Security + Exam

chrisaz · September 2005

I took the Security + test on Friday and was very surprised that I did not pass. I got a 748 and needed a 764. This is the 4th CompTIA exam I have taken, and there is one universal fact that seems to apply to all of them. They have too many vague questions that really don't work. For example, I remember 1 question that asked:

*edited by Russ - sorry guys, but we can not have questions from the exam posted here*

What would you put?

IPsec is a combination of tunneling protocols, so technically it is a right answer. AH is an individual protocol that is part of IPsec, so that would also be a right answer.

I have come across many questions like this where there is easily more than 1 right answer. Other than those vague questions, the test seemed really easy. Short, straight to the point questions. Anyway, I'm taking it again tomorrow and I'm confident I'll pass. But we'll see.

Chris, Scottsdale, AZ
A+, Net+, i-net+

PMan#8 · September 2005

nervous. I have been studying for a few months on and off and used 5 books, plus this website as well as numerous other ones. but dang....that one kinda stumped me.

If I was taking the test and came across that question, I would answer with IPSec. One of the choices should be L2TP or PPTP though, but it isnt.

Maybe Johan can shed some light on this.

Any other tips you would like to share?

chrisaz · September 2005

I answered IPsec also. What ultimately sucks is that you don't know if you got a specific question right or wrong, so you end up doubting yourself and not knowing for sure what the answer really is, because it is in fact pure speculation.

I would love to sit down with the CompTIA test authors and pick their brains as to how they figure some of their own questions.

I don't mean to piss and moan so much, but I think I'm in the right.

I'll post my results after I take it again tomorrow morning.

RussS · September 2005

Just a little info for you about how the Sec+ test was written - I have chatted to Tcat and a couple other recognised authors about this and they tell me a similar thing.
Previously many of the recognised authors would aid in the creation of exam questions - usually they would be firing messages to each other or chatting in IRC and sometimes getting together at a venue and having a brainstorming session. For the Sec+ exam however Comptia did not follow that route. I understand the reasoning behind that was apparently they felt that many of the authors tailored their boooks too closely to the exam content. For this exam they got a bunch of interested 'SMEs' and used them to write the questions. That unfortunately led to a bit of a shambles IMHO as there was a heck of a lot of cheating (unintentionally or not) that happened by these people. There are more than a few questions in the exam that are dead ringers for questions in CISSP practice exams and there are also many that are close enough to be taken from several authors practice exams.

While this can be seen as an issue to the validity of the questions I can also vouch from my own perspective that it is very easy to do that quite unintentionally. The original pool of Sec+ practice questions on this site were submitted to Johan by me after a friend and I spent a couple weeks diseminating the objectives and trying to come up with something that would be useful. We did unfortunately 'come up' with a few questions that were actually on other practice material that we had used ourselves for other exams and I guess were in our subconcious. Fortunately this was picked up by Johan and we were able to change things as necessary to preserve the integrity of this site.

chrisaz · September 2005

Thanks for the input on the authoring.

But, I have another gripe. And for the record, my purpose here is not to raise hell about the fact that I did not pass a test. My purpose is to make sure that when I pay for study material from a "qualified" source, I'm getting credible information.

I'm enrolled at TechSkills in Phoenix, and part of the study material they use are TestPrep questions, practice exams. I don't know who the author of these questions are, but I base a lot of my knowledge on studying these questions.

But, I also use SelfTest Software and Pass Guarantee practice questions. All in all, I have about 700 practice questions at my disposal. All with answers and explanations. But last night, I became enraged when I saw dozens, and I mean dozens of questions off the Pass Guarentee exams that were identical to the ones at TechSkills. They were the same questions and the same 4 answers to choose from. So, I had seen these many times before. But, they gave DIFFERENT ANSWERS and DIFFERENT EXPLANATIONS! So what always thought was the right answer was now being disputed from another "qualified" source.

So, I have to go to the book and try and figure out who's right. I study from the book a great deal, but I shouldn't have to validate practice exams. I'm the student, not them.

Chris, Scottsdale, AZ
A+, Net+, i-net+

jdungan · September 2005

THAT EXAM WAS SUPER EASY, if you think the questions were vague, you just dont know your stuff.

Security + Exam

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