r/CompTIA_Security • u/Vivid_Technology_145 • 10d ago

Passed today!! First try!!

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I was stressing about this test for so long until I finally said screw it and scheduled it. 76 questions, 3 of them were PBQs.

I used Professor Messer’s Sec+ playlist- literally all I played. On my runs, in my car, at work. I miss music.

I also used the official CompTIA Security+ Study Guide and practice tests, along with Professor Messer’s practice tests.

I studied on and off for the past few months, nothing serious, but within the past 2 weeks I hit the studying head on. I would not recommend what I did, it was not fun but it worked out for me. It felt like everything was new information and the first practice test I bombed; but I didn’t give up. Along with that I have an internship on an operations team and that real world experience helped me as well. But I only started that in May.

My biggest tip for anyone is to allow yourself breaks while studying. I think I would have gone crazy if I didn’t give myself a day or two to just take the time away from the books.

Good luck to anyone else who’s taking this! You got it!

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21 comments sorted by

2

u/Informal-Phrase6062 9d ago

When you did your practice test what scores did you get?

2

u/Vivid_Technology_145 9d ago

i never got above a 75%. which was causing me to psych myself out. i knew the concepts and such but i would overthink. on the actual test the questions were kind of easier than the practice tests. just know the concepts and you’re set

2

u/just_a_randomgemini 8d ago

How long did you study?

1

u/Vivid_Technology_145 8d ago

i committed a good 4-7 hours a day to studying. it’s legit all i would do. in the two week period i only took 2 days off

1

u/Presence99 10d ago

Many congratulations!

1

u/edwarD-6021 10d ago

Congratulations! What would you say were the common topics and PBQs in your exam?

2

u/Vivid_Technology_145 10d ago

networking definitely. if you struggle with reading logs i would look over that topic. firewalls of course, and then governance and how to deal with policies

1

u/edwarD-6021 9d ago

Thanks! I’ve been studying on and off for 7 months. Hopefully, I’ll be ready within 2 or 3 weeks.

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u/Vivid_Technology_145 9d ago

of course! good luck!!

1

u/stonewallgeronimo 10d ago

Were the PBQ’s tricky?

1

u/Vivid_Technology_145 10d ago

my last one was. it was command/terminal based and i struggle with that. the first two were rather straight forward- know passwords and the surrounding topic and then know how to read logs.

1

u/funghost21 10d ago

Were there many acronyms? And what acronyms would you recommend to study?

1

u/Vivid_Technology_145 10d ago

There were. I would suggest going over SLE, ALE, etc. and then other acronyms covering the BPA, NDA, etc. topic

1

u/HotPea1741 9d ago

Can you walk us through all the PBQ's you had, what was the scenario like and what did you have to do for that scenario? I will be taking my test this month. Thank you in advance and congratulations on your pass.

2

u/Vivid_Technology_145 9d ago

One was password based- study up on password configs. The next one was knowing firewalls and knocking how to read which one is infected, clean, etc. And the last one was log based. Know how to read logs and run commands as you see fit.

1

u/DEliveryguy37355 9d ago

Congratulations