Having Trouble Comprehending Questions and Applying Concepts

A_Sanchez1986

Hello, 

First off, I don't have any background experience in IT other than learning code a few years recently. I decided I wanted to try and take a shot at the Security+ certification. With regards to studying so far I have: 

- Read Darril Gibsons book Security+ Get Ahead book (loved it, he explains so clearly!)
- Looked at Messer's videos on Youtube (he's also good, however sometimes I feel he glosses over important details). 
- Started taking Dion's practice exams over on Udemy

I should point out that I would also take Gibsons exams at the end of every chapter and did fairly well. I decided to take a jab at Dion's 501 tests and I'm failing miserably 60%. What I'm noticing as I'm going back and reading up on objectives I didn't do well on is that I UNDERSTAND the terminology at this point, what I'm having a hard time is APPLYING it in real-life setting/questions. A lot of it is understanding/comprehending what exactly the question is asking. I have comprehension problems so when the question is a long paragraph and each of the answers are long sentences -- I freak out. 

Can anyone give me advice on how I can apply certain terms and processes? Is it just a matter of taking as many practice questions as possible to get comfortable with what/how they ask questions. 
 
Here's one question as an example: 

A cybersecurity analyst is working at a college that wants to increase its network's security by implementing vulnerability scans of centrally managed workstations, student laptops, and faculty laptops. Any proposed solution must scale up and down as new students and faculty use the network. Additionally, the analyst wants to minimize the number of false positives to ensure accuracy in their results. The chosen solution must also be centrally-managed through an enterprise console. Which of the following scanning topologies would be BEST able to meet these requirements?

A. Active scanning engine installed on the enterprise console. 
B. Combination of cloud-based and server based scanning engines.
C. Combination of server-based and agent-based scanning engines. 
D. Passive scanning engine located at the core of the network infrastructure. 

Any help would be great! 

A

JDMurray

First, you need to cite the source of that exam item.

A_Sanchez1986

Sorry - it's from Dion's Security+ exam on Udemy. 

JDMurray

You could try:

1. List what the exam item's stem is asking for and all of the parameters required by the correct answer option.
2. Eliminate all answer options that contain parameters not asked for by the stem.
3. Note parameters in the answer options that match parameters in the stem. (This could be leading or distraction.)