Beginning Security+

Hi Guys,

I took and passed my Network+ exam this afternoon (yay). and after some thought have decided to go ahead and jump straight into the security+ exam, mainly because of the overlap in exam objectives.

I am planning to be ready or almost ready to take my exam by the mid-late december of this year. Considering i have already taken the N+ i think this should be a reasonable timeframe to study for and pass the exam.

I have purchased Darrill Gibsons book and plan to pick up his android app as well as initial study resources, however as the reading and studies progress i plan to utilize professor messers S+ videos on youtube and some form of practice exams to prepare for the real deal.

Considering the success of making a post that holds me accountable for studying and progression on the N+ i decided to do the same thing again.

so hello! and hopefully in 2 months time i'll be celebrating a pass of the S+

Find more posts tagged with

Comments

Enticles

ok, something interesting that i have observed:

I am using Darril Gibsons S+ book, and it has a 100 question exam to gauge where you stand at the beginning of the book (before the first chapter). I decided to give it an honest shot just to see what i retained from my N+ studies. I got 24 questions wrong out of 100, assuming each question would score the same that gives me a result of 76% - which is only 8% away from a pass.

needless to say that makes me feel very optimistic about passing before the end of the year, although if how i felt after the N+ exam is anything to go by - the actual exam will feel a lot harder than any exam preparation or study guides i have used thus far.

Anyway, just thought i'd check in - this may go faster than i was originally anticipating, although pursuing 2 certifications simultaneously may prove problematic.

cdx

Enticles,

I used Gibsons book (read it thoroughly) and did all of his practice questions, and purchased his performance test practice questions from his website. That is all I needed to pass. Gibson does a great job.

Enticles

I am enjoying the way his book is written. I actually quite enjoyed Mike Meyers style of writing too, i am a fan of technical writers injecting a little bit of silliness in their analogies, if it can make me smile or laugh i am more likely to remember it.

Interestingly i am having a bit of a late realization that perhaps going the A+, N+, S+ route before tackling a microsoft certification would have made tackling the microsoft certs a little bit easier to handle. For example, i have my Server 2008 Active Directory certification, it was the first exam i passed out of my soon to be growing list of certifications. However, the studying process was brutal.

I found myself going through technet and the microsoft self-study guide book and feeling dumb (for lack of a better word). The articles and book were written with the assumption that the candidate knew of and understood concepts that were not described or even mentioned in the books (BIND servers was one of the examples i personally came across on my exam)... anyway i am getting off topic a touch.

what i am trying to say is with the N+ behind me and working through the S+, i am only now finding these gentle introductions to technologies that Microsoft had assumed i already knew about before melting my brain about the finer points of the technologies they use.

tl;dr for anyone reading this: if you are new to IT or looking for a more forgiving learning curve to the technologies, do A+, N+, and S+ before you move to any vendor specific certifications

ed_003

Good luck. I Started to study for the S+ on Monday With the Sybex book. That comes with some practice questions that will help and i will also try other tests. How many hours a day do you study ?

shochan

Enticles wrote: »

I am enjoying the way his book is written. I actually quite enjoyed Mike Meyers style of writing too, i am a fan of technical writers injecting a little bit of silliness in their analogies, if it can make me smile or laugh i am more likely to remember it.

Interestingly i am having a bit of a late realization that perhaps going the A+, N+, S+ route before tackling a microsoft certification would have made tackling the microsoft certs a little bit easier to handle. For example, i have my Server 2008 Active Directory certification, it was the first exam i passed out of my soon to be growing list of certifications. However, the studying process was brutal.

I found myself going through technet and the microsoft self-study guide book and feeling dumb (for lack of a better word). The articles and book were written with the assumption that the candidate knew of and understood concepts that were not described or even mentioned in the books (BIND servers was one of the examples i personally came across on my exam)... anyway i am getting off topic a touch.

what i am trying to say is with the N+ behind me and working through the S+, i am only now finding these gentle introductions to technologies that Microsoft had assumed i already knew about before melting my brain about the finer points of the technologies they use.

tl;dr for anyone reading this: if you are new to IT or looking for a more forgiving learning curve to the technologies, do A+, N+, and S+ before you move to any vendor specific certifications

Yes, I used Mike Meyers book too...definitely easy reading & can grasp the understand after I read his books. Look up Professor Messer's website/YouTube Channel...his $10 Sec+ notes are great, plus he will give you discount on the exam vouchers if you buy thru him. Best of luck on the exam! CHEERS & HI5!

Enticles

ed_003 wrote: »

Good luck. I Started to study for the S+ on Monday With the Sybex book. That comes with some practice questions that will help and i will also try other tests. How many hours a day do you study ?

currently I am averaging between 3 and 4 hours of studying per day, I am also discovering a lot of content that i have already learnt in previous certification study material - so i am blowing through the early chapters fairly quickly and not discovering too much that i didn't already know. I am expecting that to change very soon though!

shochan wrote: »

Yes, I used Mike Meyers book too...definitely easy reading & can grasp the understand after I read his books. Look up Professor Messer's website/YouTube Channel...his $10 Sec+ notes are great, plus he will give you discount on the exam vouchers if you buy thru him. Best of luck on the exam! CHEERS & HI5!

I used his videos and study notes for the Network+ exam. I found his notes were worth their weight in gold, saved me a lot of time leafing through the book for bullet point notes that i was struggling with (such as cable transmission speeds / distances / multiplexing, etc). I typically haven't been paying for the exams (i got my A+ and Net+ through my employer) although i dont think S+ will be covered as they don't seem that interested in getting staff certified in security (i know... sounds weird, right?)

I'll definitely look him up for the discount voucher as i am pretty sure im paying for this exam out of my own pocket.

Skyliinez92 wrote: »

Good luck! Doing it straight after the N+ is a good shout and following the same sort of study technique you did for the N+ you shouldn't have an issue. You could possibly get the exam done before Christmas, 1 month study should be enough. Just keep a close eye on the objectives, the Sec+ is designed to be a lot tougher than the Network exam (I definitely felt it in the real exams).

Thanks for the tips

I'll definitely keep this in mind when preparing for the exam, if i have even the slightest doubt about not being able to pass i tend to push the date back a week and ramp up the studying some more. I do plan to pass first time, but then again - who doesn't? :P

nisti2

2 to 3 hours daily with some research in google related to the topics.

Enticles

I am really hoping that i can get some kind of assistance from my employer for the S+ exam, as it is quite pricey at $315 USD for just the exam.

I pitched it to my boss as where i work we are an independent consulting company, and we are having discussions about standardizing our services with our clients. I pitched it to him as a method to learn more about best practices and gain generally a broader understanding of what to do, why to do it, and when to do it. Hopefully that is enough to win over his support.

Failing that i will be paying for it out of my own pocket, it seems like a very natural progression from the Network+ to go and obtain the Security+ certification also. In addition i think it looks good when you approach potential clients if you can say you have (even an entry level) certification in IT security.

Regardless of which way the conversation with my boss goes, i think i will be steaming ahead with the certification.

Enticles

thanks for the link to the voucher discount page. I haven't checked it out yet but will when the time comes to book the exam.

Another progress update, i am approximately 60% (a little past according to the kindle app) through Darril's book. I am completing the chapter questions with a 90% or higher score per chapter, i will be going back through these as i ramp up my exam preperation but for now i think its safe to say the study is going well and the material appears to be sinking in nicely.

once i have finished the book i'll look at practice exam materials, I have been using transcender exclusively for my practice exams - and so far it seems to have been working. However the CompTIA site offers a bundle which includes an exam voucher, and an additional retake for a little over $400 USD. It also comes with access to their certmaster software. Has anyone used their certmaster software for the security+ exam? if anyone has what was the general experience with it?

the cheap retake makes it a compelling option if certmaster is even "just ok"

Replicon

Skip and go to SSCP directly, no need to bother with Security+

NavyMooseCCNA

Replicon wrote: »

Skip and go to SSCP directly, no need to bother with Security+

I'm wrapping up Security+ and plan on taking SSCP afterward. I chose this route because I wanted to get the basics down to prepare myself for SSCP.

Enticles

NavyMooseCCNA wrote: »

I'm wrapping up Security+ and plan on taking SSCP afterward. I chose this route because I wanted to get the basics down to prepare myself for SSCP.

that is the same approach i am taking, after my grueling fight to pass the 70-640 exam I am happy to get the lower tiered certifications first if it will help me when i approach the higher level certifications. I'd like to think employers will see the dedication and commitment to self-improvement if they see a gradual progression from entry level certifications towards the more advanced ones they are actually looking for.

I could be way off base with that statement though - so don't call me out on it

Enticles

Another update

I finished Darril Gibsons book, really enjoyed it - found it extremely easy to read.

I went with transcender for my practice exam, took my first practice test today - scored 70%. not a bad start, just need to raise my score by 15 - 20%.

i found that the cryptography didn't stick in my mind as much as perhaps i thought it would. But then again i was rushing through the book to get stuck in to the practice exams.

As of right now there is no scheduled exam taking date. I never heard back from my boss about helping me out with the exam voucher - which i am interpreting as a no go from them, which is fine. I just need to scrape the funds together to pay for the exam, and with christmas coming up funds are a little tighter than they otherwise would be.

I think the exam taking date will be late january - early february. I just need to find a way to keep ontop of the exam content. Thats a long time to spend preparing for this exam when i have already cleaned out Darril's book.

the activity in this thread may go quiet for a while whilst i am waiting for an opportunity to book the exam. rest assured i'll report back as soon as i have booked

cdx

Enticles,

IMO the longer you wait to take the exam the harder it will be. You are better off slamming out practice tests for 1-2 weeks until you are constantly scoring 85%+ then take the Sec+ immediately after while the information is fresh in your head.

Just my 2 cents.

Enticles

cdx wrote: »

Enticles,

IMO the longer you wait to take the exam the harder it will be. You are better off slamming out practice tests for 1-2 weeks until you are constantly scoring 85%+ then take the Sec+ immediately after while the information is fresh in your head.

Just my 2 cents.

I completely agree, it is just a case of getting the funds together to pay for the exam voucher. with Christmas just around the corner and life getting busy its a bit tight financially. If i can get the exam done sooner i will.