I passed the CompTIA Security+ exam, 791/900
Before I start, “I want to thank everyone who is reading this right now, you might not know but you’re supporting this cybersecurity journey of mine” . Seeing people read my post will give me insight and encourage me on thr next exam I need to take and my next blog post.
Key Factors That Helped Me Pass:
- Practice exams – Take them and review the ones you got right and the ones you got wrong. And on top of that, read the description of the right and wrong answers too, and make sure you know it well.
2. Confidence – I trusted in my abilities and did not second guess myself once exam time came. I knew if I focused on my studies, I would pass.
3. Understanding Acronyms – I did not memorize acronyms from the sheet. While I read all 1 thousand pages of the textbook, I made sure that I would not leave an acronym unless i knew what it meant, then I said it multiple times until I understood it and what it did. Example: Everytime I came across HTTPS, I would say “Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure” i actually caught my self doing that during exam time too haha. That nugget I just shared really was the key.
4. Port Numbers – I did study the ports, all the most important ones
5. Practice with Timed and Untimed Exams –While I took the Prof Messer practice exams, I did not time myself , and I went to where the answers were, I would scroll my screen to where I did not see the answer, took a crack at it, whether I got it right or wrong, I reviewed it. This helped a lot, to understand things and not feel rushed..
I want this post to be a guideline on my approach and how I was able to pass this exam in 3 month with 6months IT/Helpdesk background, I hope others can use this to prepare for this exam and ultimately pass.
Study Material:
<Packt> CompTIA Security+ Textbook – best book on foundational understanding of the SYO-701 exam I came across. – I used this textbook as my foundation to digest all of the content that was on the security + objectives. I averaged around 2 chapter a week, and there are 29 chapters (600 pages). This took me exactly 2 and a half months to complete. I’ve read several other sources, I can say with confidence, this is the best one that explains each concept in a digestible way. I would say however, if I only used this textbook to study, I would not have passed the exam. Multiple sources, specifically practice exams, are essential. Even though he had practice exams, other exams that throw curveballs at you is also key.
Dions Prac Exams – After finishing the textbook I mentioned, I took the 90 multiple choice Jason Dion udemy courses exam and scored a 71%, I felt like that was a solid score, so I was happy with my baseline I did not take Dion Exam 2 , 3 ,4, back-to-back… I wanted to make sure I rotated the practice exams because I did not want to just get used to the specific patterns in the exam to make it harder for myself (my little gem).
Thanh Hung Security+ App – Okay so I feel like this is a secret gem not enough people are talking about in their studies. I saw somewhere that the app had similar questions to the actual test, I cannot speak on the validity of that, however I will say, after reviewing and completing all 870 questions, it filled in so many gaps that would’ve been impossible to have known without reviewing it. I want to make this clear, filling in those gaps 100% allowed me to pass this exam. It would literally be the smallest stuff, that im like, I have NOOO clue, and then I read it and im like, ok I won’t get that wrong again. Highly recommended. I bought the pro version, spent like 16 bucks per month and had it for over 5 months, you can get it on apple store / google play.
Prof Messer free YouTube video and practice Exams – I got put on to this by a work buddy, he also shared me the 3 practice questions which came with PBQ and was very helpful. However, the way I did use this video was to fill in my understanding on topics I kept getting wrong on practice exams, or topics I could not remember on the top of my head. This helped a lot. I also took his 3 practice exams. I took the first one, reviewed it, and then for the other 2, I spaced them out. I took the very final exam of his (3) today, right before my Security+ Exam. I didn’t get any questions wrong, but the important part was, I understood why, which really helped me.
Those were the sources I studied from start to finish, I stayed positive and I would that believe in yourself and the work you put in, have a plan. Reach out to me if you have any questions. Best of luck!
Verify my CompTIA Security+ certification
