CompTIA Network+ Exam Prep

CompTIA Network+ Certification

Overview

  • Considered a foundational networking certification.
  • Provides baseline knowledge for IT and cybersecurity roles.
  • Covers configuring, managing, and troubleshooting network infrastructure.
  • Designed for beginners with less than one year of IT experience or CompTIA A+ certified individuals.

Assumed Knowledge

  • Knowledge from CompTIA A+ exams is assumed.
  • The course builds upon hardware, software, and computer networks concepts.

Course Structure and Objectives

  • Designed to be easy to follow and comprehensive for exam preparation.
  • Focuses on building upon previous knowledge to manage enterprise networks.
  • Recommends the official CompTIA Network+ student guide as a textbook.

Instructor Introduction

  • Jason Dion, lead instructor at Dion Training Solutions.
  • Over two decades of IT and cybersecurity experience in organizations of all sizes.
  • Dion Training is an authorized platinum delivery partner for CompTIA.

Exam Domains

  • Networking Concepts (23%): Network topologies, protocols, and components.
  • Network Implementation (20%): Configuring network infrastructure, routing, switching, wireless technologies, and physical aspects.
  • Network Operations (19%): Network management, organizational documents, life cycle management, monitoring tools (SNMP, SIEMs), disaster recovery (RPO, RTO), and network services (IPv4, IPv6).
  • Network Security (14%): Security concepts like encryption, IAM, physical and logical security measures, network segmentation, and security policies.
  • Network Troubleshooting (24%): Problem-solving skills, troubleshooting methodology, cabling and interface issues, service-related problems, performance issues (bandwidth, latency, packet loss), and diagnostic tools.

Exam Objectives

  • Objectives are provided in the exam objectives document (PDF).
  • The course does not follow the objectives document linearly but covers all topics.
  • Objectives include actions like explain, compare, contrast, and implement.
  • Example: Objective 1.1 requires explaining concepts related to the OSI reference model.

Course Content Order

  • Starts with basic networking concepts, then covers physical infrastructure (cabling, wireless).
  • Progresses through switching, IP addressing, routing, network services, and WAN connections.
  • Moves into cloud, virtualization, network security, monitoring, automation, and orchestration.
  • Ends with documentation, processes, disaster recovery, and troubleshooting.

Exam Format

  • 90 minutes to answer up to 90 questions.
  • Mixture of multiple-choice and multiple-select questions.
  • Performance-based questions (PBQs) or simulations at the beginning.
  • PBQs require performing simulated job functions (e.g., creating firewall rules, assigning IP addresses).

Exam Scoring and Passing

  • Passing score: 720 out of 900.
  • Answering approximately 75% of questions correctly will result in passing.

Exam Voucher

  • Vouchers can be purchased at store.comptia.org (around 375USD375 USD).
  • Discounted vouchers available at diontraining.com/vouchers (10% off).
  • Purchasing from Dion Training includes free access to a searchable video library.

Tips for Course

  • Use closed captioning (CC) for higher accuracy.
  • Adjust video speed for efficient learning.
  • Download the study guide PDF for notes.
  • Join the Facebook group (facebook.com/groups/deontraining) or Discord server (deontraining.com/discord) for support.