COMPTIA Cheat Sheet 2026

The 30 highest-yield COMPTIA facts, distilled from real exam questions. Print it, save it as a PDF, or study it here — free, no sign-up.

1. Which networking device connects multiple networks and forwards traffic based on IP addresses? → Router
2. What is 'two-factor authentication' (2FA)? → Requiring two independent forms of verification to confirm identity
3. Which protocol operates at Layer 4 and provides connection-oriented, reliable data delivery? → TCP
4. Which of the following is an output device? → Monitor
5. A customer complains that he is continuously receiving e-mail responses to things he never sent. What happened to his computer system? → He is a victim of malware.
6. Which cloud service model provides virtualized computing resources like VMs, storage, and networking over the internet? → IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service)
7. In cloud networking, what is a Virtual Private Cloud (VPC)? → An isolated virtual network within a public cloud provider's infrastructure
8. SSL/TLS encryption is commonly associated with which OSI layer? → Presentation layer
9. At which OSI layer does a hub operate? → Layer 1 — Physical
10. A technician wants to look at the logs on his Android smartphone. What program could the technician use to look at these logs? → Logcat
11. A user wants to schedule automatic backups of their files. Which type of software would BEST accomplish this? → Backup utility
12. Which of the following internal computer components is responsible for connecting all other components and allowing them to communicate with each other? → Motherboard
13. Which monitoring approach uses software agents installed on hosts to collect detailed performance data and send it to a central server? → Agent-based monitoring
14. What is the purpose of a Wi-Fi analyzer tool during wireless troubleshooting? → Identifying channel utilization, signal strength, and nearby SSIDs to detect interference
15. Which type of IDS/IPS detection method identifies threats by looking for deviations from a learned baseline of normal behavior? → Anomaly-based detection
16. A website uses HTTPS instead of HTTP. What does the 'S' indicate? → The connection is encrypted using SSL/TLS
17. What does LAN stand for in networking? → Local Area Network
18. Which of the following is utilized as a place holder in a RIMM-based system? → C-RIMM
19. What is the maximum theoretical data rate for a single spatial stream in 802.11ac with an 80 MHz channel and 256-QAM? → 433.3 Mbps
20. A software application that runs entirely within a web browser without requiring local installation is best described as a: → Web-based app
21. An organization wants wireless clients to automatically re-authenticate after 8 hours without user intervention. Which feature should be configured? → Session timeout on the RADIUS server
22. Which of the following BEST describes 'software as a service' (SaaS)? → Software hosted remotely and accessed via the internet
23. A user reports they cannot access a specific website, but others are working. Which tool can help verify the DNS resolution for the website? → nslookup
24. Which type of ACL is applied closest to the traffic source to block unwanted packets as early as possible? → Extended ACL applied inbound at the source
25. A wireless survey reveals a network using 22 MHz-wide channels on 2.4 GHz. Which standard is this? → 802.11b
26. Management Frame Protection (MFP/802.11w) is designed to defend against which type of attack? → De-authentication/disassociation flooding
27. What is the primary benefit of route summarization (also called supernetting or aggregation)? → Reduces routing table size and decreases update traffic overhead
28. Which 802.11 feature allows an access point to form a wireless backhaul with other APs to extend network coverage without wired uplinks? → WDS (Wireless Distribution System)
29. What does the 'nslookup' tool primarily allow a technician to do? → Query DNS servers to resolve hostnames and troubleshoot DNS issues
30. Which SNMP component is responsible for sending unsolicited alerts to the NMS when a threshold is exceeded? → Trap