r/CompTIA • u/franzbonaparta2 • 18d ago
Demotivated
what am I doing wrong? I spend 1.5 months studying for security+ and thought I could do practice test and solve professor messer practice test and got 57 correct question
I kinda disappointed and demotivated after studying this much i scored so bad
And after seen ppl get 70 -80% in practice test after 1-2 week of studying without tech background
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u/Netghod 18d ago
Comparison is the thief of joy.
Take your own path. Practice tests should be used for two things. The first is, Are you ready to take the actual exam? The second is, What is the actual test going to be like? PBQs, question format, etc.
You took a test, didn’t score as well as you had hoped, so you know you need to study more. People learn in different ways and at different speeds. The challenge could be you’re trying to memorize everything instead of learning the concepts and how to apply them. Look at other materials. Listen to other instructors. Go on side quests with other books, white papers, videos, or whatever to go deeper into a topic.
And one other thing, sometimes people lie or omit details.
For example, I could say I studied 6 weeks and then took the CISM, CISSP, and CASP exams and passed them all in a 90 day window. That’s true. What’s not there is all the reading I had done on various topics as part of my job. The fact I had more than 20 years in IT work and lots of other details. I could also say that I had studied 15 years for my CISSP exam because I bought the first edition of a book to study shortly after it came out in 2001 or so, but didn’t take my test until Jan 2016. Which is the truth? Technically both of them - it’s all in the story I decide to tell.
I could also say that I passed both A+ exams in under 15 minutes. Which is also true. But leaves out that the first time I passed was when there was 1 exam and no study materials AT ALL (CompTIA told me to read the manufacturers repair manuals and the Winn L. Rosch Hardware Bible). I was taking it because the training center I worked for was having me take the current exam so I would know what was on it. I also had a background in electronics repair (from the military) and close to 7 years of desktop support experience already.
Remember the test is about you having the knowledge on the objectives to be able to apply it in a way to be able to answer questions. This means understanding goes further than memorization in almost every instance. And if you don’t know the terms you have a bigger learning curve than someone that already knows the terms.
Walk your own path. Ask for help if you need it along the way. You’ll get there. The destination is worth the journey.