A+ V15 (220-1201 and 220-1202): what is new and how to tell whether your study material is out of date

The commonest A+ mistake today is not a hard question. It is a cheap second-hand course with the wrong exam code on the cover. The fix takes thirty seconds and saves weeks.

Which version can you actually take?

CompTIA launched V15 of A+ on 25 March 2025, and V14 retired on 25 September 2025. The exam codes are the quickest test.

If a course, book or practice-test bank says 220-1101 or 220-1102 anywhere on its cover, its sales page or its first lesson, it is for the retired version. Many individual questions will still apply, because most computing fundamentals do not change in a year. But the objective list, the weights and some topics have changed.

The format is the same for both cores. Each exam has up to 90 questions in 90 minutes, a mix of multiple choice and performance-based questions. You need 675 to pass Core 1 and 700 to pass Core 2, both on a scale of 100 to 900. Scaled scores are not percentages, so ignore any "percentage needed to pass" you read online.

What is new in V15?

V15 has 63 objectives across nine domains and adds new material that older sources do not cover.

• Artificial intelligence basics (Core 2, 4.10). What AI tools are, how they help support work and their risks. Learn the risks as well as the benefits, such as what you should never paste into a public AI tool.
• Cloud productivity tools (Core 2, 1.11). The common cloud-based office and collaboration tools, which are now part of the operating-systems domain.
• A heavier security domain. In Core 2, security carries the same weight as operating systems: 28 per cent each.

CompTIA also publishes a troubleshooting methodology with the exam objectives. It states that the method itself is not tested, but troubleshooting carries great weight in both exams. The steps are a reliable way to think: identify the problem, establish and test a theory, plan and fix, verify and document.

What do the weights look like now?

Two lessons follow. In Core 1, troubleshooting is the largest domain, bigger than hardware, so a candidate who loves hardware and ignores the troubleshooting method loses marks where it counts most. In Core 2, security is as big as operating systems, so you cannot treat it as a short appendix to Windows.

How do you check any course or practice test?

Before paying, confirm four things. Bilal, in the book, did this and walked away from a cheap second-hand course labelled 220-1101.

1. It names 220-1201 and 220-1202, not the 1100 series.
2. It follows the official objective lists, not just a table of contents it wrote itself.
3. It includes performance-based practice as well as multiple choice.
4. The refund policy is set out in writing.

If you already own V14 material, do not throw it away. Use it for fundamentals such as ports, cables and troubleshooting steps, and add the V15 gaps: 4.10, 1.11 and the security objectives. Download the official 220-1201 and 220-1202 objectives from CompTIA and tick off each one against your notes.

What should you do next?

Rate yourself from 1 to 5 on all 63 objectives before you buy anything else. Chapter 5 of CredenTrek For CompTIA A+ lists every objective with a plain-English meaning, and your ten lowest scores become the first targets in your plan. The A+ exam map walks through both cores, and the core order guide helps you choose which to start with.