CompTIA Tech+
Tech+ is CompTIA's pre-entry paper, replacing the older IT Fundamentals credential. It establishes that you understand what computers and networks do before asking you to fix any of them.
Sixty minutes, no experience assumed, and the only exam here you can hold in two different forms.
Exam facts
- Exam code
- FC0-U71
- Level
- Foundational
- Field
- IT service management
- Duration
- 60 minutes
- Questions
- maximum of 70, multiple choice only
- Passing score
- 650 on a scale up to 900
- Languages
- English, Japanese
- Price
- 129 USD (read 8 September 2026)
- Validity
- never expires
- Exam delivery
- Pearson VUE (test centre or online proctored)
Prerequisites: None. CompTIA requires no prior experience — Tech+ is aimed at newcomers and professionals outside IT.
Renewal: The standard FC0-U71 credential does not expire; the FC0-U71-CE variant is valid for five years and takes part in the continuing-education programme
Source: exam page at CompTIA · Price: CompTIA list price since the June 2026 price round (partner price list, read 2026-09-08); CompTIA shows your local price in its purchase widget
How to prepare
1. A practice test in the exam format
MeasureUp sells a practice test for FC0-U71 with questions in the exam format, an explanation for every answer and a timed mode; the price shows in your currency on the shop page. Affiliate link.
Practice test for FC0-U71 at MeasureUp (opens in a new tab)Book the exam
Delivered by Pearson VUE (test centre or online proctored). Schedule with CompTIA (opens in a new tab)
Affiliate disclosure: the practice-test link above is affiliate links — buying through them may earn us a commission at no extra cost to you. The vendor's learning path and booking links carry no commission.
Standard or continuing-education, and the choice is permanent
The standard form never expires and never enters CompTIA's renewal system. The continuing-education form runs five years and sits inside that system, where it can be kept current by credits. For most people the standard form is correct: this is a stepping stone rather than a credential to maintain, and adding it to a renewal cycle you will also be feeding for A+ and Network+ buys nothing.
Sixty minutes, seventy questions, and no simulations
Tech+ is the only CompTIA paper covered here that is multiple choice from start to finish. Sixty minutes for a maximum of seventy questions is under a minute each, and the questions are short enough that the time is adequate. The pass mark is 650 on a scale that runs to 900. The two exam languages are English and Japanese, it assumes no prior experience at all, and it launched on 16 July 2024 as the successor to the older IT Fundamentals paper. There is nothing in it that a comfortable home user has not met; the exam is about whether you can name and explain what you have met.
| Form | Standard (FC0-U71) | Continuing education (FC0-U71-CE) |
|---|---|---|
| Expires | Never | After five years |
| Renewal | None | Credits inside CompTIA's programme |
| Suits | Almost everyone: a stepping stone | Someone who wants this specific certificate kept current |
| Cost of holding | The exam fee, once | The exam fee plus the upkeep |
Whether to skip it
- Sit it if computers are genuinely unfamiliar: you can use them and could not explain what a network, an operating system or a database is for.
- Sit it if a school, employer or retraining programme names it, since some want it on record before enrolment and that is reason enough.
- Sit it if you want an inexpensive dry run of booking, sitting and passing a vendor exam before a dearer one.
- Skip it if you have at any point reinstalled an operating system on purpose, fixed a family member's wireless, or read a spreadsheet formula and understood it. Go to A+ or, if you already support machines, Network+.
The population between those two groups is large: people who have fixed their own machines for years without working in IT. That group can go straight to A+ with a few months of study, and the money is better spent on the second of A+'s two papers than on a paper that certifies what they already do. Tech+ is a teaching credential, used by schools, retraining schemes and career-change programmes where its value is structure. Nobody will hire you on the strength of it, and that was never its purpose.
Six domains, weighted toward infrastructure and security
The syllabus covers IT concepts and terminology, infrastructure, applications and software, software development concepts, data and database fundamentals, and security. Infrastructure is the largest share and security the second, which tells you what CompTIA wants a newcomer to leave with: an idea of how the pieces connect and why the door is locked. The development and database domains are the ones complete beginners find hardest, because they introduce ideas rather than naming familiar objects, and they repay a little more attention than their weight suggests.
What a question looks like
Written by us in the exam's style. It is not a real question from any question bank, and we do not publish those.
A user reports that a document saved on their laptop is missing from the shared folder their colleague can see. Both are signed in to the same service. What is the most likely explanation?
Nothing technical is being tested and the reasoning still catches people. The question rewards understanding the difference between a file held locally and a file held in a shared location, which is the kind of distinction that feels obvious once known and is invisible beforehand. Almost every question on this paper has that shape.
What it costs to get and to keep
| Item | Amount | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Exam fee | 129 USD | from the partner price list following CompTIA's June 2026 price round; CompTIA shows prices only inside its own purchase widget, by country (read 8 September 2026) |
| Renewal, standard form | not published | none. The certificate does not expire and sits outside the continuing-education system entirely (read 12 September 2026) |
| Renewal, continuing-education form | not published | five years, maintained by credits inside CompTIA's system. Worth choosing only if you want this certificate specifically kept current (read 12 September 2026) |
How much preparation, from where you are
- Computers are genuinely new to you
- The intended reader. The syllabus is broad and shallow, and the useful preparation is hands-on familiarity rather than memorisation: install something, connect something, break something small.
- You have fixed your own machines for years
- You already know most of this and would be paying for confirmation. Consider going straight to A+, which is where hiring filters actually look.
What passing this does not prove
- Any ability to support other people's problems, which is the whole of the job below it.
- Troubleshooting under pressure, or with an impatient user waiting.
- Anything an employer screens for, because almost no posting names this certificate.
- Whether you can learn the next thing, which is the only question that actually matters at this stage.
Against the alternatives
- 220-1201 + 220-1202 — CompTIA A+
- The certificate employers actually name, and the one worth aiming at. Most candidates who can pass Tech+ comfortably could reach A+ with a few more months, and should.
- AZ-900 — Microsoft Certified: Azure Fundamentals
- A cloud vocabulary paper at a similar entry level, aimed at a different reader. Choose that one if your work is near cloud decisions rather than near hardware.
FC0-U71 — quick answers
Should I take Tech+ or go straight to A+?
Go straight to A+ unless computers are genuinely unfamiliar territory or a programme requires this first. A+ is the credential job adverts name, and Tech+ adds a fee and a delay for anyone already comfortable around technology.
Which version should I buy?
The standard one, for almost everybody. It never expires and stays out of the renewal system, which matters because you will already be feeding that system for A+ and anything above it. The continuing-education form only makes sense if you want this particular certificate kept current indefinitely.
Is it recognised by employers?
Barely, and recognition was never really the point. It is a teaching credential used by schools, retraining programmes and career-change schemes, where its value is structure rather than recognition. Nobody will hire you on the strength of it, though some programmes want it on record before they will enrol you, and that is a perfectly good reason to sit it.
Are there performance-based questions?
No. Tech+ is multiple choice only, which makes it the gentlest CompTIA sitting and the least representative of what A+ and Network+ feel like. Passing it tells you that you can pass a vendor exam; it does not tell you how you will cope with a simulation.
What replaced what?
Tech+ replaced IT Fundamentals, whose exam code was FC0-U61, in July 2024. Material still sold under the old name targets a retired paper. Check that anything you buy names FC0-U71.
What comes next
Concepts this exam draws on
Glossary entries with the reason each one matters for FC0-U71.
- Domain Name
Infrastructure basics: what a domain is and how the internet finds it.
- TCP/IP
Networking at literacy level: what a protocol is and how a connection is made.
- IP Addressing
What an address is and why a device needs one.
- Wi-Fi
Connecting to and securing a home wireless network.
Last reviewed 12 September 2026 · Getting Digital