Passed: thoughts on exam prep

teancum144

I'm pleased to say I passed the exam (scored in the 830s). The exam was more challenging than I expected. I felt well prepared, but some of the questions were ambiguous. This was frustrating because I know the material they were asking about, but had some trouble interpreting the angle of the question. Here's what I did to prepare:

• Read (cover to cover) Security+ Get Certified Ahead by Darril Gibson
• Read (cover to cover) All-In-One Security+ Exam Guide by Conklin & White
• Completed all practice questions in each book
• Created and reviewed flash cards for all key concepts
• Completed all practice questions from learnsmart systems (A+ Exam Printable - Exam printables for A+, Network+, Security+, MCSE, MCSA, MCDBA, and more)
• Completed all practice questions from Boson (CompTIA SY0-301 Security+ Practice Exam | Boson)
• Completed all CompTIA practice questions (Sample Questions).
• Completed other practice questions from various sources on the web

In hindsight, I believe the best preparation was the two books, the flash cards, and the Boson practice exams. The Boson exam explanations are the most thorough I've seen. They explain thoroughly why each correct answer is correct and each incorrect answer is incorrect. Also, the incorrect answers were mostly legitimate Sec+ concepts, so by reading these explanations, the concepts were drilled into my brain. I will use Boson again for CISSP preparation. Both books were very good and took different approaches to the topics. Here is a bullet point summary of the pros and cons of each book:Pros - Get Certified Ahead by Gibson

• Very well written and easy to read
• Explains difficult concepts in easy to understand terms
• Sticks to only those topics covered by the exam
• Very good coverage of injection attacks

Cons - Get Certified Ahead by Gibson

• Complex topics were sometimes cut short and I often had unanswered questions after reading a topic, especially IPSec, cryptography, and the difference between all-in-one security appliances and web security gateways.
• Makes the exam seem easier than it really is.

Pros - All-In-One Exam Guide by Conklin/White

• Deeper technical coverage of complex topics. The following topic were covered exceptionally well and in far greater depth than Gibson's book:
  • IPSec
  • Legal, privacy, and ethics issues
  • PKI
  • Cryptography
  • DNS zone transfers
  • Web components

Cons - All-In-One Exam Guide by Conklin/White

• More difficult to read than Gibson's book. Although often eloquent, the sentences were often long and complex. I often found myself rereading sentences to understand them.
• Coverage is broader than what is required for the Security+ exam. Now that I'm studying for the CISSP, this book seems to extend somewhat into CISSP material.
• Not organized as well as Gibson's book and often key items were not bulleted.

Overall, I'm glad I read both and in the following order: 1) Gibson, then 2) Conklin/White. If you can only read one book, I'd pick Gibson's book. However, if I had it to do over again, I'd still read both. I found the greater technical depth of the Conklin/White book very satisfying.

samurai86

Congrats on the pass! In my opinion there was a lot of overall with the Security+ and CISSP. But make no mistake the CISSP is more difficult, and requires a broader knowledge base, and maybe slightly deeper.

new2ITSecurity

Teancum144,

Congrats on your pass! Thanks for all the good advice on study materials. So you definitely feel that the Boson study exams were worth the money. I am currently studying for this cert and have read about the addition of sims on the test. How did you practice for these? Again..thanks for all the advice!

teancum144

new2ITSecurity wrote: »

So you definitely feel that the Boson study exams were worth the money.

They were, by far, the best practice exam resource that I used. The explanations were very thorough and and I learned much from them.

new2ITSecurity wrote: »

I am currently studying for this cert and have read about the addition of sims on the test. How did you practice for these?

I don't really know of any specific way to prepare for these other than knowing the material thoroughly. A couple of them were very easy, a couple were very hard, and a couple were in between. Sorry I'm not more help

new2ITSecurity wrote: »

Again..thanks for all the advice!

Your welcome. Good luck!!

Darril

Congratulations on the pass and glad to hear the book helped. Good luck with the CISSP exam.

DAVIS NGUYEN

Congrats on the pass

paul78

I was wondering when you would take the exam. From the type of questions that you posted, I never doubted that you would pass. I only wondered how high your score would be. Well done!!! Congratulations. I am impressed with your preparation.