How I Passed CompTIA Security+, Advice and Resources to Pass
On Friday, August 28th I passed the CompTIA Security+. I scored 769 out of 900 total. It’s not the prettiest score but I passed. I took the exam online at home.
I started studying on June 8th. A total of 82 days to study and pass the exam. I also went blind in one eye during the middle of this and had serious eye surgery to recover my vision. I’m not blind anymore.
I don’t come from a traditional working IT background.
I have worked as a retail manager, Internet Analyst (documented relevance of search engine results), and as a production assistant for special events. I left my retail management position to focus on music.
I have worked for most of my life as a professional musician. As a guitarist, I have toured 20+ countries, played in front of audiences 20k+, performed on HBO, won 5 RIAA Platinum album certifications, and have worked with many major label artists/producers. I am also endorsed by one of the three largest guitar companies in the USA.
Halfway through last year, I decided to pursue my other childhood passion, computers.
Don’t get me wrong, I can build a computer now, but I was never the computer genius kid that built computers. Back in my college days, I became the go-to computer guy to most of my friends
Now that I think back to it, I somehow ended up at the home of the son of an infamous celebrity. Let’s just say it was someone with a biographical film based on his life. I was there to teach him how to use his new computer. What they failed to tell me was that it was a Mac computer. Here is the kicker: I never used a Mac before. I pulled it off,
Ok, halfway through last year I started the Google IT Support Professional Certification program from Coursera. I completed most of it, but I was on tour most of the time and finally finished it on Sunday, June 7th.
“What is my next step after Google IT Support Professional Certification?”, I asked myself.
I spent hours on Reddit, forums, and blog posts trying to figure it out. I always crave purpose and a mission. The next day I started studying for the CompTIA Security+.
I started with the most common rite of passage resource for CompTIA certifications:
Professor Messers Videos. It took me 5-7 days to finish. The great thing about Professor Messer’s videos is that they are free and he follows along with the CompTIA objectives.
Do you want to know everything that will be on the CompTIA Security+ exam? Well, CompTIA tells you everything topics covered on the exam under exam on their objectives. I suggest you download the CompTIA objectives PDF and print them out. As you go through your studies, read through every exam objective on the list. You are not ready to take the exam until you grasp the concept behind everything listed on the CompTIA exam objectives
I read the first chapters from Get Certified Get Ahead (Affiliate link) book by Darril Gibson. Took the pre-assessment tests at the beginning of the book.
After getting my feet wet with Messer I purchased Jason Dion’s video course from Udemy.
Remember, Udemy has sales and coupons and you can get $200 courses for $10 most of the time. If Udemy won’t show you the course at a discounted price try clearing your browsing history, and browser cache, or try a different web browser.
Jason Dion goes deeper than Messer. Make sure you take both of their practice exams. Another great thing about video courses is that you have the option to speed them up. I think I started using flashcards to take notes here.
I scored terribly on Jason Dion’s practice exams..in the 60s. I started getting a bit frustrated. I realized I needed to “learn how to learn” better. At first, I made the mistake of starting off by doing epic 8-hour study sessions. I should have been using the Pomodoro technique from the beginning. Study for shorter periods so you remember more. An example, study for 25 minutes, spend 5 minutes revising and quizzing everything you just learned, and then reward yourself with a 5-10 break
These videos helped me learn better:
Marty Lobdell – Study Less Study Smart.
This one was a game-changer for me.
Easiest Way to Memorize Numbers by Memory Champion.
This one is awesome! It teaches you a mnemonic technique. I used some of this to help me memorize ports
How To REMEMBER FOR TESTS | LBCC Study Skills
How to study for exams – Evidence-based revision tips.
Ali Abdaal, a doctor, teaches you techniques he used to crush medical school. I have no idea how he gets so much done.
How to absorb textbooks like a sponge
After taking Jason Dion’s course I went back and watched all of Professor Messer’s videos again.
I did not feel ready for the exam. I decided to use LinkedIn Learning 1 free month offer to take Mike Chapple’s Sceurity+ course. I also took notes and used flashcards.
With the Mike Chapple course, you sign up to his emails and he organizes the study sessions for you in a digestible way. You follow along with his videos while also reading his selected chapters from Darril Gibson Get Certified Get Ahead. It’s organized in an easy to follow pace.
At this point, I decided I was ready to start taking practice tests. Knowing what I know now, I should have started taking free practice tests after watching Messer’s videos for the first time.
I purchased Darril Gibson’s practice tests. These were great because they included performance-based questions. I was scoring 80s-90s. I went back to the original Darril Gibson assessment test from the book and scored in the 80s.
People on Reddit mentioned MeasureUp practice tests were a good baseline as well. So I invested the $100. These were useful because they were timed and this helped me to read questions at a faster pace. I started off scoring poorly and after a few days, I was scoring in the 90s.
After feeling somewhat confident with MeasureUp I almost jumped into the real exam. I am glad I didn’t. I then began practicing with ExamCompass. ExamCompass is free and it truly helped me connect some dots. ExamCompass was a game-changer.
I can’t stress the importance of practice exams enough.
The day of the exam:
I had not scheduled the exam as most people do. After about 5 days of ExamCompass and practice exams, I started getting anxious. I woke up at 5:30 am that day I knew I was probably as ready as I was going to be. After taking practice tests for a couple of hours I purchased the exam voucher w/ retake. I was able to register for the exam on the same day at 1 pm.
Scheduling was easy. It shows you available dates and times. However, every time I selected a time for the same day and then went to check out, it told me it was no longer available. So I confirmed for the next day and I was able to reschedule for the same day.
I had seen people on Reddit saying they felt as if they were failing the whole time they were taking the exam. Talk about an understatement.
I skipped the Performance-Based Questions as everyone suggests. A few questions in and I was already convinced it was over. I had to do my best to stay engaged and power through the exam. I’m pretty sure I failed most of the PBQs. I think I even left 1 or 2 unanswered. It took me all of the 90 minutes.
After the exam, came the dreaded 10-minute survey questionnaire. While answering these questions I was asking myself what my next step was going to be now that I failed the CompTIA Security Plus. The exam results page loaded and I passed. I almost couldn’t believe it. It felt like a gorilla had been lifted off my chest.
Here is what I used:
- Mike Chapple on LinkedIn Learning (free for a month)
- Jason Dion on Udemy
- Professor Messers Videos twice
- Read most of Get Certified Get Ahead book by Darril Gibson (Affiliate link),
- MeasureUp practice exams
- Exam compass practice tests
- Jason Dion Practice exams from the book
- Darril Gibson Practice Exams
- Professor Messer Practice Exams
You are expected to have some A+ and Network+ knowledge. These PowerCert Animated Videos videos can help build a foundation and they are easy to digest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrh0epPAC5w&list=PL7zRJGi6nMRyRhgssvRah3qcxA7bm3AfF&index=2
I also found Reddit “I Passed” posts useful and motivational https://www.reddit.com/r/CompTIA/
I hope you found this useful. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me on twitter @Thisisstrings and LinkedIn.
