fundamentals, virtualisation and cloud concepts, and hardware/network troubleshooting. Your single most important study document is free: download the official 220-1201 exam objectives from comptia.org and keep them open throughout — every week below maps to them, and on exam day nothing outside them is fair game.

How long should you study for Core 1?

CompTIA publishes no official study-hours figure, so distrust any article promising that "X hours guarantees a pass". What can be said honestly: the schedule below assumes roughly 8–10 hours per week for eight weeks and suits a motivated beginner. If you already work in IT support, weeks 1–3 will move much faster and a five-to-six-week compression is realistic. If you are brand new to computing hardware and can only spare a few hours a week, run the same sequence over twelve weeks rather than thinning each week's work. The order matters more than the calendar.

The eight-week Core 1 study plan

Weeks 1–2: hardware foundations

Start with the physical machine, because the rest of Core 1 assumes it. Cover motherboards, CPUs, RAM types, storage devices and interfaces, power supplies, expansion cards, and cooling. Learn connector and cable types until identification is automatic — ports and cables are classic quick-fire exam material.

Hands-on task: open a desktop computer. A second-hand or retired machine is ideal. Identify every component, reseat the RAM, disconnect and reconnect the storage and power cables, and put it back together working. One physical teardown teaches connector recognition better than fifty flashcards.

Milestone check: by the end of week 2 you should be able to sketch a motherboard from memory and name what plugs into each socket.

Weeks 3–4: networking fundamentals

Core 1's networking content is the section beginners fear most, so it gets two full weeks early, while your energy is high. Cover network hardware (switches, routers, access points), common ports and protocols, TCP/IP basics, IP addressing, wireless standards, and small-office network configuration.

Hands-on task: map your home network. Find your router's configuration page, identify your devices' IP addresses, change the Wi-Fi channel, and use ipconfig/ping/tracert from a command line until their output makes sense. These commands recur in troubleshooting scenarios.

Milestone check: you can explain what happens, step by step, when a laptop joins Wi-Fi and loads a web page — addressing, DNS, gateway and all.

Week 5: mobile devices, printers and peripherals

A lighter week covering laptop hardware and displays, mobile device types and connectivity, and printer technologies (laser, inkjet, thermal, impact) with their maintenance procedures. Printer questions reward knowing each technology's process in order — learn the laser printing stages properly rather than by vague familiarity.

Hands-on task if possible: strip a retired laptop as you did the desktop, and run a maintenance cycle on any printer you can access.

Week 6: virtualisation, cloud and the modern additions

The 220-1201 revision expanded cloud, virtualisation, IoT security and remote-troubleshooting coverage, so give this material a dedicated week — it is where older 1101-era notes are weakest. Cover cloud models and concepts, client-side virtualisation, and the connected-device content in the current objectives.

Hands-on task: install a free hypervisor on your computer and run a virtual machine. Creating, snapshotting and deleting a VM turns abstract virtualisation vocabulary into something you have done.

Week 7: troubleshooting and integration

Troubleshooting scenarios tie the whole exam together: given symptoms, choose the probable cause or next diagnostic step. Study CompTIA's troubleshooting methodology until its sequence is second nature, then work through hardware, display, storage and network failure scenarios. This is also the week to circle back over your weakest earlier topics — by now you know what they are.

Start serious question practice this week. Work untimed at first, and review every answer — right ones included — until you can say why each wrong option is wrong. Practice questions are a tool for testing your understanding of the objectives, not a script to memorise; if you find yourself recognising answers rather than reasoning to them, switch question sets. ExamPractice offers free sample questions for the A+ series on its CompTIA exams hub, with fuller sets for subscribers.

Week 8: timed simulation and the readiness decision

The final week is assessment, not learning. Sit at least two full-length, 90-question, 90-minute timed simulations under exam conditions — no notes, no pauses. A timed practice test simulation shows you two things reading cannot: whether your pacing holds across 90 minutes, and which domains still leak marks under pressure. After each attempt, spend as long analysing results as you spent testing — group your misses by objective, restudy the worst domain, and retest.

Book the exam when your simulated performance is consistently comfortable rather than borderline, and remember the performance-based questions: budget extra time for them in your pacing, and consider tackling flagged-and-skipped ones after clearing the multiple-choice questions.