Passed Today - Advice for others.

LantzvillianLantzvillian Member Posts: 24 ■□□□□□□□□□
Hello everyone,
Passed today the security+, but I thought others may need a bit of advice on what I used to get 860 and my mindset on studying for exams.

I work for a SCADA security company so I have nothing short of experience since i have worked there nearly 8 months, various computer shops, two years of college in a hands on course called ITAS at a local univeristy and not to mention all the uncounted linux stuff I have been doing for years.

The security+ exam was easy if you know your stuff, but I would study first, re-read something if I didn't understand it and if I didn't get it the third time I just left a postit there as a reminder. Proceeding on I'd read the entire chapter and do the review. I didn't bother to do any of the hands on since I do waaaay more than that stuff at work so I kept going. I didn't do the practive exams until I had finished both books I was planning to read.

I read: Mark Ciampa's Network Security Principles and Syngress Security +(2007 ed).. The Security Principles book was easier to read and i thought provided better explanations on VPN,RAS,PKI, and Certificates. The Syngress did a much better job of the rest, but provided waaay more information and its review questions were god awefull at times and were worse than Comptias. Sure they made me think, but stupid..... (I learned in university if a question is really fracking awefull most profs wouldn't use it, so neither would a company like Comptia, however, this is just how you look at a question and everyones opinon is different)

I then did the practice exams, made notes on areas I needed improvement in, read my postits and notes on techexams. Proprofs notes were complete garbage since they didn't lineup to the material I had read and sure weren't likely to be found on the exam in my opinon. (It is nice to have a third perspecitve I agree, but it was one I could do without)

Since I could be what you call a provincial/state professional competitor for wakeboarding, I also ate my breakfast of champions. Most athlets keep diaries of what they eat for competiton and develop a formula on what makes them have a great day. For me no joke, Mcdonalds BLT and orange juice. Got to the testcenter, read my ntoes for 10 minutes - sicne if u don't know it then, you don't know it all and took the test.

Read each question throughly and you will do fine. Most of the time a first answer you choose is the correct answer.

Thanks,

Ronnie

Comments

  • SlowhandSlowhand Mod Posts: 5,161 Mod
    Congratulations on the pass, and don't forget to update the "Certifications:" section in your profile.

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  • dynamikdynamik Banned Posts: 12,312 ■■■■■■■■■□
    Yea, the downside of Syngress seems to be their review questions. I always skip them and just use Transcender.

    Congratulations on the pass and welcome to the forums!

    On the the CISSP then? icon_cool.gif
  • LantzvillianLantzvillian Member Posts: 24 ■□□□□□□□□□
    Yeah thinking about that or Network+ since it looks easy and network is pretty straight forward for me when compared to industrial stuff :P CISSP looks interesting and so does CEH or CCNP/CCWP. What is better in your guys opinion?
  • dynamikdynamik Banned Posts: 12,312 ■■■■■■■■■□
    Depends on your interests. CISSP is more on the managerial side, CEH is more technical (you might be interested in the SSCP as well), and the CCNP is routing and switching. The "best" depends on what you're interested in. Are you referring to the CWNP wireless programs? Cisco doesn't have a CCWP, but it looks like they may add one in the future.
  • LantzvillianLantzvillian Member Posts: 24 ■□□□□□□□□□
    CISSP I think would be right up my alley. I'm edging towards being able to do independent consulting so having that would be good. However keeping a CISSIP looks like a bit of work with their point system.

    Whats the difficulty on the CEH in comparison to CISSIP?
  • shednikshednik Member Posts: 2,005
    Congrats on the pass and my vote will always go to the CEH looks like it is the "fun" cert to study for. The CCNA will also be a good one and may help with all the others.
  • dynamikdynamik Banned Posts: 12,312 ■■■■■■■■■□
    CISSP I think would be right up my alley. I'm edging towards being able to do independent consulting so having that would be good. However keeping a CISSIP looks like a bit of work with their point system.

    Whats the difficulty on the CEH in comparison to CISSIP?

    I don't think maintaining it is that big of a deal as long as you stay on top of it. If you're a security professional, you should be keeping up with things anyway. You can apply podcasts, books, cbts, other certifications, etc. Here are a couple of more ideas: https://www.isc2.org/cgi-bin/content.cgi?page=756

    I think the difficulty is going to be based a lot on your past experiences. The CEH is a very technical exam, and if you don't have a lot of experience, say, analyzing log files, you'll have a hard time with that. I think the CISSP is considered difficult no matter what icon_lol.gif

    Good luck and keep us abreast of your progress.
  • ITEducationProITEducationPro Member Posts: 6 ■□□□□□□□□□
    Based on your long term interests, a potential perfect next step prior to CEH or CISSP is the SCNS, the Security Certified Network Specialist. The pre-req is Sec+ (which you already have)but will focus much more on the applied skills and less theory. www.securitycertified.net

    eWeek just gave it very high ratings. http://www.channelinsider.com/c/a/News/5-IT-Certifications-that-Still-Matter/
  • motogpmanmotogpman Member Posts: 412
    Congrats on the pass!
    -WIP- (70-294 and 297)

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  • UnixGuyUnixGuy Mod Posts: 4,564 Mod
    Based on your long term interests, a potential perfect next step prior to CEH or CISSP is the SCNS, the Security Certified Network Specialist. The pre-req is Sec+ (which you already have)but will focus much more on the applied skills and less theory. www.securitycertified.net

    eWeek just gave it very high ratings. http://www.channelinsider.com/c/a/News/5-IT-Certifications-that-Still-Matter/



    Thanks for the links !!

    It's the first time I hear of such thing as "Security Certified Network Specialist" ?? what's this ?? and what's the "SCP" security certified professional ?? I never heard of such thing.
    Certs: GSTRT, GPEN, GCFA, CISM, CRISC, RHCE

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  • dynamikdynamik Banned Posts: 12,312 ■■■■■■■■■□
    UnixGuy wrote:
    It's the first time I hear of such thing as "Security Certified Network Specialist" ?? what's this ?? and what's the "SCP" security certified professional ?? I never heard of such thing.

    http://techexams.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=31457
    http://techexams.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=9573
    http://techexams.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=24789
  • UnixGuyUnixGuy Mod Posts: 4,564 Mod
    dynamik wrote:
    UnixGuy wrote:
    It's the first time I hear of such thing as "Security Certified Network Specialist" ?? what's this ?? and what's the "SCP" security certified professional ?? I never heard of such thing.

    http://techexams.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=31457
    http://techexams.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=9573
    http://techexams.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=24789


    Thank you man !

    Just what I thought, those certs aren't worth the trouble. I'm going for Sec+
    Certs: GSTRT, GPEN, GCFA, CISM, CRISC, RHCE

    Check out my YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/DRJic8vCodE 


  • susanjsusanj Member Posts: 5 ■□□□□□□□□□
    Congratulations on the pass !
    Security+, CISA, Infinidox ISMCP
  • NetAdmin2436NetAdmin2436 Member Posts: 1,076
    Congrats!
    WIP: CCENT/CCNA (.....probably)
  • mikka07mikka07 Member Posts: 21 ■□□□□□□□□□
    Congratulations on the pass and thank you for the advice on where to proceed next.
  • LantzvillianLantzvillian Member Posts: 24 ■□□□□□□□□□
    SCNS, the Security Certified Network Specialist.

    Had a quick look at that when I was on a break earlier. Looks pretty promising, does anyone here even have it? It doesn't look too bad at all since i like hands on and have a bunch of that experience.

    I'm studying for my network+ since its easy and then I'll get serious about taking that. I gotta see about getting my courses bridged for BCIT.....
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