Passed the SY0-401, My Study Tech and Opinion

I sat and passed the Security+ SY0-401 today. 847/900
There were full 70 Questions (My Net+ only had 63, years ago) including
5 Simulations, all right at the beginning of the exam.
Only one question was extremely subjective what could be the right answer.
Also there was a single Question that seemed as if they were just making up some nonsense, which seems to be a CompTIA tradition.

Materials Used:
Gibson's Sec+ Get Certified Get Ahead
The book was the most helpful and does a great Job of explaining the material. Also Gibson's strong push to comprehend the Subject Matter so that you know why for the Right and Wrong answers is imperative.

The GCGA Premium, One Month Membership. I highly recommend this if you're not comfortable or familiar with CompTIA Exams.
It will ease the anxiety of the Simulations and always provides and explanation for the Answers right or wrong.

Professor Messer's Youtube Series and Study Group. I used his Course Notes as well, but they were a bit disorganized.
I would highly recommend watching Messer's Series after finishing Gibson's book. As hearing things described differently helps with comprehension. Also there are some things touched on there that I may have missed in the book. Either way I think its worth it to buy the notes, as a thank you and a pocket reference.

I also watched the CBT Nuggets Series by Keith Barker.

My studying notes.
Read Gibson's Book, front to back, making notes on Legal Pads and googling anything that I didn't understand well enough to explain in my own words.
Went through again and Re-Wrote all of the End of Chapter review notes in my own words.
Watched Prof Messer's (listened mostly) series twice and the CBT Nuggets Series Twice.
Lastly I repeated wrote out the common suggested Ports, Ciphers and Hashing Algorithms to memorize them as best I could.

The best advice I can give is, to study in the way that works best for you and learn the material, don't just memorize it.
Memorization with a Certificate is a slip of paper. Comprehension with a Certification is a demonstration of knowledge.

Edit ** I forgot to mention the CertMaster Practice Tests ** Worth it for the Retake Voucher and the Frustration of the very subjective answers. I would not recommend it as a reliable studying source.

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Comments

nisti2

Congratulations!! Thanks for sharing!!!

eliphas0

Thanks.

I hope this helps others, as there are many threads stating that the exam is very difficult. That of course is a matter of perspective. Good Luck to anyone reading this in the future.

Kingshad336

how long did it take if you dont mind me asking

ultm8mind

Great score! Congrats man!! Awesome write up also and everyone I've spoken to says the same about the CompTIA CertMaster, it's garbage and no way could be used as a sole source of study material. But, I also purchased the bundle because my company was paying for it and it had the retake just in case, lol... Anyways, great score, and congrats again.

cdx

congrats!

NavyMooseCCNA

Congrats!

eliphas0

Kingshad336 wrote: »

how long did it take if you dont mind me asking

It was bout 1:10 one hour and ten minutes. Give or take with the Initial setup and the survey questions.
I only had a handful of questions to review.

For anyone taking their first Exams. I would recommend visiting PearsonVue's Test Demos. The exams will not be exactly the same, but it will get you comfortable with the navigation. Also you should obviously read the instructions carefully at the beginning.

Tutorial and Practice Exam :: Pearson VUE

ultm8mind wrote: »

Great score! Congrats man!! Awesome write up also and everyone I've spoken to says the same about the CompTIA CertMaster, it's garbage and no way could be used as a sole source of study material. But, I also purchased the bundle because my company was paying for it and it had the retake just in case, lol... Anyways, great score, and congrats again.

Yeah I simply cannot recommend CertMaster. I'm grateful to the community for the overwhelming recommendation for the material that I used.
I think any exam can be difficult or easy depending on ones comprehension and comfort with the subject matter.

p@r0tuXus

Congratulations! I'm pleased you made it.