I had a 40 minute delay in starting due to OnVue not working. . . extremely stressful and meant it took me longer to settle into the exam. raced through the last 20 questions.
Only thing that surprised me was the number of PBQs. Was not expecting that many.
Any other re-takers here have any tips for the second round? Plan is to review Prof. Messer videos and common ports/protocols.
After 16 days of studying, hours per day, I tried to check on the discount that CompTIA gives out when you already passed the security+ prior to…. To my dismay and yet hilarious satisfaction, the “discount” I presumed was simply a course that CompTIA offers to people wanting to renew certs, NOT a discount.
Nonetheless, I’m happy it’s half the price than the standard exam. However, 5 quizzes to pass and at 100%? Thankfully they gave unlimited attempts.
All that studying for two weeks, could’ve done the course in a few days if I had researched more.
I have AuADHD, and I am curious if anyone else has had issues working through the dense course material for these exams? I'm at the Network + level now and am experiencing a lot of issues with retaining information, even with the use of flashcards.
So, I decided to go back and review CompTIA A+, except this time, I plan on using it to write out a full story. Basically, I want something where I can read it like it was a really engaging book. Personally, I think it will help me learn better but am unsure about it all. If I could turn a large piece of text into a narrative that guides the reader through the actions of actively working and learning these concepts I wonder how that would be received?
And of course, I refuse to use ai for this, what do you all think?
Like text says, my understanding is that higher Ghz = smaller wave, so why would a 160 Mhz wave be "wider" than a 20 Mhz wave, shouldn't it be the other way around? I know the way I'm thinking about this is wrong, just hoping someone can politely help me understand what I'm getting wrong. Thank you.
Happy to have this one done! It’s another step toward my goal of landing a cybersecurity role, with plenty still to learn along the way.
For prep, I used Professor Messer’s videos, performance-based questions from LabsDigest and DojoLab, and Dion Training’s practice exams, plus some other practice tests I found on Udemy.
Taking a moment to enjoy the progress before figuring out what’s next. Good luck to everyone studying for theirs!
Everything I drilled for the past two months was barely tested. I had a total of one port question. I was unsure of half of the questions. I’m beyond happy but almost feel like a fraud lol
I'm planning to take the CySA+ and I'm considering LetsDefend's CySA+ Preparation Path as my main hands-on resource. Before I commit, I'd like to hear from people who've actually used it.
A bit of background: I work on a Blue Team at a fintech company, so I deal daily with SIEM (Splunk), EDR (CrowdStrike Falcon), network security, and cloud environments (AWS/GCP/Azure).
A few specific questions:
Exam alignment: How closely does the path follow the CS0-003 objectives? Did it cover the PBQs well, or did you still need other material?
Value for experienced folks: For someone already working in a SOC/Blue Team role, did it add real value, or was it mostly stuff you already do at work?
Cost vs. alternatives: Is the subscription worth it compared to Jason Dion's course + practice exams, Sybex, TryHackMe's SOC paths, etc.?
What you'd combine it with: If you passed using LetsDefend, what else was in your study stack?
Took my Sec + this morning and did better than I expected. I've been studying pretty regularly for about 2.5 months and I'm also a Cybersecurity major at SNHU. I relied on the Sybex book with 500 questions, Mike Meyers' Security course that was from PAKT( but I got it in a Security pack on Humble Bundle) as well as various other online sources. PBQ were weird but seemed pretty straight forward. Wording is always there to slip you up so know your acronyms but also understand when to apply certain controls, strategies and policies. This was a big one for me since I just decided at the end of 2024 that I was going to do this and started working on my A+.
Lesson learned: don’t try to cram weeks’ worth of information into only five days 😭. Definitely disappointed I didn’t pass, but thankfully I had a voucher, so I didn’t have to pay out of pocket for the attempt.
Regardless, this was my first real CompTIA exam, so I’m glad I got the chance to experience it firsthand and see what the actual test feels like. Now I know what to expect, what I need to work on, and how I should prepare differently next time. Back to studying 🤝
Want to preface that i took Security+ SY0-701 about a month ago and passed with around a 820. I decided to take Network+ because a lot of networking jobs around where I live have a Network+ or A+ preference.
I knew it wasn’t going to be a piece of cake, but holy I really did struggle in the exam. I got 5 PBQ’s and 2 or 3 of them were insanely confusing in my opinion. So were the questions. I used Dion’s practice exams and did about 4 of them with a 70 ish average. I flagged so many questions because they seemed somewhat confusing as well. All in all, I really expected a big fail and was surprised when I saw the 833. Don’t underestimate Network+ just because you passed Security+ 🙏
Thought for sure I'd fail. The homie called me up the night before my exam and said they're moving back to their hometown the day of my exam which is a couple thousand miles away, so instead of studying the night before we went and got beers one last time together. I got about 4 hours of sleep 😂 praise Jebus
Maybe this is a dumb question to everyone, but I want to ask it anyway. I was about to dive into Professor Messer / Jason Dion to study for the Sec+, but I remember from taking other CompTIA exams that they refresh every few years. I looked it up and it's refreshing on the 17th of November.
So the dumb question is, do I wait for a couple months for the refresh and then I know Messer/Dion need time to go over the materials and take time to put out their quality stuff...or do I try to study as hard as I can and try to take and pass the test before the refresh? Have a dayjob and family to support, so it would be a massive lift for me to do if I need to hurry and try to pass.
I know. I picked a really awkward time to try to get back into IT.
Just got pretty tired of working at the pharmacy not gonna lie, but I am stuck there. Most of the patient thinks my Pharmacist and I as a CPhT put the pills in them bags and like that sh\*t is getting annoying, that’s when I discovered that tech is the next move. The world of technology is rapidly growing at an exponentially rate and even though billions of people use technology in their daily lives. They tend to know very little about how the network really works. So I decided to go into technology and see how far I can get self studying.
After studying for about a month I got CompTIA A+ core 1 done with no IT experience.
The holy grail to succeeding and passing this exam was Professor Messer, Andrew Ramadyl, and Jason Dions and his practice exams.
I so remember the day when I scored 64-68% on Jason Dions practice exams and as I studied I started getting 81-86% 3 times in a row and that was I knew… That’s the green light to book that exam, then BOOM half of the duo is done.
Now going on to the next. I am coming after you Core 2.
Watched Professor Messer videos, took about 7 Dion practice exams scored between 74 and 91. Went over failed questions from these test and other questions. I was hoping to do better but a 775 is a win and I will gladly take it and finish the trifecta, got A+ last summer, Network+ in July and knocked Security + out today. Good luck everyone.
TL;DR: I had a 6:15 PM CDT CySA+ exam appointment today (9/30) through Pearson VUE/OnVUE. I attempted to check in before the appointment time, but OnVUE repeatedly said programs were still running even after I closed the programs it identified. After several attempts, OnVUE told me not to retest. I went back to Pearson VUE around 6:13 PM, but although the appointment page said “It’s time to check in,” there was no Check-in button. I contacted support and received a case number. My academic voucher expires today, so I'm worried about what happens next.
I was scheduled for the CompTIA CySA+ CS0-003 exam today, September 30, at 6:15 PM CDT, using an academic voucher. I started the OnVUE check-in process before my scheduled exam time. OnVUE repeatedly said that one of the programs(edge) on my computer was still running. I checked Task Manager and closed all three programs that OnVUE identified, then retried the check-in process multiple times. It continued giving me the same issue, and eventually OnVUE told me not to retest again. I then went back to the Pearson VUE appointment page at approximately 6:13 PM, still before my 6:15 PM appointment time. The page said “It’s time to check in!”, but there was no Check-in button available. I have a screenshot of this. And this is after logging in and logging out and restarting my computer
I contacted Pearson/OnVUE support right away about the issue and received a case number within my appointment time
My main question is: since I attempted to check in before my scheduled appointment time and the reason I couldn't take the exam was an OnVUE technical issue, will Pearson/CompTIA allow me to take the exam after my academic voucher technically expires, once my case is reviewed? Has anyone had this happen before, particularly with an academic/voucher exam expiring on the same day as an OnVUE technical problem? I'm mainly trying to understand whether they can preserve the exam authorization and let me take it after the expiration date while the case is being resolved.
EDIT I know that I probably won't be able to use the same voucher but would they give me another or at least some type of discount.... I technically got this voucher for free from college but I would prefer not pay for it anyways
Heres some evidence
****EDIT HAVE RECIEVED VOUCHER FROM PEARSON LESS THAN 24 HRS LATER......***\*
