Specific Competencies and Skills Tested in this Assessment:
Safety
- Identify and implement proper personal and equipment safety procedures, including those involving ESD events
- Identify proper disposal and recycling procedures (PC components)
- Identify industry standards and federal regulations
- Recognize proper body mechanics and ergonomic principles
Installing, Configuring, and Upgrading
- Install, configure, optimize, and upgrade system board, power supplies, and cooling systems
- Differentiate characteristics of various processor and memory types
- Identify and configure CMOS setup and BIOS
- Identify functionality, install, and configure storage device options
- Identify and describe characteristics of various peripherals and ports used
- Display knowledge of different operating systems and licensing requirements
Diagnosing and Troubleshooting
- Diagnose and identify processor and memory faults
- Demonstrate ability to isolate and resolve power supply and battery failures on the system board
- Display ability to identify and resolve storage device issues
- Identify uses of troubleshooting utilities
- Troubleshoot and resolve expansion card issues (drivers)
- Demonstrate ability to set up and troubleshoot external display
- Identify tools, diagnostic procedures, and troubleshooting techniques for operating system recovery and upgrade
- Demonstrate ability to isolate and resolve peripheral connectivity failures
- Utilize command line techniques for diagnosing and troubleshooting
- Demonstrate the proper use of multimeters and other test equipment
- Identify basic electrical, transmission, and storage units of measurement
Preventive Maintenance
- Differentiate between an electrical line conditioner, uninterruptible power supply (UPS), and surge protector
- Select and perform proper file backup procedures
- Identify the use of system monitoring and various system utilities
- Install and maintain current software patches, service packs, and upgrades
- Maintain current antivirus, spyware, and/or malware software
- Clean and maintain physical computer components according to industry standards
System Boards, Storage, Processors, and Memory
- Identify processor compatibility, architecture, and upgrade issues
- Identify and differentiate memory characteristics and upgrade issues
- Identify and differentiate system board characteristics and upgrade issues
- Install and troubleshoot RAID 0, 1, 5
- Differentiate the characteristics and components of mobile devices (e.g., note books, tablets, laptops)
Input-Output (I/O) Devices
- Identify uses of various input devices (i.e., digital camera, scanner, biometric devices, keyboard, mouse)
- Identify various I/O connectivity methods (i.e., HDMI, USB, wireless, Bluetooth)
Printing
- Identify and differentiate various printers and printer processes (i.e., inkjet, laser, impact and non-impact)
- Identify various printer connectivity methodologies (i.e., local, network)
- Install and troubleshoot printers
Basic Networking
- Install, configure, and troubleshoot Network Interface Cards (NICs)
- Install, configure, and troubleshoot wired and wireless network connections
- Identify various network topologies (i.e., star, ring, mesh, bus)
- Identify various network access methods
- Differentiate between a client/server and a peer-to-peer network
- Convert units between binary, decimal, and hexadecimal
- Identify the seven layers of the OSI model
- Explain the properties and characteristics of the TCP/IP model
- Install and troubleshoot email
Security
- Identify and implement physical security (e.g., locked areas, biometric devices, cameras)
- Identify and implement digital security (e.g., firewalls, antivirus, spyware, malware, password implementation)
Customer Support and Ethics
- Practice professional behavior, including communication and customer service skills
- Practice ethical use of software and hardware (i.e., copyright laws, hacking, peer-to-peer downloading)
- Demonstrate an awareness of emerging technologies
Written Assessment:
Administration Time: 3 hours
Number of Questions: 193
Areas Covered:
Safety: 7%
Installing, Configuring and Upgrading: 13%
Diagnosing and Troubleshooting: 22%
Preventive Maintenance: 10%
System Boards, Storage, Processors and Memory: 7%
Input-Output (I/O) Devices: 4%
Printing: 5%
Basic Networking: 19%
Security: 6%
Customer Support and Ethics: 7%
Sample Questions:
A wrist grounding strap should be worn to protect a
- CRT monitor
- power supply
- system board
- laser printer
One form of non-volatile memory is
- ROM
- DDR2
- SDRAM
- cache
A power supply is considered a/an
- FRU
- CRU
- consumable
- expendable
The term, malware, refers to software designed to
- enhance the appearance of a web browser
- covertly infiltrate or damage a computer system
- convert text files to binary files
- analyze and test for damage on the hard drive platters
System devices signal the CPU with
- an I/O address
- polling
- an IRQ
- a DMA
The ______ printer is commonly used in retail applications for printing receipts on heat-sensitive paper.
- laser
- thermal
- inkjet
- dye-sublimation
Public locations where wireless Internet access is available are called
- hubs
- WAN
- LAN
- hot spots
To ensure the NIC is operating correctly, check with
- MSCONFIG
- network activity LED
- NETSTAT
- multimeter
A good example of physical security is
- installing a software firewall
- installing webcams with motion-detection and surveillance software
- changing the administrative password on a regular basis
- installing antivirus software on each computer
The buyer of a single-licensed software can legally
- install on a network server
- install it on several computers
- modify the programs within
- make one copy for backup
Performance Assessment:
Administration Time: 1 hour and 55 minutes
Number of Jobs: 3
Areas Covered:
19% Device Identification
Participant will be required to identify the features of a computer and record the name next to the correct letter.
37% Installing New Hardware/Troubleshooting
Participant will use the correct tools and safety procedures to diagnose a computer and document the symptoms. Steps will include; installing provided NIC into the computer on the correct driver from the provided media.
44% Network Connectivity
Participant will configure NIC to automatically obtain an IP address for a network device using a command line interface. Steps will include; verify connectivity, install crossover cables, join the workgroup, ping the IP address, connect to machine, and transfer file.
Sample Job:
Device Identification
Maximum Time: 25 minutes
Participant Activity: The participant will identify each feature of the computer and record the name next to the correct letter.