220-1101 vs 220-1201: What Changed in CompTIA A+ V15

The current CompTIA A+ is V15: exams 220-1201 (Core 1) and 220-1202 (Core 2), launched March 25, 2025. The V14 exams, 220-1101 and 220-1102, retired in English on September 25, 2025. Here is what changed between them, and what it means if you studied for, or already passed, one of the old exams.

The short answer

Can you still take 220-1101 or 220-1102?

No. CompTIA retired the English 220-1101 and 220-1102 exams on September 25, 2025, and its V14 page gave December 19, 2025 for the other languages. Every A+ exam you can book now is 220-1201 or 220-1202. If you still hold a voucher you bought for an old exam, CompTIA says vouchers are tied to the exam, not to a version, so it should work for the V15 exam: check its expiry date.

If you passed an old exam

• Passed both 220-1101 and 220-1102? Your A+ is not affected by the retirement. CompTIA says the certification is valid for three years from the date it was issued, whichever version you took. Keep it through CompTIA's continuing education program (20 CEUs over three years); if it lapses, CompTIA says you must pass the latest exam version to get it back.
• Passed only one? Both cores must come from the same version. CompTIA's V15 FAQ says that if you passed Core 1 and that version retired, your Core 1 result no longer counts: you need to pass both 220-1201 and 220-1202. By the same rule, a lone 220-1102 pass can't be paired with 220-1201 either.

Domain weights: Core 1

Core 1 tilts toward networking: Networking gains 3 points, Mobile Devices loses 2 and Hardware and Network Troubleshooting loses 1, while Hardware and Virtualization and Cloud Computing are unchanged.

Domain weights: Core 2

Security gains 3 points and Operating Systems loses 3, so the two now tie at 28% as Core 2's heaviest domains.

What's new and what's gone in Core 1

New or expanded in 220-1201 (new objective numbers):

• The 6 GHz Wi-Fi band, alongside 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz (2.2).
• Display attributes such as resolution, refresh rate, pixel density and color gamut, plus Mini-LED, now under Hardware instead of Mobile Devices (3.1).
• Containers and Type 1 and Type 2 hypervisors (4.1), where virtual desktop infrastructure now sits after moving from cloud concepts, and multitenancy in cloud concepts (4.2).
• Database and NTP servers among the network host roles (2.3), and DNS CNAME records and DHCP exclusions (2.4).
• Single-mode and multimode fiber (3.2), and SAS as a solid-state drive interface (3.4).
• New troubleshooting symptoms, such as a missing RAID array, intermittent internet connectivity and a frozen print queue (domain 5.0).

Dropped from 220-1201 (old objective numbers):

• The troubleshooting methodology as a tested objective (was 5.1): it is still printed with the 220-1201 objectives, but CompTIA says it is not on the exam.
• SNMP ports 161 and 162 from the ports list (was 2.1).
• Hubs and software-defined networking from the networking hardware list (was 2.2).
• Long-range fixed wireless (was 2.3).
• SCSI and IDE cables (was 3.1).
• The laser printer imaging process and 3-D printers (was 3.7).
• GSM vs. CDMA and PRL updates from the cellular settings, and MAM with its corporate email and two-factor authentication items (was 1.4); MDM now covers corporate vs. BYOD device configurations instead.

The methodology still matters on the job: see the six troubleshooting steps. For the current port list, see A+ ports and protocols.

What's new and what's gone in Core 2

New or expanded in 220-1202 (new objective numbers):

• AI concepts, a new objective (4.10): adding AI tools to a workplace, appropriate use and plagiarism, bias, hallucinations and data privacy.
• Cloud productivity tools, a new objective (1.11): file sync, collaboration tools, identity synchronization and licensing.
• Malware removal steps as their own Security objective (2.6), moved from Software Troubleshooting.
• Newer security terms such as Zero Trust, SAML, one-time passcodes, EDR/MDR/XDR, fileless malware, stalkerware, smishing, QR code phishing and business email compromise (2.1, 2.4, 2.5).
• Windows 11 editions and their TPM and UEFI requirements (1.3), and the whoami command (1.5).
• Linux fsck and mount and key files under /etc (1.9), and macOS Continuity, iCloud's iMessage, FaceTime and Drive, and the main system folders (1.8).
• Change management as a scenario objective (4.2), and SLAs and a configuration management database in documentation (4.1).

Dropped from 220-1202 (old objective numbers):

• AirDrop as a mobile connectivity issue (was 3.4).
• The list of common Windows troubleshooting steps, such as restarting services and rebuilding profiles (was 3.1).
• The xcopy, copy and shutdown commands (was 1.2).
• yum (dnf replaces it), Samba and the ext3 file system (was 1.11 and 1.8).
• Network topology diagrams from the documentation list (was 4.1).
• DHCP reservations, a static WAN IP and changing wireless channels as SOHO security settings (was 2.9); DHCP reservations are still in Core 1 (2.4).
• Microsoft Remote Assistance from the remote access tools (was 4.9).

These are the notable changes, not all of them. CompTIA's comparison documents, linked in the sources below, map every old objective to its new number.

Is 220-1101 study material still useful?

For the fundamentals, mostly: the domains are the same and many topics carry over. But the topics above changed, and the exam asks about them the way the V15 objectives describe them. CompTIA's general advice when an exam is updated is to compare the new objectives with the ones you studied. Use old notes for background, then study from the current Core 1 objectives and Core 2 objectives, and practice with V15 questions.