CompTIA A+ V15 (220-1201 & 220-1202): What Changed and Is 1101/1102 Study Still Valid in 2026?

CompTIA A+ rolled to its V15 series — 220-1201 (Core 1) and 220-1202 (Core 2) — and the old 220-1101/1102 exams have retired. The good news for anyone mid-study: about 87% of the exam objectives are unchanged, so most of what you already know still counts. Here's exactly what moved, what carried over, and how to prep in 2026 without redoing everything.

What Changed: 220-1101/1102 → 220-1201/1202

CompTIA launched the A+ V15 exams (220-1201 Core 1 and 220-1202 Core 2) on March 25, 2025. The format is unchanged — up to 90 questions per core in 90 minutes, a mix of multiple-choice, drag-and-drop, and performance-based questions — and so are the passing scores: 675/900 for Core 1 and 700/900 for Core 2. What changed is the content mix and a modest re-weighting of the domains.

On Core 1, the domain weights shifted slightly: Networking rose from 20% to 23%, Mobile Devices dropped from 15% to 13%, and Hardware & Network Troubleshooting eased from 29% to 28%, while Hardware (25%) and Virtualization & Cloud (11%) held steady.

The ~87% That Didn't Change

This is the part most "the exam changed!" posts skip over: CompTIA kept roughly 87% of the 220-1201 objectives identical to 220-1101 — only about 13% is genuinely new material. Core hardware, cabling, RAM and storage, printers, network fundamentals, virtualization, and the entire troubleshooting methodology carry straight over. If you've been studying the 1101/1102 series, the overwhelming majority of your knowledge is still exam-current — you're topping up, not starting over.

The ~13% That's New in V15

The new material clusters around where IT support actually moved between 2022 and 2025:

• AI fundamentals in IT support — how AI tools show up at the help desk, and their limits.
• Zero Trust security architecture — the model that has replaced implicit "inside the network = trusted."
• Wi-Fi 6E (6 GHz) and Software-Defined Networking (SDN) on the networking side.
• Deeper Windows 11 and Linux coverage, plus expanded cloud troubleshooting.

If you're transitioning from 1101/1102 study, these are the topics worth targeted review — everything else you've learned still applies.

The Retirement Timeline

The old 220-1101 and 220-1102 exams retired on September 25, 2025 (English; other languages ran to December 19, 2025), so you can no longer sit them. The V15 series (220-1201/1202) is expected to run until roughly 2028. One rule to remember: you must pass both cores from the same series — you can't mix a 1101 pass with a 1202 pass.

A Straight Answer About SecuSpark's A+ Questions

Being honest, because you deserve it: SecuSpark's A+ practice questions are currently aligned to the 220-1101/1102 objectives. Given the ~87% overlap, they remain a strong way to drill the fundamentals, hardware, networking, and troubleshooting that dominate both series — but they do not yet cover the ~13% of net-new V15 topics (AI in IT support, Zero Trust, Wi-Fi 6E, SDN) end to end. We're updating the bank to the 1201/1202 objectives; until then, use our questions for the shared core and supplement the new topics from CompTIA's official 220-1201/1202 objectives. We'd rather tell you exactly where our content stands than pretend it's something it isn't.

How to Study for A+ V15 in 2026

A practical, no-waste approach — the same list works if you're coming from 1101/1102 or starting fresh:

• Drill the shared 87% to mastery with active recall — a free A+ practice test is the fastest way to find your weak domains.
• Layer the new 13% on top — spend focused sessions on AI-in-support, Zero Trust, Wi-Fi 6E, and SDN using the official V15 objectives as your checklist.
• Decide your order — if you're weighing A+ against Network+, our A+ vs Network+ guide and A+ study plan map the sequence.

References

1. CompTIA. "A+ Core 1 Certification V15 (220-1201)." comptia.org.
2. CompTIA. "A+ Core 2 Certification V15 (220-1202)." comptia.org.
3. Professor Messer. "Differences Between the A+ 220-1101 and 220-1201." professormesser.com.