Introduction

If you are in the field of security, or if you’re looking to get your foot in the door, you have probably heard about the dreaded CompTIA Security+ certification exam. In this article, I’m going to share with you some important tips/tricks and helpful resources that I used to pass the exam. But before we begin, let’s go through the exam format.

  1. 90 minutes for up to 90 questions (# of questions typically ranges between 70-90).
  2. 4-6 performance-based questions (PBQ’s)
  3. Exam objectives
  4. Passing score: 750/900

CompTIA recommends gaining 2 years of IT experience along with the A+ and Networking+ certifications before taking Security+. This is because these exams help build a foundation for Security+. However, while these would certainly help in understanding the core concepts, it is possible to pass the exam without them. When I took the exam, I didn’t take any of the previous exams! To help you study, I’ve compiled a list of resources that I relied heavily on along with everything I did to prepare for the exam.

Study resources:

Professor Messer’s Security+ YouTube Series

I cannot stress how useful these videos were in helping me put the topics together. Professor Messer is a widely known resource for Security+ along with some other exams. He designed his series with short videos, going in the order of the official exam objectives, which made it extremely easy to follow along. While the number of videos may seem intimidating, they are reasonably long enough to cover the topics in detail, making sure to not overflow them with excess information. Just enough to know for the exam. I used these videos as a main study resources. Whenever I could not understand a term or concept from just reading words in a book, I’d watch a quick video. The engaging graphics and conversational tone kept the videos from being dry and boring. Messer also has his own exam review guide and practice exams for an additional cost, but his YouTube series is entirely free! I found him extremely useful in the last few days before my exam when I needed more clarification in my weak areas. Lastly, if you just want to use him as a final review, I recommend putting the videos on 1.5x speed to save some time.

Jason Dion’s Udemy course + 6 practise tests

Jason Dion is highly reputed in the field of security. I bought his course and pratice tests using a special offer on Udemy. I found his questions challenging, if not more challenging at times, than the actual exam. Most people find scoring high on his exams difficult, which made them even better to take. I found that his questions most closely reflected the difficulty of the Security+ exam. His exams also include detailed explanations for the correct answers. Finally, Dion was one of the few resources that I found that actually included 4-5 PBQ’s in all his exams. Dion guarantees that if you score higher than 80% on his exam, you will be ready for test day.

“Get Certified Get Ahead” by Darill Gibson ($26 on Amazon)

Gibson does a GREAT job in covering all the relevant objectives, broken up into chapters. While most textbooks are long and wordy, GCGA is an easy-to-read book with real-life examples from Gibson’s professional career in cybersecurity. At times, you’ll even enjoy some of his humor to help retain information. The book includes a pre-test at the beginning, end-of-chapter quizzes, and even a final test in the end to get you ready for the exam.

Advice

Resource diversity

I found that using multiple resources helped prepare me for this exam. Instead of diving into the work of one author or professor, try out a couple of resources. One, it will help you understand what style of learning works best for you. And two, it will reinforce some key concepts.

Know your acronysm

The exam relies heavily on your knowledge of terms and their common acronyms. The exam writers also like to take it a step further, so occasionally, you will see acronyms that do not exist. Don’t second-guess yourself here. If you studied well and completely, you will know that some terms are made-up. Have enough confidence to eliminate some answer choices that do not exist.

Save PBQ’s for the end

PBQ’s are lab/simulation questions. They show up at the very beginning of the exam, and they take longer to answer than the multiple choice questions. The last thing you want to do is end up spending 45 minutes on the harder lab questions, leaving only 45 minutes to finish the remainder of the exam. I recommend briefly looking over the PBQ’s to familiarize yourself with the topics but then jumping over to the multiple choice section. The point of the exam is to earn as many points as you can. Don’t miss out on the easy questions because you spent most of your time on the tough ones. Once you finish all the multiple choice, come back to the PBQ’s. This way, you will know exactly how much time you will have to answer them all. This worked for me, but of course, I know everyone is different. Find a strategy that works for you.

CompTIA Security+ certified

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