Testing SY301 saturday 1/21

Waltah

Hey folks, I just wanted to take the time to thank you for the information I found here while doing some research on Sec+. I am self-studying with DG's SY301 book and have thoroughly enjoyed it so far. I in the past handful of years I have gained both work experience (helpdesk), education (CIS) and military training(cyber transport/networking) that are all IT/networking related. I want to pursue IT in the federal world so I need to start with my certs somewhere and this seemed like a good place to start. It helps that it is required for my current position in military status.

I have to say that the book is very engaging for a "text book". It is so easy and enjoyable to read compared to other texts I have had my nose in. I even found myself chuckling at some of the quirky comparisons or statements. I am fairly confident this will be all the study material I need along with my personal experience to knock this out on my own. For $26, that is definitely bang for my buck. Some of my colleagues are pursuing brain ****/answer keys. That's fine for them but I think it is great foundational knowledge that should have actual study time invested into it instead of just remembering answers. Speaking of Q&A, I like that if I get a question wrong, I can see why my choice was wrong. This has helped me learn what is being asked, what i should look for, and why. I think this will help with the test.

I'm not nervous yet but I will be next friday/saturday!

thanks again, i look forward to being a part of the community and pursuing more certs.

charlesc09

Ideally, learning it is what matters the most, even if you don't plan on taking the cert. I would do the brain **** after the learning. Brain **** sometimes help, because it makes you mentally focus on doing the questions in an actual exam.

Darril

Welcome to the forums. Great first post.

Glad to hear you aren't using brain ****. One of the worst things that can happen from them is that they have an incorrect answer selected and with no explanation, readers embed incorrect knowledge into their head without really knowing it.

You'll find that having a Security+ cert is valuable in the "federal world" and often an unbendable requirement. You require it in your current militiry position and contractors require it for many other positions. I've know hiring managers on the contracting side for government jobs don't even look at a resume if it doesn't include Security+. Anyone can say "sure, I can get that cert" but actully having it is what they want. Also, if you pursue any other security certs, you'll find that the knowledge you gained by actually learning the Security+ knowledge will help you with them.

Good luck. I look forward to reading your post next week celebrating your pass!

Darril Gibson
Security+ Blog
Security+/Network+ Daily Tips

Waltah

Darril, your passion for IT is really inspiring for people (beyond the scope of "i need a good job"). But what really sets you apart is your ability to take that passion and apply it in material for us to learn with. Making yourself available on a public forum and taking time to answer questions genuinely says alot about your character. I have swayed a handful of people on purchasing your Sec+ Guide in the past few days alone with complete confidence that they too will enjoy it. That's not easy to say when recommending a text book!

I'm curious about your thoughts on the A+ and Net+ certs. Even with a few years of experience are these a worthwhile career investments for me at this time? Or should I pursue "higher" level certs after sec+?

thanks

Darril

Thanks for the kind words and the recommendations.

There really isn't a simple answer on whether you should pursue A+ and Network+. Here are a couple of threads addressing that question:
http://www.techexams.net/forums/a/73154-does-make-sense-get-certified.html
http://www.techexams.net/forums/a/72216-even-still-relevant-field.html

I strongly believe that the A+ and Net+ knowledge is very important for IT pros to have as they move up the career ladder. Holes in their knowledge can hold them back and they often don't understand why. While you don't have to get the certifications to gain the knowledge, getting the certifications ensures that you truly have gained the knowledge. A story I've often shared is of students in MCSE/MCITP classes that think they have the knowledge, but they actually have gaping holes in their knowledge. The A+, Network+, Security+ certifications build on each other and provide a solid foundation for higher level certifications.

Of course, others may have different opinions based on their experience.

Darril Gibson

GeeLo

The A+, Network+, Security+ certifications provide a solid foundation on there own without augmentation, in ones own respected field or line of IT work. Followed by "real world" experience, which one gains over time.

whatthehell

Best of luck and keep us posted on how you do!

whatthehell

BTW, I am using DG's Sec + 301 Kindle book, and have also gotten his Practice 301 Test questions for the Kindle and for my Android Phone. The latter two are highly recommended, so if you need more material to test on or study, I highly recommend them (going through some of them now, and need to schedule the test myself).

Waltah

thanks for the heads up, i have the kindle reader on my iphone so ill go check it out. i just finished chapter 9 a few minutes ago and plan to finish the last 2 chapters and test myself tonight. ill review throughout the week and see how I do on Saturday.

im assuming it has fresh questions on it that are not in the book?

whatthehell

Waltah wrote: »

thanks for the heads up, i have the kindle reader on my iphone so ill go check it out. i just finished chapter 9 a few minutes ago and plan to finish the last 2 chapters and test myself tonight. ill review throughout the week and see how I do on Saturday.

im assuming it has fresh questions on it that are not in the book?

Yes I believe they are new, fresh questions. DG, can you definitely confirm this?

Waltah

pretty sure they are the same as in the book so far. the presentation is pretty disappointing as well. the answers are right below the questions so you have to try to cover them while reading the question.

tylerhe

Good luck!

Waltah

finished the book tonight. took the pre-test and post test. Scored 92% and 90% respectively. need to re-study crypto and my port #'s

other than that I feel pretty good. some mistakes were simply me being a dunce and missing what the question was asking.

are there other quizzes online that i can practice on?

Darril

whatthehell wrote: »

Yes I believe they are new, fresh questions. DG, can you definitely confirm this?

Actually, the questions are largely the same content though the format is a little different to meet the desires of different people. I created them for people that have already studied the Security+ content but want questions that they can use to check their readiness for the live exam. Some readers that have the SY0-301 Study Guide have told me they used the SY0-301 Practice Test Questions book to focus on specific domain objectives.

Waltah wrote: »

pretty sure they are the same as in the book so far. the presentation is pretty disappointing as well. the answers are right below the questions so you have to try to cover them while reading the question.

Yes, you're correct, they are the same content.

I'm wondering what I can do to improve the presentation on the Kindle. Currently, each chapter has a section with just questions (without the correct answer and explanation). Then, the next section provides the correct answer with the explanations. However, instead of providing the correct answer and explanation alone, I included the question again to put the explanation in context. I envisioned readers going through the questions first to test their understanding, and then later, going through the questions with the explanations. For the paper copy, this works perfectly. However, some people aren't using it this way on the Kindle.

I have three ideas.

1) In the answers section, show the question on one page, and then force a new page to show the answer. In other words, each question will be on a new page and each answer/explanation will be on the new page.

2) In the answers section, show the question on one page, and then force a new page to repeat the question with the answer. In other words, each question will be on a new page and the next page will repeat the question with the answer/explanation. I'm not sure if this would be too confusing to some readers prompting complaints such as "Why is the quesion repeated again?"

3) Abandon the $9.99 Kindle version and just publish it as a paperback.

I'd welcome feedback from anyone on this.

Darril Gibson

Waltah

Simply forcing the answers to a new page would make it great.

Darril

Waltah wrote: »

Simply forcing the answers to a new page would make it great.

I realize it's impossible to make everyone happy, but for now, I decided to try and make this "great" for Waltah:D.

I was having problems updating the original Kindle book so created a new one, CompTIA Security+ SY0-301 Practice Test Questions (Get Certified Get Ahead) and formatted it specifically for Kindle forcing the answers to a new page. Additionally, I added several dozen flash cards using the same format.

Darril Gibson

Waltah

Thanks darril, the sy0-301 sec+ app on the iphone is great as well. my total investment is just over $40. your book, your kindle app, and the iphone app.

im starting to get nervous now that saturday is getting closer. i do great on all the practice tests, i just feel like the material should be harder. maybe im over thinking it?

Darril

Waltah wrote: »

Thanks darril, the sy0-301 sec+ app on the iphone is great as well. my total investment is just over $40. your book, your kindle app, and the iphone app.

im starting to get nervous now that saturday is getting closer. i do great on all the practice tests, i just feel like the material should be harder. maybe im over thinking it?

The biggest thing I like to stress is that you should be able to look at any of the questions and know why the wrong answers are wrong. This is important as knowing what the correct answer is (which is easy to memorize if you go through the questions a couple of times). If you can go through the questions and know why the incorrect answers are incorrect, you are ready. Of course, there are explanations for each of the questions in any of the materials.

Darril Gibson

PS I wonder what it would take to convince people that the Kindle ebook is not actually an application:)

Waltah

last minute reviews this morning and im off to test this afternoon. wish me luck.

CodeBlox

Good luck on the exam. You'll do well!

chappys4life

Good luck! Let us know how you did.

Waltah

Passed! 840/900, not that great but not bad for self studying in les than a week with only DG's material.

I was surprised by the depth of the scenarios, they went much deeper than the book. However, if you read and understood your objectives/sections you can piece together that info to come to a good answer.

my take...

45% of the questions revolved around concepts right out of the book. Things you should absolutely know and be able to answer without so much as blinking assuming you read and studied the book.

45% of the questions were scenario based but with a twist. The scenarios were deeper than the ones in the book AND the answers you had to select from weren't necessarily what you'd call "first choice" answers. So you needed to know what other options were available to you besides obvious answers. This was a bit scary/surprising. Applying what you studied in DG's book will get you where you need to be though.

10% or less were "i have no idea what this thing is talking about/what is this, time to take an educated guess" and im assuming that is because I did not use any other source of media for studying. This is what I felt like for those couple of the questions...

chappys4life

Congrats! You only studied for a week did I read that right.

Waltah

chappys4life wrote: »

Congrats! You only studied for a week did I read that right.

Yea, started when i posted this thread. is that uncommon? I thought I saw a couple others that did it in a week or two?

keep in mind i have an IT background so that helped quite a bit.

chappys4life

Thats cool I did not realize it could be done so quick. I just hit ch8 tonight and I started monday so I get it though.

I am in the field to just starting with certs finally getting of my butt.

Darril

Congrats on the pass. Passing with an 840 after only studying for a week is great.

Darril Gibson

Waltah

Ideally i would have taken 30 days and used other media. For personal reasons I needed to get this completed ASAP. Once I get to my next duty station I will be asking which certifications would be advantageous for me so you'll still see me around here.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that there will be DG material for my next cert. Right now I think I'm going to bust out Network+, I'll get an all-in-one study guide and bust it out. After that I will chase some higher level certs.

Dakinggamer87

Congrats on pass!!

Bokeh

So those of us who bought original, do we have to pay for updated version?

whatthehell

Congratz on the pass and thanks for the good info about the test!

Joseph Harless

Congratulations on the pass.