Well...This Is It...

erpadmin

Folks, you have a whole 24 hours (if you're on EST) to get your lifetime cert. I wish you all the best of luck and don't be nervous. I will bump up my passed thread to all those that might need some good tips. Aside from that....best of luck!

Cisco Inferno

hey erp, i got A+ and just got my N+ today and was wondering if i should even bother with sec+ at this point.. freshman in college and dont really see it being used yet..and if i do take it, i see myself having to renew it when i get outta college for potential employment ... should i just wait till later on when i need it? im thinking about doing some microsoft certs before the 52% voucher discount expires on june30th anyways.
what do you think?

BrandonX

Cisco Inferno wrote: »

hey erp, i got A+ and just got my N+ today and was wondering if i should even bother with sec+ at this point.. freshman in college and dont really see it being used yet..and if i do take it, i see myself having to renew it when i get outta college for potential employment ... should i just wait till later on when i need it? im thinking about doing some microsoft certs before the 52% voucher discount expires on june30th anyways.
what do you think?

52% discount? where? how?

Cisco Inferno

BrandonX wrote: »

52% discount? where? how?

Student Certification Exams | Special Offers | Microsoft Certification

you need to have a student id of some form or be in college.
looks like i can use it for the 271, 272, and 680. a darn shame i cant use it for the 685 or 686. oh well. $60 bucks an exam with a free second shot is awesome.

capitalsown

Cisco Inferno wrote: »

Student Certification Exams | Special Offers | Microsoft Certification

you need to have a student id of some form or be in college.
looks like i can use it for the 271, 272, and 680. a darn shame i cant use it for the 685 or 686. oh well. $60 bucks an exam with a free second shot is awesome.

Student including high school student or just college students?

erpadmin

Cisco Inferno wrote: »

hey erp, i got A+ and just got my N+ today and was wondering if i should even bother with sec+ at this point.. freshman in college and dont really see it being used yet..and if i do take it, i see myself having to renew it when i get outta college for potential employment ... should i just wait till later on when i need it? im thinking about doing some microsoft certs before the 52% voucher discount expires on june30th anyways.
what do you think?

The only reason you'd want to renew it every 3 years is because of DoD regulations if you work for a defense contractor or something. In my case, like you, I didn't take Security+ for 5 years after my A+/Net+ combo (I heard the SY0-101 was a beast of an exam...but Darril didn't have a book for that anyway...lmao!) I had to take Security+ for WGU, and since it was a requirement, I had Security+ as one of my first classes because I didn't want to renew an entry-level cert every three years.

Having said all that, today's 12/31. Unless you are going to roll the dice, you're better off waiting until you're ready to take it. With Darril's book (as well as experience), Security+ was very easy. I was expecting a monster of an exam, but on 8/26/2010, I did not find one.

Paperlantern

erpadmin wrote: »

The only reason you'd want to renew it every 3 years is because of DoD regulations if you work for a defense contractor or something. In my case, like you, I didn't take Security+ for 5 years after my A+/Net+ combo (I heard the SY0-101 was a beast of an exam...but Darril didn't have a book for that anyway...lmao!) I had to take Security+ for WGU, and since it was a requirement, I had Security+ as one of my first classes because I didn't want to renew an entry-level cert every three years.

Having said all that, today's 12/31. Unless you are going to roll the dice, you're better off waiting until you're ready to take it. With Darril's book (as well as experience), Security+ was very easy. I was expecting a monster of an exam, but on 8/26/2010, I did not find one.

Yeah I agree here, I didn't find one either, and I don't much think youd want to try it with barely a day prep. But I also agree not having the lifetime sec+ would suck. Entry level certs fall by the wayside when you advance your career and they get overshadowed by higher level certs anyway. You would be better off with the lifetime. But again thats an ironman task.

However, I wouldnt say it would be impossible, If it were me and I were to attempt it I would do this. Schedule the exam for the latest slot available at any test center today that you can get (check a few different ones to get the best possible time). Buy Darril's book from amazon for the kindle (if you have a kindle all the better) and use Kindle for PC to read it. Take the pre assessment immediately and see where you are the WEAKEST. Read through your TWO weakest chapters and take those end of chapter tests. Then go back and skim the rest of the chapters, hitting on each of the "Remember" boxes that he has throughout the book. If you feel you have time, take the end of chapter tests, recording your score for each, then go back and REREAD the ONE chapter of those chapters you scored the lowest on. This way you are only reading 3 full chapters and only skimming the rest. You should be able to do this in less than 4 - 5 hours, and its still early. If you are a particularly fast reader you may be able to read a lot more. Some of the chapters are fairly short in comparison to others.

I';m not trying to convince you to try, just saying it COULD be done, to try and pick up ENOUGH material to break the 750 score needed to pass. It ultimately your decision. And a gamble at best, but if it paid off youd have one hell of a new years eve to celebrate!

erpadmin

capitalsown wrote: »

Student including high school student or just college students?

I'm sure high school would fly, as many technology high school kids have become MCSEs/MCITPs (in something) by the time they graduate. If this applies to you, check it out...I plan on using the academic exams for the SQL 2008 exams.

capitalsown

Paperlantern wrote: »

Yeah I agree here, I didn't find one either, and I don't much think youd want to try it with barely a day prep. But I also agree not having the lifetime sec+ would suck. Entry level certs fall by the wayside when you advance your career and they get overshadowed by higher level certs anyway. You would be better off with the lifetime. But again thats an ironman task.

However, I wouldnt say it would be impossible, If it were me and I were to attempt it I would do this. Schedule the exam for the latest slot available at any test center today that you can get (check a few different ones to get the best possible time). Buy Darril's book from amazon for the kindle (if you have a kindle all the better) and use Kindle for PC to read it. Take the pre assessment immediately and see where you are the WEAKEST. Read through your TWO weakest chapters and take those end of chapter tests. Then go back and skim the rest of the chapters, hitting on each of the "Remember" boxes that he has throughout the book. If you feel you have time, take the end of chapter tests, recording your score for each, then go back and REREAD the ONE chapter of those chapters you scored the lowest on. This way you are only reading 3 full chapters and only skimming the rest. You should be able to do this in less than 4 - 5 hours, and its still early. If you are a particularly fast reader you may be able to read a lot more. Some of the chapters are fairly short in comparison to others.

I';m not trying to convince you to try, just saying it COULD be done, to try and pick up ENOUGH material to break the 750 score needed to pass. It ultimately your decision. And a gamble at best, but if it paid off youd have one hell of a new years eve to celebrate!

You can also patch up your weak spots even further by downloading the exam objectives off the CompTIA website. Oh, and if you're just skimming, you may want to just go this route as an alternative rather than addition anyways. Just go through each of the exam objectives and state what they are out loud. If you can adequately define it, you understand it. If you don't know it or don't know it well enough, look it up in the index of Darril's book and read the section where it is discussed. I did this the day before Network+ and it really saved me (I won't lie, I slacked a little in my study habits for Network+).

erpadmin wrote: »

I'm sure high school would fly, as many technology high school kids have become MCSEs/MCITPs (in something) by the time they graduate. If this applies to you, check it out...I plan on using the academic exams for the SQL 2008 exams.

Wow, that's pretty awesome. Perhaps I should try and get a few of those before going for Cisco stuff while the discount is still around.

erpadmin

Well...that's all folks! Welcome to 1/1/2011.

Happy New Year! Gonna be interesting to see what happens next here with Security+.

capitalsown

erpadmin wrote: »

Well...that's all folks!

Damn you, lol, that's exactly word for word what I was going to say.

erpadmin

capitalsown wrote: »

Damn you, lol, that's exactly word for word what I was going to say.

I had every intention of writing that, and at that time too. Thanks to the wife, I stopped having a life on New Years Eve years ago.....

(All for the better, personally.... )