Five Steps to A+ Certification Success For Exams 220-901 Hardware & 220-902 Software - Exam Structure and Pass Scores Overview

Sep 29, 2026

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Guidance focuses on how the CompTIA A+ certification exams 220-901 and 220-902 are structured, what exam objectives cover, and why objective interpretation matters. The report explains how industry representatives and subject matter experts create question content, outlines the main domains and their weighting for both hardware and software exams, and clarifies expected question counts and time pressure. It also describes the grading approach and what to prepare for to improve pass likelihood.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryExam

FormatPDF

Pages9

Reading Time23 min

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How the exam is made and why you should care

How the exam is configured

How many questions are there and how are they distributed?

What is the passing score in plain English?

The question types you will see on the exam

A brief note on exam time management

Bonus section

What’s so special about A+ Certification?

What can A+ Certification do for you?

Why and how the A+ test came about in the first place

Five Steps to A+ Certification Success For Exams 220-901 Hardware & 220-902 Software By: Pierre J. Askmo NOTE: This report is not aimed at teaching you the subject matter knowledge to pass the exam. This is a paper about exam structure, pass scores, question structure and type, as well as what you can expect from succeeding at the A+ exam. REPORT SPONSORED BY: Click Here For the CertBlaster Practice Tests CONTENTS 􀂃 How the exam is made and why you should care. 􀂃 How the exam is configured. 􀂃 How many questions are there and how are they distributed? 􀂃 What is the passing score in plain English? 􀂃 The question types you will see on the exam. 􀂃 A brief note on exam time management Bonus section: 􀂃 What’s so special about A+ Certification? 􀂃 What can A+ Certification do for you? 􀂃 Why and how the A+ test came about in the first place For the most comprehensive A+ Certification practice test got to [www.certblaster.com](www.certblaster.com) PA Page | 1 How the exam is made and why you should care Industry representatives from the leading computer vendors set the Exam Objectives. This means that, based on, their day to day needs, they define which skills the exam should address. In this phase of the exam definition the industry representatives also decide what areas to prioritize over others. They do that by assigning different weights to the different Exam Objectives (more on this later) . Once these areas of expertise have been established by the industry representatives the next step is to write exam questions within those areas of expertise. This is done by Subject Matter Experts – SMEs. These are experts in the various computer fields that know which questions will help find out if a candidate knows the topics covered by the Exam Objectives. There are a few more steps but I am not going to bore you with the details. Here’s your take home from this though; the exam objectives are subject to interpretation. Why? Because when the exam objectives are handed over by the industry representatives the SMEs read in to these what they see. Now, most of the time it’s what you and I would expect. However there will be cases where there is a difference of views. This means that you have to read the objectives very carefully and make sure you understand each of them. Don’t interpret them too narrowly since the process does leave the SMEs with room for interpretation. How the exam is configured To become A+ Certified you need to pass two exams: A+ Exam 220-901 that is focused on hardware skills and knowledge and A+ Exam 220-902 that focuses on various operating system issues. The A+ Certification, like all CompTIA exams, is organized around its list of Exam Objectives that are published on their website. These Exam Objectives consist of a handful of “Main Domains”(the high level topic definition) and under each of the Main Domains,“Sub-Objectives” that narrow down to the specifics of what you should know in preparation of the exam. Here are the main domains of both exams with their relative weights: A+ Exam 220-901 “Hardware” | Domain | Percentage of Examination | | --- | --- | | 1.0 Hardware | 34% | | 2.0 Networking | 21% | | 3.0 Mobile Devices | 17% | | 4.0 Hardware & Network Troubleshooting | 18% | | Total | 100% | A+ Exam 220-902 “Software” For the most comprehensive A+ Certification practice test got to [www.certblaster.com](www.certblaster.com) PA Page | 2 | Domain | Percentage of Examination | | --- | --- | | 1.0 Windows Operating Systems | 29% | | 2.0 Other Operating Systems & Technologies | 12% | | 3.0 Security | 22% | | 4.0 Software Troubleshooting | 24% | | 5.0 Operational Procedures | 13% | | | | | Total | 100% | These tables show the main Exam Objectives (Domains) and how much weight they each should have on the exam. Why do the relative weights matter? Because they give a good indication of how many questions each domain will present at your exam. Click here for more

FAQs

Who defines what the A+ exams test and how are priorities decided?

Industry representatives set the Exam Objectives based on day-to-day vendor needs and assign different weights to prioritize certain areas. Subject Matter Experts then write questions that reveal whether candidates know the covered topics.

How are the exam domains and their weights used for each A+ exam?

Each exam is organized around published Exam Objectives with Main Domains and more specific Sub-Objectives. The report lists each domain’s percentage weight to indicate how many questions you can expect from that area.

What should you expect regarding the number of questions and time pressure?

Each exam includes a maximum of 90 questions with about an hour and a half to complete them, averaging roughly one question per minute. The report recommends staying organized and using strategies to avoid running out of time.

Sep 29, 2026

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