Cisco Practice Test CCST: Cisco Certified Support Technician IT Support

The Cisco CCST-IT Support practice test contains 100 questions and covers the following objectives:

1. IT Support Job Tasks and Responsibilities - 11 questions

1.1. Define key help desk concepts.

• Queue management, time management, ticketing systems, service level agreement (SLA), key performance indicators (KPIs)

1.2. Prepare documentation to summarize a customer interaction.

• Creating a clear, concise, factual, and comprehensive description of the problem, the troubleshooting steps, and the results obtained
• Documenting in such a way that the documentation is useful for future interactions

1.3. Describe the problem solving process.

• Define the problem
• Gather detailed information
• Identify a probable cause of the failure
• Devise a plan to resolve the problem
• Make necessary changes to implement the plan
• Observe the results the changes
• If the problem is not resolved, repeat the process
• Document the changes made to resolve the problem

2. Hardware Issues - 24 questions

2.1. Demonstrate how to follow basic safety procedures.

• Electrical shock, ESD, fire, and personal safety

2.2. Assist end users in using tools to locate information about their device.

• Information: host name, hardware (processor, memory, disk space), operating system version, IPv4 address, IPv6 address, MAC address
• Windows tools: Task Manager, System Information, Event Viewer, ipconfig
• MacOS tools: Activity Monitor, About This Mac, System Settings, Console, ifconfig

2.3. Assist end users in locating, identifying, and understanding the characteristics of various ports and cables.

• Video ports: HDMI, USB-C, DVI, DisplayPort, VGA
• USB-A, USB-B, USB-C, Micro USB
• Serial ports
• RJ-45, UTP, STP
• Common types of power cables (desktop, laptop, mobile)
• Thunderbolt 3/4 (USB-C)
• Converters

2.4. Identify, install and upgrade various components in a desktop computer.

• Identifying the processor and motherboard
• Identifying, installing, and upgrading RAM, peripherals (graphics cards, wireless cards, Bluetooth cards), and internal storage devices (SATA, SSD, NVMe, M2)
• Interfaces and expansion card compatibility
• Using Device Manager to manage drivers
• E-waste best practices for disposing of components

2.5. Investigate commonly encountered hardware issues.

• Basic troubleshooting: plug in, connected to power, powered on
• Application compatibility requirements: processor architecture, RAM requirements, GPU requirements, disk space
• Using Device Manager to identify issues with hardware
• Device status indicators
• Awareness of firmware updates (benefits and dangers)

3. Connectivity and Resource Access Issues - 21 questions

3.1. Assist users with establishing access to network-based resources.

• Basic knowledge of common directory services: Active Directory, Cloud-based access management (Entra ID and AWS IAM)
• Multifactor Authentication (authenticator apps and other methods)
• Mapping a shared drive, including SMB and cloud drive (S3 bucket, OneDrive, GoogleDrive, Dropbox, Box, etc.)
• Using Gpupdate/adgpupdate to force a group policy update
• Resetting passwords
• Checking membership in security and distribution groups to determine whether there is an issue
• Verifying permissions

3.2. Troubleshoot commonly encountered connectivity issues with peripherals.

• Printers: connectivity to printer, assisting a user in using a multifunction device, loading paper, fixing a paper jam, clearing print queue, swapping toner
• Fax
• Headphones
• Microphones
• External drives
• Scanners
• Webcams
• Keyboard, mouse, pointing devices (wired and wireless)
• Tactile/interactive input devices (flat panels)
• Teleconferencing devices (Webex Desk Pro screens)

3.3. Examine basic end-device connectivity to the network.

• LAN (wired) access vs. WLAN
• Purpose of DNS
• Purpose of DHCP, recognizing self-assigned IP addresses (APIPA)
• Purpose of DHCPv6 (recognizing a link-local address instead of a global address)
• IP address ranges (is it in the right subnet, public and private)
• Default gateway
• WLAN SSID
• Using the following commands to verify connectivity
  • Ipconfig/Ifconfig
  • Traceroute/tracert
  • Ping
  • Nslookup
  • Netstat
  • Ping6
  • Traceroute6
  • Iproute2 (ip add, ss)
• Purpose of a firewall and how it might impact connectivity

4. Operating System and Application Issues - 23 questions

4.1. Assist users in resolving Windows operating system issues.

• Display settings, multiple displays, brightness
• BitLocker codes
• Windows and application updates
• Clearing the browser cache
• Terminating processes with Task Manager
• Assisting the customer in backing up and restoring personal data with cloud-based tools (OneDrive)
• Boot sequence, booting to safe mode
• Power management
• Accessibility features

4.2. Assist users in resolving MacOS operating system issues.

• Display settings, multiple displays, brightness
• Allowing applications the necessary permissions
• Mounting external drives
• Clearing the browser cache
• AirDrop
• Terminating processes with Activity Monitor
• Assisting the customer in backing up and restoring personal data with cloud-based tools (iCloud and Time Machine)
• Power management
• Accessibility features

4.3. Assist users in resolving mobile device issues.

• Restarting the phone, phone not charging, connectivity, email setup, mobile apps, collaboration software, basic understanding of MDM
• Device OS: iOS, Android

4.4. Describe virtualization and cloud terminology.

• Cloud providers - Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform (GCP)
• Virtual machines and hypervisors
• Recognizing cloud models in order to direct the incident to the right team

4.5. Assist users in resolving common application issues.

• Marketplace or approved application installation
  • Untrusted/unknown sources
• Email, collaboration, productivity applications

5. Common Threats and Preventions - 13 questions

5.1. Describe security threats to the end user, perform basic investigation, and escalate to the appropriate team.

• Threats: phishing, malware, spam, unauthorized access attempts, spoofing
• Helping the user run a malware scan
• Strong passwords and good password practices

5.2. Recognize how to avoid becoming a victim of social engineering attacks.

• Awareness that a help desk technician is a prime target for social engineering attacks
• Phishing, impersonation, etc.

5.3. Recognize how company policies and confidentiality guidelines protect user data.

• Identifying confidential, propriety, and personally identifiable information (PII) data

6. Job Tools - 8 questions

6.1. Use remote access software to connect to end user devices and perform remote support tasks.

• Remote Desktop, Remote Assistance, Cisco Webex, Remote Management, TeamViewer, Virtual Network Computing (VNC), PC Anywhere

6.2. Use appropriate troubleshooting tools to research an issue and update internal documentation with findings.

• AI: query AI to research an issue, limitations of AI, ethical considerations for AI, privacy and security risks, difference between predictive and generative AI
• Using search engine results
• Technical forums
• Knowledge base articles (industry and internal)