CompTIA A+ Readiness: Hardware, Systems and Support Done Right (Core 1 & Core 2)
Signature Course No. 309 — A Signature AI Socratic Coaching Course.
No experience needed — your coach starts where you are.
A New Kind of Learning
Socratic coaching, delivered by an agentic AI coach.
Not a course you watch. An AI coach you work with.
The Lighthouse Coach begins by discovering how you think about the subject, teaches what is missing, and gives you realistic practice before asking you to prove that you can use it. You may test out of concepts you already understand, while capstones turn the learning into a practical plan, decision, conversation, or other real-world result.
The curriculum is deliberately authored; the AI delivers it through coaching. It is not an AI randomly generating lessons.
A coach that teaches by asking — not by lecturing
The Lighthouse Coach is an AI Socratic coach built on Cognosco Learning's CompTIA A+ Readiness: Hardware, Systems and Support Done Right (Core 1 & Core 2) course, in the Personal Effectiveness & Well-Being category. It does not play videos at you. It holds a conversation: it asks you a question, listens to your answer, names the misconception it hears, affirms what you got right, and asks the next question — the way a great coach works in the room.
Nothing at Ternbridge is ever “just broken.” It is broken in a specific way, for a specific reason, and your first job is to find out which. This course teaches the whole A+ job the way Ternbridge's technician, Samira Patel, works it: write things down, change one thing at a time, verify with the user in the room, and treat “it works now, I don't know why” as an unfinished ticket, not a victory.
It starts with the method. The six-step CompTIA troubleshooting method — identify the problem, establish a theory of probable cause, test the theory, establish a plan of action, verify full system functionality, and document the findings, actions, and outcomes — comes first, because every later concept is knowledge that method operates on: what a healthy power rail reads, what address a healthy client should hold, what a healthy system looks like when it is working.
It works in two movements. First, Module 1 — Core 1: The Machine, the Network, and the Method — Concepts 1–9: The Troubleshooting Method; Boards, Processors, Memory, and Power; Storage, Expansion, and the Data Path; Displays, Printers, and Peripherals; Mobile Devices in the Field; Wired and Wireless Networking; IP Services, SOHO Networks, and Internet Connections; Virtualization and Cloud Computing; and Hardware and Network Troubleshooting in Practice — finishing with The Bench Intake. Then, Module 2 — Core 2: The System, the Threat, and the Professional — Concepts 10–18: Windows in Depth; Other Operating Systems, the Command Line, and Scripting; Threats, Vulnerabilities, and Social Engineering; Securing Systems, Accounts, and Wireless Networks; Software Troubleshooting; Safety, Environment, and Change; Documentation, Ticketing, and Professional Conduct; Backup, Recovery, and Data Handling; and Readiness, Judged Honestly — finishing with The Secure Lab Rollout.
Both capstones produce real artifacts — a bench intake and repair plan for a Monday-morning pile of broken equipment, diagnosed, prioritized, specified, and scheduled so a second technician could execute it without asking you anything; and a secure lab rollout and support readiness pack for a term-start refresh of thirty student PCs and two staff PCs, with its backups proven, its retired drives sanitized with records, and its readiness audit ruled from evidence.
The honesty standard is part of the course. This course is built to the objectives CompTIA publishes for the 220-1201 and 220-1202 examinations, and it teaches readiness the same way it teaches repair: from evidence, not encouragement. Concept 18 closes the course with an honest method for judging whether you are ready to sit the examinations — domain by domain, from your own record — and for closing the gaps if you are not. No outcome is promised; the evidence is shown.
The course is self-paced and always on — roughly 30 minutes per concept, about 9 hours in full, taken in as many sittings as you like. You can type your answers, or talk out loud: the Voice Coach speaks its questions and listens to your spoken replies. Learners who already know the material can test out concept by concept.
CompTIA A+ Readiness: Hardware, Systems and Support Done Right (Core 1 & Core 2) is part of The Lighthouse Signature Series — the online counterpart to the one-day, in-person learning Cognosco Learning has delivered since 2002.
Course Facts
One full concept, coached end to end — free: verify your email and we’ll send you a link to start.
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Diagnose → Learn & Practice → Prove → Capstone
Every learner moves through the same discipline a Cognosco instructor would insist on in the room.
Diagnose
The Coach starts where the course starts: with your own last repair. Walk a fault you fixed through the six steps honestly and say which ones you skipped; rewrite “the Internet is down” into an identified problem a technician could act on; and rank two theories — one that explains everything and takes an hour to test, one that explains most of it and takes two minutes. Every concept opens with three questions that locate where you actually stand, and your answers shape how deeply the Coach works the concept with you. Everyone begins with Module 1 — no skipping the foundations you only think you have.
Learn & Practice
Work each concept in conversation with the Coach — spoken or written — then practice it against realistic situations until it holds up.
Prove
Every concept ends in proof: answer the check cold and demonstrate the skill. Know it already? Test out and take credit immediately.
Capstone
Finish with two capstones — The Bench Intake for Module 1 and The Secure Lab Rollout for Module 2 — that pull the whole course together, and earn the certificate.
What You'll Learn
Evidence before parts — in that order, every time. Every skill in this course is the troubleshooting method standing on real knowledge: identify the problem precisely, rank the theory by probability and by cost of testing, test one variable at a time with the cheapest decisive test, plan before you act, verify the whole job with its user, and document it so the next technician does not pay for the same lesson twice.
Module 1 is Core 1's world. The method itself; the boards, processors, memory, and power inside the system unit; storage and expansion; the displays, printers, and peripherals users actually touch; mobile devices in the field; wired and wireless networking; IP services and SOHO networks; virtualization and cloud; and the classic symptom patterns, read to their most probable causes.
Module 2 is Core 2's world. Windows in depth and the other operating systems, the command line, and scripting; the threats as they actually arrive and the defenses as they are actually configured; software troubleshooting by the method; safety, environment, and change; documentation and professional conduct; backup, recovery, and data handling; and an honest audit of your own readiness.
And it holds its boundary throughout. This course is the two-examination A+ syllabus itself — hardware, operating systems, security, and troubleshooting at the depth the examinations test, including the specifications, port numbers, command-line tools, and symptom patterns an examination can name and a working technician must recognize.
What you will learn
- Apply the CompTIA troubleshooting method to hardware, network, operating-system, and security problems, in order, without skipping the evidence
- Identify, install, and configure PC hardware — boards, processors, memory, power, storage, and expansion — to specification
- Support displays, printers, peripherals, and mobile devices, including their common failures and safe handling
- Build and repair wired and wireless networks, and configure the IP services and SOHO equipment that make them usable
- Explain virtualization and cloud models accurately enough to support them and to answer for them under examination pressure
- Install, configure, and administer Windows and other operating systems, using graphical tools, the command line, and scripts appropriately
- Recognize security threats and apply the standard defenses — accounts, encryption, hardening, wireless security, and safe practice
- Troubleshoot software and operating-system failures systematically, and carry out operational procedures — safety, change, documentation, backup, and professional conduct — to the standard the job requires
Everything in the course
- All 18 concepts of CompTIA A+ Readiness: Hardware, Systems and Support Done Right (Core 1 & Core 2), in 2 modules
- A starting-point check first — the Coach finds where you actually stand before teaching
- Learn, Practice, Prove for every concept — no passive video watching
- A test-out on every concept: prove you know it and move on
- The Voice Coach: talk with the Coach out loud — it speaks, listens, and replies
- A personal Learner Record of your work across the course
- Two capstone exercises: The Bench Intake and The Secure Lab Rollout
- A printable session summary whenever you pause
- The Lighthouse Coach completion certificate (Signature Series)
- Your progress is saved as you go — stop anytime, resume where you left off
Built for the technician employers trust on day one
Aspiring support technicians — preparing for a first IT role and for the 220-1201 and 220-1202 examinations, who need the full syllabus worked as practice, not summarized as notes; and working help-desk and field staff who can already fix much of what they meet and want the credential, plus the systematic coverage of the corners experience has not yet shown them.
Career changers with hands-on confidence — comfortable around machines, new to formal IT, who need the vocabulary, the specifications, and the professional procedures made explicit.
Small-team generalists — in schools, clinics, firms, and shops — who are the whole IT department and must cover hardware, systems, security, and users alone. This course assumes you can use a computer confidently and are willing to work problems in writing. It assumes no prior certification and no bench experience.
Prefer to learn live and in person? The same material anchors Cognosco's one-day programs — browse the in-person catalog.
Start with The Troubleshooting Method
$195 — introductory price. One payment. No subscription, no password to manage.
Here is exactly what happens when you enroll:
- Pay securely with Stripe — you are taken straight into the course
- Create your learner profile and begin the Module 1 starting-point check
- Save the access key you are given — it restores your enrollment on any device
- Learn at your pace; your progress is stored in your browser on your device
For the full voice experience, use Chrome and allow the microphone when asked. Typing your answers works everywhere, all the time. Questions before you enroll? Email hello@cognoscolearning.com.
Before you enroll
What is a Socratic coaching session?
A conversation, not a video. Your coach asks a question; you answer — out loud by voice, or by typing — and the coach responds to what you said: naming the misconception it hears, affirming what you got right, and asking the next question. You advance only when you have mastered each concept, so a finished course means the learning held.
How long does it take — and how long do I have?
About 30 minutes per concept. Learn in sittings of any length; your progress is saved as you go. You have a full year from purchase to finish, and you can revisit and retake within that year.
What does the certificate verify?
That you completed every concept and both capstones of this course. Anyone can confirm a Cognosco certificate online — enter its certificate ID on our verification page.
What if it isn't for me — what are the refunds?
If you have not started, cancel for a full refund within seven days of purchase. Once you have started, there is no cash refund — stop before finishing and we credit the full amount you paid toward any other course in the library (credit valid one year from your original purchase). Once you complete the course, no refund or credit applies.
More Signature Courses are coming
CompTIA A+ Readiness: Hardware, Systems and Support Done Right (Core 1 & Core 2) is Signature Course No. 309. Leave your email and we'll send you news of future Signature Courses and Lighthouse updates as they are announced — nothing else.