Passed today, here's some in detail pointers for all a ya's
juvenileslilbrotha
Member Posts: 17 ■□□□□□□□□□
in Security+
1. First thing, ignore anyone who tells you they just took this exam on a whim or they studied for it for three days and passed. They likely do this stuff for a living. If you do not study for this exam and give it the respect it deserves you will wind up failing it by 10 or 15 points and at 275.00 a pop, that's gonna hurt.
2. I used the Glen Clarke book to study for the test and that was probably a mistake. From what I am gathering the Darrill Gibson book is probably what you should be using. The Glen Clarke book does a very good job at introducing you to concepts, however, it fails miserably in giving you the detail of understanding the exam requires. I have been doing this for over ten years so I got by using the Clarke book but if I didn't have the practical knowledge to back it up, I would have failed.
3. The level of ambiguity in the question wording is what makes this exam a problem. I would have to say this exam rivals the CCNA in its ambiguous terminology. Fifty percent of the questions can either be A, C, D or B. You will need to know the concepts behind the question. You will need to know even the wrong answers so that you can use the process of elimination narrow it down between either A or D.
4. From everything I have read and from my personal experience, about midway through this exam you will feel like you are failing it or that you have already failed it. Push this feeling out of your mind you are likely right in it. You need to not give up and push forward attacking every question as if it is your saving grace. It will pay off in the end despite your feeling of despair.
5. here are the things you need to know in order of importance... You need to know EVERYTHING about private and public keys from a digital certificate standpoint to a web server to a PKI Asymmetric standpoint. It's akin to knowing subnetting on the CCNA exam. You then need to know what algorithms and or hashes are asymmetric vs symmetric. You need to then know the difference between NIPs, NIDs Firewalls, HIPs and HIDs. You will then need to know how to distinguish between XXS, SQL injection attacks, Buffer attacks etc. Then there's the difference between what's a baseline and what's a vulnerability scan vs a virus vs a worm vs a logic bomb.
At the end of the test it will give you an opportunity to go back and review questions, please use this time wisely. Remember to flag questions that you are uncertain about so that it will high light which ones you need to go back to for further investigation.
I hope this info helps. What I was trying to do was not just let you guys know "I Passed" the test but to also give you some first hand knowledge as to what you can expect so that you can pass the test as well.
We nerds must stick together, good luck, "The IT Professional's Industry Almanac"
2. I used the Glen Clarke book to study for the test and that was probably a mistake. From what I am gathering the Darrill Gibson book is probably what you should be using. The Glen Clarke book does a very good job at introducing you to concepts, however, it fails miserably in giving you the detail of understanding the exam requires. I have been doing this for over ten years so I got by using the Clarke book but if I didn't have the practical knowledge to back it up, I would have failed.
3. The level of ambiguity in the question wording is what makes this exam a problem. I would have to say this exam rivals the CCNA in its ambiguous terminology. Fifty percent of the questions can either be A, C, D or B. You will need to know the concepts behind the question. You will need to know even the wrong answers so that you can use the process of elimination narrow it down between either A or D.
4. From everything I have read and from my personal experience, about midway through this exam you will feel like you are failing it or that you have already failed it. Push this feeling out of your mind you are likely right in it. You need to not give up and push forward attacking every question as if it is your saving grace. It will pay off in the end despite your feeling of despair.
5. here are the things you need to know in order of importance... You need to know EVERYTHING about private and public keys from a digital certificate standpoint to a web server to a PKI Asymmetric standpoint. It's akin to knowing subnetting on the CCNA exam. You then need to know what algorithms and or hashes are asymmetric vs symmetric. You need to then know the difference between NIPs, NIDs Firewalls, HIPs and HIDs. You will then need to know how to distinguish between XXS, SQL injection attacks, Buffer attacks etc. Then there's the difference between what's a baseline and what's a vulnerability scan vs a virus vs a worm vs a logic bomb.
At the end of the test it will give you an opportunity to go back and review questions, please use this time wisely. Remember to flag questions that you are uncertain about so that it will high light which ones you need to go back to for further investigation.
I hope this info helps. What I was trying to do was not just let you guys know "I Passed" the test but to also give you some first hand knowledge as to what you can expect so that you can pass the test as well.
We nerds must stick together, good luck, "The IT Professional's Industry Almanac"
Comments
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NotHackingYou
Member Posts: 1,460 ■■■■■■■■□□
I had the same feeling of having failed the exam halfway through too!When you go the extra mile, there's no traffic.
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ernbri1
Member Posts: 6 ■□□□□□□□□□
You are right on point, you have to study and know the differences, because the answers are so closely associated! Nice job in detailing what to look our for! Be Blessed!!!!
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TheCudder
Member Posts: 147 ■■■□□□□□□□
Agreed...I was so sure I had failed the exam half way through it, but I actually ended up with a pretty good score. +1 on the wording, I think CompTIA did this to keep people from passing by just watching for keywords, they want you to KNOW the material....not just be able to play a game of match, which is a good thing. I personoally used David L. Prowse's study guide (stuck with him because his A+ books was so good). I also had Darril's Kindle study guide which I eventually stopped using because the order was nearly the reverse order of David's book, LOL. With that being said, they're BOTH great study guides, but I would personally wait until i completed one, before referencing the other.B.S. Information Technology Management | CompTIA A+ | CompTIA Security+ | Graduate Certificate in Information Assurance (In Progress)
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Dakinggamer87
Member Posts: 4,016 ■■■■■■■■□□
Congrats on pass!!
*Associate's of Applied Sciences degree in Information Technology-Network Systems Administration
*Bachelor's of Science: Information Technology - Security, Master's of Science: Information Technology - Management
Matthew 6:33 - "Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need."
Certs/Business Licenses In Progress: AWS Solutions Architect, Series 6, Series 63 -
joehalford01
Member Posts: 364 ■■■□□□□□□□
Recently did this one as well. I used the Sybex book recommended by WGU, very good material. I had previously read Darrills book for the last version of the exam, just had not taken it at the time. Darrills book is fantastic as well. I will definitely say this, having read Darrills book prior to taking the network+, there was a lot there that I was uncertain of, or there was a lot more that I needed to memorize.
If you're already familiar with networking though, as I ended up taking the Network+ test first, that is the perfect primer for this test. Several questions can be answered or figured out with this knowledge, you're not doing yourself any favors if you're trying to memorize well-known ports to pass this test; you should already be past that point in your knowledge level. Just my two sense. -
Darril
Member Posts: 1,588
Congrats on the pass.
