ACSP Study Guide 2026

Everything you need to pass the ACSP exam in one place: the exam format, every topic to study, real practice questions with explanations, flashcards, and full-length practice tests. Free, no sign-up needed.

📋 ACSP Exam Format at a Glance

100
Questions
120 min
Time Limit
75%
Passing Score

📚 ACSP Topics to Study (45)

✍️ Sample ACSP Questions & Answers

1. Which macOS tool lets you view all running processes and their CPU/memory usage in a graphical interface?
Activity Monitor

Activity Monitor displays all running processes, their CPU, memory, energy, disk, and network usage in a graphical window, making it the primary tool for monitoring and managing processes on macOS.

2. What does the 'sudo' command do in macOS Terminal?
Executes the following command with superuser (root) privileges

'sudo' (superuser do) runs the immediately following command with root privileges after authenticating with the current user's admin password. The elevated privilege applies only to that single command.

3. Where are system-wide macOS preference files (.plist) stored?
/Library/Preferences/

System-wide preference files are stored in /Library/Preferences/, while per-user preferences are stored in ~/Library/Preferences/.

4. Where are application bundles (.app files) stored for all users on a Mac versus only the current user?
/Applications/ for all users and ~/Applications/ for the current user only

Applications in /Applications/ are available to all users on the Mac. Applications installed in ~/Applications/ (the user's home folder Applications directory) are only available to that specific user.

5. What is the function of the 'plutil' command in macOS Terminal?
Check, convert, and lint property list (.plist) files

'plutil' (property list utility) can verify syntax, convert between plist formats (binary, XML, JSON), and extract or modify values in .plist configuration files used throughout macOS.

6. In modern versions of macOS, the startup disk is configured as an APFS volume group. This group consists of which two primary volumes?
A read-only System volume and a read-write Data volume.

Starting with macOS Catalina, the OS is installed on a dedicated, cryptographically sealed, read-only System volume. User data, apps, and settings are stored on a separate, read-write Data volume. These two volumes are linked together and presented to the user as a single, unified volume.

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Your ACSP Study Path
1. Learn with Flashcards → 2. Drill Practice Tests → 3. Take the Full Exam Simulation
ACSP Study Guide 2026 — Exam Format, Topics & Practice Questions