Good pre-testing for the Sec+?

TPowell

I have my A+ and studied for a while for my Net+ but just didn't have time with work to finish it. I'm looking for employment now and have found a Sec+ is a must have for most government jobs so I want to start there. I have a Meyers Sec+ Passport book and I feel like I have a decent knowledge of the material just doing the chapter exams at the end (without reading). Is there any way to know how far along you are before actually taking the test? I have plenty of time to study and I plan on using the Passport book, but just wondered if anybody else had advice on what else to use or how to tell exactly what I should be working on.

Found the exam compass practice exams (12 of them). Have done about 5 of them so far. Have made mostly low 80's but made a 60 on 1 and a 70 on another. Guess I can go through them and then rehash what I missed

PCTechLinc

I don't know what your financial resources look like, but I've heard a lot of good things about Boson. I used their practice exam for the CCNA Security 210-260, and it worked very well for me. I haven't purchased the Security+ one, so I couldn't give feedback on that one. It looks like they're having a discount special right now as well.

CompTIA Security+ Certification | Practice Exams & Training

TPowell

I'm okay with spending money but I feel like I may not need to. What I did on my A+ was write down all of the objectives and break it down from there. I would study and research what I didn't completely understand

PCTechLinc

In my opinion, the new Security+ was very difficult, so you should get as good quality practice exams as you can. Check out this thread I posted when I passed the exam a few months ago:

http://www.techexams.net/forums/security/122858-security-sy0-401-experience.html

TPowell

Terrific, I feel like I understand the policies and procedures well but I struggle with some of the technical stuff. The book I have is probably older because it is definitely less technical

PCTechLinc

I wouldn't let that dissuade you. Take a look at Professor Messer either on his website or YouTube. He posts all his videos for free, and only charges if you want a downloadable copy. Just be careful with the actual exam, because if you're paying for it yourself, it's a very expensive test to fail.

TPowell

Thanks, I'll def use Messer for material I missed questions on or don't understand. I may get the $397 thing that gets you a retake and some practice questions (useless from what I hear but the retake is worth it)


Here are my scores on the examcompass tests I've taken. I have ton of material from the missed questions as well to study on.

Practice Test 1= 84%
Practice Test 2= 70%
Practice Test 3= 83%
Practice Test 4= 85%
Practice Test 5= 60%
Practice Test 6= 81%
Practice Test 7= 90%
Practice Test 8= 80%
Practice Test 9= 83%
Port Numbers Quiz= 71%

TPowell

Well, thought I was semi ready for this thing and then I hit the last few tests lol.

Made a 72, 59, and 67 on Tests 10-12 and a 71 on the port numbers quiz. Not worried about port numbers really and I made an 88 on the long malware quiz which didn't surprise me. Ordered the Gibson book to brush up on the cryptography (I have no clue on) and some of the documenting type stuff that I just don't get the acronyms yet. I'm thinking I'll def be ready after reading the book and doing the questions and stuff in the book.

PCTechLinc

I don't want to get into too much detail for fear of violating NDA, but you DO want to be "comfortable" with each objective on CompTIA's site. You don't have to be an EXPERT at each, but you should have a good level of understanding on each, at least at the level of broad concepts. You should be able to EXPLAIN everything fairly well, although for some of the objectives, you may not have to know enough to CONFIGURE or TROUBLESHOOT something. I hope that makes sense.

p@r0tuXus

Good luck on your exam. This site has a lot of good advice for taking that exam. I used mostly free resources except for the sybex book I bought online. Get Professor Messer's Security+ Exam Prep notes. Best $10 for exam materials ever.

ultm8mind

I have some study material for you if you'd like message me and I'll shoot it to you. Might need to be reminded once or twice as I work nights and the stuff is at my house since I can't take much into work. If you need it shoot me a PM I just took the test on the 29th and passed.

ultm8mind

I'll agree with Skyliinez that the Network+ will assist you in your journey towards Sec+ but it's mostly a game of memorization for A+ and Net+, Army paid for my A+ and Net+ and it was a requirement for my Warrant Officer Advanced Course, so I knocked those out in three weeks combined. I retired from the Army last year and got a job right away that they gave me a waiver for not having Sec+ but I needed to get it in 6 months or whatever. I can tell you the GCGA Premium content is pretty good, it has flash cards, audio files, a bunch of chapter and overall tests too (which had two modes "Learning" and "Test"). I found that resource invaluable, as I'd put the audio on and go to sleep, haha...learning by osmosis. I also replied to your pm.

TPowell

TPowell wrote: »

Well, thought I was semi ready for this thing and then I hit the last few tests lol.

Made a 72, 59, and 67 on Tests 10-12 and a 71 on the port numbers quiz. Not worried about port numbers really and I made an 88 on the long malware quiz which didn't surprise me. Ordered the Gibson book to brush up on the cryptography (I have no clue on) and some of the documenting type stuff that I just don't get the acronyms yet. I'm thinking I'll def be ready after reading the book and doing the questions and stuff in the book.

A little less than 3 weeks after this, I've read the book cover to cover and did a lot of the GCGA premium tests as well. I just re-took these and made 92-96-96 on tests 10-12 on Exam compass compared to the 72-59-67 of last time. I feel pretty good about it but I only made like a 79 on the 50 question test on this site. Some of the material seemed different for sure. Going to go through my notes on stuff I've missed and brush up on that before reviewing the exam objectives. After that, I'll probably go ahead and schedule my exam and then go back through some of the tests just to get used to the feeling of answering questions and going through the right motions.

mcollins301

I failed my first Security + exam. That WGU has isn't quite the same, probably not even close to the exam. I am just looking for some really good study material.

cdx

Darril Gibson's website and book is critical to passing the Sec+. He has premium practice tests / simulations on his website.