Scoring high on Gibsons book, but low on other online tests. Any ideas?

tt3000gt

I have read Darril Gibson's Security + 401 text book, bought the online practice exam questions for $30 and have been getting between 90-95% on all of his practice exams.

However I have been taking the online practice tests
on CompTIA Security+ Certification Practice Test 6 (Exam SY0-401) and have been getting between 70-85%. Not too sure why I am scoring so low.

I had planned on taking the Security exam this Saturday, but I am having second thoughts now.

Anyone who's already passed have any ideas which would be a good indicator of readiness ?

kevluck373

I'm exactly like you are far as test 6 goes. I've also bought the certmaster from comptia, & plan to take the exam soon.

I wonder how close certmaster and the actual test will be considering certmaster was sold by comptia.

I don't know too much on all the different RAID configurations.

tt3000gt

kevluck373 wrote: »

I'm exactly like you are far as test 6 goes. I've also bought the certmaster from comptia, & plan to take the exam soon.

I wonder how close certmaster and the actual test will be considering certmaster was sold by comptia.

I don't know too much on all the different RAID configurations.

Ha, I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one having a little trouble with these tests.

I know many others on here mention that Darril Gibsons the best choice in terms of passing the test. But these online tests are NOTHING like the questions Darril G. provides. Which is why I am worried.

Are the certmaster questions at all similar to the questions on examcompass?

scaredoftests

Gibson's tests are like what you would see on the actual test. Especially with the scenerios.

tt3000gt

scaredoftests wrote: »

Gibson's tests are like what you would see on the actual test. Especially with the scenerios.

Thanks for the reply scaredoftests. I'll definitely take that into consideration.

Tongy

I agree, but I also think that the tests in which you scored lower could still be very useful if they highlight a particular domain that you are weaker in than the others.

Darril Gibsons book is very good and as close to THE set text for sy0-401 as I have seen and, whilst the exact questions didn't come up, should you answer them correctly it might suggest that you know your subject matter sufficiently to pass the test.

kevluck373

Hopefully I'm write, but certmaster seems a little too easy to be true. Granted I do the same certmaster questions over & over again, but still seems odd to me comparing the certmaster to the previous comptia tests I've taken & passed; comparing by meaning too easy.

I've seen this posted too along w/ posting it myself, but there aren't many or any performance based questions out there, and reading over the posts it seems performance questions are a good bulk of the test. There are NO performance based questions on certmaster.

I'll let you know all that I can remember about the test when I take it soon.

scaredoftests

I flunked my first Security test, but after I bought Gibson's book..Wow..I got a 850.How is that for another endorsement? LOL

tt3000gt

I appreciate all the responses guys. I do feel more confident taking this test now.

I'm going to ignore the low scores that I've been getting on the online tests I've been taking and purely concentrate on D.G.'s book and questions. And if anything like Tongy mentioned, I can always use that as a reference point for weak spots.

FYI I will be taking the test this Sunday and will report back on how I do.

tt3000gt

kevluck373 wrote: »

Hopefully I'm write, but certmaster seems a little too easy to be true. Granted I do the same certmaster questions over & over again, but still seems odd to me comparing the certmaster to the previous comptia tests I've taken & passed; comparing by meaning too easy.

I've seen this posted too along w/ posting it myself, but there aren't many or any performance based questions out there, and reading over the posts it seems performance questions are a good bulk of the test. There are NO performance based questions on certmaster.

I'll let you know all that I can remember about the test when I take it soon.

From the jist I got.. The performance questions will consist of mainly drag and drop.. IE match certain protocols to ports , etc

Reseven

I thought Gibson's test questions were too easy compared to what the actual test was. Granted this was several years ago and maybe the test questions in the book are better now.

I did manage to pass but my score was not great.

tt3000gt

Everyone, I have passed the test. It was weird, I got 66 questions, not 90 questions. Also only about 5 questions had any similarity to Darril's exam questions.. Every question was essentially a scenario question and not even remotely close to anything to what Darril had in his online practice exam. I had about 8 performance questions including a RAID disk set up.

Either way off to studying for Network +!

scaredoftests

Excellent. that is interesting...

tt3000gt

scaredoftests wrote: »

Excellent. that is interesting...

Thank you sir.

scaredoftests

Actually..madam. LOL

tt3000gt

Haha! Sorry! Ma,dam

scaredoftests

Quite alright.

Tongy

Glad that you passed, I had the 66 question variety and found that although not the same they were similar enough to apply to virtually all of them.

the difference between knowing the subject matter and learning to pass an exam I suppose.

H3||scr3am

Congratulations on passing your Sec+ and best of luck on your Net+!

tt3000gt

Tongy wrote: »

Glad that you passed, I had the 66 question variety and found that although not the same they were similar enough to apply to virtually all of them.

the difference between knowing the subject matter and learning to pass an exam I suppose.

Thanks Tongy. Ya, that makes sense. I had a good sense of the basics, but not an definitely not an in depth knowledge of all the material.

Also got your private message, but the site wasn't letting me send back a message. Thanks for the advice!

tt3000gt

H3||scr3am wrote: »

Congratulations on passing your Sec+ and best of luck on your Net+!

Thanks!! Your name from WC3?

kevluck373

There is such a thing as luck cuz I passed today.

I must say the questions may have been on a low scale similar but not much. I had 6 simulation questions & 66 total including simulation/performance questions. The certmaster to me didn't have much to do w/ the regular exam.

To my surprise there was not ONE thing about viruses.

If you surf the internet about the performance questions what you see is similar, but for some reason I never found a place where you could actually do for the performance questions other than look at them. There's one about configuring the firewall, one about selecting from a drop down list what type of attacks are going on.

If I can pass it so can you.

scaredoftests

Nothing about viruses? Interesting. Congrats on passing!!