Question about Security +401 exam

Hello all,

I have taken the sys 401 exam twice now and have failed. I have been studying the certmaster from comptia's website and have taken the pre test within Gibson's book get certified and scored an 81. When I took the exam, there were only 79 questions and when I took the test back in 2010(lifetime cert) there were 90 questions. Are there only 79 questions on the test now?

Any help would be great. I have been studying now for over two months and need to get this right.

Thanks,
Tony

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636-555-3226

What areas are you having trouble with? Are you strong on topics A and B but weak on Y and Z, or do you just not know anything in general (I don't mean that as bad as it sounds).

rissi17

The study material that I have been going over was nowhere close to the questions that I encountered on the actual exam. Also, I was looking forward to 90 questions and only got 79 both times. Is that the norm now?

rissi17

I am also getting all of the Comptia Certmaster questions correct in every section, but I really feel that it is a false sense of security going into the exam.

tedjames

rissi17 wrote: »

The study material that I have been going over was nowhere close to the questions that I encountered on the actual exam. Also, I was looking forward to 90 questions and only got 79 both times. Is that the norm now?

I took the SYO-301 test over a year ago and had 73 or so multiple choice questions along with six performation-based questions. I was also expecting 90.

rissi17

Yes, I just took the sys 401 exam twice and only got 79 to include 6-7 scenario based questions at the beginning of the exam.

$bvb379

The test changes so people don't share too much information. I just took it last Friday (Nov 13) and passed with an 807. You can see what I wrote about it on "Taking SYO-401 On Nov 10" or something like that. I messed up the date due to over studying, my brain was fried. The questions didn't go in depth as much as I would have hoped and that is what I struggled on, the vague questions. To be honest most of the practice tests were way too easy and didn't compare to the actual test questions. Keep that in mind. They want you to understand concepts rather than memorize material.

TallDude7

CompTIA changed the exams because of all the worldwide cheating from ****. Now its all trick questions with similar answers. If you don't have a great grasp of the English language its going to be hard to pass the exam. You have to sift through the junk in the questions and get the key words. Gibson is great guide but there are topics he didn't go in depth enough.

LERXST

Agreed, the vague questions were difficult to decipher what they were asking. One particular question seemed to contradict itself to the point I had no idea what the question was asking let alone pick an answer that fit the question. I had 79 questions as well.

Jonathon

Some of these responses are kind of worrying me. My impression was that the test was more straightforward and less cryptic than, say, Microsoft exams, but it seems like that might not be the case anymore. I completed the CBT Nuggets course and scored 74% on my first practice transcender exam, and felt like I was in a good place (I have to pass the exam by the end of the month for my job). Not that I'm going to ease up on studying, and I was by no means satisfied with only a 74%, but now I feel like maybe I'm not as close to "ready" as I thought.

My next step is to cover-to-cover the Gibson book and continue to drill on practice tests. I just purchased the study materials pack that goes along with the book too, specifically hoping the end of chapter tests will help.

TallDude7

CompTIA is tired of all the cheating from ****. they want everybody to fully comprehend the content. students at my school were failing miserably and they warned me to buckle down and grind out the course. you have to use multiple sources for study material and pay close attention the new content added when it changed from SY0-301 to SY0-401

$bvb379

Jonathon wrote: »

Some of these responses are kind of worrying me. My impression was that the test was more straightforward and less cryptic than, say, Microsoft exams, but it seems like that might not be the case anymore. I completed the CBT Nuggets course and scored 74% on my first practice transcender exam, and felt like I was in a good place (I have to pass the exam by the end of the month for my job). Not that I'm going to ease up on studying, and I was by no means satisfied with only a 74%, but now I feel like maybe I'm not as close to "ready" as I thought.

My next step is to cover-to-cover the Gibson book and continue to drill on practice tests. I just purchased the study materials pack that goes along with the book too, specifically hoping the end of chapter tests will help.

If you can memorize the material AND comprehend it enough to explain it to a non-technical person (this goes for every line of the objectives) then you should be totally fine to take the exam and not worry about passing it. This was my first CompTIA exam and I have no-IT (formal) background whatsoever.

rewindme

I have took it twice, with the latest time being this afternoon. I have the cert master guides, and a lot of other materials I have dedicated myself to. I felt I was well prepared today, but the test was a complete 180 from the first one. This one had several mobile device questions on it, 5 simulations. 79questions. The simulations kicked my tale the first time, but this time I did good on those. I agree with the wording contradicting itself. So much of the material I saw today was no where in any of the materials I studied. I will test again, but am at a loss for whay to study next. Unfortunately too I had a contingent job offer if I passed it lol.... my advise is the Comp tia study guides are way out of line with the actual test. The test is wayyy yyyy harder! But , I will pass! But it hurts at 300 bucks a test lol!