I think I got the wrong book... What do I do?

r00tb33r

I got the All-In-One Security+ guide by Gregory White, and Wm. Arthur Conklin.
Amazon.com: CompTIA Security+ All-in-One Exam Guide, Second Edition (Exam SY0-201) (9780071601276): Gregory White, Wm. Arthur Conklin, Dwayne Williams, Roger Davis, Chuck Cothren: Books
Looking at the reviews I thought it should be good enough...
Honestly I don't know the backgrounds of the authors, but the book is written academia-style, very dry and very boring. (My uptight computation theory professor in college loves that sorta thing.) More of an educational textbook than an exam guide.
Compared to another certification book I used, absence of an important element is alarming. This book is missing the copy of Security+ objectives with chapter numbers where to look the objective up.
The book started out with written out history of security legislation including issues with DRM. As I am short on time, it worries me that I'm wasting time on something that will possibly never be asked on the exam. Is it important to know the names of these legislations and other history?

If anyone used this book please tell me what I can skip.
Also I'd appreciate if someone suggests a good strategy for about ~20 hours study time.:
Network+ is still fresh in my mind as I've just taken it this week, so I probably don't need to go over it too much, like the OSI model.

Also, please don't tell me to get Darryl Gibson's book as my exam is in 2 days.

Help is much appreciated!

erpadmin

r00tb33r wrote: »

If anyone used this book please tell me what I can skip.
Also I'd appreciate if someone suggests a good strategy for about ~20 hours study time.:
Network+ is still fresh in my mind as I've just taken it this week, so I probably don't need to go over it too much, like the OSI model.

Also, please don't tell me to get Darryl Gibson's book as my exam is in 2 days.

Help is much appreciated!

Well in that case.....

In your situation, use what you got. Hopefully that book has exam essentials and chapter summaries....start reading...like yesterday.

When you do sit for the exam, try to relax and don't go in nervous. If you don't know a question, skip it and move on. Security+ has a lot of gimmes....try to do those first. Then use your God-given brain to try to deduce what is the BEST answer. Who knows, you might be able to pull the rabbit out of a hat....wouldn't be the first time.

Best of luck....

BTW, if you did go by Amazon's reviews....you should have gotten the Security+ book that had the most 5 star reviews and has been #1 in the Security+ section of Amazon...I'll let you figure out which one that was....



Seriously, best of luck.

Bellman80

You could still have enough time to download the Kindle version of Darryl's book and read it on PC, if you don't have a Kindle.

twodogs62

Also with kindle, I guess it might be recent model which supports text to speech, you could have kindle read to you.
I actually liked having a more dry book which might go deeper into details. So, I used more than one text.
But in the final stretch, I just used daril's book.
But, for examine be sure and get the book with 5 stars and also the book is mentioned here many times.

r00tb33r

859. You don't wanna know where I pulled that one out of.



I was freaking out all day before the exam as I didn't have time to finish the said book (had 3 chapters left unread). Didn't get around to practice exams either. I googled whatever objectives I had time for, and that was the end of it. I was very low on expectations as I went to exam. I didn't really know much about the details of the hashing and encryption algorithms, except of what type each of them was. Didn't know what algorithm goes with which protocol. Didn't really know all the details about what gets hashed, what gets encrypted with symmetric or asymmetric during certificate and key exchange. Didn't know what ports a lot of those tunneling and authentication services are on either.
So then what was I tested on you may ask? Bulls***.
No respectable security certification would ever require such poor knowledge.
With that said, I'm gonna go have a beer.
Cheers!

Armor149

Congrats on the pass! Nice score

The Security+ is not meant to be an in-depth exam of security, but more of the basic theory and principles. Remember, it a CompTIA certification.

Again, congrats on the pass!

r00tb33r

Armor149 wrote: »

Congrats on the pass! Nice score

The Security+ is not meant to be an in-depth exam of security, but more of the basic theory and principles. Remember, it a CompTIA certification.

Again, congrats on the pass!

Thanks mate. I was under the impression that the exam supposed to be much harder than A+ and Network+, judging by the book reviews (some people claimed to have failed). Personally I think Network+ was harder as it tested knowledge of tech, while Security+ turned out to be a test of common sense.

Armor149

In some sense you are right. In general terms, for someone who has no experience, you need the knowledge gained from the Network+ in order to pass the Security+.

I found that having Network+ made understanding the material much easier to understand and digest.

SteveLord

I too felt Network+ helped me ease into Security+.

Psoasman

Congrats on the pass.

dan101

This is my suggestions on books to buy? when you purchase a book i usually make sure it comes with a CD because it usually comes with a PDF of the book and some practice exams.

I bought the following to be fully prepared:

**Mike Meyer's certification Passport on CompTIA Security+ 2nd edition (ISBN:978-0-07-160125-2)

**Exam Cram Exam SY0-201 CompTIA Security+ 2nd edition by the following author Diane Barrett, Kirk Hausman, Martin Weiss. (ISBN:978-0-7897-3804-3 or 0-7897-3804-X)

**CompTIA Security+ Certification Study Guide Exam SY0-201 3E by IDO Dubrawsky
( I find this one very easy to read its all in plain english, no big words, very informative)
its a PDF fille

And at the last minute and TechExams.net favorite is the Darril Gibson CompTIA Security+: Get Certified Get Ahead: SY0-201 Study Guide I also enjoy this book if I would of known this I would of bought this one and mike myers passport and all the prep exams I could find on the net, DON"T get or buy the ones that starts with C***Magic in it they are garbage.

** The Darril Gibson book you can buy it as a Kindle version for PC, just download the PC Kindle software on to your computer/laptop and buy it from Amazon.com or .ca for canada and its only $9.99 in kindle version you can't beat that price.

I hope this helps everyone pursuing the exam, you only have today and tommorrow to get the life time certification (A+, Network+ and security+) then its every 3 yrs to recertify I was trying to beat the deadline and was going to write it today, but got messed up with preplogic website regarding Exam Voucher, you need to allow at least 6-24 hours to process the voucher, plus I don't understand their so-called free voucher program? it makes no sense to me, you need to purchase it if this is your first exam? I also have the Unlimited Training version it cost $50.00 for 30 days, inside this package you get free vouchers, please read the fine print on this, its not all true as they claim to say.

I should of planned this better, I only have tommorrow to get the lifetime cert if not then I have no choice to write it next year, a bummer for me.

A final note, if you are ready to write the exam right way, don't bother with the discount voucher (see my comments on here) as it may take time to process the voucher especially with Preplogic, just buy the full-price $258.00 and save yourself the headaches, which I should of done. But if you have time than go for it, I was planning to with Total Seminars: Home there discount voucher is $221.00 and preplogic is $246.95? quite a difference in price?

Best of luck to everyone who are preparing for the Security+ cert and congrats to those who passed this year.

Dan

twodogs62

I was also very surprised at how easy the security+ exam was.
The questions I was given seemed simple and very straightforward.
I felt that if I knew just enough, I could figure the right answer.
Many questions, I knew answer before looking at answers. Then I checked answers and in most cases the correct answer was obvious.
I felt there were only a few questions which were tricky or harder to pick right answer.

r00tb33r

dan101 wrote: »

**Mike Meyer's certification Passport on CompTIA Security+ 2nd edition (ISBN:978-0-07-160125-2)

You sure thats Mike's book? I see T. J. Samuelle under that ISBN, also a Certification+ book.
Mike's books rock though, and great if its in fact his book.

Nomad505

r00tb33r wrote: »

You sure thats Mike's book? I see T. J. Samuelle under that ISBN, also a Certification+ book.
Mike's books rock though, and great if its in fact his book.

I am looking at Mike's Passport guide right now and that is the ISBN on the back.

TNT143

r00tb33r wrote: »

Thanks mate. I was under the impression that the exam supposed to be much harder than A+ and Network+, judging by the book reviews (some people claimed to have failed). Personally I think Network+ was harder as it tested knowledge of tech, while Security+ turned out to be a test of common sense.

Believe it or not, a lot of the Sec+ book isn't 'common sense' to most. In DG's book he says to prep yourself by taking Net+ first because it makes it easier to understand the network portion of the Sec+ exam, but as others have mentioned, its an overview, not the 'nitty gritty'.