comptia_securityplus.md

COMPTIA SECURITY+

Overview

CompTIA Sec+ will make you understand the basics. You'll need hands on experience to fully comprehend the concepts. At first you think you know what you've learned but remember knowing is different than understanding!

Resources

Here are some resources that I used during my study

Videos

• (Free) Security+ videos by Prof Messer and his monthly sessions on YouTube
• SOC Level 1 Career Path including “Comptia Sec+” course by Cybrary
• Become a Comptia Sec+ Certified Security Professional by Mike Chapple - Linkedin Learning

Books and Materials

• Security+ Get Certified Ahead by Darril Gibson

Practice Tests

• (Free) Questions by Examcompass
• Security+ Practice Tests by Mike Chapple - Practice tests for 6 Sec+ domain plus 2 practice tests
• Security+ Get Certified Ahead by Darril Gibson - Pre and Post Assessment Tests
• Security+ Practice Tests by Cybrary - 6 Practice Tests (Kaplan)
• Comptia Sec+ Practice Tests by Jason Dion at Udemy

Hands-on experience (for performance-based questions)

• Security+ Practice Labs for each Sec+ domain by Cybrary
• Some example questions by Darril Gibson

Tips for Performance-based Questions (pbq)

• Better to look at what security controls can be applied to different network segments
• Need to know how to write a rule for a firewall
• Need to memorise know ports: By name and by number and its purpose. Such as DNS UDP 53 for client queries and DNS TCP 53 for zone transfers
• If you're not sure better to flag then review at the end. What really works is first flagging all pbqs and directly go to answer multiple choices ones. Then, you can spend as much as time for pbqs. This is the most important tip I can give.

Working Schedule

• Followed Mike Chapple’s LinkedIn videos and Sec+ videos in Cybrary domain by domain.
• Kept notes about the concepts I don’t know or needs more deep dive during videos
• Searched on the concepts afterwards
• Read associated chapters from Gibson’s book and did Cybrary labs (What I did was reading a bit then doing one or two labs)
• Solved domain questions from Mike Chapple’s practice tests book

I studied for 7 days in Christmas (like a boot camp), then at the weekends. The month before taking the exam I was studying for almost 3-4 hours a day.

Frequently Asked Question: Was the exam easy enough?

It was not easy. Think of questions categorized as easy medium and hard. For easy and medium you can find questions in practice tests. But for harder ones you have to think twice. There may be 2 answers feels correct but one is the best answer.

Online Exam by Pearson Vue - OnVue

Here are my experiences before and during the exam.

System test and registration process

After scheduling your exam, it is important to get familiar with the system test and registration process. I recommend going through the process as if you take the test at least a day before the exam. One common suggestion is restarting and closing up all apps before launching onVue. ( I went through the process twice via mobile phone and my laptop. To me, mobile phone was easier to orient yourself and take photos )

The exam date: Even if I followed the suggestions, there was a connection error on my side. But staff and tech support were really responsive to solve the problem. And I was in after 10 mins.

Preparing the room

My humble suggestions and tips:

• Place your mobile phone out of reach, close internet connection and put it into silent mode
• Cover bookshelves or any other book piles with quilt or something similar. Be careful not to place any papers/books closeby.
• Let people (roommates) at home that you’re taking the test between a specific time frame and ask for being quiet. (Unfortunately I got distracted with my neighbors during the test, loud phone calls)
• Water helped me during the test, you may get stressed.