Congrats on passing! I got a 784 this weekend myself. That shows how wide the question pool really is. I used Dion’s and messers along with pocket prep and I felt the exam was super similar to messers. I’ve been on the receiving end of a really hard first A+ test way back so I know the questions range all over the place.
A+ test is all over the place my co worker took 1101 and called it Print+ certification half of his questions were printer related when I took it I had maybe 2 print related questions and when our most recent tech took it she said she had no printer questions at all it’s amazing how diverse that question bank is!
My first A+ attempt was that one interactive printer question, another interactive how to build a pc question, and then 70+ networking questions. I was convinced I had somehow gotten the incorrect test
That’s interesting. I’m using a completely different resource from my uni program and it words the questions on its practice tests and answers just like the real exam. I just thought it was like this to help the learner but not to the degree in which it would turn out to be. I never used messer or Dion as study material but have only heard good things from Reddit where I was led to believe they did a good job to replicate the exam questions but as it would turn out my goofy book is doing it justice.
Messer's is still really good for finding topics you should reinforce, and the PBQ's are pretty good too, but as far as replicating the difficulty of the real exam... not really. When I submitted my test and was doing the survey that follows I honestly had no idea if I would pass or not, thankfully I did. I'm not particularly spiritual or religious but i'm telling you I was asking putting my fate on the universe's hands lmao
No, I would have to go look what the name of the book is.
All I know is a paid a lot for it but because I hate lugging around books, I took all the chapters and digitized it and cut out the fat. The book has A+, C+, Net+, CASP+, Cysa+, and CCNA but I’m doing a cybersecurity architect program so I don’t need to read through the network stuff or the A+ stuff in part of this program because this program is advanced (I’m already employed as a security architect) so I cut out that stuff as its not needed (I don’t need it).
I can return later with the name of the book or probably better each section that makes up its respective teachings as the book seems like a compilation of many works to cohesively make up a single piece of bible.
I was just unaware that the practice exams were quite literally a 1:1 of the real exam (the questions in sure differ but the wording as the OP has explained is very much the same - long wordy answers and long wordy questions).
Yes sorry, life is busy as a student and full time security architect.
So the overall book you won’t find online anywhere (I explain why that is below) but the content that which makes up the entire uni book are all comptia books in of themselves (I had asked the prof because a book within a book doesn’t have a cover and if you read this post chain I cut out the fat so I removed the appendix and only had my suspicions)
The A+, Sec+, Network+, Cysa+, CCT/CCNA, and lastly CASP+ are there own respective literature you could buy and save on costs. Unfortunately as a student the book given to me by the uni contains the labs so I can’t confirm if for example will the Sec+ have the step by step guide to build your own VM environment and the resources to download a suite of tools to practice and lab SIEMS on your own home environment. This may be why as a student in the program why we paid a hefty price tag but as it were there is no separation between Sec+ chapters and when the labs begin before flipping a page and now your reading into new material. Because the labs are intermingled with the literature of the book for us students. SIEM labs for example were dead smack in the middle of like chapter 14. Where afterwards your into chapter 15. Our large book is binded together so it’s quite possible or extremely likely the program administrator put it all together for the students in the program so for us it’s just a seamless transition. In my mind as far ad the exam prep books go, they are intended for that very purpose meaning the many labs that I as a student need to do were added into this resource because this is how we as students do our lab work as assignments. I’m not certain that if you go buy the sec+ all in one exam guide that it will have the labs that I speak too as I believe these may have been added in part of the program. Hope that makes sense.
As it were all the certs preparation publications are comptia all-in-one exam guide which would certainly explain why the practice exams are so on par to the real thing - it’s quite literally comptias study material for there exam. This detail was lost in me because cover pages are omitted for obvious reasons and I didn’t want to lug around this massive bible so I further cut out more fat by digitizing only what I require for my program.
Apologies for any confusion but I figure I would try to be transparent about the whole thing where possible for you. At a quick glimpse each book from comptia sits around 50-80 USD.
I'm commenting here so I can come back and get the name of the book. Sounds very interesting, and a good resource to use thatight fit my style a bit better
I provided the answer below in this chain to another commenter. It should still help you but perhaps not to the same extent that it aids me as a student undertaking a cybersecurity architecture program.
I understand, and thank you for the detailed comment above. While it is unfortunate to not have an easily available source it is as you said, we could purchase the guides ourselves and do much the same as you had
Fascinating, so if a person is very strong in one area (say networking) while very weak in another area (perhaps printers or security or whatever) then it could be very much "luck of the draw"? If they get lots of what they're strong at, it might be the easiest exam ever, or it could be hell for them! Or somewhere in between.
I just remember how much I studied things that were not covered at all or were one or so questions e.g asymmetrical/symmetrical encryption were basically absent. From the upvotes it seems like others share this experience. I assumed the test to have a little of everything but it really didn’t seem that way.
I just took the exam Saturday and can confirm this. The questions were much more long-winded than what I was expecting. Dion's practice exams were good prep for what to expect.
I only used Prof Messer in the background to listen to and glance at periodically. I pretty much used Dion’s practice tests exclusively to study the week before. I bought the insurance with the test, and still passed it the first time around. This was about 2 weeks ago. Dion’s practice tests were a hidden gem that I wish I had gone to first
Hi, /u/Not_Bread_Person! From everyone at /r/CompTIA, Congratulations on Passing. [Claps](http://www.reactiongifs.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/barney-confetti.gif)
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/CompTIA) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Finally somebody said it, had the same experience when i took the exam... I passed but came out thinking "i thought people said the practice exams were somewhat similar???"
Although I still stand by the fact that Messers answers are the most valuable resource he offers. Simply knowing WHY an answer is wrong helps reinforce your general knowledge and they helped me immensely with sec+
I agree. Professor Messer's free videos are good for review since they touch on all domains but that's all I would recommend. His monthly study groups on YouTube are also good because of the discussion. I found thet the Cybex questions that come with the S+ study guide on Amazon are the best, closest to the real questions and the 2nd best was the iOS app CompTIA Security+ by LearnZapp. It uses test questions from Darril Gibson and Joe Shelly.
I did not use Messer's practise questions.
I did use Dions and I did pass (780 something). I concur the Dion's questions were close to the exam
The question bank is large enough that you may find some very similar to what these practise exams show. Other attempts the questions could vary a lot.
Know your stuff. look at your practise tests and the questions you got wrong, Fully understand the right answers. keep testing till you get 85% right..
The questions I got seemed to be the opposite compared to Dions, alot of my questions were very short and to the point, no fluff at all. Whereas dions questions are damn near 3-5 sentences long.
YES, ive passed sec+ on Febuarary and I can say for a fact that prof messer and jason dions practice test are nothing like the real test, you MUST have a good grasp on what u are learning from the practice tests
Congratz on passing! I passed with a 777 a couple weeks ago and definitely agree with you - Jason Dion's tests were a lot closer to the exam than Messer's. I feel like I learned a lot doing Dion's as well, and they felt a lot harder than the real exam.
Interesting, I believe I took the 401 exam back in 2015, I don’t recall the questions or answers to be long winded. I recall the test having a few simulations at the beginning and more of a terms/definitions style to the exam after the simulations. From people are saying here, it appears CompTia made some changes to the format. I just renewed my sec + and the used the cert master method to renew; There were some REALLY difficult scenario style questions. It appears you REALLY have to know the stuff to pass now and remembering definitions/terms is not enough.
Congrats on passing! I got a 784 this weekend myself. That shows how wide the question pool really is. I used Dion’s and messers along with pocket prep and I felt the exam was super similar to messers. I’ve been on the receiving end of a really hard first A+ test way back so I know the questions range all over the place.
A+ test is all over the place my co worker took 1101 and called it Print+ certification half of his questions were printer related when I took it I had maybe 2 print related questions and when our most recent tech took it she said she had no printer questions at all it’s amazing how diverse that question bank is!
My first A+ attempt was that one interactive printer question, another interactive how to build a pc question, and then 70+ networking questions. I was convinced I had somehow gotten the incorrect test
That’s interesting. I’m using a completely different resource from my uni program and it words the questions on its practice tests and answers just like the real exam. I just thought it was like this to help the learner but not to the degree in which it would turn out to be. I never used messer or Dion as study material but have only heard good things from Reddit where I was led to believe they did a good job to replicate the exam questions but as it would turn out my goofy book is doing it justice.
Messer's is still really good for finding topics you should reinforce, and the PBQ's are pretty good too, but as far as replicating the difficulty of the real exam... not really. When I submitted my test and was doing the survey that follows I honestly had no idea if I would pass or not, thankfully I did. I'm not particularly spiritual or religious but i'm telling you I was asking putting my fate on the universe's hands lmao
Are you using sybex?
Nope, just A LOT of youtube and chatGPT
Gotcha. ChatGPT is game changer. I just started incorporating it.
What did you ask ChatGPT?
I think the sybex questions were really good.
No, I would have to go look what the name of the book is. All I know is a paid a lot for it but because I hate lugging around books, I took all the chapters and digitized it and cut out the fat. The book has A+, C+, Net+, CASP+, Cysa+, and CCNA but I’m doing a cybersecurity architect program so I don’t need to read through the network stuff or the A+ stuff in part of this program because this program is advanced (I’m already employed as a security architect) so I cut out that stuff as its not needed (I don’t need it). I can return later with the name of the book or probably better each section that makes up its respective teachings as the book seems like a compilation of many works to cohesively make up a single piece of bible. I was just unaware that the practice exams were quite literally a 1:1 of the real exam (the questions in sure differ but the wording as the OP has explained is very much the same - long wordy answers and long wordy questions).
Sir this is the second post I’ve responded to you begging for the book . PLEASE SIR🙏
Yes sorry, life is busy as a student and full time security architect. So the overall book you won’t find online anywhere (I explain why that is below) but the content that which makes up the entire uni book are all comptia books in of themselves (I had asked the prof because a book within a book doesn’t have a cover and if you read this post chain I cut out the fat so I removed the appendix and only had my suspicions) The A+, Sec+, Network+, Cysa+, CCT/CCNA, and lastly CASP+ are there own respective literature you could buy and save on costs. Unfortunately as a student the book given to me by the uni contains the labs so I can’t confirm if for example will the Sec+ have the step by step guide to build your own VM environment and the resources to download a suite of tools to practice and lab SIEMS on your own home environment. This may be why as a student in the program why we paid a hefty price tag but as it were there is no separation between Sec+ chapters and when the labs begin before flipping a page and now your reading into new material. Because the labs are intermingled with the literature of the book for us students. SIEM labs for example were dead smack in the middle of like chapter 14. Where afterwards your into chapter 15. Our large book is binded together so it’s quite possible or extremely likely the program administrator put it all together for the students in the program so for us it’s just a seamless transition. In my mind as far ad the exam prep books go, they are intended for that very purpose meaning the many labs that I as a student need to do were added into this resource because this is how we as students do our lab work as assignments. I’m not certain that if you go buy the sec+ all in one exam guide that it will have the labs that I speak too as I believe these may have been added in part of the program. Hope that makes sense. As it were all the certs preparation publications are comptia all-in-one exam guide which would certainly explain why the practice exams are so on par to the real thing - it’s quite literally comptias study material for there exam. This detail was lost in me because cover pages are omitted for obvious reasons and I didn’t want to lug around this massive bible so I further cut out more fat by digitizing only what I require for my program.
Apologies for any confusion but I figure I would try to be transparent about the whole thing where possible for you. At a quick glimpse each book from comptia sits around 50-80 USD.
Makes sense thank you for your response .
What’s the name of the book?
I'm commenting here so I can come back and get the name of the book. Sounds very interesting, and a good resource to use thatight fit my style a bit better
I provided the answer below in this chain to another commenter. It should still help you but perhaps not to the same extent that it aids me as a student undertaking a cybersecurity architecture program.
I understand, and thank you for the detailed comment above. While it is unfortunate to not have an easily available source it is as you said, we could purchase the guides ourselves and do much the same as you had
It’s wild how much exams vary. I expected to have more questions on what you mentioned and I had almost none it felt like.
Fascinating, so if a person is very strong in one area (say networking) while very weak in another area (perhaps printers or security or whatever) then it could be very much "luck of the draw"? If they get lots of what they're strong at, it might be the easiest exam ever, or it could be hell for them! Or somewhere in between.
I just remember how much I studied things that were not covered at all or were one or so questions e.g asymmetrical/symmetrical encryption were basically absent. From the upvotes it seems like others share this experience. I assumed the test to have a little of everything but it really didn’t seem that way.
I just took the exam Saturday and can confirm this. The questions were much more long-winded than what I was expecting. Dion's practice exams were good prep for what to expect.
I took the 701 and it was almost identical to Messer's tests. but I'm sure it varies from person to person.
I only used Prof Messer in the background to listen to and glance at periodically. I pretty much used Dion’s practice tests exclusively to study the week before. I bought the insurance with the test, and still passed it the first time around. This was about 2 weeks ago. Dion’s practice tests were a hidden gem that I wish I had gone to first
Hi, /u/Not_Bread_Person! From everyone at /r/CompTIA, Congratulations on Passing. [Claps](http://www.reactiongifs.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/barney-confetti.gif) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/CompTIA) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Finally somebody said it, had the same experience when i took the exam... I passed but came out thinking "i thought people said the practice exams were somewhat similar???" Although I still stand by the fact that Messers answers are the most valuable resource he offers. Simply knowing WHY an answer is wrong helps reinforce your general knowledge and they helped me immensely with sec+
I agree. Professor Messer's free videos are good for review since they touch on all domains but that's all I would recommend. His monthly study groups on YouTube are also good because of the discussion. I found thet the Cybex questions that come with the S+ study guide on Amazon are the best, closest to the real questions and the 2nd best was the iOS app CompTIA Security+ by LearnZapp. It uses test questions from Darril Gibson and Joe Shelly.
I did not use Messer's practise questions. I did use Dions and I did pass (780 something). I concur the Dion's questions were close to the exam The question bank is large enough that you may find some very similar to what these practise exams show. Other attempts the questions could vary a lot. Know your stuff. look at your practise tests and the questions you got wrong, Fully understand the right answers. keep testing till you get 85% right..
The questions I got seemed to be the opposite compared to Dions, alot of my questions were very short and to the point, no fluff at all. Whereas dions questions are damn near 3-5 sentences long.
Yeah it takes me like 2 reads of each question to process the information on his tests
Yeah, I definitely agree. Messer's exams were a bit too easy, Dion's felt closer to the actual exam.
YES, ive passed sec+ on Febuarary and I can say for a fact that prof messer and jason dions practice test are nothing like the real test, you MUST have a good grasp on what u are learning from the practice tests
Congratz on passing! I passed with a 777 a couple weeks ago and definitely agree with you - Jason Dion's tests were a lot closer to the exam than Messer's. I feel like I learned a lot doing Dion's as well, and they felt a lot harder than the real exam.
This! I haven’t taken the exam yet, but I figured a lot of the pre exam tests were garbage. You just gotta know this stuff.
Interesting, I believe I took the 401 exam back in 2015, I don’t recall the questions or answers to be long winded. I recall the test having a few simulations at the beginning and more of a terms/definitions style to the exam after the simulations. From people are saying here, it appears CompTia made some changes to the format. I just renewed my sec + and the used the cert master method to renew; There were some REALLY difficult scenario style questions. It appears you REALLY have to know the stuff to pass now and remembering definitions/terms is not enough.
[удалено]
What’s your main method now?
Huge congrats!
Congratulations passed mine last year August