HPE6-A85 Practice Test

HPE6-A85 practice test: what's covered

• Certified Mobility Associate
• AOS 8/10

Free HPE6-A85 sample questions

1. A customer is upgrading from 802.11ac (Wi-Fi 5) to 802.11ax (Wi-Fi 6) and asks which Wi-Fi 6 feature MOST directly improves performance in a dense classroom with 60 concurrent client devices on the same AP.

   • A. OFDMA — sub-carriers are split into Resource Units (RUs) so multiple clients are served in the same TXOP, cutting medium contention and latency
   • B. MU-MIMO downlink — already present in Wave 2 802.11ac and is the main driver of the density gain
   • C. 1024-QAM — only helps very close, high-SNR clients in clean RF
   • D. Wider 160 MHz channels — recommended in dense deployments to fit more clients
   Show answer

   Correct: A. OFDMA is the headline Wi-Fi 6 feature for HIGH-DENSITY (many small frames). MU-MIMO existed in 11ac Wave 2 and helps spatial streams, not contention. 1024-QAM is great only at very high SNR. 160 MHz channels in dense deployments REDUCE the number of non-overlapping channels and increase co-channel interference — the opposite of what you want.

2. In the 5 GHz band a customer wants the MAXIMUM number of non-overlapping 80 MHz channels in the US regulatory domain (including DFS). Approximately how many are available?

   • A. 6 non-overlapping 80 MHz channels (UNII-1, UNII-2A, UNII-2C, UNII-3 — 24 channels of 20 MHz grouped as 6 of 80 MHz)
   • B. 3 non-overlapping 80 MHz channels
   • C. 12 non-overlapping 80 MHz channels
   • D. 2 non-overlapping 80 MHz channels
   Show answer

   Correct: A. US 5 GHz has 24 usable 20 MHz channels across UNII-1, UNII-2A, UNII-2C and UNII-3 — that is six 80 MHz channels. Trap: students remember only the 4 non-DFS channels (which give 1 non-overlapping 80 MHz!) and forget that DFS channels are part of the math.

3. You enable BSS Coloring on Wi-Fi 6 APs. Which TWO statements describe its benefit and mechanism? (Choose 2)

   • A. Each BSS is assigned a 6-bit color (1-63); same-color frames are treated as intra-BSS and contend, different-color as inter-BSS allowing Spatial Reuse with relaxed CCA thresholds
   • B. It encrypts the BSSID for privacy in roaming
   • C. BSS Color improves spatial reuse so OBSS (overlapping BSS) transmissions can be ignored if RSSI is below an adjustable threshold — reduces unnecessary deferrals
   • D. It replaces the SSID broadcast
   • E. It is only applied in 6 GHz mandatorily
   Show answer

   Correct: A and C. BSS Color is a 6-bit field in the HE PHY header. APs/clients use it to identify whether a frame is from their own BSS or a neighbour. With Spatial Reuse, frames from a different color BSS below the SRG/non-SRG OBSS PD threshold can be ignored, so the receiving STA can transmit in parallel. It does NOT encrypt or replace anything else.

4. A client is using 802.11n with MCS index 7, 20 MHz channel, short guard interval, single spatial stream. The data rate is approximately:

   • A. 72.2 Mbps
   • B. 150 Mbps
   • C. 54 Mbps
   • D. 433 Mbps
   Show answer

   Correct: A. MCS 7 / 20 MHz / SGI / 1 SS = 72.2 Mbps. With 2 SS that doubles to 144.4. 150 Mbps is MCS 7 at 40 MHz / SGI / 1 SS. 54 Mbps is the legacy 802.11a/g max. 433 Mbps is 802.11ac MCS 9 / 80 MHz / 1 SS.

5. 2.4 GHz radios in dense deployments often cause more problems than they solve. Which is the BEST design choice for an enterprise office in 2026?

   • A. Convert most 2.4 GHz radios to "monitor" or "spectrum" via ARM/Aruba so only a sparse subset of APs serve 2.4 GHz clients — keeps coverage for IoT but drastically reduces co-channel interference
   • B. Disable 5 GHz everywhere because 2.4 GHz has better range
   • C. Run all APs on channel 1 only
   • D. Set 2.4 GHz to 40 MHz channels to increase throughput
   Show answer

   Correct: A. 2.4 GHz has only 3 non-overlapping 20 MHz channels (1/6/11). In a dense deployment all APs end up on the same 3 channels, severely degrading throughput. Aruba ARM's Mode Aware feature converts excess 2.4 GHz radios to Air-Monitors. 2.4 GHz 40 MHz channels are explicitly forbidden by best practice.

Last updated: 2026-10-19

HPE6-A85 practice test FAQ