CompTIA Security+ Exam Tips

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Recently I passed the CompTIA Security+ exam. While the exam is still fresh in my mind, I want to share some test-taking tips and resources I used to pass the exam. I studied very passively, on and off, for two months, really reviewing most of the week before the exam.

Preparing for the Exam

To prepare for the exam, I used Daril Gibson’s Get Certified Get Ahead book, Mike Myers’ Security+ course on Udemy, Professor Messer’s free YouTube videos, Jason Dion’s practice test on Udemy, and Cybrary’s practice test. Daril Gibson’s book is a great resource for studying. The book contains a pre-assessment, post-assessment, and questions at the end of every chapter. All of the questions in the book are worded to prepare you for the types of questions you will see on the exam. In addition to the information in his book, he includes practice labs on his website for free. Mike Myers’ course on Udemy is a good resource in introducing the concepts on the exam. He is very energetic and passionate in his videos, so they shouldn’t put you to sleep. Although Mike Myers has good videos, in my opinion, Professor Messer’s videos were more informative, and for the price (free), you can’t beat it. Professor Messer does an excellent job out of all the resources I’ve used to illustrate challenging concepts such as encryption, VPNs, proxies, etc.

Taking the Exam

I took the test online using PearsonVue, and if that’s what you’re planning on doing, just know that they are very strict with the rules. I strongly suggest doing the pre-test check to ensure everything will be working when it comes time for you to take the test. If I did not do this, I would have run into problems during my test. During the test, skip all of the performance-based questions and save them for last, especially if you’re the type of person to overthink questions. Make sure to read questions twice and completely. CompTIA will insert one word into a question that will completely change the answer to a question, so be sure not to skim questions. Be sure to know your ports and what protocols they use, and you will see questions about them on the exam. Also, if two different types of technologies do the same thing, make sure to know the difference between the two. For example, what’s the difference between FTP and SFTP?

Final Tips

When preparing for the exam, be sure to use at least two different sources for study material. One source may include some information that will be useful on the exam that another does not or explain a concept in more depth. It is also important to know your acronyms as it will help you to eliminate certain choices on a question. For example, if you ask about encryption algorithms, you will immediately know that SHA and MD5 do not answer. Most importantly, stay positive. It’s easy to lose confidence as the test progresses, even if you are prepared. Good luck!