Passed today!
I scored an 815/900. The test was definitely the hardest one I've done so far, as the questions were incredibly obscure. I used Darril's book, CBT Nuggets, Exam Cram Practice Exams (not nearly as good as Transcenders) and posts from here. Thanks again to everyone who contributes useful information to this site; without it, I probably wouldn't have been able to pass. Next up, I'm going for the 70-290 exam.
Comments
How would you scale this cert in a Linux cert context, would it help when faced with the HR godzilla? I am about to take the second of two exams to complete LPIC-1 and am looking (among other options) to this cert to accompanny my LPIC-1...
There wasn't much in the way of Linux on the exam. It's more of a conceptual overview of security as a whole (cryptography, security policy implementation, attacks you might face, equipment to protect your network, logical security, physical security, etc.)
Definitely a lot of good information that could be beneficial when dealing with HR. It's a good cert to have overall, especially if you're planning on getting into sys admin work. Are you pretty solid with networking concepts? If not, you may want to consider the network+ prior to tackling this beast; there was definitely some stuff that carried over and helped me significantly in passing.
Congrats for passing!
CompTIA has always been known for asking questions that really try your patience, even though they are commonly considered entry-level certs.
However, the M$ exams are not easily passed either, so good luck on the 70-290!