Had like 7 PBQ’s, each more confusing than the last.

Hello again Friends!

It's me. I'm back. Days later, I out of the blue decided to take out SecAI+ for fun. That makes it 4 certs in one month. Probably the end of the road, i don't need much else. SecAI is basically useless, but in the real world, marketing is more important than the actual output, I thought i'd get it just so my resume stands out. Oh this guy is cutting edge! (For someone about as old as the very first Apple Macintosh computer!).

My study material:

• Udemy course with CertMike
• Study guide by the same guy, Mike Chappel
• Homemade flashcards from corn flakes cereal box.
• Make notes highlighting exact keywords of definition. This brainwashing works, sorta like keyword propaganda does on the news but those keywords is what's on the test. Also highlight keywords on the test as you read the test, so as you think and read through the answers, you're less likely to get it wrong, because you saw the keyword you highlighted then oh shit! suddenly remembered that's right, rather than fooled by enticing options that is very related.

For Example:

• Cheese = coagulated milk bricks
• Stinky Cheese = Blue
• Orange Cheese = Cheddar
• Hole Cheese = Swiss
• My Armpits = Smells like cheese
• DNS Record = records stored on authoritative DNS Server
• A Record = Name to IP record
• C Name = Alias

My thoughts:

Was it hard? Yeah, but how do you gauge hard? Ya'll have no idea how hard video games were back in the day. A few hit points gone and you're dead, no such thing as save points yet. Imagine playing Mario end to end and if you die mid way that's it, start over. That's how i see these tests. It doesn't have a save point. If you want life on hard mode, try fixing a car, or drive somewhere far and new, but before the internet, and poor. In this modern world when you have digital everything and instant everything, how the hell do you fail? Since ya'll ask for tips, go live as if you're third world. Life might be too comfy. Be Arnold Schwarzenegger, not plastic parts from Temu.

My Diet:

I have to say. When I was in high school and a broke ass I never ate well because, poor, eating instant ramen. I think my performance has to do with how I eat and sleep. No alcohol. No junk food. No fast food. Everything made from scratch. Nothing made by a machine or survives on a shelf longer than a few days except canned but minimally processed like sardines or fermented like cheese, just not chemically lab preserved like a 20 year old fast food burger that's still in tact. Yes I eat a hell lot of cheese and sardines and they contain high fat, which is what you're brain is made of. Not promoting any cult diets, just saying, mental and health performance has a lot to do with fuel.

Any suggestions?

i don't recommend this cert unless you already stacked and jacked. this is not a priority at all, regular sec+ is way more important.

But, you said you were done last time. Really, what's next?

Very itching for cloud. But i'm really not trying to make this a race. If i do it i intend to study this one slowly. Brain is kind of exhausted to be honest, so I'll likely not do more.

Why?

Really, it's mostly because gas prices went wayyyy up. I'm stuck in a chair. Might as well do something. Ya'll can be angry about it because the news said to be angry, or actually do something productive. I used to bike everywhere in 2008 era because economy was so crap, i'll do it again if i have to, it was actually quite fun, turning it into lifestyle, that was hipster era. Comfy life leads to laziness. Fight harder.

Yes, you heard me correctly :). I did the impossible!

So I wasn't stressed, but the lady who welcomed me told me that I don't have the right to exit the room even if I had to go to the bathroom. I said whatever, but during the exam (I had an emergency), I lost at least 40 minutes deciding between breaking the rule and potentially losing my exam or doing it here.

Obviously, my exam is more important to me than people laughing at me.

After the exam I apologized; they were cool with it. One of the ladies literally said, " Ah bein, c'est inédit! " In French which means, " This is unprecedented."

Anyway, let's talk about the exam, what resources I used, and some tips and tricks.

Thanks to god, I passed with a score of 780. This is not that good but not that bad either.

How much time did it take me to prepare for the exam?

I started really studying on the 27th of September, so ~ 2 months. I always wanted to be an ethical hacker, but I got the syndrome of procrastination. As soon as I stumbled upon tough subjects, I'd just do something else. This is not serious.

But recently, I've started to try to improve my life and the way I study.

How did the exam went ?

I recommend everyone take a deadline, as I did, to avoid procrastination. I scheduled my exam for the late of November.

As you may have guessed, I'm from France, which means they give me a time accommodation of 165 minutes. I had 2 hours to pass the exam, not bad.

The exam questions were very different to any practice exam I did. This is why you shouldn't learn the answers. Understanding each topic is very important. The final goal is to work in IT, and these infos will help you in the future.

What shocked me was the PBQs. I found them quite tough. I had to skip two of them and close the exam even with 10 minutes on the clock. (I wanted to go to the bathroom again, lol).

How did I prepare for the exam ?

I've read every single Reddit post on how to pass. Here's what I used :

• The classic Professor Messer's course
• SYBEX study guide
• Messer's course notes
• SYBEX practice exams
• Messer's practice exams
• The best AIs in the market right now
• Anki flashcards tool

We live in the future. While some people may dislike AI, the benefits it gave me are just insane.

I'd watch a video from Messer's course, copy the transcript, and give it to AI. I'd then ask for a summary, notes, a quiz, and the best flashcard "you could make".

I know that for memory retention, the best thing to do is to make my own notes, flashcards, etc., but I thought it was just Security+ after all. I'll change this approach for the OSCP/CPTS.

My thoughts on the ressources used :

Professor Messer is a classic. My opinion won't change anything; so much is reputation is high. His course is great and covers everything you need for the exam. But I learn by doing, so this is why taking a quiz or messing with some TryHackMe rooms was the best way to grab topics for me. His practice exams were also ok.

I have a question: Why did Messer use the same T-shirt during the course?!

The SYBEX study guide is a top-notch resource but too academic and advanced for the exam. So I didn't use it very much except when I wouldn't understand something. Their practice exams are also ok but much more difficult than Messer's ones.

Anki is also a classic, and every student should have it installed.

Tips and tricks before the exam:

• Schedule the exam before starting your journey.
• Learn about the Pomodoro Technique. (Goodtime is what I'm using on Android.)
• The classic: Sleep well, eat healthy food, etc.

Tips and tricks during the exam:

• Flag every question that feels difficult.
• Read the question correctly. Be careful of the wording used, e g., "Should, best, not, etc."
• Ask if you can exit the room to go to the bathroom to avoid awkward situations lol.

I also want to thank this incredible community, so here are my Anki flashcards <3.

My journey is still continuing as I want to pass the PJPT, CPTS, OSCP and prepare for the École 42's pool.

Good luck !

Two weeks after my Core 1 exam and I Passed! Happy Ill be continuing to Level Up.

I just passed the CompTIA A+ Core 2 this morning with a 748.

What I did to prepare was:

- Pearson Test Prep

- CertMaster Learn

- Professor Messer

During the exam I skipped the 5 PBQs and did the multiple choice questions first then came back to the PBQs. I used up nearly the entire 90 minutes checking everything too. Thank you all for the advice and hopefully mine can help out too.

I honestly didn't know how I would do this time around. The material was more dense than the A+ I took earlier this year. Studying hard payed off though. A pass is a pass, right?

Can you learn enough to pass these with exactly zero professional experience? Idk how hard they are. I failed a mix of my uni(Bsc Maths & Comp sci) 2nd & 3rd year modules and got kicked. Now I'm looking for other options.

Hi, here is a summary of the material I used to pass Linux+ in chronological order, and what I thought about it.

Reading: No Starch Press books in general throughout. Excellent.

1. Codecademy Linux+ Course: At the time I thought this was a good study guide. Perhaps as an introduction it would be good but it is too short to be good for serious study.

2. Comptia Certmaster Practice: Good material for multiple choice questions, but a bit too specific, still worth doing in its entirety.

3. Comptia Certmaster Perform: Excellent and comprehensive coverage of all areas with proper testing. This is a must.

4. Udemy Dion Practice Tests: Priceless for drilling prior to exam.

5. Flash cards: This was the best study material for me. Any answer I didnt know in any of the previous material or practice tests I made into a flash card. I have over 1000+ of them. This got me over the line.

Good luck!

I recently took a CompTIA exam at a testing center I was already familiar with. To my surprise, there were different proctors this time, and they were quite rude. Although that wasn't a major issue, one thing that really bothered me was that they never provided me with a key to my locker, where I had stored all my personal belongings, including my wallet.

Is this standard procedure, or should I contact CompTIA to report the issue?

Been thinking about this lately. You study, you pass, you start working, and a year later you realize some things never really clicked. The book gave you the words, the job filled in a few of them by accident, and the rest is still a paragraph you memorized. Been seeing this with my techs I am hiring for Tier 1 and Tier 2 jobs. I remember back then that I was probably the same at the other end of the table, especially when they asked me exam questions in the interview.

For me, it was subnetting. Could do it for the exam, after info-dumping everything onto the board they give you, I didn't actually get it until I had to carve up a real range, until I forgot about it and had to look it up.

What was yours? The topic, where the book left you, and what finally made it make sense, if anything did.

Man I thought I would fail. Some questions were worded in a way that 2 or even 3 of the possible answers would apply and those PBQs...... Left 1 completely empty, had no idea what I was looking at which is on me since I didn't look into PBQ material (labs, hands-on material or lab videos).

Did the survey and final screen came up: Congratulations, you passed!

Now getting some time off and then on to Security+

I currently hold the CompTIA A+, Network+, Security+, CySA+, and PenTest+ certifications.

I've been following this group for years and have regularly provided advice to others working toward their certifications. While I wasn't happy with the change in ownership, I still expected CompTIA to maintain a certain level of professionalism.

One of the first changes I was disappointed to see was the decision to stop mailing physical certificates for free. Honestly, how much money does that really save?

Back when I worked as a contractor for the Navy, I remember walking past desks displaying the CompTIA Trifecta and wanting to earn those certifications myself. Most of my coworkers who earned certifications proudly displayed them at their desks.

That was free advertising.

Every certificate hanging in an office was a visible reminder of CompTIA's presence in the industry. It encouraged people like me to pursue those same credentials.

From a marketing perspective, eliminating that benefit seems incredibly shortsighted. You're potentially sacrificing years of free exposure to save a relatively small amount of money. And now you're charging people $10 for the privilege of advertising your certifications for you?

I'm genuinely astounded that this was considered a good business decision.

I'm not saying this because I'm particularly concerned about CompTIA's financial success. I'm saying it because I've invested years of my life studying for certifications that were, at the time, widely regarded as industry standards.

I don't want to see that hard work lose its value because of decisions that prioritize short-term savings over the reputation and recognition of the certifications themselves.

I'm incredibly disappointed in the direction CompTIA is taking.

And what finally prompted me to write this post? I just spent approximately 20 minutes filling out a CompTIA survey, only to discover that it wouldn't let me submit my responses.

The irony is almost comical. You're asking certification holders to take time out of their day to provide feedback, yet you can't even ensure that the survey works properly.

I was willing to spend my time helping you understand how your decisions affect your customers, and your own feedback system prevented me from doing so.

It's frustrating, and frankly, it reinforces my concerns about the direction this company is heading.

So I want to pass the Network+ exam in spring, but networking so far has made no sense to me. nothing makes sense at all, but that changed when I found this book called “CompTIA Network+ Study Guide: Exam N10-009 (Sybex Study Guide)”, and so I just started reading that book online, but the problem is my cybersecurity teacher makes us use Network+ Certmaster Learn for assignments (from certain sections) on labs, lesson reviews and overall studying for the exam, on that course, but I found Certmaster Learn to be so dry and so I haven’t really learned anyway in the class, and I’m worried I’m gonna fail this Network+ exam.

Anyway, kind of dumb question, but I was wondering if anyone knows like how I can use this book as my main studying resource in conjunction with the Certmaster Learn for the actual labs and lesson reviews, because the book isn’t in the same order as Certmaster Learn, and the book is also huge too (2k+ pages) so I need a very efficient way of studying to pass this exam.

Keep in mind, I only have access to free resources or resources provided by my teacher, which my teacher only provided Certmaster Learn for free. I found the textbook for free online as well.

First year IT student(associate's degree), happy to share that I passed after 3.5 weeks of studying, about 5-6 hours a day. Grateful for support from my school and teacher, they provided lessons and some practice questions.

The PBQs were really hard and I was totally unprepared for it, thought I was gonna fail because of them.

Additional materials
Sybex CompTIA Security+ Practice Test > Some of the questions are really similar to those in the exam, definitely recommend this.
Cyber James Practice Exam > Decent, good value

Honestly thought Core 2 was easier than Core 1 despite what most people say. One of the PBQs bugged out on me and the pop up window couldn’t move out of the way from me answering or resetting

Another PBQ looked like it reset after I went to the next question and came back to it for review.

Honestly glad I got it done though 🤷🏾‍♂️

Hi everyone! Currently studying for the Security + Exam. I’ve seen a lot of fuzz about Professor Messer’s videos on YouTube. I’m on video 40/120. I take practice exams for free online if I come across them. If someone that has passed the exam could share what worked for them, what advice do you have, or even what stood out more to you in the exam. Any advice is greatly appreciated. Just trying to see what works to get all this information stuck in the good old noggin.

Finished core 1 in about 3 months from start to passing the exam. Had good motivation throughout. Started core 2 on October 1st and man is it a slog. I’m having such a hard time focusing and my study method for core 1 is definitely not working for core 2. Anyone else hit this wall?

I am a cybersecurity student wants to know how to start and where to start studying for compTLA exam

Hello... I'm uneducated, interested in tech, I did the Google cybersecurity course. My friend who works in tech for about 20 years told me to get the A+ and he would help me get a job. I don't know shit, I know pretty basic concepts, I really wanna pass the A+.

What would you do to pass the Core and 2 in less than 2 months? :) thank you for your support.

I'm taking the Security+ exam in three weeks. I've been studying pretty hard and testing pretty well with the CertMetrics practice questions.

I haven't taken a certification exam in eight years. In that time, I've learned that I live with Adult ADHD.

I'm finding that I am losing easy points on these practice exams because of my inability to discern exactly what a certain question may be asking.

I was wondering what others in my situation have done when taking certification exams. I'm considering asking for an accommodation to have the questions read to me (if that's possible).

Thanks in advance for your feedback.

I’ve had a busy few weeks with little time to study, but I truly recommend these videos.

100 + practice questions - https://youtu.be/KisYdBWOsy0?is=cV4VN7od5W7FaCKz

Quick fire overview - https://youtu.be/X-e69rphM9A?is=ni_ilfhXm-SdR7UK