501 test coming up this week

I guess I'm the oddball out with these "fundamental" exams as I've climbed the management ladder in IT so traditionally I just pay someone else to do the grunt work. However, I'm now working my way backwards and want to climb the technical ladder to make myself a bit more useful in another career setting. While I've heard/used many of the concepts in Sec+, the technical aspect hasn't really been in my line of work. Mainly I've paid others to do it, in house and third party. It's been a fun one to study for.

So far my study plan has been:

-19 hours of 501 videos by Sari Greene through Safari Books Online (obtained through my ACM membership)
-CompTIA Security+ Practice Exams, 3rd Edition (obtained through my ACM membership)
-Darril Gibson Security+ Study Guide (paperback)
-Conklin All-In-One Exam Guide, 5th Edition (hardcover)

and for the yesterday and today I'm doing the 501 Crash Course which is 5 hours of live online learning through Safari Books Online, obtained through my ACM Membership.

The Sari Greene videos were amazing. There were 180 videos in total and many I watched 2-3 times and made index cards during the process. I honestly believe you could focus your studies on these and probably pass the exam. The practice exams were hugely helpful, especially getting one wrong and then going back and reading the reasoning for it. Darril Gibson's book was by far the better of two I mainly used it to brush up on topics I didn't understand after the videos and practice exams.

I feel I have a pretty good handle on the terminology. Talk about acronym heavy. We'll see how the test goes and then go from there. I have a retake voucher if needed, but hopefully it will be smooth sailing.

[FONT=&quot]CompTIA Security+ Certification Practice Exams, Third Edition (Exam SY0-501), 3rd EditionCom[/FONT][FONT=&quot]CompTIA Security+ Certification Practice Exams, Third Edition (Exam SY0-501), 3rd Edition[/FONT][FONT=&quot]CompTIA Security+ Certification Practice Exams, Third Edition (Exam SY0-501), 3rd Edition[/FONT]

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Comments

Spiegel

You got this! I'm currently studying for the 401 version of this exam. It is indeed acronym heavy. Didn't realize how many versions of MAC exist after I started studying for this, lol. Sounds like you're ready though. Please let us know once you pass and share your experience.

Squished

Spiegel wrote: »

You got this! I'm currently studying for the 401 version of this exam. It is indeed acronym heavy. Didn't realize how many versions of MAC exist after I started studying for this, lol. Sounds like you're ready though. Please let us know once you pass and share your experience.

MAC in the sense of access control? Or Message Authentication Code and hasing? Or just MAC addresses on computers? Hah! Regarding access control, I had a previous job working for a DoD contract so MAC is familiar to me. Your head would spin in real implementation outside of the classifications and labels.

I thought about doing the 401, same for the Network+ but just decided to do the latest version of both. As CompTIA would say, 401 is almost deprecated!

NavyMooseCCNA

Good luck!

Squished

NavyMooseCCNA wrote: »

Good luck!

Same Navy Moose from NES? I know you..........

Diskpak

You pay them? They do the grunt work for you? You know what gets cut first when layoffs happen?

Squished

Diskpak wrote: »

You pay them? They do the grunt work for you? You know what gets cut first when layoffs happen?

Yes and it's not me. We're a 2 man IT shop running IT systems in 10 countries. I have to outsource huge amounts of our work. I'm hoping to transition to a company that does more in house so I can participate more and learn more.

Squished

Passed the test this morning. 793/900 I skipped all the sims and ran out of time (literally) finishing the last one. The "Time has expired, press OK to continue" is not a pleasant screen to see. Total study time was 3 weeks. I also listened to all the Professor Messer podcasts which I forgot to mention.

Spiegel

WooHoo!! Congrats on the pass! I would have been quite nervous had time ran out on me. Why did you skip all the sims?

Squished

Spiegel wrote: »

WooHoo!! Congrats on the pass! I would have been quite nervous had time ran out on me. Why did you skip all the sims?

Timing. I always look to see how many sims I get. This time around I got 83 questions and SIX sims. Sims are time sinks so I skip right by them, do the all the multiple choice, go back and do the sims, review my multiple choice, then go back and review my sims. Time ran out when I was reviewing the third of six sims.

Squished

The simulations were not easy either. From reviewing logs and detecting when an intrusion occurred, to building an actual secure office Network, and many others. If I had done them at the beginning I would have screwed myself.