Your Complete Guide to the CompTIA A+ Certification with Professor Messer

Name: How to Pass your 220-1101 and 220-1102 A+ Exams - CompTIA A+ 220-1101
Uploaded: 2026-01-16T08:56:25.150296+00:00
Channel: Professor Messer
Description: Summary and key takeaways on Your Complete Guide to the CompTIA A+ Certification with Professor Messer, covering Why the CompTIA A+ Certification Matters One

Professor Messer

Jan 16, 2026

•

3 min read

YouTube video ID: 87t6P5ZHTP0

Source: YouTube video by Professor Messer — Watch original video

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Why the CompTIA A+ Certification Matters

One of the most popular IT certifications worldwide.
Serves as a gateway into the IT industry and is often listed as a prerequisite in job postings.
Vendor‑neutral, covering a broad range of technologies rather than a single manufacturer.

Who Is Behind the Training?

James Messer – seasoned IT professional with experience in supercomputing, hardware troubleshooting, networking, and cybersecurity.
Provides free video training through ProfessorMesser.com and the Professor Messer YouTube channel.
All content is freely accessible; no registration or paywall is required.

Exam Overview

Exam	Code	Domains	Length	Max Questions	Passing Score
Core 1	220‑1101	Mobile devices, Networking, Hardware, Virtualization & Cloud Computing, Hardware & Network Troubleshooting	90 min	90	675 (scale 100‑900)
Core 2	220‑1102	Operating Systems, Security, Software Troubleshooting, Operational Procedures	90 min	90	700 (scale 100‑900)

Both exams must be passed to earn the A+ certification.
No required order; you may take them years apart as long as you pass before the exams retire (typically ~3.5 years after release).
Exam formats include multiple‑choice, performance‑based tasks (command‑prompt, drag‑and‑drop, matching, sorting).

How to Prepare Effectively

Study the Official Exam Objectives – Available on comptia.org; they list every topic you may be tested on.
Watch Professor Messer’s Bite‑Sized Videos – Each video is numbered to match the objective ID, making it easy to locate specific content.
Supplement with a Good Textbook – Recommended titles are listed on the Professor Messer website; they provide cross‑references to the objective numbers.
Hands‑On Labs – Use your own equipment or the lab recommendations on the website to gain practical experience.
Practice Exams – Simulate the test environment, identify weak areas, and become comfortable with timing.
Review the Testing Environment – Whether you choose a testing center or online proctoring, read CompTIA’s rules and arrive early to settle in.

Study Strategies

Objective‑Based Navigation: Use the numbered videos to jump directly to topics you need to review.
Sequential Watching: Start from the first video and progress through the series for a comprehensive walkthrough.
Mark & Review: During the actual exam, flag difficult performance‑based questions and return to them later.
Time Management: Aim to answer all questions, then review before submitting; a 90‑minute window can feel tight.

Additional Resources from Professor Messer

Free video library (website & YouTube) with closed captions and transcripts.
Optional offline packages: downloadable video/audio files and printable PDF or physical course notes.
24/7 Discord chat for real‑time help.
Monthly live study groups for A+, Network+, and Security+ (calendar available on the site).
Direct link to the latest exam objectives: professormesser.com/objectives.

Final Checklist Before Booking Your Exam

Verify you have covered every objective listed on the CompTIA site.
Complete at least one full practice exam.
Confirm the exam retirement date (usually 3.5 years after release).
Ensure your testing environment meets CompTIA’s online‑testing requirements if you choose remote proctoring.
Arrive early or set up your home station ahead of time to reduce anxiety.

By following this structured approach and leveraging the free, objective‑aligned resources from Professor Messer, you’ll be well‑prepared to pass both Core 1 and Core 2 and earn your CompTIA A+ certification.

Pass both the 220‑1101 (Core 1) and 220‑1102 (Core 2) exams by mastering the official objectives, using Professor Messer’s free, numbered video lessons, supplementing with a solid textbook, and practicing hands‑on labs and mock exams—this systematic plan will give you the confidence to earn the vendor‑neutral CompTIA A+ credential and launch your IT career.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Professor Messer on YouTube?

Professor Messer is a YouTube channel that publishes videos on a range of topics. Browse more summaries from this channel below.

Does this page include the full transcript of the video?

Yes, the full transcript for this video is available on this page. Click 'Show transcript' in the sidebar to read it.

Why the CompTIA A+ Certification Matters

- One of the most popular IT certifications worldwide. - Serves as a gateway into the IT industry and is often listed as a prerequisite in job postings. - Vendor‑neutral, covering a broad range of technologies rather than a single manufacturer.

Who Is Behind the Training?

- **James Messer** – seasoned IT professional with experience in supercomputing, hardware troubleshooting, networking, and cybersecurity. - Provides free video training through **ProfessorMesser.com** and the Professor Messer YouTube channel. - All content is freely accessible; no registration or paywall is required.

How to Prepare Effectively

1. **Study the Official Exam Objectives** – Available on comptia.org; they list every topic you may be tested on. 2. **Watch Professor Messer’s Bite‑Sized Videos** – Each video is numbered to match the objective ID, making it easy to locate specific content. 3. **Supplement with a Good Textbook** – Recommended titles are listed on the Professor Messer website; they provide cross‑references to the objective numbers. 4. **Hands‑On Labs** – Use your own equipment or the lab recommendations on the website to gain practical experience. 5. **Practice Exams** – Simulate the test environment, identify weak areas, and become comfortable with timing. 6. **Review the Testing Environment** – Whether you choose a testing center or online proctoring, read CompTIA’s rules and arrive early to settle in.

Helpful resources related to this video

If you want to practice or explore the concepts discussed in the video, these commonly used tools may help.

Comptia A+ Certification Study Guide 220-1101 220-1102 Recommended

Comprehensive textbook that aligns each chapter with exam objectives, helping learners deepen their understanding beyond video content; essential for thorough exam preparation now

Amazon →

Comptia A+ Practice Exams Bundle

Provides realistic multiple‑choice and performance‑based questions with detailed explanations, allowing candidates to gauge readiness and improve time management before the real test

Amazon →

It Lab Kit For A+ Hands-On Practice

Includes cables, connectors, and hardware components needed to build and troubleshoot PCs and networks, giving learners practical experience that reinforces theoretical knowledge

Amazon →

Links may be affiliate links. We only include resources that are genuinely relevant to the topic.

Summarize another video

Full Transcript YouTube

If you're watching this video,
then you're probably interested
in the CompTIA A+ certification.
And why wouldn't
you be, because it
is one of the most popular IT
certifications in the world.
It's commonly used
to introduce people
to information technology
or to provide people
with a way to show that they
know the skills required
to get a job working in IT.
This is a great starting
point in the industry.
And if you look at job
postings in your area,
you'll probably see a number of
jobs where an A+ certification
is a prerequisite or a
requirement for getting that
position.
The A+ certification is managed
by CompTIA or the Computing
Technology Industry Association.
Not only is CompTIA one of
the largest providers of IT
certifications,
their certifications
are also vendor neutral.
This means that the information
in the exam objectives
is not specific to
a single vendor,
but instead covers many
different vendors across IT.
CompTIA members include
manufacturers, resellers,
training organizations,
and anyone
else who would be
interested in making sure
that we have a solid
foundation of IT professionals.
The CompTIA has certifications
are recognized around the world
and you'll find their
exams are available
in many different languages.
I'm James Messer and this is
the first video in my A+ series
available on professormesser.com
or on the Professor Messer
YouTube channel.
My experience is
almost exclusively
in information
technology going back
to supercomputer operations,
hardware troubleshooting,
networking, and cybersecurity.
I take all of the
experience that I've
had throughout my
career and I build
IT training courses to
help others get a job
or get a better job.
This course covers two exams
that are associated with the A+
certification.
The first is the two
220-1101, we sometimes
refer to this as
the Core 1 exam.
And there's the 220-1102 that
is called the Core 2 exam.
Both of these exams were
released on April the 20th
of 2022.
This course is
designed to give you
everything you need to
learn from the CompTIA exam
objectives and it's separated
into small bit-sized videos.
So you can find
exactly the information
you're ready to learn.
You can watch a short
video on those topics.
And then you can decide
whether to watch another video
or to come back later
and watch more of those.
All of the videos
for these courses
are available on the
Professor Messer website
or on our YouTube channel.
Every minute of every video
is available in either
of those locations and nothing
is held behind in a paywall.
You won't be asked
for any registration
and there's nothing
additional need to provide.
You simply need to
visit one of those sites
and you can immediately start
watching the training course.
Our goal is to create a strong
foundation of IT professionals.
And we think creating
this training is something
that can give people
an opportunity
to get their very
first job in IT
or to move up into
a better job in it.
There's no catches
with this course.
There's nothing extra you
need to purchase and nothing
you need to do extra to be
able to watch the videos.
Every single video
is available for you
to watch online for free.
Some folks would like to have an
offline version of this course
and there are video and audio
options available for purchase.
There's also a set
of course notes
you can purchase in either PDF
or a physical book format that
includes the text, the
diagrams, and the charts
that I have in all of my videos.
All of these resources,
and much more
on my website at
professormesser.com
The 220-1101 exam,
or Core 1 exam,
consists of five
different domains.
Mobile devices, networking,
hardware, virtualization
and cloud computing,
and hardware
and network troubleshooting.
This exam is 90
minutes long and you'll
get a maximum of 90
questions on the exam,
although you could get
fewer than 90 questions.
The passing score
you're looking for
is a 675 on a scale
from 100 to 900.
The other exam that
you'll need to take
is the 220-1102, or Core 2 exam,
it consists of four domains.
Operating systems, security,
software troubleshooting,
and operational procedures.
This is also a 90 minute exam
with a maximum of 90 questions.
Although the scale is the
same between 100 and 900,
you have to do a little bit
better on the Core 2 exam,
passing score is a 700.
Both of these exams have to
be passed for you to be A+
certified.
There's no time restriction
between these two exams.
You could take these exams
years apart if you wanted to
and there's no order that
you have to go through.
You could take Core 1
first and then core second.
Or you could reverse this and
take Core 2 first and then take
Core 1.
The goal is to simply pass
both of these exams and as long
as you're able to do
that you're A+ certified.
The only requirement is you
must pass both of these exams
before they're retired.
These exams were released
on April the 20th of 2022
and usually these exams stay
around about 3 and 1/2 years.
I would recommend looking
at the CompTIA website
to confirm what the
retirement date might be,
especially if you're planning
to take this exam sometime
near that retirement date.
CompTIA keeps everything
updated on their website
so if you're interested in
getting a copy of the exam
objectives or you want to
learn more about the retirement
dates you'll find them
all on comptia.org.
The exam itself may be a little
different than industry exams
that you've taken in the past.
You're probably already familiar
with multiple choice type
questions.
Those are the questions
that have multiple answers
to choose from and those
are very common on industry
certification exams.
These exams also have a
handful of performance
based questions right at
the beginning of the exam.
These usually require
you to complete a task.
They may put you at a
command prompt and ask you
to perform a function.
These might be matching
questions or sorting questions.
They may have drag
and drop components
associated with them.
But the point is that they can
ask you anything from the exam
objectives in any form.
And although these aren't
multiple choice based questions
all of the information
that you need to learn
comes directly from the
CompTIA exam objectives.
The CompTIA exam objectives are
available on the comptia.org
website.
And you may be asked anything
from those set of objectives
on the exam.
So make sure you're
very familiar with all
of the topics listed in
those exam objectives
and you'll do just
fine on the exam.
Before you start your studies
and perhaps before you go in
to take your exam make sure
you reference these exam
objectives.
They provide an extensive
list of everything
you need to know to be
successful with this exam.
You also want to find a good
video training course to watch
and we cover every single
topic from those CompTIA exam
objectives.
We also recommend that
you get a good book
so that you can have even
more information about each
of these exam topics.
There are a number of good
books available on the market
and we have our recommendations
available on the Professor
Messer website.
We also recommend you get as
much hands on as possible.
You might want to use your
own equipment for this
and we can recommend
a number of labs
that are available on the
Professor Messer website.
And lastly, it's always good
before booking your exam
that you test yourself to
see just how much information
you've retained
throughout your studies.
Make sure you try
some practice exams
so that what to expect when
you walk into the exam room.
You'll notice the
videos in my course
have a number in the
title of the video.
That number is associated with
the CompTIA exam objectives
so that you can go
to the objectives,
find the number
you're interested in,
and then locate the video
about that topic very quickly.
You'll find that most books
won't follow this structure
but they do provide
a cross-reference
between the information that's
in a particular book chapter
and which exam objectives are
associated with those topics.
This makes it very
easy to find the video
that you may be looking for
because the exact numbers will
be listed in your book.
So the method you use for
studying is really up to you.
If you'd like to jump
around from video topic
to video topic, you
can do it that way.
Or you can simply start at the
beginning of our video series
and watch it all the way
through one video at a time.
During this video we've
mentioned how important
it is to have the CompTIA exam
objectives because they tell
you everything you need to
know for the exams, which means
this also makes a very good
checklist before booking
your exam.
You can go through the
entire objective list
and know exactly which topics
might need a little more study
before booking your exam.
If you're planning to take
this exam at a testing center
you may want to take some time
to stop by and see what type
of testing
environment they have.
It's always good
to make sure you're
comfortable with the location
of the testing center
and that the testing
center itself
is providing the best possible
environment for taking an exam.
Of course, you could also
take your exam at home
but there are a few additional
requirements for setting up
your testing environment.
So make sure you read through
the rules on the CompTIA
website to know exactly
how to set up the testing
environment at your home.
There are a number of rules
on the CompTIA website
that you need to be aware of,
especially with online testing,
so make sure you read
through those before booking
your online exam.
And it might be a good idea
to arrive early at the testing
center or be ready to take your
exam prior to the test start
time.
This will give you some
time to look over your notes
and become more comfortable
with the testing environment.
Whether you're taking the test
at home or at a testing center
it's important that this is
the best possible environment
to take a test.
If there's any problem with
any noises or the testing
environment make sure those
are taken care of immediately
before the test is over.
Since you're taking
a 90 minute exam that
could have a maximum
of 90 questions,
time management
becomes very important.
You may want to
consider jumping over
the first handful of
performance based questions
and coming back to
them at the end.
Make sure you take
advantage of the mark option
for each individual
question, which
allows you to mark that question
to easily find it later on.
If your time management
has gone well then
you're able to go through every
single question of the exam
again before submitting
it for grading.
The details of your
exam results and a list
of the topics you may
have missed on the exam
are available in your
exam results online.
So that's it.
You're now ready to get
started with your A+ studies.
You'll find everything
you need on our website
at professormesser.com.
Our entire training course
is available on the Professor
Messer website and
all of the videos
are indexed to match the
CompTIA exam objectives.
We provide closed
captioning and transcripts
for all of the videos as well.
We also have a quick link
to the exam objectives,
you'll find it at
professormesser.com/objectives.
There's a link there
that will take you
to the CompTIA website.
There's also a chat available 24
hours a day, seven days a week.
You can find me and others
that are available to answer
your questions at
professormesser.com/discord.
Make sure you check
our event calendar
so you know exactly when our
next live study group will be.
We do study groups each
month for A+, network+,
and security+.
You can find that
on our website at
professormesser.com/calendar.
We hope this introduction has
giving you all the information
you need to be able to jump into
our training course and earn
your A+ certification.
Best of luck with
your studies and we'll
see you in the training course.