Taking Sy0-401 Tomorrow

First time posting and am glad that I have fully delved into the wonderful resources on this site.

I am in college and am completing a class that follows the Security + Cengage book along with all the labs in the Cengage book. I have had no issues completing chapter tests that pull from a Cengage test bank and generally get a 15/15 or a 14/15 on them.

I have also read the Sybex book in parallel, though less intensively, and watched CBT Nuggets as final sources of info.

My question though is that the course material seems really easy to me. I currently hold a CCENT and am taking my ICND2 on the 15th for the cisco class that I am in. I am considered knowledgeable by my peers and also serve as a lab assistant in both the Cisco labs and basic PC Hardware classes.

My biggest fear is that I am underestimating this cert test. I have taken the ICDN1 and made a 907/1000 there but was short on study time.

My ultimate question is how closely related is the actual cert exam to the Cengage book which is supposed to be the "official" book? I have found Cisco's NetAcad to be a good guage of your ability but have no such gauge for the Sy0-401.

Thanks in advance for any feedback.

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Comments

philm

Good luck! I am planning to take the 401 in the next two weeks. I took it a week ago and failed. studying online material , Glen Clarke (McGraw Hill Study guide) and CertMaster from Comptia. I also like Prowse, but have spent to much on training material already.

nachodba

Good luck guys. I honestly didn't view any books and used Darril Gibson's GetCertifiedGetAhead site and his android app. Another great resource is Professor Messers website.

tboe

I concur nachodba, you absolutely can't go wrong with the two sources combined. enominezerum, this isn't a hard exam, most find the cryptography part the most challenging but do not take it for granted as for some the entire exam is a challenge.....good luck !!

eNomineZerum

I failed with a 703/900.

Wasn't expecting the number and difficulty of simulation questions so those points were gone. Also didn't know my port numbers nearly well enough. I don't want to make excuses but I also had a few gotcha questions that I probably ly overthought.

I have the ICND1 that I have to Monday so I will probably wait until early January to permit myself some more time to study hard. I will be getting the Gibbons resources as I hear he is one of the few to actually cover the simulations. Sad that the Cengage was the least relevant vendors though I ran through the lab manual and aced ever chapter quiz.

nachodba

You got a 703, that's not bad. Did you receive a printout with your score and your weak areas? If so, I would hammer those after your ICND1 exam and be sure to watch professor messer's videos, they are great when it comes to explaining concepts.

eNomineZerum

I have another attempt scheduled for Jan 2nd so we will see how things work out. Thanks for the words of advice.

tboe

your failing score isn't really that bad as I have seen way worse. like nachodba mentioned find your weak areas from your printout and start drilling. you will nail it next time and remember stay positive overall.

eNomineZerum

Hate to dig things back up but I passed today with a 793. Gibson's site and his android app were the tools I used along with rereading on weak areas. I also owe a bit to not being blindsided by the performance questions and having had more time to rest and take it. Thanks for all the feedback. I believe that my next will be the CCNA Security.

H3||scr3am

congratulations on passing on the second attempt

Best of luck working towards the CCNA:Security.

fuz1on

Congrats and good luck! Cert'd up!

SystemErrorOne

I read this whole thread and great job eNomineZerum! Very proud of your progress. I also am studying for the Sec+ just havent decided what date to set up the exam.. but I am interested in doing a group study to help with my learning. Below is my XDA signature banner with my skype and email info if anyone is interested in doing a group study.

milton60

How did you do on your test I have failed it 2x

fuz1on

Sorry to hear, Milton! What domains do you need some review on?

Bl@ckbriar

Good luck for the Sec+
Im studying for it right now so I hope I can do the exam in a couple of weeks

mattreilly74

I just passed the Net+ today after studying with cbt, professormesser and exam cram -- but I struggled a bit with the simulation questions.

I wanna take the sec+ by 2/8, are there many simulation based questions?

and good luck to everyone.

fuz1on

mattreilly74 wrote: »

I wanna take the sec+ by 2/8, are there many simulation based questions?

Congrats!

There are quite a bit of simulation problems that deal with security best practices - whether physical or network. Let's just say you probably want to know how to set up an ACL on a NGFW (ports, protocols, subnets) or the proper physical security preventative measures.

mattreilly74

thanks ...

MordyIT

Glen Clarke's book is great but there's stuff missing for example ports IMO.
you'll be hit with 7 sims on the exam. Make sure you know your WiFi and how it goes with a AAA server like radius, know your attack vectors and threats, know all the calculations made in the book (i,e risk). identify things like what u r, what u know, what you have for security identification, know your vpn and cryptography, there's also a physical security sim (cctv, locks, hvac etc), an ACL sim like you want to access a server only via tftp from ip to ip so you choose source ip to dest ip allow UDP 69 for example.
know your CIA, AAA, VPN ports, asymmetric and symmetric keys, how these keys are exchanged (it can get pretty complicated).
I was pretty sick when i took my exam and i barely passed (787). I must have gotten partial cred on the sims.

DAVIS NGUYEN

Congrats on passing!