Passed it!

alisonrebecca

The actual tests always feel so much different than the practice exams...but the often-repeated advice on this forum rang true - the key is fully understanding the content rather than relying so much on memorization. I spent more time for the Security+ reading about the topics, especially those I didn't feel so confident about (basically anything I got wrong on a practice test or anything I felt at all foggy about), from a wide variety of sources than I did for Network+ and as a result I scored higher and felt more comfortable during the test.

I did get a few of the dreaded performance based questions during the actual test, but I think the reason why they are intimidating to some is that they are not in the standard question format. However, the knowledge required to complete them isn't any more complex or difficult than the other questions on the exam, it's just a different way of demonstrating the answer.

My books:
Darril Gibson Get Certified Get Ahead - Study Guide as well as the Practice Questions Kindle book
Mike Meyers Passport (found this one a bit lacking in some areas)
James Michael Stewart CompTIA Security+ Review Guide (for a review guide this is quite comprehensive and was my main study source. It is both concise and comprehensive.
Also used an iPhone app for those times when I wasn't near my books and had some downtime and did frequent online research.

This forum helped me as well, along with the subject resources on this site. Good luck to everyone!

Darril

Congrats on the pass. Great feedback for other people studying for the test. Good luck with your next adventure.