Sec+ Finished

Well, I passed the Sec+ exam today on my first try. Not bad for a man who has never had an IT job.

The exam itself was poorly worded, but better than the Net+ which I have also passed.

Many of the questions are left intentionally vague or overly worded, full of useless information. My advice is, take practice tests that rely heavily on story type word problems.
The Sims were easy, and presented much better than the Net+ sims. If you know the content, they shouldn't worry you.

Study material:
Professor Messer videos - quite good. I recommend taking notes while he talks. It will help you pay attention.
Professor Messer notes on his website: They were $10 but well worth it.
All-in-One Sec+ book by Conklin and White - I got it for a big discount. It came with a very relevant practice test system. The material was dry, but informative.
Cert Master - is a joke, don't waste your time.
Exam Compass practice tests - a good refresher but the questions weren't like the exam questions at all.
Tech Exams forums - great info and hints
Tech Exams practice tests - same as exam compass

Overall, I felt a little let down by the test. I really dug into the materials wanting to understand how things work, but the test asked stupid questions that I didn't feel would accurately gauge a person's potential in the position.

What's next? I'm finishing up eLearnSecurity's eJpt course right now. It's a little funny because I took the OSCP course before the PTS course. I got a discount and I wanted to get my toes wet with eLearn's style before chasing their bigger courses. After I finish that course in the next few days, I'll probably move onto their Web App course and polish it off before the end of the summer. After that, maybe knock out OSCE.

This isn't my job, I'm doing this purely for fun.

If anybody has questions, I'll happily answer them as long as it doesn't break the NDA.

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Comments

marianonamoroso

Congrats!

nisti2

Congrats!

CryptoQue

Congrats! What working field are you in?

mikey88

adrenaline19 wrote: »

Study material:
Professor Messer videos - quite good. I recommend taking notes while he talks. It will help you pay attention.

I started watching his vids, but found it hard to stay engaged as well. I am sticking to the book by Gibson

NavyMooseCCNA

Congrats!!

adrenaline19

CryptoQue wrote: »

Congrats! What working field are you in?

I'm a teacher. I applied for a few IT jobs a while back and never heard a reply from any of them. It's my passion, but that's not good enough for most jobs these days. They all want experience, lol. Oh well, I'm happy at my current job and it gives me free time to chase fun stuff.

I split my free time between chasing certs and designing websites, neither pay me anything, lol.

At least I don't waste my time playing video games.

hal9k2

Congrats on pass, and I fully aggre with your opinion about this cert.

You wrote you took OSCP course, did pass the final test? I am myself not sure where to go after Security+

Gemini365i

Congratulations on your passing! This gives me hope. I've never held an IT cert or degree and never really worked in the IT field. I'm looking to change course in my life. I'm 39 and work in Sales for a local Cable Co.

adrenaline19

hal9k2 wrote: »

Congrats on pass, and I fully aggre with your opinion about this cert.

You wrote you took OSCP course, did pass the final test? I am myself not sure where to go after Security+

Yeah, I had to take the OSCP final twice. It was no joke. I passed the second time though! It was the hardest I've ever worked for a cert.

If you are finished with the Sec+, go to eJPT>eCPPT>OSCP.

That's the cleanest and smoothest route.

If you work in the field, you might be able to skip the eCPPT.

hal9k2

adrenaline19 wrote: »

Yeah, I had to take the OSCP final twice. It was no joke. I passed the second time though! It was the hardest I've ever worked for a cert.

If you are finished with the Sec+, go to eJPT>eCPPT>OSCP.

That's the cleanest and smoothest route.

If you work in the field, you might be able to skip the eCPPT.

Yep...

I thinking this is the only affordable (cost wise) and skill wise route for me at this point of my career after sitting whole day on this forum.

Thank you for your answer.