Passed Security+ today
So I sat my sec+ today and passed!!
I got a 779. It was my first attempt. When I submitted questions and finished the exam I was reasonably certain I passed but was still a bit iffy if I had or had not. Which was due to(and I know everyone says it) the way the questions a phrased and the grammar. Sometimes I'd have to read question 2 or 3 times before I could even make sense of what they were asking, there could be 3 right answers depending on the context of the question(which wasnt clear). alot of "choose the best" sort of answers.
When I started I was very nervous, I was paying for the exam myself so there was that pressure to pass. The first question after the performance ones was a port question about a very common port used, that know I knew, but I just wouldnt place the port number in my head, this put me in a bad place mentally as on the luas(tram) to the test centre I was going over flash cards of the ports, so I knew I had just seen the answer, which was infuriating. So I flagged it and moved on. Once the nerves settled and I started to relaxed, I rattling out answers and the exam started felt like it was turning in my favour, I returned to the first few and of course I could remember it then. So be calm dont beat yourself up over question you know you should know, just mark them and come back to them.
Experience:
Professionally I work in a IT service desk for a large financial/banking organisation, I have about 2-3 years experience. I have no security experience.
Academically I'm in my 4th and final year of a BA (Hons) in Computing Science, which I do in the evenings and yeah I had to fit studying for the Sec+ around this as well
Study Time:
I studied for about 5 weeks
What I Used:
The resources I used were Professor Messers videos and pdf notes, Plural Sites videos, CBT Nuggets and the Sybex book.
I picked the Sybex over the very very highly recommended Darron Gibson book because Ive used Sybex's books for my ITIL and VMware exams and they have seen me good on those. I would have most likely used Darrons book as well but I'm a few weeks into college now and really wanted to finish the sec+ so I can focus solely on that, and didn't want to commit the time to reading another book.
I recommend the Pluralsight videos, there are plenty of free trial codes if you google around where you can get a free trial account. Personally I preferred pluralsight over professor messer the way the information was communicated just suited me more, there was also a little more time spent on each topic and I felt they elaborated more on each point. Professor Messer would be second, and last was the CBT Nuggets, Keiths over enthusiastic and it gets a bit wearing after a while, although he did help me get a grasp of 2 or 3 concepts I struggled to take away from the other 2 video series.
How I studied:
1) watched the all of the pluralsight videos
2) watched the all of the Professor Messer
3) Tried to watch all of the CBT nuggets, couldnt, skimmed over most of them
4) Read the Sybex book, doing the quiz at the end of each chapter, then re-reading over the parts I got wrong in the quiz and watching videos on them.
5) made flash cards for port numbers - used periotically
6) downloaded Learnzapp - did mini tests(15 questions) periodically, whenever I had 10 or 15 minutes in work
7) at the end of the Sybex book I re-answered all of the questions from every chapter and again re-read and watched videos on questions missed.
At this stage I had it narrowed down to just a few concepts that I was a bit hazy on, so focused on those.
On the day of the exam:
Got up early and opened up the exam objectives, I went through them one by one and talked about them to myself as if I was explaining it to someone else for the first time. Any I couldnt? I went to professor Messers vides for further clarification. I did the same with PMs pdf notes. Finally read just the answers to all of the questions in the sybex book. The answers have explanations as to why they are correct for each one.
Everyone says it but this forum has been a great resource and reading about people passing is a great encouragement. Thanks to everyone who's posting on there progress.
Next:
Now I have to decide what to do next, I'm stepping away from professional qualifications for the next 8 months to finish my degree. Bust after it I think I'm going to go for the SSCP, I don't know if the CSA+ holds much value here in Ireland, I just never see employers asking for it. The CASP I think might be too much of a jump for me at the moment. If theres any other certifications you guys would recommend im open to suggestions.
Thanks to all
I got a 779. It was my first attempt. When I submitted questions and finished the exam I was reasonably certain I passed but was still a bit iffy if I had or had not. Which was due to(and I know everyone says it) the way the questions a phrased and the grammar. Sometimes I'd have to read question 2 or 3 times before I could even make sense of what they were asking, there could be 3 right answers depending on the context of the question(which wasnt clear). alot of "choose the best" sort of answers.
When I started I was very nervous, I was paying for the exam myself so there was that pressure to pass. The first question after the performance ones was a port question about a very common port used, that know I knew, but I just wouldnt place the port number in my head, this put me in a bad place mentally as on the luas(tram) to the test centre I was going over flash cards of the ports, so I knew I had just seen the answer, which was infuriating. So I flagged it and moved on. Once the nerves settled and I started to relaxed, I rattling out answers and the exam started felt like it was turning in my favour, I returned to the first few and of course I could remember it then. So be calm dont beat yourself up over question you know you should know, just mark them and come back to them.
Experience:
Professionally I work in a IT service desk for a large financial/banking organisation, I have about 2-3 years experience. I have no security experience.
Academically I'm in my 4th and final year of a BA (Hons) in Computing Science, which I do in the evenings and yeah I had to fit studying for the Sec+ around this as well
Study Time:
I studied for about 5 weeks
What I Used:
The resources I used were Professor Messers videos and pdf notes, Plural Sites videos, CBT Nuggets and the Sybex book.
I picked the Sybex over the very very highly recommended Darron Gibson book because Ive used Sybex's books for my ITIL and VMware exams and they have seen me good on those. I would have most likely used Darrons book as well but I'm a few weeks into college now and really wanted to finish the sec+ so I can focus solely on that, and didn't want to commit the time to reading another book.
I recommend the Pluralsight videos, there are plenty of free trial codes if you google around where you can get a free trial account. Personally I preferred pluralsight over professor messer the way the information was communicated just suited me more, there was also a little more time spent on each topic and I felt they elaborated more on each point. Professor Messer would be second, and last was the CBT Nuggets, Keiths over enthusiastic and it gets a bit wearing after a while, although he did help me get a grasp of 2 or 3 concepts I struggled to take away from the other 2 video series.
How I studied:
1) watched the all of the pluralsight videos
2) watched the all of the Professor Messer
3) Tried to watch all of the CBT nuggets, couldnt, skimmed over most of them
4) Read the Sybex book, doing the quiz at the end of each chapter, then re-reading over the parts I got wrong in the quiz and watching videos on them.
5) made flash cards for port numbers - used periotically
6) downloaded Learnzapp - did mini tests(15 questions) periodically, whenever I had 10 or 15 minutes in work
7) at the end of the Sybex book I re-answered all of the questions from every chapter and again re-read and watched videos on questions missed.
At this stage I had it narrowed down to just a few concepts that I was a bit hazy on, so focused on those.
On the day of the exam:
Got up early and opened up the exam objectives, I went through them one by one and talked about them to myself as if I was explaining it to someone else for the first time. Any I couldnt? I went to professor Messers vides for further clarification. I did the same with PMs pdf notes. Finally read just the answers to all of the questions in the sybex book. The answers have explanations as to why they are correct for each one.
Everyone says it but this forum has been a great resource and reading about people passing is a great encouragement. Thanks to everyone who's posting on there progress.
Next:
Now I have to decide what to do next, I'm stepping away from professional qualifications for the next 8 months to finish my degree. Bust after it I think I'm going to go for the SSCP, I don't know if the CSA+ holds much value here in Ireland, I just never see employers asking for it. The CASP I think might be too much of a jump for me at the moment. If theres any other certifications you guys would recommend im open to suggestions.
Thanks to all
Comments
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justarandomusername
Member Posts: 7 ■□□□□□□□□□
Congrats on the pass and very well done. Thanks for sharing your experience.
The only major difference that I did was gave myself a full 24 hours of learning-free time before the exam. In my studying, I found that on days of hitting the books really hard, the next day I seemed to be burnt out and rushing through the material. Day before the exam I woke up early and did my flash cards and one last practice test. After that I didn't do anything Sec+ related and tried to erase it from my mind.
I just watched movies and played video games so I could chill and not think about the test. To me that seems to work better instead of cramming last minute right up to the exam.
Either way, it worked for you and you passed. Again, congrats. -
PersianImmortal
Member Posts: 124 ■■□□□□□□□□
Congratulations!!! Way to stick with studying for your higher education program and your certs at the same time! -
Dakinggamer87
Member Posts: 4,016 ■■■■■■■■□□
Congrats!!
*Associate's of Applied Sciences degree in Information Technology-Network Systems Administration
*Bachelor's of Science: Information Technology - Security, Master's of Science: Information Technology - Management
Matthew 6:33 - "Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need."
Certs/Business Licenses In Progress: AWS Solutions Architect, Series 6, Series 63 -
donx4
Member Posts: 13 ■■■□□□□□□□
PersianImmortal wrote: »Congratulations!!! Way to stick with studying for your higher education program and your certs at the same time!
Cheers! It wasnt the original plan I wanted to be finished before I started college again, but it just the way things worked out. -
tuxedoturtle
Member Posts: 19 ■■■□□□□□□□
Congrats on the Pass! Good luck on finishing up your degree!
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clarkincnet
Member Posts: 256 ■■■□□□□□□□
Congrats!Give a hacker an exploit, and they will have access for a day, BUT teach them to phish, and they will have access for the rest of their lives!
Have: CISSP, CISM, CRISC, CGEIT, ITIL-F -
nisti2
Member Posts: 503 ■■■■□□□□□□
Congratulations!!
Hope to read good news in 8months! Welcome to the club! 2020 Year goals:
Already passed: Oracle Cloud, AZ-900
Taking AZ-104 in December.
"Certs... is all about IT certs!"
