FC0-U71 CompTIA Tech+ Certification Exam Topics and Questions

This topic sets the vocabulary for everything else on the exam. Before you can reason about infrastructure or security, the exam expects you to handle foundational ideas without hesitation: how a computer moves data, how numbers are represented in different bases, what the units on a spec sheet actually mean, and how a structured troubleshooting process works. Gaps here cost you marks across other topics, not just this one.

– How computers handle data

The input-process-output-storage model sounds elementary, but the exam uses it as a lens for diagnosing problems. You need to be able to place any component or action inside that cycle quickly, because scenario questions will describe a symptom and expect you to identify which stage broke down. Storage fundamentals matter here too: knowing the difference between volatile and non-volatile memory, and where each sits in the cycle, shapes how you reason about data loss scenarios. The model is simple; the application to real situations is where candidates slip.

– Numbers, units, and measurement

Notational systems trip up candidates who memorise conversion rules without understanding why they exist. Binary maps to hardware states, hexadecimal shortens binary for human readability, and the exam will expect you to move between them without a calculator. Units of measure are equally testable: the difference between a megabit and a megabyte changes the answer to a throughput question, and confusing MHz with GHz leads to wrong component comparisons. Storage units scale in powers of two in binary contexts and powers of ten in marketing contexts, and that discrepancy is examinable. Throughput units (bps, Mbps, Gbps) appear in networking scenarios where you have to judge whether a connection is adequate for a described workload. Get the units precise.

– Structured troubleshooting

CompTIA's troubleshooting methodology has a specific sequence, and the exam rewards knowing which step comes before which. Identifying the problem comes first, then forming and testing a theory, then implementing a fix, then verifying and documenting. The documentation step is the one candidates undervalue, and it appears in scenario questions about what was left undone. The trap is selecting an answer that skips a step because it reaches the solution faster. Items in this area reward the disciplined process over the intuitive shortcut. If a question describes a technician who fixed the issue but skipped verification, the expected response is that the process was incomplete regardless of the outcome.

How Tech concepts and terminology is tested

At 13% of the exam, this topic delivers a steady stream of items that look straightforward but punish imprecision. Many are knowledge-recall items: given a unit, a notation, or a step in the troubleshooting process, pick the one that fits. The risk is treating them as easy and moving too fast. Conversion questions between binary, hex, and decimal require working memory rather than lookup, so candidates who only half-learned the process make arithmetic errors under time pressure. Unit questions frequently hinge on a single prefix: an answer is wrong because it names megabits where megabytes was needed. Troubleshooting scenario items reward the candidate who applies the methodology in sequence rather than jumping to the most plausible fix. The common loss of marks is selecting the right action at the wrong point in the process. Build fluency with conversions and units so they cost you no time, and treat the troubleshooting sequence as a decision rule, not a checklist.

Infrastructure is the heaviest topic on this exam at 24%, and its breadth is the challenge. You are expected to move fluently between physical hardware, device interfaces, networking concepts, and cloud models inside a single sitting. The domain rewards candidates who can connect a component to its function and a function to its failure mode. Surface-level familiarity with the vocabulary is not enough: the exam puts components into scenarios and asks you to reason about them.

– Devices and their internal components

The exam covers a wider device range than a traditional hardware course. Smartphones, IoT devices, and gaming consoles sit alongside laptops and servers, and you need to know what distinguishes each in terms of use case and constraint. Internally, the motherboard is the integration point that ties everything together, and questions about component compatibility or failure often start there. CPU speed and core count affect processing throughput; RAM capacity and type affect multitasking; storage type (HDD, SSD, NVMe) affects access speed and durability. The NIC connects the device to a network, and the GPU handles graphical or parallel processing workloads. Know what each component does and what symptom its failure produces. Candidates lose marks by knowing component names without understanding the functional consequence of a component being absent or faulty.

– Storage, peripherals, and interfaces

Storage questions hinge on the volatile versus non-volatile distinction and on where data lives: locally on a drive, on a network share, or in cloud storage. Each has different availability, latency, and failure characteristics. Peripheral setup questions tend to focus on the driver installation process and what goes wrong when a driver is missing or outdated. Interface questions cover the physical and wireless connection types: USB variants, HDMI for display output, Ethernet for wired networking, and Bluetooth and NFC for short-range wireless. For each interface, the exam expects you to know its typical use case, approximate speed or range, and why you would choose it over an alternative. Confusing interface capabilities leads to wrong answers on compatibility scenarios.

– Virtualization and cloud models

The cloud and virtualization sub-topic carries real exam weight because it combines conceptual and applied knowledge. Hypervisors create and manage virtual machines, and you need to distinguish between Type 1 (bare-metal) and Type 2 (hosted) without confusing their deployment contexts. Cloud service models require precision: SaaS delivers finished applications, PaaS delivers a development environment, and IaaS delivers raw compute and storage. The distinction between hybrid and on-premises deployment affects which model a scenario points to. Questions here often describe a business requirement and ask which model fits. The trap is selecting a model based on a single feature rather than the full set of constraints described.

– Networking: wired and wireless

Networking basics cover LAN versus WAN scope, the roles of routers, switches, and firewalls, and the difference between IP and MAC addresses. IP addresses identify a device on a network logically; MAC addresses identify the hardware itself. Routers direct traffic between networks, switches direct traffic within one, and firewalls filter traffic by rule. Wireless networking adds the 802.11 standard family, where each variant differs in frequency band, maximum speed, and susceptibility to interference. The 2.4 GHz band reaches further but is more congested; the 5 GHz band is faster but shorter-range. Exam scenarios describe an environment (office layout, interference source, speed requirement) and expect you to select the appropriate standard or diagnose the likely cause of poor performance.

How Infrastructure is tested

At 24%, Infrastructure produces more items than any other topic, and they span a wide range of formats. Some are direct knowledge checks on component names or interface speeds. Most are scenario-based: a described environment, a symptom, and a set of plausible causes. The item rewards the candidate who narrows the cause using the specific detail in the scenario rather than picking the most common failure in general. Cloud model questions are a consistent source of lost marks because candidates over-generalise: they know the three service models but cannot apply them to a concrete requirement without hesitation. Wireless questions reward knowing both the technical spec and the environmental factor (interference, range, building layout) that makes one standard preferable. For hardware items, the trap is identifying the correct component type but the wrong specification. Work through enough scenario items to build a habit of reading the full scenario before settling on an answer.

Where Infrastructure focused on the hardware layer, Applications and software moves up to what runs on top of it. At 18%, this topic expects you to reason about operating systems, the software that users interact with daily, and the browser as a security and productivity surface. The AI sub-topic is newer territory for CompTIA at this level, and it rewards candidates who understand what these tools do rather than how they work internally.

– Operating systems and their components

The exam covers four OS categories: mobile, desktop, server, and embedded. Each has a different primary use case, and questions will describe a deployment context and expect you to identify the right category. Within a desktop or server OS, file systems are a testable component: NTFS supports permissions, encryption, and large volumes; FAT32 is simpler and broadly compatible but limited in file size. The interface layer separates GUI from command-line use, and the exam expects you to know when a command-line approach is appropriate rather than just that it exists. Utilities (disk management, task manager, device manager) and drivers sit at the boundary between hardware and software, and driver issues are a common scenario topic. A missing or incompatible driver is a specific failure with a specific fix, and the exam rewards that specificity.

– Software categories and browser behaviour

Productivity tools, collaboration apps, web browsers, and remote support software are grouped here not because they are technically similar but because the exam treats them as the application layer a technician manages. For each category, the exam is interested in what the software does for the user and what a technician needs to configure or troubleshoot. Browser questions are more specific than they appear: private browsing does not provide anonymity, it only avoids local history storage, and that distinction is examinable. Add-ons and extensions can introduce security risk, not just functionality. Password management in the browser is a convenience feature with security trade-offs. Cache clearing is a standard first step when a browser displays stale content, and the exam expects you to know why it works.

– Artificial intelligence tools

Chatbots, AI assistants, and generative AI represent a relatively recent addition to this exam's scope. The exam does not ask you to build or train a model. It asks you to understand what these tools produce and what their limitations are. Generative AI creates new content (text, images, code) based on patterns in training data; the exam rewards knowing that the output can be plausible but incorrect, which has practical implications for how a technician uses or recommends these tools. Chatbots handle structured conversational tasks; AI assistants integrate with device functions to respond to natural-language commands. The distinction between them matters when a scenario describes a business use case and asks which tool fits. Do not over-engineer this sub-topic: the exam tests applied awareness, not deep technical knowledge of model architecture.

How Applications and software is tested

At 18%, this topic generates a significant number of items, and they tend to be applied rather than purely definitional. OS category questions usually arrive as scenarios: a described device or deployment, and you must identify the OS type or explain a behaviour. File system questions reward knowing the specific capability that distinguishes one from another, not just the names. Browser questions are frequently about the gap between what a feature sounds like it does and what it actually does, particularly around privacy. The AI sub-topic is tested at an awareness level: items reward understanding the practical output and risk of these tools in a workplace context. Candidates lose marks here by applying a technically correct but contextually wrong answer. Read the scenario for the use case before matching it to a software category. The trap across this whole topic is selecting the answer that is true in general when the question describes a specific constraint.

This topic will feel unfamiliar to candidates whose background is purely in support or infrastructure. At 13%, it does not require you to write working code, but it does require you to read a snippet, understand what it does, and classify the approach. The examinable territory is the vocabulary and structure of programming: language types, data types, and the logical constructs that control how a program behaves.

– Language types and data representation

Programming languages divide by how they execute. Compiled languages are translated to machine code before running; interpreted languages are translated at runtime. Scripting languages automate tasks and typically run inside another environment. Markup languages describe structure and presentation rather than logic. Assembly sits closest to hardware, operating on processor instructions directly. The exam expects you to match a described use case to the correct language category, and the distinctions matter: a candidate who conflates scripting with interpreted languages will pick the wrong answer on a scenario that hinges on execution method. Data types define what a variable can hold: characters and strings store text, integers and floats store numbers (with floats handling decimals), and Boolean values are limited to true or false. A question describing a variable that must store a price will reward selecting float, not integer, because integers cannot represent decimal precision.

– Programming constructs and organisation

Variables hold values that change; constants hold values that do not. Arrays store multiple values of the same type under a single name. Functions encapsulate reusable logic. Objects combine data and the functions that operate on it, which is the foundation of object-oriented programming. The exam also covers the tools used to plan and communicate code structure before writing it: pseudocode describes logic in plain language without syntax constraints, and flowcharts represent the same logic visually. Branching (if/else decisions) and looping (repeating a block until a condition changes) are the two fundamental control structures. A scenario describing a process that repeats until a condition is met is describing a loop, and the exam rewards identifying that correctly. Object-oriented methods add inheritance and encapsulation to the picture, and the exam tests whether you understand what those terms mean in practice, not just as definitions.

How Software development concepts is tested

At 13%, this topic produces a modest but consistent set of items. Many are classification questions: given a description of a language, a data type, or a construct, identify what it is. The risk is that candidates in non-development roles find the vocabulary unfamiliar and guess, losing marks that a modest amount of focused preparation would have secured. Items on data types reward precision: knowing that a Boolean cannot store a number, or that a float is needed where an integer falls short, is the kind of detail that separates a correct from an incorrect answer. Flowchart and pseudocode items reward reading the structure and identifying the logical operation it represents. Object-oriented questions tend to focus on the purpose of encapsulation or inheritance rather than syntax. The most common source of lost marks is conflating similar terms: interpreted versus compiled, variable versus constant, branching versus looping. Keep the distinctions sharp.

Data and database fundamentals shares the 13% weight of the two topics on either side of it, but its character is different. Where Software development concepts asked you to classify code structures, this topic asks you to reason about how data is stored, accessed, and protected. The exam expects practical fluency: knowing when to use a relational versus non-relational database, how queries retrieve data, and what a backup strategy actually protects against.

– Why data matters and how databases organise it

The business value of data is a testable concept, and the exam approaches it through three lenses: using data to drive decisions, generating reports from it, and treating it as something that can be monetised. These are not abstract ideas; they appear in scenarios that describe an organisation's goal and ask which data practice supports it. Database structure questions are more technical: relational databases organise data into tables with rows and fields, use primary keys to uniquely identify records, and use foreign keys to link records across tables. Non-relational databases handle data that does not fit a fixed schema, such as documents or key-value pairs. The exam rewards knowing which model fits a described data structure, not just knowing that both exist.

– Querying, scaling, and backup

Queries retrieve specific data from a database by specifying conditions, and the exam expects you to understand what a query does functionally even if you are not writing SQL. Reports aggregate and present query results for decision-making. Scalability questions ask whether a database can grow with demand, and cloud storage typically offers more elastic scaling than local storage. Backup concepts cover two distinct scopes: file backups protect specific data, while system backups protect the entire environment including the OS and configuration. Local backup is faster to restore but vulnerable to the same physical failure as the original; cloud backup adds offsite protection at the cost of restore time. A scenario describing a ransomware event rewards selecting the backup type and location that would survive it, which is a specific answer, not a general one.

How Data and database fundamentals is tested

At 13%, this topic delivers items that blend conceptual knowledge with scenario application. Database structure questions often present a business requirement and ask which database type or design element supports it. The primary/foreign key distinction is a reliable item type: candidates who know the names but cannot explain the relationship between them pick the wrong answer when a scenario describes a data integrity problem. Query and report items reward understanding the purpose of each, not their syntax. Backup items are frequently scenario-based: a described failure event and a set of backup configurations, where you must identify which configuration would allow recovery. The trap is selecting a backup type that would protect the data in general but not under the specific failure described. Scalability questions reward knowing the practical difference between cloud and local storage in a growth scenario. Keep the relational versus non-relational distinction sharp, because it appears across multiple item types.

Security closes the exam at 19%, and it is the topic where applied reasoning matters most. Knowing the CIA triad as a definition earns nothing; applying it to a described scenario is what the exam rewards. This topic spans foundational security principles, the practical steps that protect a device, the specifics of password hygiene, and the encryption mechanisms that protect data wherever it lives or travels.

– Core security principles

Confidentiality, integrity, and availability form the triad that underpins most security decisions on this exam. Confidentiality ensures data is accessible only to authorised parties; integrity ensures it has not been altered without authorisation; availability ensures it is accessible when needed. Authentication establishes who you are; authorisation determines what you are allowed to do. The exam frequently presents scenarios where two of these are in tension, and the item rewards selecting the principle that the described control is actually protecting. A firewall blocking unauthorised traffic primarily addresses confidentiality and availability; a hash verifying a file primarily addresses integrity. Knowing the principle behind a control is more useful than memorising a list of controls.

– Protecting devices and practising safe browsing

Device security covers the layered set of controls a technician applies: anti-malware software detects and removes threats, firewalls filter traffic at the network boundary, patching closes known vulnerabilities before they can be exploited, and physical security prevents unauthorised physical access. Safe browsing practices reduce the attack surface at the user level. The exam presents scenarios describing a device that has been compromised or is at risk, and items reward identifying which control was absent or which should be applied first. The order matters: patching a system that still has active malware is less effective than removing the malware first. Physical security is sometimes treated as less technical and therefore less important, but it appears in scenarios where logical controls are bypassed by physical access.

– Passwords and encryption

Password questions on this exam are applied, not theoretical. Length and complexity increase resistance to brute-force attacks; reuse across accounts means a breach of one service exposes others; sharing passwords removes accountability. Password managers solve the reuse problem by generating and storing unique credentials, and the exam rewards understanding why they are preferable to the alternatives rather than just that they exist. Encryption questions cover two contexts: data at rest (stored on a device or drive) and data in transit (moving across a network). HTTPS encrypts web traffic in transit; VPNs encrypt traffic at the network level, including on untrusted networks. Mobile device encryption protects stored data if the device is lost or stolen. The exam expects you to match the encryption mechanism to the threat it addresses, not just to name the mechanism.

How Security is tested

At 19%, Security produces a substantial number of items, and most are scenario-based rather than definitional. The CIA triad items are the ones candidates underestimate: the terms are familiar, so candidates assume they can answer quickly, but items reward applying the correct principle to a specific control or threat, not reciting the definition. Device security items frequently describe a sequence of events and reward identifying the step that was skipped or the control that was missing. Password items reward the candidate who understands the reasoning behind each practice, because the scenarios describe edge cases where a general rule must be applied precisely. Encryption items reward matching the right mechanism to the right threat context: a VPN is the answer in one scenario and irrelevant in another, depending on where the data is and where the threat is. The most common source of lost marks is selecting a control that is correct in principle but mismatched to the threat described. Read the threat before selecting the control.