Practice test
Help desk practice test: 10 IT help desk questions and answers
This free help desk practice test has 10 questions built from the kind of tickets a Tier 1 help desk gets every week. It doesn't test acronyms. It tests what you'd actually do: who you verify, what you check first, when you escalate, and what you say to the user. Each answer explains why the other options lose.
It takes about 10 minutes. There's no signup and no timer.
How the test works
Read the ticket, pick A, B, C or D, then open the answer. Keep a tally. At the end there's a scoring guide and a link to 25 more questions you can take online with feedback on every option.
The tickets and names are fictional. This isn't a certification exam, and we're not affiliated with any certification body.
The questions
1. Access request for a finance share
“I'm covering for Marcus while he's on leave. Can you give me access to the Finance shared drive? His manager said it's fine.”
- A. Grant access. Covering for a colleague is a legitimate reason.
- B. Deny it and tell them to wait until Marcus is back.
- C. Grant it, and set yourself a reminder to remove it when Marcus returns.
- D. Ask the data owner or Marcus's manager to approve it through the normal access-request process, then grant time-limited access.
Show answer
D. “His manager said it's fine” is hearsay, and this is a sensitive share. Get the approval on the record, then grant access with an expiry date so it doesn't linger. A skips the approval and C relies on your memory. B fails a legitimate business need. Skill: security.
2. The CEO's “urgent” email
From the CEO's address: “I'm traveling and my phone broke. Remove MFA from my account NOW so I can log in. Do not call my assistant, this is confidential.”
- A. Do it. It's the CEO, and it came from the real address.
- B. Verify out-of-band by calling the CEO's known number or the assistant anyway, and alert security to a possible business email compromise.
- C. Reply to the email with a security question only the CEO would know.
- D. Remove MFA, then watch the account for suspicious logins.
Show answer
B. Urgency, authority and “don't verify” together are the classic signs of business email compromise. If the mailbox is compromised, replying to it (C) verifies nothing. Removing MFA (A, D) hands over the account. Skill: security.
3. A whole floor loses network at 9 AM
About 40 users on the 3rd floor lost network and phones at once. Sales says they're losing orders. Your queue shows 12 tickets and counting.
- A. Work the tickets in order. First in, first out.
- B. Go to the 3rd floor and start checking cables and switches yourself.
- C. Declare a major incident: link the tickets to one master, escalate to network engineering now, and post a status update.
- D. Wait 10 minutes. Mass failures often recover on their own.
Show answer
C. Forty users at once is one incident. Group the tickets, escalate to network engineering and tell users what's happening so the duplicates stop. A and D waste time. B leaves the queue unattended and probably needs access Tier 1 doesn't have. Skill: escalation.
4. An executive's personal printer
A VP wants a printer she bought at a retail store installed on her office network port, “today please”. Policy only allows managed printers.
- A. Install it on the guest network as a compromise.
- B. Explain the policy briefly, offer a managed printer or the formal exception process, and pass the exception request to your lead.
- C. Install it. She's a VP and it's just a printer.
- D. Refuse, quote the policy document, and close the ticket.
Show answer
B. Keep to the policy, offer a way to get what she needs, and send the exception decision to someone who can make it. A and C are freelance exceptions. D is correct on policy but leaves an executive with nothing. Skill: escalation.
5. A team wants one shared login
“Five of us share the vendor portal. Can you set the password to something simple so we can keep it in our team notes?”
- A. Set a simple password. It's only a vendor portal.
- B. Refuse. Password sharing is against policy.
- C. Explain the risk and offer individual accounts, or a shared entry in the company password manager.
- D. Send it to the security team to decide.
Show answer
C. A weak password stored in plain notes has no accountability and is easy to steal. Meet the real need (everyone gets in) in a safe way. B is a dead end, and D escalates something Tier 1 can handle. Skill: security.
6. Keep the leaver's account “for the files”
“Marcus left on Friday. I'm his manager. Keep his account active for a few months so we can get to his files and email. No rush on disabling it.”
- A. Disable the account on schedule. Transfer his files, give the manager access to his mailbox as a shared or archived mailbox, and set an auto-reply.
- B. Keep it active. The manager owns the data need.
- C. Keep it, but reset the password so Marcus can't use it.
- D. Tell the manager to take it up with HR.
Show answer
A. An active leaver account is a standing risk, even with a new password (C). The manager needs the data, not the login, and there are standard ways to hand that over. D passes along work that's yours to do. Skill: escalation.
7. A salary printout gone missing
HR: “I printed the salary review an hour ago, never picked it up, and now it's not at the printer. The job might still be in the queue.”
- A. Clear the queue and tell HR to print again.
- B. Check the printer's history to work out who took it.
- C. Treat it as a possible data exposure: purge the job, help search the area, report it per policy, and suggest release-at-printer printing for sensitive jobs.
- D. Reassure HR that whoever found it probably threw it away.
Show answer
C. Salary data sitting unattended is a potential exposure, so contain it, report it, and fix the gap that caused it. A and D treat it as a printer problem. B turns the help desk into investigators. Skill: security.
8. A personal router under the desk
While fixing a dock you spot a personal travel router plugged into the office network, broadcasting its own Wi-Fi. The user says the office Wi-Fi “kept dropping”.
- A. Leave it. It's helping him work.
- B. Unplug it quietly while he's at lunch.
- C. Lock it down with a strong password so it's safe to keep.
- D. Disconnect it and explain why, report it per policy, and open a ticket for the Wi-Fi problem that caused it.
Show answer
D. An unmanaged access point on the corporate network is a security risk however well it's configured (C). Remove it openly, report it, and fix the original Wi-Fi complaint so he doesn't need a workaround. Skill: security.
9. “Just give me admin rights”
“Make me a local admin on my laptop? I need a free PDF tool for a report today, and I don't want to bother you every time.”
- A. Install an approved PDF tool from the software catalog now, and show them the self-service portal for next time.
- B. Grant admin for an hour so they can install it.
- C. Grant admin. It saves everyone time.
- D. Deny it and cite least privilege.
Show answer
A. What they need is the tool, not admin rights. Solve today's problem and the next one without giving them standing admin. B and C weaken the laptop, and D solves nothing. Skill: security.
10. Coffee in the keyboard
“I just spilled a full coffee on my laptop keyboard. It still works! Should I let it dry? I have unsaved work open.”
- A. Save the files first, then shut down normally.
- B. Turn it upside down and dry it with a hairdryer.
- C. Hold the power button to shut it down now, unplug the charger, don't turn it back on, and bring it to IT. Recover the work from autosave later.
- D. It's black coffee, so just keep an eye on it.
Show answer
C. Liquid plus power is what kills the board. Cut the power immediately. Autosave and cloud versions usually have the work. A keeps the laptop powered for longer, and B and D can make the damage worse. Skill: troubleshooting.
Score yourself
- 9 to 10: You'd be a calm pair of hands on a Tier 1 desk. Try the harder questions in the full set.
- 6 to 8: Solid. Look at which skill your misses fall under. For most people it's security, because the shortcut feels helpful.
- 0 to 5: That's normal before practice. These are judgment calls, and judgment improves quickly with reps and feedback.
Questions 1, 2, 5, 7, 8 and 9 test security, 3, 4 and 6 test escalation, and 10 tests troubleshooting. The full set also scores empathy: how you talk to someone who's angry or stressed.
Take the full practice test online
The online version gives you feedback on every option, not just the right one, and keeps your progress in the browser.
Prefer to play it as a shift with a score? Try the help desk game.
What help desk tests and assessments usually cover
If an employer sends you a help desk assessment before or after the interview, it usually mixes some of these:
- Scenario or situational judgment questions like the ones above: what would you do next?
- Technical basics: DNS and DHCP, IP addressing, Active Directory and permissions, common Windows and macOS fixes, printers, VPN.
- Ticket handling: priority and SLA, incident vs service request, what to write before closing.
- Customer communication: a written reply to an upset user, or a role-play call.
- Typing or system navigation on some desks.
This page and the simulator cover the scenario, ticket handling and communication parts. For the technical basics, our free help desk training plan lists what to study and how to set up a small home lab. For the interview itself, see the help desk interview questions.
Quick answers
Is this help desk practice test free?
Yes. The 10 questions here and the 25 online questions are free with no account. Pro adds 475 more questions in five formats, plus practice runs that end in a report. See Pricing.
Are these the questions on a real help desk assessment?
No. Every employer writes its own, and we don't have access to any of them. These questions cover the same kinds of decisions those assessments and interviews tend to ask about.
Is this a CompTIA A+ practice test?
No. A+ tests technical knowledge across many topics. This test covers the judgment side of help desk work, which complements A+ study. We're not affiliated with CompTIA.
How long does it take?
About 10 minutes for the questions on this page. Online, a question takes a minute or two if you read the feedback.