Hi everyone,
I took the test this afternoon, passed with an 850

. I finished the test in the first 30 minutes, I then reviewed each question and made about 4 changes to my answers. I was actually convinced after the first 10 questions that I was going to fail! The test was all over the place. I did get hit with about 4 virtualization questions and 5 encryption related questions. Then is was some basic security stuff and audit related questions, followed by lots of IDS.
There were several questions that I got hung up on-but relying on my MSCE certifications tests years back- I just answered them quickly and returned to them later. There were also some questions that involved things I have never heard of in my 10 yrs of I.T.
CompTIA needs to hire someone who is properly schooled in grammar:) Some of the questions were poorly construed and required 3 re-reads.
I studied for about 2 1/2 months, using the Sybex Deluxe set - highly recommend. I also used some CBT's and online resources.
Do not bother with Brain ****. I glossed over them exam day and I think I saw 3 out of the 100 questions - they were easy and I did not really need them. NO PORTS!!! I really wanted some too...I was waking up in the morning reciting port names and numbers for 5 days

My only advice for passing this test is this: read multiple sources, know your algorithms, self test yourself using multiple sources.
Good Luck
Paul