Passed CASP today - Wanted to share my experience
CASPCertified
Registered Users Posts: 4 ■□□□□□□□□□
in CASP+
I passed my CASP Exam today. While this is great, i wanted to share my experience, which will hopefully help some of you.
Overall:
First of all, was it worth it to spend the 402 USD on this Cert? Absolutely yes.
The Argument i was reading about the most is that it is not a door opener for your Job search except you want to work in an DoD environment (the cert meets the Department of Defense (DoD) 8570.01-M Requirements; IAT Level III, IAM Level II and IASAE II)
I agree the cert is not really a bargain, but the material you will need to study exceed a Security+ by far and will help you with the preparation for the CISSP if that is the direction you want to go. I don't look at a cert as just another item on a resume, it should reflect your knowledge and experience. I believe what comptia put together is a excellent cert, testing all aspects of your security knowledge.
Questionable for me is just if the exam is not to short. Just read the extensive list objectives of the cert, and ask yourself if this can be tested with only 80 questions.
Study:
When i started actively studying for the CASP certification it was with much surprise how little training material is out there.
I counted 3! Books at amazon.com which handle the CASP CAS-002 certification.
Furthermore there is no real good video material, certainly not to the standard what you would be used to if you did a Network+ or Security+ Exam and learned with professor messer's free training videos.
I ended up buying the following book:
CompTIA Advanced Security Practitioner (CASP) CAS-002 Cert Guide by Robin Abernathy and Troy McMillan.
Turned out that all i needed. The book is excellent written, addressed all aspects of the CASP Objectives and is easy and interesting to read. I can only highly! recommend this book.
I have read a lot of forum entries about books not handling all the questions. This book handles all the multiple choice questions you will encounter are are handled within this book and if you study right you will be able to apply the learned to answer all multiple choice questions.
My personal Tip: Read the questions carefully and answer what is asked from the perspective of security if not otherwise defined. Don't assume or read more into the questions. What i mean by that is simple, the best solution for a question from a security perspective is A, from a financial perspective A might be not reasonable and from a management perspective A is a nightmare.
You need to read the question carefully and answer it only on what information is provided to you. DON'T assume
The second aspect of the Exam is the performance based questions. I truly liked them, shame there were not more.
The only item i can suggest here is experience in designing and implementing hands-on security solutions. Without revealing anything about the exam, you will need experience otherwise you will be lost on that part of the exam.
Conclusion:
The CASP cert is not on the same level as a CISSP, but in all fairness i don't believe it even attempts to be. It is an excellent stepping stone to get to a CISSP Certification. It is with much surprise that there is not more hype around this cert, but i can only recommend taking it. I think Comptia has done an excellent job on the exam, given that broad scope of the Cert.
Don't let the lack of training materials or hype let you get discouraged about this cert. With the learned you will be an improved asset to your company.
Good luck all.
Overall:
First of all, was it worth it to spend the 402 USD on this Cert? Absolutely yes.
The Argument i was reading about the most is that it is not a door opener for your Job search except you want to work in an DoD environment (the cert meets the Department of Defense (DoD) 8570.01-M Requirements; IAT Level III, IAM Level II and IASAE II)
I agree the cert is not really a bargain, but the material you will need to study exceed a Security+ by far and will help you with the preparation for the CISSP if that is the direction you want to go. I don't look at a cert as just another item on a resume, it should reflect your knowledge and experience. I believe what comptia put together is a excellent cert, testing all aspects of your security knowledge.
Questionable for me is just if the exam is not to short. Just read the extensive list objectives of the cert, and ask yourself if this can be tested with only 80 questions.
Study:
When i started actively studying for the CASP certification it was with much surprise how little training material is out there.
I counted 3! Books at amazon.com which handle the CASP CAS-002 certification.
Furthermore there is no real good video material, certainly not to the standard what you would be used to if you did a Network+ or Security+ Exam and learned with professor messer's free training videos.
I ended up buying the following book:
CompTIA Advanced Security Practitioner (CASP) CAS-002 Cert Guide by Robin Abernathy and Troy McMillan.
Turned out that all i needed. The book is excellent written, addressed all aspects of the CASP Objectives and is easy and interesting to read. I can only highly! recommend this book.
I have read a lot of forum entries about books not handling all the questions. This book handles all the multiple choice questions you will encounter are are handled within this book and if you study right you will be able to apply the learned to answer all multiple choice questions.
My personal Tip: Read the questions carefully and answer what is asked from the perspective of security if not otherwise defined. Don't assume or read more into the questions. What i mean by that is simple, the best solution for a question from a security perspective is A, from a financial perspective A might be not reasonable and from a management perspective A is a nightmare.
You need to read the question carefully and answer it only on what information is provided to you. DON'T assume
The second aspect of the Exam is the performance based questions. I truly liked them, shame there were not more.
The only item i can suggest here is experience in designing and implementing hands-on security solutions. Without revealing anything about the exam, you will need experience otherwise you will be lost on that part of the exam.
Conclusion:
The CASP cert is not on the same level as a CISSP, but in all fairness i don't believe it even attempts to be. It is an excellent stepping stone to get to a CISSP Certification. It is with much surprise that there is not more hype around this cert, but i can only recommend taking it. I think Comptia has done an excellent job on the exam, given that broad scope of the Cert.
Don't let the lack of training materials or hype let you get discouraged about this cert. With the learned you will be an improved asset to your company.
Good luck all.
Comments
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danny069
Member Posts: 1,025 ■■■■□□□□□□
Congrats! Same book I used too.I am a Jack of all trades, Master of None -
TechGuru80
Member Posts: 1,539 ■■■■■■□□□□
Not sure if we can really confirm the certification was worth it yet because it still hasn't broken through like some other certifications. With that being said, the certification is only a few years old and by the looks of the objectives, it has some very good material. I do not think I have heard anything bad about the certification from those who have taken and passed.
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advanex1
Member Posts: 365 ■■■■□□□□□□
If you work in a DOD position, yes, it is worth it.Currently Reading: CISM: All-in-One
New Blog: https://jpinit.com/blog -
owieczka_ma
Member Posts: 60 ■■■□□□□□□□
Congratulations @CASPCertified. Well done!
1.) I selected the same book as you used: Comptia Advanced Security Practitioner (CASP) CAS-002 Cert Guide: Amazon.co.uk: Robin Abernathy, Troy McMillan: 9780789754011: Books mainly based on Amazon reviews and not so good opinions about Sybex one. Now I am really happy I am finding another confirmation this was the good choice.
2.) Regarding video training material I decided to go with Cybrary: http://bit.ly/1R7SPAw mainly due to lots of good reviews for this - still - free training.
3.) I scheduled my exam for the - most probably - second half of next year.
... and as I decided this will be my final CompTIA exam. I do have the following certifications from them: A+, Network+, Security+, Server+, Cloud Essentials, Cloud+ and as I have noticed I don't see much of ROI (from my personal perspective) having and maintaining them. Passing CASP (fingers crossed
) will allow me to renew my Security+ and extend other ones. Also it will build a solid foundation for CISSP - which I am planning to achieve in the future. -
owieczka_ma
Member Posts: 60 ■■■□□□□□□□
Congratulations @CASPCertified. Well done!
1.) I selected the same book as you used: Comptia Advanced Security Practitioner (CASP) CAS-002 Cert Guide: Amazon.co.uk: Robin Abernathy, Troy McMillan: 9780789754011: Books mainly based on Amazon reviews and not so good opinions about Sybex one. Now I am really happy I am finding another confirmation this was the good choice.
2.) Regarding video training material I decided to go with Cybrary: http://bit.ly/1R7SPAw mainly due to lots of good reviews for this - still - free training.
3.) I scheduled my exam for the - most probably - second half of next year.
... and as I decided this will be my final CompTIA exam. I do have the following certifications from them: A+, Network+, Security+, Server+, Cloud Essentials, Cloud+ and as I have noticed I don't see much of ROI (from my personal perspective) having and maintaining them. Passing CASP (fingers crossed ) will allow me to renew my Security+ and extend other ones. Also it will build a solid foundation for CISSP - which I am planning to achieve in the future. -
Mike-Mike
Member Posts: 1,860
i have been prepping for this, hope to take it by the end of JanCurrently Working On
CWTS, then WireShark -
thaiguy314
Member Posts: 59 ■■■□□□□□□□
Congrats! I'm actually trying to wrap up Net+ now and work on CASP next. Originally planned on CEH after net+ but heard too many bad things. CASP seemed like a great stepping to stone to CISSP like you had said.
Question: I had a pretty good grasp on Sec+ with minimal studying, how much more in-depth does CASP go beyond Sec+? Pretty significant?
Glad you were able to shed some light, not too many people seem to have experience with this cert to it's nice to hear real feedback. Will be definitely looking into the book. Thanks!Certs: CISSP, CEH, CCNA Cyber Ops, Security+ -
CASPCertified
Registered Users Posts: 4 ■□□□□□□□□□
Hi All,
Thank you for the nice congratulations, i really appreciate it.
@thaiguy314 if you passed the sec+ with ease, the CASP shouldn't be to tough for you. CASP in my humble opinion builds nicely on sec+, however your work experience will help you more with CASP. Sec+ was for me just a know devices, ports, encryption-types kind of test, while CASP tries to put everything in a real life example.
owieczka_ma Thank you for sharing the Link to the training videos
I don't work for DoD, however for me, you simply can't consider for ROI only "do you get another job or raise as measurement."
A friend of mine just was able to retain his job when the company downsized, one major factor was his continued education.
This Cert helps you definitively if you want to go for a CISSP route and makes the path easier.
Everybody, good luck with your upcoming exam.
