Am I Ready?

I've done reading the study guide by sybex and darril gibson. I've also read some practice exams. BUT, I'm still not sure if I'm ready to take the exam. I've tried the practice exam in this forum and I only got 36/50. I've the official sample questions from CompTIA but I feel like some of the questions there are not included in the study guides that I've read. Or did I just miss/forgot about them? Anyway, I'm planning to take the exam before the end of October and I'd like to have some kind of assessment to myself whether I'm ready to pass or not.

Also, do you guys have some kind of study/review notes? If yes, can you share it with me?

Thank you very much

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TallDude7

Keep taking practice exams. It's going to get to a point where you know the answers before looking at the multiple choice. When I got to that point I knew I was ready.

scaredoftests

Darrill Gibson's online practice tests. Well worth it.

Plantwiz

What sort of experience do you have? The exam is geared toward candidates WITH experience, so how much hands-on do you have with the hardware/software/theory being tested? Download the objectives and if you KNOW those items, you'll be fine.

elvinguitar

TallDude7 wrote: »

Keep taking practice exams. It's going to get to a point where you know the answers before looking at the multiple choice. When I got to that point I knew I was ready.

Thanks for that bro.

scaredoftests wrote: »

Darrill Gibson's online practice tests. Well worth it.

Sorry but I can't afford it. I only have money left enough to take the exam.

Plantwiz wrote: »

What sort of experience do you have? The exam is geared toward candidates WITH experience, so how much hands-on do you have with the hardware/software/theory being tested? Download the objectives and if you KNOW those items, you'll be fine.

I really don't have an experience but I've been into infosec for about 2+ years. I'm kind of familiar with different theories and even hands-on. I've also read a CEH study giuide before. I just want an assurance that I would pass the exam in just a single take.

Plantwiz

elvinguitar wrote:

I just want an assurance that I would pass the exam in just a single take.

We all want that, however aim a little higher (for your sake). Memorizing banks of questions or worse yet using **** does not make one proficient in the field. Take your time, do it right. With some exposure you are not a complete noob to the material and therefore likely to grasp it. The unneasy part comes in simply because you just do not yet know HOW well you know the things you know.

Go through the objectives, if you can explain the topics to someone unfamiliar with them, you are likely close to ready.

Many,many folks fail exams throughout their career, failing an exam here or there does not make one a failure, learning how to recover from that blow is more critical. The one thing worse than failing is being 'that guy/gal', on the team, who memorized a bunch of stuff but cannot apply it on the job and no one wants to work with...Comptia exams are not usually too bad since they are vendor neutral, almost always very straight forward so you will likely do fine. Read things carefully.

elvinguitar

Plantwiz wrote: »

We all want that, however aim a little higher (for your sake). Memorizing banks of questions or worse yet using **** does not make one proficient in the field. Take your time, do it right. With some exposure you are not a complete noob to the material and therefore likely to grasp it. The unneasy part comes in simply because you just do not yet know HOW well you know the things you know.

Go through the objectives, if you can explain the topics to someone unfamiliar with them, you are likely close to ready.

Many,many folks fail exams throughout their career, failing an exam here or there does not make one a failure, learning how to recover from that blow is more critical. The one thing worse than failing is being 'that guy/gal', on the team, who memorized a bunch of stuff but cannot apply it on the job and no one wants to work with...Comptia exams are not usually too bad since they are vendor neutral, almost always very straight forward so you will likely do fine. Read things carefully.

thank you very much for the motivation bro

Actually I do have some hands on experience on penetration testing using the labs that I made on virtual machines. Though, I still need to focus more on theories since CompTIA Security+ is more on theories rather than hands on.

By the way, I've read from this thread that he used the book by David Prowse. I tried looking for a hard copy here in the Philippines but I can't find one. Bookstore here told me that the book is for "special order" but it would take 2 months before it arrived. I can't order online since I don't have a CC and no paypal balance, and I don't have extra money for the shipment. I've tried searching the web for that book but I found only a PDF copy of the SY0-301 version. TL;DR: Is it okay for me to use the SY0-301 book of Prowse? Any difference with the SY0-401?

JDMurray

elvinguitar wrote: »

thank you very much for the motivation bro

*heh heh* Plantwiz is a "sis," not a "bro," bro.

Mkroadrush

elvinguitar wrote: »

Anyway, I'm planning to take the exam before the end of October and I'd like to have some kind of assessment to myself whether I'm ready to pass or not.

Also, do you guys have some kind of study/review notes? If yes, can you share it with me?

My advised is do not do it. Take multiple exams from different sources and you still get average or below that. Don't. Unless you don't mind to pay almost $300 bucks.

The exam has simulations, so be aware of that, practice, practice and more practice.

If you go through the forum, many perfectionist will tell you they study for 5 days on their own and passed, that is a diversion. Study and be ready !

fuz1on

elvinguitar - Sec+ was my first cert. I had studied off and on for a couple of months before I jumped on a voucher which gave me less than half a day to make final preparations. I looked on here and everyone was singing praises for Darril's book so I jumped on board. Boy, were they right as it was a great way to review and gain insight about how CompTIA exams worked and I came out of the Pearson Vue testing center with a 'Pass' - not by much tough.

All in all, I'm thinking performance-based questions now will be more abundant and difficult than SY0-301 - Why? I took Network+ and A+ more recently and there were a TON. Make sure you can use basic appliances in enterprise security as well as best practices. Good luck! With your experience and prep, I'm sure you've got it!

Darril's Blog: Security+ SY0-301 and SY0-401 Differences - Get Certified Get Ahead

CompTIA Security+ SY0-401 vs. SY0-301 Changes - InfoSec Resources

elvinguitar

@=Mkroadrush

@=fuz1on
Thanks to both of you guys. I guess I'll just used Darril Gibson's as my study guide.

Betrayal

Continue studying every day, watch more videos, review, take notes/quizzes!

you'll know when you're ready!

elvinguitar

Thank you guys for your help and study tips. I really appreciate it.

TallDude7

I forgot to mention, I memorized all the terms from this page https://quizlet.com/45014916/security-sy0-401-terms-flash-cards/ knowing this is ESSENTIAL. UTM's are really stressed in SY0-401 (Unified Threat Management). Know what they can do as far as threat mitigation and access control. UTM is still rather new but I think a lot security consultants are advising companies to start using them

elvinguitar

Thanks for that dude.

By the way guys, is the study guide of gibson enough for me? The only money left in me is for the exam and I can't afford to buy practice questions. So I'm asking if the study guide is enough. Thanks

TallDude7

Gibson's is good but it doesn't hurt to check out other resources. Gibson's seems to be more geared toward passing the exam and it's always best to gain as much knowledge as possible. If I were in your shoes I would go through the CompTIA SY0-401 course objectives pdf line by line and Google what everything means. After studying for so long it will get to a point where you already know what everything means and you won't have to Google it anymore. Trust me, don't use the test ****.

CertifiedMonkey

Completely agree with this. Gibson should definitely be enough to pass, but just make sure that you know the objectives well. Don't forget about the acronyms! Gibson skipped a few terms that were in the acronyms list. Wish I could tell you which ones, but I think that would violate the NDA.

elvinguitar

I'm close to finishing Gibson's book. Then I'm going to read again all the Exam Topic Review. Then do some practice exams.