2 replies to this topic

[yfzblu]

Hey all--

I passed SY0-301 yesterday, and I wanted to come by and give a quick thanks to those who provide resources and support on this website.  I have posted detailed notes about my experiences with A+, Net+, and will now do so with Security+.  

Exam notes:

-This exam was easily the most difficult of any CompTIA exam I have taken.  Through the first 20 questions or so I truly thought I was going to fail.  As always, push through it and don't lose focus.

-I was not DIRECTLY asked much about networking.  Most of the questions were networking related and a knowledge of networking was required, but there were not many straight up networking questions.  I was a little surprised by this.

-I received almost no cryptographic algorithm questions; however I was asked multiple times about cryptography-related hardware.

-It felt like 60% of the exam revolved around IDS/IPS and NIDS/NIPS.  Lots and lots of situation questions regarding network security.  If you take only one thing from this post, STUDY NETWORK SECURITY.

-Know your default port numbers!

-I received a total of two questions related to could computing

-Malware had a presence on the exam, but not as much as I antcipated

-Several questions related to wireless security

NOTE:  As always, there may be multiple correct answeres to a question.  Remember to select the BEST answer and try not to get hung up on how much you hate CompTIA at that moment

-The resources I used:  I used Sybex as my initial starting point and took lots of notes.  I also used Professor Messer's free training videos and those were very helpful.  I purchased a practice exam book and it was not helpful.  In fact it contained lots of bad/confusing information.

Sybex found here:  http://www.amazon.com/CompTIA-Security-Stu...2103&sr=8-1

I did not find these practice exams helpful:  http://www.amazon.com/CompTIA-Security-Cer...2149&sr=1-1

Before I passed the 701 A+ exam in May I had no certs and pretty much no tangible IT knowledge.  This site has really helped me expand my skillset.  For those who continue to question if certs are helpful to a career, I can tell you they are definitely helpful.  I have had several data center recruiters contacting me for interviews, specifically since I put Net+ on my resume'.  I can also tell you I work for a large Fortune 500 company that recently posted a job opening for 'Systems Administrator'--A+ and Net+ were specifically named as requirements for the position.

I hope to login from time to time to provide support to those who need it.  This place has sort of become a ghost town--Well, at least the Sec+ forum; I encourage those reading to contribute posts to the site more often.


YFZblu
A+/N+/S+

Edited by yfzblu, 06 October 2011 - 04:29 AM.

[[email protected]]

Congratulations and thanks for the great feedack on the exam.

Darril Gibson
Security+ blog

Edited by [email protected], 06 October 2011 - 04:55 PM.

[tomax3]

hiya

Really? woah, i know the author of this book and he'd want to know about it.  What did you find amiss?

YFZblu:
"I did not find these practice exams helpful: http://www.amazon.co...r...2149&sr=1-1"