When can I stop studying?

TheChameleon

Edit: I passed, just wanted to let everyone know. See my new post #12 below



I took the CompTIA online courses (very long and boring). I probably skipped through a lot but did get enough knowledge to pass their edit checks and final quizzes since I already have experience.

I heard about the Gibbs book here so I bought the E-book and just jumped in and took the chapter quizzes first and partially read those chapters or certain terminology I scored low on the chapter quiz and just re-took a couple quizzes to check if I scored higher. Then I took the final book test and scored 87%. I did not re-take the final test on purpose, only one pass.

I bought an Exam voucher and took the practice test that you get for free when you buy the exam voucher through the link this site. I scored 89%. On the Gibbs and GetCertified4Less practice tests there were a few trick questions or terms I never heard before and messed up a few multiple choice so I likely would have been in the 90% range quickly.

Beyond the SIMs I heard will be on the exam, is passing these sample tests enough to go ahead and take the exam knowing the first pass through these practice exams I'm in the high 80's. Also scored 94% on the CompTIA sample exam.

Am I ready for the test?

srabiee

Probably. The exam isn't all that difficult if you studied using comprehensive material.

Good luck!

Reibe

You sound good to go. If you feel you have a good understanding of the material overall and your doing 80s-90s on comprehensive practice tests then I think you will do fine. Granted, sometimes the hardest part is pulling the trigger to actually schedule the exam.

My only criticism is if you "skipped through a lot but did get enough knowledge to pass their edit checks and final quizzes since I already have experience", just make sure you still know the boring materials. The book you use may be dry but its does cover what you need to know.

darkuser

when you pass ....

TheChameleon

LOL, I don't want to do a re-take but I get the crass humor.

darkuser wrote: »

when you pass ....

BGraves

I'd say if you're scoring high on different practice exams, you're probably ready for the exam....you really never know until you schedule and take it though.
I don't really remember having any difficulty with any CompTIA exam. Read the book, take the exam, repeat.
^Dark user is right...that's typically when I stop studying too

TheChameleon

I actually studied a bit more than it seems. Probably the first week a little here and there and did as I outlined above, took a week off because of work and then focused for the last week and a half and mainly last four days. I had taken the Skillsoft courses (10 of them) a couple weeks ago. You can't skip too much because there are mini quizzes per section and overall course tests for each that you must get above 70%. I'm doing the skillsoft again because I screwed up and logged into their site directly and not through our intranet and didn't get credit "ugh painful". However I'm picking up a bit more knowledge the second time. Then before posting above I took the 100 questions in about 20 minutes and got 89%. Half of the ones I missed were multiple choice so I need to go review those. A few were stupid things missed going to quickly and then a few I just waffled on and probably had the right answer but picked something else.

Overall I wasn't sure if the actual test is 'similar' to these specific practice exams or harder. If the actual is harder than the two comprehensive practice tests I mentioned, then I need to study a bit more. I'll probably finish the CompTIA, look at these SIMs I saw on Gibbs site and study ports since I don't know if they will ask about obscure ports and if they are UDP/TCP.

donw35

I was doing well on practice exams but the real exam questions are different but if you take your time, read every question slowly you will be fine. Remeber: of the four answers its easy to eliminate 2 of them as wrong, read over the last two and pick the one that fits the answer of the question the best.

hannism

I passed with an 825 on Friday. When I was doing the practice tests, I was scoring between 80 to 90 percent. Then I took the practice exam on this site, and scored a 60%. I thought maybe I'm not ready.

When I took my test, it seemed like a walk in the park. Sure, I didn't know the answer to every question. But, I knew I passed before I turned it in.

One of my coworkers said the Security+ was the hardest test he's taken. Perhaps he got an extremely hard version of the test, and I got an easier one.

I never felt ready. From what you said, I think you'll do fine though.

TheChameleon

How many question did you get on the actual exam? After seeing your response I found and took the sample 50 question test yesterday on this site and scored 74%(first time) and as of this post 82% (second time), (edit, took a third time hours later and have 88% and why I don't like limited questions). I missed a few triple choice questions. Almost the test on the site seem like for an earlier version SY0-201 or 101 test? I also took the Security+ port test and only missed 1. The port test also seemed dated since it mentioned ICQ and Yahoo messenger. I probably knew what port those used about 15 years ago!

I think it may be hard if you are new to IT? I know some people have little to no IT experience, some are good book learners and some better at hands-on or a combination of things, some just smarter than others or more focused.

It does seem like there are multiple versions of the test from what I heard.

Also from the Gibbs book they talked about 15-20 new beta questions? Did you see any of those?

I'm going to schedule the exam this week, I need to move on to other stuff.

hannism wrote: »

I passed with an 825 on Friday. When I was doing the practice tests, I was scoring between 80 to 90 percent. Then I took the practice exam on this site, and scored a 60%. I thought maybe I'm not ready.

When I took my test, it seemed like a walk in the park. Sure, I didn't know the answer to every question. But, I knew I passed before I turned it in.

One of my coworkers said the Security+ was the hardest test he's taken. Perhaps he got an extremely hard version of the test, and I got an easier one.

I never felt ready. From what you said, I think you'll do fine though.

Deathmage

hannism wrote: »

I never felt ready..

this is my problem....

TheChameleon

I just wanted to come back and say I passed with 869!

Resources:

Week 1:
Looked at some Messer videos, not entirely sure I was paying attention.
I was working other certifications training and put that on hold to get this done first.
Very busy at work, night review only.

Week 2 (1 core day, 2 light).
Hunting for material
Found this site
Bought the Gibbs book everyone here raved about when I found this site.
Found the Gibbs blog site, review SIMs.
Took CompTIA sample quiz
Reviewed CompTIA exam objectives
Immediately took a few Gibbs chapter quizzes to test my knowledge.
Started actual study by starting CompTIA Skillsoft course (10 in all and very painful)
Busy with work so at home study only.

Week 3 (Intensive study 3-4 days, 1 light)
Finished CompTIA SkillSoft course (10 in all and very painful).
After, took all 11 Gibbs chapter quizzes and final test. Did some interim review before test based on the quizzes I scored low.
I ended up having to take all 10 SkillSoft courses again for technical reasons so it could be recorded in our system which was helpful to do again and yet again, very painful to sit through.
Borrowed a PearsonVue Security+ book and took two 100 question final tests.
Skillsoft Security+ Mock exam (think this was a SY0-201) until you get >86%, did it three times likely because I was busy.
Techexams Security+ 50 question quiz, took twice.
Techexams port quiz 20 questions.
Both work, night and into weekend.

Week 4 (2 core, 1 light).
Finished 2nd round of Skillsoft re-take, my personal prerequisite before thinking of taking the test.
Final round of study from various sources, review, schedule test and finally chapter quizzes.
Final round of Gibbs chapter quizzes (1-11 to verify readiness and weak areas).
Final round of Techexams port quiz.
Gibbs blog for SIMs.

Interestingly enough for me, I never really read the Gibbs book in its entirety based my prior work experience. So if you don't have experience, you better read and understand everything. Although you still won't have skills and experience after the test, you'll at least know enough to pass the test and walk away with some knowledge, most of which half will immediately disappear!

I think in the end I felt ready and felt somewhat confident enough. I had 6 sims and 74 questions. A few questions were tricky and at least one where I swear a word was missing and that was tripping me up and then one that I plain could not think of the correct answer from the choices or their choice of words. Also my first SIM wouldn't come up and had a dialogue box explaining it but nothing on the screen, I had to reset it. Also the low screen resolution almost caused me to fail one SIM because the dialogue box was hiding a description. There was a layered dialogue on top of that and I was moving boxes around trying to see the information actually required to review and enter data. Fortunately I flagged the SIM and found the error later. I would say that flagging questions is good and bad. It's good when you find an error, for example you misread the text and the question was in the NEGATIVE causing you to previously pick the wrong answer. It also can be bad because if you flag something you are unsure of and the process of elimination doesn't help, you then just have a fifty-fifty shot and maybe you change from the correct answer to the incorrect answer.

TIPS:

Spend time reading and re-reading the questions carefully. Look for infinitive type phrasing and look for words in CAPS. Flag anything you are unsure of, have a feeling about, or generally because of the length of the text could confuse you or simply you are tired and want to move on. Do flag and move on, this will give you confidence versus sitting endlessly on one question and running down the clock. At the end of the test, I had time (20 minutes) to review and page through all of my questions again which I could see again the ones that gave me trouble before. Use any remaining time to finish your review. This can be tricky also if you change an answer, so only change an answer if after a second review you are confident your first answer was wrong and why it was wrong.

From the review I could deduct almost how many questions I might miss and and arrive at a potential pass/fail rate all questions being equal. I know CompTIA must use weighted questions since they post the percentages for topic areas for the test on their site which I assume means some weight applied. So if you think you've missed 5 questions, you are likely ok. If you know or think you missed 10-15, then you better spend time trying to work out the correct answers!

It also is very important to try to get correct answers on all those SIM questions, I assume those are worth big points. They do warn that some questions are not graded as noted in the Gibbs book. I couldn't tell a beta questions from a real question, so don't assume anything.


Before the test?

For me at least, days before the test, I took the 50 question test on this site and also the port test a few days back. I reviewed the questions I missed any why.

The day before, I looked at my previous quiz incorrect responses (from Gibbs book chapter quizzes) and went back and I briefly read some topics in the Gibbs book. This doesn't mean any of the questions were on the actual test. This simply tests the broad knowledge needed to pass the actual test. It is more the "style" of the question that can be similar to the style of the test.

The day of, I re-did the port test which was easy for me but helped me remember what a few of those port ranges are used for. I re-did all the Gibbs book chapter tests (yes all 11 of them) before I took the actual test hours later. I quickly reviewed the answer responses for the correct answer.

I think if you take the chapter tests in the Gibbs book during your training, identify the weak areas and review and re-review those topics, give it a few days and re-take the quizzes (Do NOT re-take a quiz back to back since this will just be learning the correct item to chose), this was helpful. Taking other quiz material will help also prepare because different sources have questions in a different verbiage. I also took a Skillsoft pre-test which I did probably 86% and had borrowed a PearsonVue book and took their two 100 tests which I didn't do bad on either. So likely when I took those pre exams, I was likely 98% ready and knew what areas I was weak on.

Additionally, last minute I review the Gibbs SIMs from his web blog. I would say that it is not necessary but helpful since the SIMs are a departure from questions and helps you feel comfortable for what a SIM could look like..

I would say over all If you are getting 90+ on the Gibbs book chapter quizzes the first time through, high score on the final, simply review your ports, Gibbs website for potential Simulation exercises you could encounter on the test, then go take the exam.

If your getting lower scores (<80), dig in and study the material because there is a small margin of questions that can lead you to fail.

Know your port numbers, port test on this site helps. In any book, PKI and Encryption can be confusing and boring to some. However you must review this material. Policies of all types you should assure you understand the concepts.

I think Gibbs said it on his blog as well, the "types" of questions you see in his book may be reflective of the types of questions. This doesn't mean they are the same. Don't memorize the answers to the book quizzes and tests, make sure you understand the concepts. Again, taking many different quizzes and books, actually can help understand the various ways that the same question can be asked and can help. I would say reading and understanding the material could be more beneficial.

Deathmage

great job!

awesome pointers!

hannism

Congrats on the pass!!!