Odd things on the exam, and the "UNSCORED" stuff

New member. I just joined two nights ago having taken my test yesterday...I wish I found you folks sooner! I was looking for a good active Security+ forum, and it appears I have found one. Your notes, forums, and suggestions have already been helpful to me, and I truly appreciate everyone's input. You guys are great!

That being said, I did not pass yesterday (although I was close), and I do agree with some recent posts on some of the oddities on the exam. Without giving away actual questions, there were indeed vague wording on questions (often missing key information and making lots of assumption). I had never taken a Comptia test before, however, I was doing quite well on the practice tests I was taking, and felt pretty confident on the topics and exam objectives prior to the exam. I was a bit disgusted and surprised in the middle of the exam when I received questions regarding:
-Stenography (Wiley touched on this but I admittedly didnt read it)
-IPv6 tunneling
-Actual Unix commands
-DTP (thought this exam didnt have vendor specific, espeically proprietary questions? esp Cisco)
This didnt appear anywhere in the exam materials or questions I reviewed???

Ambiguous questions arose on IDS/IPS types, as well as auditing/policies without giving the reader enough info to make a clear decision.

There were some questions which were straight forward and factual. I would say 70% of what was on the test was stuff I studied, however, there were so many odd seemingly less significant, or perhaps too peculiar to be asked to properly cover the objectives (see above)

I prepared using Sybex (probably the last helpful of the resources I examined), Wiley (surprsingly good), Boson Exam simulation, Hardening Network Security, CSVPN and various internet resources.

I am considering getting the Syngress book (2nd edition, the one on Amazon? Can you get it anywhere else? I cant find it), however, I am looking to a get a Test simulator with 2007 review questions, as it appears any of the sims I found and practice questions did not reflect the types of odd questions I got on the exam, and didnt have updated material.

I am really glad I got to see the real exam once, but I am not so sure as to how to prepare moving forward.

Any suggestions?

Also, does anyone know how COMPTIA can put these questions on the exam that are not SCORED? They say that there are several that arent, but do not indicate which ones. I have real beef with this since you are spending and exerting mental energies in the test on these in the same vain, and frankly wasting time if they don't count. I have never heard of a testing organization doing this within the timed exam. Anyone have any insight into this?

Although I was discourage during the exam, I think with some brush up, I will give it another shot, just not sure how to brush up. I am hoping to take it again in a month. I

Thanks in advance folks for your feedback and responses folks

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Comments

dynamik

I think pretty much every exam includes unscored questions. These are for exam development, etc. There's only a few, so don't worry too much about them.

You can get the Syngress book directly from Syngress. You can also get it as a PDF from them. Look into Transcender for a practice exam; it helped me a lot.

Welcome to the forums, and good luck on your next attempt!

metsman

Can't find it- I'm on their site (which is now "Elsevier")? Where is the PDF?
I found the actual book, but not the softcopy.
Thanks, DK

astorrs

metsman wrote:

Can't find it- I'm on their site (which is now "Elsevier")? Where is the PDF?
I found the actual book, but not the softcopy.
Thanks, DK

Amazon has it: http://www.amazon.com/Security-Study-Guide-Training-System/dp/B00008DCDZ/ref=ed_oe_d

cheesecoupons

I just passed the Net+ and am now heading toward the Security +.
having only taken the wordy Microsodt exams I was astounded to see the CompTia tests. Shortly into the Net +, I had to wonder if a crakck head wrote the test. The wording was vague at best (not vague as in "well the problems in the real world will be vage) just poorly written and left alot of "what are they asking here". I would also say that only 20% of the material I studied related to the test.
I have no help for you on the Security just wanted to pop in and say that it appears as though all ComTIA test are sand traps.
imoho

supertechCETma

metsman wrote:

I was a bit disgusted and surprised in the middle of the exam when I received questions regarding:

-Stenography (Wiley touched on this but I admittedly didnt read it)
-IPv6 tunneling
-Actual Unix commands

Also, does anyone know how COMPTIA can put these questions on the exam that are not SCORED? They say that there are several that arent, but do not indicate which ones. I have real beef with this since you are spending and exerting mental energies in the test on these in the same vain, and frankly wasting time if they don't count. I have never heard of a testing organization doing this within the timed exam. Anyone have any insight into this?

OMG!!! Actual Unix commands!!!

having worked on several CompTIA exams, I can assure you that all psychometric procedure and analysis is correct. Or as the lawyers say, "legally defensible." CompTIA switched to the "unscored questions" around 5 -7 years ago. Before, when they wanted to revise an exam, they had to start all over from scratch. With the unscored questions, they can gather stats on new questions without having to run a new beta exam. This way, they are actually running beta questions all the time. CompTIA is very cryptic about scoring their exams. This is a security issue for them. They don't want people reverse engineering their exams.

There is a method to their madness.

metsman

Hi all...just as a follow-up, I wound up passing with a score of 900. I am sure I got 1-2 of the "unscored" questions incorrect however. Taking the test the first time was very helpful in understanding how to prepare the second time and learning what kinds of questions are on the exam. I would encourahe everyone to take as many current practice tests as possible to get a feel for this. It helped a ton. I found Boson somewhat helpful but the Sybex book was not worth it.
There are better examsims out there than Boson...especially for the 2007 exam.

I have learned a lot, and appreciate the materials and perspectives from the different authors, and from all the colleagues out there who had feedback to sites like this.

My suggestion for those preparing for tests is to understand the technologies and standards, commands, tools and attacks, IDS/IPS types, auditing and logging, and attack types very thoroughly.
I did have way more time the 2nd time than the 1st time, and I did get many repeat questions.

UnixGuy

metsman wrote:

Hi all...just as a follow-up, I wound up passing with a score of 900. I am sure I got 1-2 of the "unscored" questions incorrect however. Taking the test the first time was very helpful in understanding how to prepare the second time and learning what kinds of questions are on the exam. I would encourahe everyone to take as many current practice tests as possible to get a feel for this. It helped a ton. I found Boson somewhat helpful but the Sybex book was not worth it.
There are better examsims out there than Boson...especially for the 2007 exam.

I have learned a lot, and appreciate the materials and perspectives from the different authors, and from all the colleagues out there who had feedback to sites like this.

My suggestion for those preparing for tests is to understand the technologies and standards, commands, tools and attacks, IDS/IPS types, auditing and logging, and attack types very thoroughly.
I did have way more time the 2nd time than the 1st time, and I did get many repeat questions.

good to hear this, congratulations !! so Boson was the test that helped u pass the most ?? which tests were the most helpful and which book was the most helpful ?