Taking my test in September

D20

Hi everyone,
Well i am scheduling my test for September. I'm close to the point of feeling comfortable with all the material. I have gone through the Professor Messer videos, most of the 501 Udemy videos, I have read the Darril Gibson book, bought his phone app and have gone through it and frequently test myself, bought his online material and have gone through all the tests (making at least 85% or higher), I also have the MeasureUp 501 test questions (I made a 77% last time i tested with that). I have found areas i need to study more on to make up for where i don't understand 100%. 

I'm not sure why, but i really don't ever feel like I am ready for the test despite all that i have gone through to study. I did the above with my A+ test and just barely passed those. I also get test anxiety REALLY bad.

Just wanted to share that i think I am ready though and I am scheduling my test today for late September.

I really hope I pass...it has been a long 8 months of studying!

2URGSE

From experience, I would rather score at least 85% on the practice exam until going for the real exam.

Jon_Cisco

At some point I always question the cost of additional training.

1 - materials such as books and practice tests.

2 - my actual time.

In all honesty I think it is cheaper to take the test before you are fully prepared and accept you will fail a few of them.

2URGSE

Jon_Cisco said:

At some point I always question the cost of additional training.

1 - materials such as books and practice tests.

2 - my actual time.

In all honesty I think it is cheaper to take the test before you are fully prepared and accept you will fail a few of them.

By all means. I failed my CCNA twice before passing it.   

I am actually on the CCNA Security Track now, but I don't have hands on with the Cisco ASA, ISE or FirePower so I'm not sure how things will go but in the meantime I started on the Comptia Security + since it's a non vendor related cert.

D20

I appreciate all the feedback everyone! I can understand that failing and messing up is a part of life and sometime it is good as we learn from our failures/mistakes. 
I'm still on track for the end of September as of now. 

Spiegel

Good luck on the exam! You got this

Infosec_Sam

Keep up the good work - we're rooting for you!

Just a word of advice: familiarize yourself with the simulation questions you might see on the exam. Those are worth far more points than the multiple choice, and tend to make or break an exam attempt. To help fight test anxiety, try taking practice exams with a timer (if you haven't already). Then go back and answer any questions you missed, and go all the way through it again. After I did this a couple of times, I felt much more comfortable with the format going into the real exam.

Again, good luck, and keep us posted with your progress!

bjpeter

D20 said:

Hi everyone,
Well i am scheduling my test for September. I'm close to the point of feeling comfortable with all the material. I have gone through the Professor Messer videos, most of the 501 Udemy videos, I have read the Darril Gibson book, bought his phone app and have gone through it and frequently test myself, bought his online material and have gone through all the tests (making at least 85% or higher), I also have the MeasureUp 501 test questions (I made a 77% last time i tested with that). I have found areas i need to study more on to make up for where i don't understand 100%. 

I'm not sure why, but i really don't ever feel like I am ready for the test despite all that i have gone through to study. I did the above with my A+ test and just barely passed those. I also get test anxiety REALLY bad.

Just wanted to share that i think I am ready though and I am scheduling my test today for late September.

I really hope I pass...it has been a long 8 months of studying!

Did you buy the voucher that comes with a free retake from CompTIA’s website?

SteveLavoie

Allow yourself to fail an exam and don't punish yourself for the financial lost. Once I allowed me to fail, it will help your anxiety and incidently you will fail less.  

D20

Infosec_Sam said:

Keep up the good work - we're rooting for you!

Just a word of advice: familiarize yourself with the simulation questions you might see on the exam. Those are worth far more points than the multiple choice, and tend to make or break an exam attempt. To help fight test anxiety, try taking practice exams with a timer (if you haven't already). Then go back and answer any questions you missed, and go all the way through it again. After I did this a couple of times, I felt much more comfortable with the format going into the real exam.

Again, good luck, and keep us posted with your progress!

Many thanks!

I've been timing myself and i feel very comfortable that i can complete the test in the time that is given to me. However, some simulation question that i think may be on the test like i don't know configuring a firewall I could use some brushing up on. 

D20

bjpeter said:

D20 said:

Hi everyone,
Well i am scheduling my test for September. I'm close to the point of feeling comfortable with all the material. I have gone through the Professor Messer videos, most of the 501 Udemy videos, I have read the Darril Gibson book, bought his phone app and have gone through it and frequently test myself, bought his online material and have gone through all the tests (making at least 85% or higher), I also have the MeasureUp 501 test questions (I made a 77% last time i tested with that). I have found areas i need to study more on to make up for where i don't understand 100%. 

I'm not sure why, but i really don't ever feel like I am ready for the test despite all that i have gone through to study. I did the above with my A+ test and just barely passed those. I also get test anxiety REALLY bad.

Just wanted to share that i think I am ready though and I am scheduling my test today for late September.

I really hope I pass...it has been a long 8 months of studying!

Did you buy the voucher that comes with a free retake from CompTIA’s website?

I did this for both of my A+ tests and didn't have to use the retake. I may just purchase the test only this go around and leave out the free retake.SteveLavoie said:

Allow yourself to fail an exam and don't punish yourself for the financial lost. Once I allowed me to fail, it will help your anxiety and incidently you will fail less.  

My company will pay for the test the first time, so i am not too worried about the financial part of it. I would just be more under the impression that i let them down by wasting the money. I guess it really isn't wasted. We all learn from our mistakes, but I'm really hoping to pass so that it doesn't come to paying again.

deltzy

SteveLavoie said:

Allow yourself to fail an exam and don't punish yourself for the financial lost. Once I allowed me to fail, it will help your anxiety and incidently you will fail less.  

This is the mindset that I took for my second attempt at the OSCP exam which I think was a key reasons why I passed.

D20

Got my test scheduled for Tuesday. I'm going in and going to do the best I can!
Here's to hoping and praying I pass

Jon_Cisco

Good Luck!

NetworkingStudent

@D20 How did you do on the test?

balance

Hope you passed 

D20

NetworkingStudent said:

@D20 How did you do on the test?

Scheduled for tomorrow morning @ 8am.
I'll report back after the test. 

Advancedguy

Check out the cram notes for Security+ from the website called www.examguides.com. This may help you in quick review of concepts before taking the exam

D20

Passed this morning with a 794!!!

I'll admit the test was tough, but i think the fact that i studied for 10 months really helped out. 
My job is thinking about using Pluralsight and we are on a 2 week demo with them at the moment, so i used the practice questions from that site as well this last week before taking my test.

Thanks everyone for all the support here!!!

On to VMware certifications now!!!

lucky0977

Congratulations. This 10 months of studying paid off. 

balance

Congrats