Is taking SY0-401 a mistake?

Falken

I paid for the exam voucher for SY0-401 and scheduled the test in 2 weeks. I have an operations background and moved over to infosec about a year ago at work.
I've been using the CBTNug. SY0-401 videos and find most of it a review. Thinking of buying transender practice exams. Anyone else take the 401 yet and their view? Did anyone use transender practice exams and find them helpful.

Gess

I took SY0-401 less than a month ago and passed on the first effort. My primary study material was the Sybex SY0-401 Review Guide (not the Study Guide). It worked for me because it basically goes right in exam objective order. I own the Study Guide, and it's a good resource, but it covers the material more broadly whereas the Review Guide is methodical. The Sybex site has some practice exams and flash cards as well which was nice for testing how well I was retaining it. This isn't a pitch for Sybex, just telling you what worked for me. Additionally I used a SY0-301 exam question bank to test concepts, but I didn't expect any of those items to be verbatim on the test, and they weren't. Good practice though.

If you're trying to memorize a bunch of known ports, stick to what is on the CompTIA Exam Objectives. Don't over think it.

As for the exam, the simulations are up front and I thought I did poorly on about four of the six of them. I took the rest of the exam really upset about blowing almost $300, and it turns out I passed with a healthy margin. So don't let it get the best of you if you find yourself in that position. Just keep smartly pushing.

Sybex: CompTIA Security+ Review Guide: Exam SY0-401, 3rd Edition - James M. Stewart is the book I recommended.

As an aside, my voucher was good for 301 and 401. So you may be able to cancel and reschedule the test with the 301 if you're that worried, but I wouldn't be.