I passed the Security+ exam yesterday! My hard goal was to finish before the SY0-501 exam version is retired this summer, but secretly I hoped to finish in March or April. Well, life got in the way of my March or April dreams, but I met my true goal so I’m definitely happy about it.
The resource that helped me the most was CompTIA Security+ Get Certified Get Ahead: SY0-501 Study Guide by Darril Gibson. For A+ and Network+ I used the books as a resource to clarify concepts I didn’t feel like I understood fully from the videos, but when I started with the videos for Security+ I felt like I wanted a little more meat. So I picked up the book and started reading, which turned out to be a great choice. My strategy was to read each chapter, taking care to make sure I understood the concepts, highlight the main points in the chapter summary, then go through the practice questions at the end of each chapter. If there were questions I got wrong, I would figure out the correct answer and make sure I understood before moving on.
Once I finished the book I took the practice exams that came with the book, along with Professor Messer’s practice exam book, making sure to review each question that I missed to understand the concepts in them.
Last but not least, a review of the CompTIA exam objectives – this is a must for any CompTIA exam, they’re so detailed! I like to go through and check off each concept I feel comfortable with in green, marking in orange each concept I think would be helpful to review, and marking in red the things I really just didn’t know. (Markup on the iPad is great for this.) Then I reviewed all the orange and red concepts before the exam.
Honestly, it didn’t feel as difficult as I expected. I did have six performance-based questions, which surprised me because usually there are no more than five, so I got a little nervous when I clicked next after the fifth one and the next question wasn’t multiple choice. As I moved through the multiple choice questions I thought, I think I’m getting these answers, but maybe they’re trick questions? But finally I got to the end and was pleased with my score. (Yes, I know a pass is a pass but I’m an overachiever so I still like to see how high of a score I can get.)
The In-N-Out by the testing center has become my go-to celebratory post-exam lunch!