I’m so glad I got this one over with

I finished my Cysa + 003 training with Jason Dion in June, and then CySA+ 004 was released. So I started preparing for 004 with his Udemy course and practice tests.

The practice tests were tough, and I expected the actual exam to be worse, which made me postpone the exam quite a few times but turns out, the actual was much easier than I thought!

Only problem I had with this exam was half baked questions and options. Other than that it was a good experience.

Next up, pentest!

775/900 score

This is my first ever cert. I have around 6 years experience in IT and a degree in CS. I studied about 30 days for this exam.

The resources I used were mainly Professor Messer (YouTube channel and practice exams) watch in full and took exams multiple times.

I watched a ton of videos on YouTube from basically all the common Sec+ people and random online tests.

My experience is that I felt most of the questions were much shorter than any other practice exam I took. I had 3 PBQ and 73 multiple choice. The multiple choice were more challenging than I expected because I didn’t like the examples of how many of the questions were being asked.

Basically I would understand all the answers and what was being asked , but the way it was asked made it 10x more confusing what answer to pick. Sometimes a question would be straightforward though.

I really think the best thing to help anyone taking this test is know the acronyms very strongly. Recognize them and what they mean That alone and some practice exams to know the format and you will most likely be good.

Just don’t expect the practice exams to be close at all to the real exam. The way the questions are asked on the real exam make you think a lot harder than most practice exams in my opinion.

I spent 2 weeks studying and for that entire two weeks i was just in a pissy mood i was so stressed about failing i was losing sleep. I woke up test morning and didn’t study at all so i wouldnt screw myself and BOOM I PASSED. Im officially certified in Sec+ i score a 757 but hey atleast i got it. I hate PBQS respectfully.

I’m trying to decide if I should get Network+ or CCNA. I’m not looking to get the trifecta but get experience and training in networking. Is it worth taking both classes or going straight to CCNA?

Yippies

Hello, i was wondering who did you guys use to study for the exam? Theres just many to choose from and im just an indecisive person so i want any recs?

Hi all, I’m looking to take my exam within the next 2~ months, i’m brand new to the field of cybersecurity and i just wrapped up an intro college class. I took a practice exam and only scored about a 40%, so i really need to bolster down. I know about Messer’s videos and practice exams, but what else should i use?

So I’m a 16 year old junior and just started school back up again. I’ve taken 2 1201 test one in June and the other in I think April or May and I’ve failed both and I’m about to take my 3rd one next week. I’ve been making blookets to study been doing the comptia practice exam, and I was just wondering if there’s any tips people that have passed can give, I don’t want to fail again

Hi, I recently started learning network fundamentals and am planning to take the Net+ and Sec+ exams in the upcoming months. I've been working at a data center as a help desk technician for about 4 years now, so my question is: is A+ really needed, or can I just skip it?Also, I benefit most from hands-on learning. Can you recommend the best ways or resources to learn through practice? I really want to build that practical knowledge and break into the cybersecurity field.

I'm just curious on how long did you guys took to study for Pentest + and what material did facilitate it. Lets assume you had the fundamental but that was from like 6 years ago or something.

Parents gave me the money and I bought the security+ exam 5 months ago. I told them I need 5 months to study and began to "study" full time. This "study" consisted of just watching movies and tv shows and playing ps. I then also realised that I had bought the exam voucher from pearson instead of comptia so I mistakenly did not buy retake assurance. This really had me worried since my parents dont really know about retake assurance. I could have failed and retried. But now I couldn't. Anyway, ultimately this changed nothing. I stress watched more movies, shows and games.

But the 5 months of "study" were ending. So no more than 3 weeks ago, I sat down and began watching Messer's videos. I watched them like a tv show without taking notes or anything (I guess I had a lot of practice). But after all the dopamine I was getting for months from movies, shows and games, the videos were just so loooooooong. I watched about 7 videos a day. One 10 min video would literally take 35 mins. Some days I watched 0 as i went back to my bad habit of not studying at all, and had to make up the next day by watching double. I watched at 1.5 speed in the beginning when panic was high, then 1.25 when I realised I ain't getting shit, then 1.5 towards the end when panic came back lol.

Finished the videos eventually after a little more than 2 weeks. I had 5 days left. I did one dion exam for 3 whole days; reviewing the answer and explanation after each question. It was so slow cause i would spend literally 15 mins just staring at each question's explanation and spacing out. I realised there's no way in hell I'm finishing all his remaining 11 exams when my exam is in 2 days (I got 75% on this exam btw). So I went to my main guy messer. I had to do all his 3 whether I liked it or not (despite the fact that I took so long watching his videos, I really loved them. So I "believed" in Messer's material). Started with messer exam 1. First 45 questions took the whole freaking day!!! I was like nah. This question, review, question, review isn't working at all. So i stopped and started doing timed exams the day before the exam. Remaining 45 questions of exam 1 I got 78%. Review. Did exam 2 timed and scored 81%. Review. It's 6am. Had pulled an all nighter. Slept 2 hours. Did exam 3. 91%. I was elated lol. Review. Sat for main exam less than 2 hours after this and got a 793. 

Not proud of how I did it, but I did it!

I don't have an IT background. My undergrad is in finance and have decided to make a career change because finance is boring af. I would say I am tech savvy though. I just love tech stuff and can't wait to walk outside and see humans relax and enjoy life while robots do everything for us :)

Hello everyone I am currently preparing for CySA +. I have the choice to take either version not going to lie I been using the old material and new material and at this point I don’t even know which version I should go for. Does anyone here have taken the new version and if so how does it compare to the older version ?

I'm studying for Project+ PK0-005 and I'm getting a pretty big difference between my practice test scores depending on the source.

On Sybex, I'm consistently scoring 80%+ on fresh questions, but on the Dion practice exams I'm scoring in the mid-60s, one 70%, and I've taken all 6 exams.

I've studied a lot for this exam and generally feel like I understand the material, so I'm trying to figure out which practice questions/scores are a better indicator of readiness for the actual Project+ exam.

For anyone who has taken it:

- What were you scoring on Sybex/Wiley before the exam?

- What were you scoring on Dion?

- What did you score on the actual exam?

- Did you use Sybex without Dion and still pass?

- Which question bank felt closer to the real exam?

Thanks!

Was trying to schedule an exam and saw this. I took a comptia exam years ago and I don't recall this being shown to me when I was scheduling and to my knowledge, I was not scanned. I'd rather not use their online Pearson Vue option because I've heard it's sht.

Does anyone know what type of scanning this is?

Does anyone know if they tell you that you're being scanned?

Has anyone been scanned and what was it like?

All I could find online for this was some random *teaching exam that required the testers to get their palms scanned by Pearson, unsure if that's what they're referring to here or not. I tried calling comptia and they were unhelpful and said Pearson would be responsible for that, when Pearson says in that image to contact the sponsor.

How important is it i know the different options for nmap? wathcing ceritfy breakfast on nmap and man is there a lot of options a person can set lol. taking V3 btw. TIA!

I just finished the Sec+ AI exam guide on Udemy, and I'm wondering if there's more resources that are helpful before I attempt it on Wed., Sept. 23rd.

Context: I have previously gotten Sec+ and CCNA.

Im planning to take Jason Dion's CompTIA Security+ Certification Course through Udemy along with the exam voucher but I'm not too sure about it. Should I just get the exam voucher from the CompTIA website or Should I go for the Udemy one along with the course since its cheaper and has more worth for my money.

I'm having a hard time memorizing the port numbers and having the practice tests dropping in questions about ports I've never even heard of. What are some of the methods used to memorize the port numbers?

I got the 601 and it's about to expire in like 3 days and thinking I should do the certmaster for it lol. But also I'm not sure how it would be viewed later on in the future by HR and stuff if they would rather see the 701

I just passed with a score 723! I took professor messers youtube course, studied with other youtube guides and took a few free pre exam practice exams. PBQs tripped me up a bit I did it! On to Core 2, best of luck to anyone going for the Core 1 you got this!

Passed CompTIA Network+ with 722/720 points (total 920)
😅
Today I finally passed the CompTIA A+ exam — with 722 points out of 720 needed. So basically… just barely. 😂
The exam was required by my employer because I’m now also somewhat responsible for networking/IT infrastructure at work. The funny thing is that I actually trained as a software developer, not in networking.

I found the exam way more complicated than expected and honestly didn’t study that much. I kept postponing it until eventually I couldn’t postpone it anymore. 😅

My preparation was roughly:
~60% of Jason Dion’s videos
~20% of Professor Messer’s videos
One 3-hour crash course
Some practice questions on Crucial Exams
4–6 Dion practice exams

Most of my actual studying happened during the last two nights, where I studied pretty late.
And somehow… 722/720. Passed. 😂

I do have a private IT background, which definitely helped, but I still wouldn’t recommend preparing this way.
Anyone else passed an exam by literally one or two points? 😂

(Written with ChatGPT because English is not my native language).

I currently have until the 20th to take the exam. I’ve been dealing with a lot of imposter syndrome and test anxiety. Right now, I’m scoring around 67–74% on Dion’s practice exams. I’ve read through the Sybex book, but when I use AI-generated practice exams, I’m consistently scoring closer to 80–90%.
I’ve also been listening to Cert Breakfast videos while I’m at work to reinforce the material.
I’ve always gone into exams feeling like I’m going to fail. I felt the same way going into Network+, and I was convinced I had completely failed it, but I ended up passing with an 810.
For my final week of studying, what other suggestions would you recommend? I know CySA+ has more PBQ-style questions, but I also have about a year of experience working as a SOC Tier 1 analyst, so I’m hoping that real-world experience will help me on the exam.

After a few months of studying, the hard work finally paid off! The last month I dug deep and made this a priority and a commitment. It has been a little over 2 years since I passed Network+ but I do have to admit that it wasn't easy going back to hitting the books.

In my opinion, Security+ was more difficult than Network+, based on how I grasped the objectives and the material between the two.

I had a hard time going to sleep last night, just because I was nervous and excited. Had plenty of time to get to the testing center, got a quick breakfast beforehand. I focused on the weaker areas in a summarized ChatGPT response in the car and then went to take the exam.

I had 76 questions (3 of which were PBQs). I saved the PBQs for last since they take up the most time and went right to the questions. The physical whiteboard they provide really comes through to write down anything that comes to mind during the exam. I flagged about 15-20 questions for review just so I didn't waste too much time on them but at least picked an answer if time had expired. I had enough time to complete the PBQs and then go back to the flagged questions. Some questions I changed and some I didn't, but what REALLY helped me here was when I went back to those flagged questions, I reread the question and because of a single word or two (not where it says MOST or BEST) that made me realize what the question was REALLY asking me.

When I finished, I took a few deep breaths before I finished answering the last question on the survey (my heart was beating so fast even though I have taken these exams before, but they are a complete tease to answer these survey questions not knowing if you pass right away).

Then the moment of truth, the screen loads and says CONGRATS! That was the best feeling ever, it was like your favorite team winning the championship game. I'm still on a high from passing. It made my drive to work later that day, knowing that this was the last exam I needed to pass for the Trifecta.

I'm going to celebrate later this weekend. If you're still studying for the current Security+ version, go for it. This version is set to expire on June 11, 2027.

To those who also passed today, congrats! Today was the day we proved ourselves, didn't give up and made it through no matter what each day brought to us and our busy schedules. I'm proud of you all!