Network+ Practice Test and Performance-Based Questions

Updated: 02/20-2020

CompTIA is adding more Performance-Based Questions at the Network+ exam

One of the trends we see as CompTIA releases new versions of the exams is a clear bias towards more scenario-based questions. This holds true for Network+ Exam N10-007 and a quick glance at the CompTIA Exam Objectives documents for Network+ will reveal that. The impressive exam objectives for Exam N10-007 (all 19 pages of it!) list an impressive 19 instances of a sub-objective starting with “Given a scenario…”. It starts right from Main Domain 1.0 Network Architecture with sub-objective 1.4 – “Given a scenario, configure the appropriate IP addressing components.”

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What this means for you is that, on exam day at the Pearson VUE testing center, you will be facing more of what CompTIA refers to as “performance-based questions” also known as PBQs. The idea with those is that you answer not by selecting a radio button in a multiple-choice question but by “performing a task”. I put that in parenthesis because sometimes the task just consists of a drag and drop. So what are the types of PBQs – interactive questions you can expect? From simplest to most complex: Fill in the blank, Exhibit based question (get a question, look at the exhibit, if you understand the exhibit you will figure out the correct answer), Drag and Drop, List and Reorder, and then the “high value target” the in-simulator questions.  The simulator can simulate an Operating System or a Command Line Interpreter (CLI). In the first one, you may be asked to perform a setup or some navigation. In the CLI you could be asked to analyze a condition by using the appropriate commands.

At the actual Network+ exam the PBQs are front-loaded

Although the largest number of questions on this exam (and indeed all CompTIA exams) are multiple-choice, you will often find that in the first dozen or so questions at the exam the PBQs will be over-represented i.e. most of the PBQs you’ll face at the exam will be front-loaded. This requires good time management on your part so make sure you don’t get overly impressed and/or bogged down with the first handful of questions. If you do not immediately know how what the answer/task should be then just flag these for later. Make sure you get through the multiple-choice questions first (the least time-consuming question type)and then circle back to the first handful of PBQs. It will be less stressful to deal with them on time left over after answering the rest rather than sweating bullets knowing that while you are desperately trying to go through PBQs you have a ton of multiple choice to worry about.

Below are a couple of examples of performance-based Network+ questions. Of course, the CertBlaster test engine includes all the PBQ types you’ll find at the exam. These are screenshots taken from the CertBlaster Nework+ Practice Test:

CertBlaster Windows simulator question

For the complete exam objectives document click: CompTIA Network+ N10-007 Exam Objectives.