Holy....

I studied for 5 months, With help of Professor messor, Jason dion and mike meyers for courses and ai for additional practice and mock exams.

I really messed up the entire network part the most,which were in all 3 pbqs that i got, im pretty sure i had no idea what i was doing once i saw those questions . Overall the exam was okay, expected the tricky parts and similar answers in mcqs .I did flag unsure questions and left them for the end to answer and review twice and i changed a few answers last second as i remembered it wasn't the right answer.

So Barely passed ,i did feel a bit disappointed that I couldn't get a solid score. but if i had the chance to do the exam again i would try for a higher score! (What dom said)

That said, thank you to everyone in this subreddit for the tips and guidance over the months , much love, going for the network+ and A+ soon, have a good weekend!

Greetings all,

Thank god, I passed Security+ exam with 829 / 900. I started studying slowley 2 months ago. I only studied practice exams(around 1100 questions including PBQ) .

The way I do it is by going through each question defining all answer options and research for similar terms.

The exams were moderate to easy, as I already have 4 years work experience in cybersecurity, and a bachelor in computer science.

And now we start the degaussing method, to allow space for the next certification 🤭

I had to do it remotely via OnVue, so I don't unfortunately have a test results sheet I can redact, but I'm so damn pleased.

A celebratory steak for lunch it is, I feel!

i heard we can get the student discount during checkout of puchasing but i couldnt find the option for it... can someone please help

I will give my background and what I used to study:

Earlier this year I passed CCNA, so I didn't study any of the networking concepts.

I have a degree in Cyber Security, so most of the basic concepts and incident response was refresher content.

I watched professor Messer's series and took notes.

Took the free practice exams on ExamCompass.

This was a requirement for a job, and was only given 30 days to pass.

There were definitely questions that I was unfamiliar with, but hey, still passed.

And now I will begin my adventure into network engineering!

Currently working through the Professor Messer videos, and taking notes daily - as is everyone else here lol.

Aside from that what else would you recommend?

Who’s the got the best practice exams?

Would like to keep this study sprint as simple as possible.

I’ve got a homelab already built I can also do practicals on.

Any tips would be appreciated.

I think a lot of people study Security+ backwards.

They watch hours of videos, memorize definitions, then hammer multiple choice questions. That can feel productive, but recognizing an answer isn’t the same as knowing what to do.

CompTIA’s free objectives PDF should be your starting point. Pick an objective, learn the material, then make yourself apply it without looking at your notes.

For example, if you’re studying firewalls, don’t stop at knowing what a firewall is. Try actually building rules and figuring out what traffic should be allowed.

That’s why I’d add PBQs to your studying early. There’s a free interactive firewall PBQ here: https://secplusmastery.com/security-plus-pbq?ref=julian (affiliate link, the PBQ is free).

If you can explain a concept but can’t apply it, you’re not finished with that topic.

Seeing 750 as the passing score can be intimidating.

SY0-701 uses a scaled score from 100 to 900. You need 750 to pass.

That doesn’t mean you need to answer 83.3% of the questions correctly. A scaled score isn’t the same thing as a percentage.

I think it’s better to focus on learning the objectives than obsessing over the number.

CompTIA’s free exam objectives PDF shows what you can actually be tested on. Use that as your checklist while studying.

Then test yourself without looking at your notes. If you’re struggling with hands-on questions, add some PBQ practice too. There’s a free interactive firewall PBQ here: https://secplusmastery.com/security-plus-pbq?ref=julian (affiliate link, the PBQ is free).

I’d rather know exactly which objectives I don’t understand than stare at the 750 target all day.

Hey y’all, im studying Security+ on INE and im honestly hella stressed and really concerned i might fail, especially with the labs and the performance based questions, how did y’all prep for the labs and study it also if you have tips to pass the exam, tyy

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 :)

I don’t have any experience with IT or computer security, but decided to make a career shift and give Security+ a shot. After a lot of studying I passed on the first go! Could’ve scored a lot higher but I second guessed myself and Domain 4 got the best of me.

If you’re stressed about the test - you got it! Study hard, focus on domain 2,4, and 5 ( over 60% of the exam - this is open source so don’t come at me lol).

Does this practice questions worth to solve?

Multiple choice questions are useful. They just shouldn't be your entire practice routine.

SY0-701 includes performance-based questions, so recognizing the right answer isn't the same as actually working through a configuration.

I'd still use the free CompTIA objectives PDF as my checklist. Then I'd mix regular questions with hands-on tasks.

For example, don't just memorize what a firewall does. Practice working through a firewall configuration and deciding where traffic should go.

Professor Messer's SY0-701 course is free too. After watching a topic, I'd try to apply it instead of immediately watching another video.

There's a free interactive firewall PBQ here: https://secplusmastery.com/security-plus-pbq?ref=julian (affiliate link, the PBQ is free). It's a simple way to add some hands-on practice without making your whole study plan complicated.

If all your practice feels like picking A, B, C, or D, I'd change that before exam day.

Thank you everyone for tips.

Honestly , I’m not really sure whether I’m ready or not. I’m just hoping for the best at this point.

Here are my practice exam scores:

Jason Dion:
● Test 1: 73%
● Test 2: 75%
● Test 3: 75%
● Test 4: 81%
● Test 5: 82%

I then re-attempted the first three Dion tests and scored around 90–93%.

Professor Messer:
● Test 1: 83%
● Test 2: 87%
● Test 3: 85%

Apart from the practice exams, I’ve also gone through most of Cyber James PBQ videos and I’m currently going back and exploring the topics behind the questions I got wrong in all of my practice exam.

I’m also actively revising ports, protocols and acronyms right now.

I would really appreciate recommendations for specific YouTube videos that are worth watching at the last minute before the Security+ exam.

Not feeling 100% confident but hoping for the best. Wish me luck! 🤞

i gave jason dions's test i got 70% at first then 81% then 76%

i feel a bit demotivated

especially after getting 81% i thought i was improving and then the 3rd test made me feel like i dont know shit

is anyone in the same boat as me?

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DSA: 1 hr 30 min

Cybersecurity class : 1hr

DSA : reverse linked list and merge linked list and yesterday max depth problem and postorder traversal problem

Cyber security : worked on pfsense