Failed miserably...harder than CCNA

AutoBahn81

I got a 705...WTF.

No tricky questions, just very VERY vague/ambiguous.

Study Materials:

Sybex CompTIA Security+ Study Guide
Transcender
Various Practice Exams
New Horizons (Sacramento) Boot Camp
Self-made flash cards (about 200)

This was WAYYY harder for me than the CCNA. Many of the questions made no sense to me...it was hard to even figure out what they were asking and often times there was not enough info in the question to narrow down the answers properly.

I know all of my study materials like the back of my hand...got 100% on the transcender practice exam (100 ?s) in the morning before leaving for the testing center and numerous times throughout the course of my studies. Same goes for all the practice questions/bonus exams int he other material. I don't even know what I'm going to do different studying for the test the second time around.

I would love 5 minutes in a room with the people that wrote this POS...

CJREX

My sentiments exactly.

The questions suck and many are vague at best.

I'm gonna try it again soon.

I'd have to say it was harder than any of the tests I took for my MCSE.

Not necessarily because of the difficulty of the questions, but because of the difficulty of knowing just what they were asking sometimes.

But hey, now I know how important it is to know which port Halon fire extinguishers use

Being given material that leaves you woefully unprepared didn't help me either

rbutturini

I'd really like to hear some more detail about what you guys found hard about the exam. I got an 876 on it, but not everyone thinks the same. Was there material on there you weren't prepared for? Did you think your study materials didn't accurately cover the content of the exam?

AutoBahn81

rbutturini,

Without compromising the integrity of the exam, there was too much information that was not in many of the questions. I don't expect them to give away the answer in the question, but I am strongly convinced that if I were given the opportunity to review my test question by question that in many cases I would NOT have an "of course, I should have known that" reaction to the questions I missed.

Here is an example:

There is a device which is using _____. How should the ______ be configured?

a. port xxx incoming
b. port xxx outgoing
c. port xxx incoming
d. port xxx outgoing

(In this question all I've done is omit the two words and port numbers)

I fully expect (and want) to be challenged when testing for certification. Tricky questions, comprehensive questions, even very hard questions are all acceptable to me. However, this test (and cert for that matter) is a joke. And to answer your question about my study materials, they covered the material and exam objectives extremely well as a matter of fact. It's the ambiguity of the questions that is the problem.

Obviously this test is not impossible. It does not however in my opinion effectively test people on the subject matter. Rather, it causes people to focus too much on deciphering what the question is asking. It's more of a "what am I asking" test than a "do you know this" test. My hat's off to people who thought the questions made sense and immediately knew what they were asking.

In the end I suppose I can only blame myself. I'm going to take it again in about three weeks. I'm not sure what I am going to do different as far as studying, but hopefully I don't have as hard a time the second time around since I've already seen what everyone is complaining about...

CJREX

My study materials (Specialized Solutions) didn't come anywhere NEAR covering what I needed to know.

I got the aforementioned questions on fire extinguishers (not covered), steganography (not covered) and various other subjects that were only briefly mentioned, if at all.

Got a 740 so missed it by 2 or 3.

I'm getting the Syngress book and trying again.

M4verick

Yeah, Syngress worked real nice for me and I highly recommend it. You'll get it next time around.

mamono

CompTIA exam questions have a tendency to be vague. Its just the nature of trying to maintain a certain difficulty level while staying vendor neutral by not going into detail.

impelse

I failed too for the same reason, the kind of questions, I knew the materias, now I am studying again and I will sitdown in two weeks, I failed for 720.

KGhaleon

This was the easiest exam for me. The CCNA took me over three tries. :X
I think you're just having bad luck.

rbutturini

I think I used the Sybex book. I thought it was quite helpful in preparing for the exam. I'm also glad to hear the feedback. Everyone learns differently so I was curious what your thoughts were.

Thanks for sharing!