Any benefit in taking the 401 instead of the 301?

I've been studying for the 301 exam and now realized that the 401 is out. Is there any reason to study for and take the newer exam?

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Doyen

I have intentions of taking the Security+ certification later in a few weeks and pondered the same thing. However, I've concluded that other than bragging that you took the latest version, I don't see an advantage of taking it over the 301. There are more materials covering the 301 that you could utilize before the end of the year which, at that point, you will have no choice but to take the 401. In your case, you have already invested study time into the 301 so would advise staying with it.

Morv

Yeah I would really be doing it just to say I took the 401, I think I'll go ahead and schedule my 301 exam. Like you said, I've already invested the time in it, and bragging rights is nice, but not a good reason to waste that investment in the 301 materials.

Thanks Doyen! Good luck in a few weeks, I look forward to seeing your "passed sec+" post!

Doyen

I never really made posts on passing, I usually add it to my signature or to my LinkedIn. Good luck on your exam. My plan is to take the Network+ on the 6th and Security+ on the 13th. I have not looked at the 401 objectives, but when I could not find too much material for it (especially videos) I decided on continuing for the Security+.

donw35

at the end of the day, all that matters is that you passed the exam, to your employer or resume, 301 or 401 will not make a bit of difference, if you have plans to get this exam I sugest hitting it now, allot of info can be found on 301 and that will be to your advantage.

My 2 cents

Deathmage

my 2 cents: I spent 3 months studying the the exam and I really only needed to read Darril's book but I read the exam cram one and a different book. I went into the exam over prepared even though I thought I wasn't and I scored a 890/900.

My only word of advice remember ports, firewall configs, and remember you private/public keys with asymmetric and symmetric cryptography. The rest of the exam is really just theory.

jaywalker

Deathmage wrote: »

my 2 cents: I spent 3 months studying the the exam and I really only needed to read Darril's book but I read the exam cram one and a different book. I went into the exam over prepared even though I thought I wasn't and I scored a 890/900.

My only word of advice remember ports, firewall configs, and remember you private/public keys with asymmetric and symmetric cryptography. The rest of the exam is really just theory.

This is extremely helpful, thank you. I'm taking the exam next week and feel like I may be studying more than I should. Better safe than sorry though

proph21

jaywalker wrote: »

This is extremely helpful, thank you. I'm taking the exam next week and feel like I may be studying more than I should. Better safe than sorry though

Never a bad thing to study more than you should! The concepts you learn in the Security+ objectives provide a baseline of knowledge that you may want to carry with you throughout the IT field (especially if you end up heading in the direction of Cyber/Information Security). Studying more and really drilling the concepts in your head will increase the chances of it sticking with you longer :P.

To the OP: Like others have said, I don't know of any reason to take the 401 as opposed to the 301.

Best of luck on the exam!

Morv

proph21 wrote: »

Never a bad thing to study more than you should! The concepts you learn in the Security+ objectives provide a baseline of knowledge that you may want to carry with you throughout the IT field (especially if you end up heading in the direction of Cyber/Information Security). Studying more and really drilling the concepts in your head will increase the chances of it sticking with you longer :P.

To the OP: Like others have said, I don't know of any reason to take the 401 as opposed to the 301.

Best of luck on the exam!

On and off, I ended up studying 6 months for this exam (overkill when I could have probably passed after the first 3 weeks) I watched the CBT nuggets on the 401, but ended up doing the 301 (and i'm glad I did!). Had I taken it after 3 weeks when I just finished digesting the book, it would really have been a cram and after going through the exam I would forget half of the stuff. I feel that since I marinated on the material and covered every source of information I could find, I actually know the material and will have retained the information much better. Just goes to reiterate what is said above it is never a bad thing to study more than you should! I do plan on taking some more security certifications, so this is great advice above!