Passed Security+ first time!! Keys to passing!!!

nicolettean

Hey everyone,

I took the Security+ SYS-401 exam today for the first time and passed with a 763. I was beyond excited to see the passing score after one-two months of studying 2-3 hours a day. I have a math background but now am involved with IT/Data Security. The exam was very difficult so I wouldn't take it lightly if you are new to security. Please please please study your weak topics. Know why the answer is the answer and why the wrong answers were the wrong ones. Had a ton of scenario based multiple choice that had multiple "right" answers but used techniques of narrowing it down to determine the "best" answer.

For study materials, I used:
1. DARILL GIBSONS BOOK!! - MUST HAVE
(when I say must have, I mean MUST HAVE! This guys explains everything in a simple way and makes it very easy to understand)

2. The Internet/youtube...
(Please everyone, if you only know a little bit about a certain concept and want another explanation, Youtube is a PERFECT resource! There are multiple videos out there including Professor Messor and others that can go more in depth about certain topics. Please don't forget about this resource!)

3. Practice Questions...
(In my honest opinion, the performance questions were fairly straight forward. I had two of them during my exam and one was very simple and the other I just spent some time dissecting it and eventually got the right answer. It's the multiple choice and ambiguity of the question that makes the exam difficult. I can't preach enough of knowing the concepts/topics in and out. If you're going to take away anything from reading this thread, it's to go back and look through all of your weak topics and understand them better. Whether it's re-reading a chapter, using youtube videos, or redoing practice questions, try to get a better OVERALL understanding of the concept.)

I just want to say I couldn't have passed without everyone else on this forum guiding me in the right direction and telling me tips and tricks on how to pass this exam. I want to thank you all for everything and hope people get a sense of my experience taking this exam. This thread explains what I did to pass and hope you guys can take something away from it! Now I just need to figure out which cert i'm going to tackle next!!

Dakinggamer87

Congrats!!