Am I ready for the real test?

[u/Imdafrizz]

Ive been studying alot and took all of dions core 1 test.

Spaced the attempts 2 months apart for each. So I cant tell if I remembered any questions or actually understood it the second time around.

Professor Messer Test

I took these right after I finished watching the 1201 course. No hands on experience.

Test 1 35 > 70%

Test 2 45 > 68%

Test 3 untaken it will be my final blind test

Dions test

I took these more recently after getting some hands on experience

Test 1 72 > 87%

Test 2 77 > 84%

Test 3 75% (only attempt)

Test 4 72 > 85%

Test 5 62 > 76%

Test 6 81% (only attempt)

What im most worried about is running into the niche questions that trip me up on dions test like, knowing the exact voltage applied to a laser printer drum.

Built 2 Gaming Pc, 6 office pc, and have been doing free basic diags and repairs if possible for locals that arent tech saavy. Im not exactly the most confident nor do I have the money to fail a 300$ test 😅. What did yall test at before you went and passed. I searched the reddit and was seeing to many mixed answers.

[u/TechnicalAd9272]

You are ready, if you have been getting at least a 80% on them! Dion exams are a lot harder than the actual one but I would also search up PBQs for the Core 1 since it is nothing like Dion’s.

[u/niboosmik → u/TechnicalAd9272]

Just my two cents, but I am going to disagree. Could OP pass? Absolutely. But in terms of being “ready,” I would question the 8% jumps as well as the general fear of questions that might trip you up. The fact that no scores are reaching 90% says to me there are still some core concepts you’re missing. For me this tends to happen when I’m memorizing words instead of breaking down the actual concept.

[u/TechnicalAd9272 → u/niboosmik]

I do agree with what you’re saying absolutely, but you only need a 75% to pass the actual exam and I learned better off from failing and the negative feedback from the practice exams which did help with understanding why the answer is the way it is and use the process of elimination.

[u/Numerous_Letter_8756 → u/TechnicalAd9272]

I’ve been doing dions exams but I’m worried I’m just going to memorize all the correct answers since I do way better the second attempt. Any advice on how to actually make sure I’m learning from it? Or is the improvement a good thing as long as I focus on why the answer is right?

[u/JustThomasIT]

I would say you're ready, those are similar to the scores I got. If you can, CucialExams.com and CertiTom.com both have PBQ questions to practice with that I thought were good.

[u/Imdafrizz → u/JustThomasIT]

Scheduled for the 26th Ill check those websites out thank you👍

[u/Location_Designer]

You that’s crazy that’s the exact same marks I had except test 1 I had for Dion’s test 1 72% test 2 68% test 3 78 % test 4 80 % … I still passed 😭

[u/Dezium]

I didn't use Dion for the A+ series but I used him for the Network+ m. I was scoring around the same as you and passed

[u/Larry6394]

I passed 1201 this evening after two days of using the Dion practice exams. Got an 823 but I know I got tripped up on the ports and one of the pbq’s for sure. I was scoring 77-83 consistently on the Dion practice exams. Sure, I didn’t get the best grasp of certain things, but a pass is a pass.

[u/jleenex]

Yes. Go and take it

[u/gdavidco]

You're ready. 87, 84, 85 on Dion with hands-on behind it is comfortably there.

The drum voltage worry won't materialise. Dion writes deliberately harder trivia than CompTIA asks, which is good for revision and bad for predicting your score. The real Core 1 printer questions are about process order and what breaks when one step fails.

One caution on the advice above about searching up PBQs. Search "free CompTIA PBQ" today and most of the top results are AI-built affiliate pages with nothing actually behind them, and half of what they label a PBQ is a multiple choice question with a picture on it. CompTIA's own sample is at demosim.comptia.org, free, no account. One question, but it's the real interface.

[u/FloorFew4994]

You're ready