Passing the CompTIA Security+ Exam on Your First Try, with Little to No Professional Experience

Security+ is the leading entry-level Infosec certification recognized widely by employers, and more importantly, their gatekeepers. Obtaining this cert will open your options on applications, even if simply to check a box. And though many treat this examination as a tedious obstacle, I can honestly say studying for this expanded my knowledge base and I feel much more confident as a candidate.

I sought out the Security+ certification as I, like many, am looking for an entry-level blue team position. While I may not have any professional experience, I did complete an intensive certificate program through University of Texas’s CPE program. This program was centered around self-directed hands-on learning. In the simulated real-world environments I performed network traffic analysis, SIEM event log analysis, disk and memory forensics, OSINT, malware analysis, reverse engineering, web exploitation, application exploitation, and the list goes on.

The point is I had plenty of practical skills and knowledge but found that they weren’t being recognized by the ones sifting through applications. I needed to demonstrate I had core understanding of the fundamentals. And while my previous experience helped through much of my studies, I still required a lot of studying on most of the material.

I have often heard people brush off the exam or assume that it is simply a lot of memorization. I want to state clearly that memorizing alone will NOT get you a passing grade. The exam questions are very situational and convoluted. Oftentimes they’re designed to trick you. So it’s not enough to know the definition but how the subject is applied and relates to many different topics/scenarios.

*Note* CompTIA expects that you have the prerequisite knowledge of networking as tested in their Network+ exam. I didn’t take that exam, but felt that it would have been useful. Some sections of security+ lay pretty heavy on networking so I had to do a bit of extra work.

Ok, so what’s the plan?

1) Get a decent study guide.

I personally got Darril Gibson’s book:

https://www.amazon.com/CompTIA-Security-Get-Certified-Ahead/dp/1939136059

It was broken into just 11 meaty chapters that were very straight forward.

*Note* This is for the SYO-501. I don’t think he has one out yet for the SYO-601, which you would need, as the 501 expires some time in July 2021.

There are many other highly rated study guides out there, such as

SYBEX:

https://www.amazon.com/CompTIA-Security-Study-Guide-SY0-601/dp/1119736250/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&keywords=SYO-601&qid=1621211900&s=books&sr=1-5

All in One:

https://www.amazon.com/CompTIA-Security-Certification-Guide-SY0-601/dp/1260464008/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=security%2B&qid=1621212073&s=books&sr=1-1

Whichever you choose, make sure it has a lot of exam prep questions at the end and/or as chapter reviews.

2) Pick a timeline and divide it into attainable short-term goals.

You can divide them into chapters of your study guide or even exam objectives. I chose to divide 11 chapters into about a month of studies. I ended up needing slightly more time but we’ll get to that later. The point is you have to keep yourself motivated and I find that small victories help instead of looking at one giant tidal wave of text ahead.

3) Find an A/V media supplement.

It can get monotonous dredging through technical txt forever. Find some youtube videos to help you out with understanding a particularly difficult subject. Or go to Udemy and catch Mike Meyer’s web series:

https://www.udemy.com/course/comptia-security-certification-sy0-501-the-total-course/

**Note** again, sorry this is a weird transition period for security+ and many authors haven’t put out their SYO-601 stuff. They will though.

**Also note** everything on Udemy goes on sale weekly. If it says $95 it means $16 within a week. Just keep checking.

I personally used Prof. Messer’s huge list of resources. Any time I was exercising I’d pop on his security+ podcast where he proposes questions, takes a live poll on the answer, and then goes through all answers and explains why each is correct/incorrect.

https://open.spotify.com/show/2OM3iKDgsR5Xquw1yBTQYT

He also has a complete security+ video study guide. All completely free.

https://www.youtube.com/c/professormesser/playlists

3) You are absolutely going to need practice tests, the more the better.

Remember I said to get a book with practice questions? It’s the second most important thing to studying the material. You need to gauge how well you’ve understood and retained all that information. I also recommend online practice exams. I used:

https://www.udemy.com/course/comptia-security-practice-exams/

https://www.udemy.com/course/comptia-security-cert-sy0-501-practice-tests/

https://www.udemy.com/course/comptia-security-sy0-501-k/

*Note* I didn’t like that third one. It seemed harder (which I would like) but only because of unnecessary industry jargon or dialect that didn’t relate to all my other study materials nor ultimately, the actual exam. It also gives a passing grade at 70% so it’s hard to gauge what curve they are giving to the difficulty of their questions.

**you will need the SYO-601 versions.

For context, before starting my studies I took the pre-assessment exam at the beginning of my study guide and did pretty miserably. Then I took each chapter evaluation, and finally the post study exam. At that point I was hitting in the mid to high 70’s. The passing grade is about 83% on Security+. So I went back and reviewed troublesome subjects and retook the exam a few times. This is what made me extend my timeline.

But there was a problem.

Because I was taking the same exam over and over I was not testing my ability to understand the topics I struggled on, but rather tested my ability to remember the test answers I’d already seen. This leads me to my next point…

4) Do not immediately look up answers/explanations after taking your practice exams!

You will burn through them like wildfire. You need to find a way to use the same practice exam multiple times to test your progress, not your ability to memorize the test answers.

The fix:

1. Take the exam.
2. On a notepad, write down all subjects/acronyms/whatever you are unsure of.
3. Go learn everything about them after taking the practice exam (don’t seek the answer/explanation yet).
4. Retake the exam (with notepad again) and see if you did better.
5. If you have less than a 93%, repeat the cycle.

5) FlashCards

You might think you’re catching me contradicting my earlier statement that memorizing won’t get you a passing grade. Read it again. I said memorizing alone won’t get you a passing grade. Try not to think of it as arbitrary memorizing, rather keeping this vast landscape of subjects accessible in your mind. There is a lot to forget between the time you learn something and taking the exam. Running through flashcards with a few key points can tether a deeper understanding to a key word. Then cement what you’ve already learned about a subject and its role in the interconnectivity of security topics.

I had well over 200 flash cards bundled into groups based on chapters or some other relationship.

Here’s a few stacks I found most useful for security+:

• Common protocols and their ports. You have to know at least what each protocol is used for and their port. Also if there is a secure version or deprecated version know that. The numbers are super important to memorize as they’re definitely used in the practical questions.
• Switches (ping, nslookup, etc) and what they are used for and how to use them.
• Access control types
• Cryptography. This is probably the most demanding subject in Security+ and will likely be your biggest card stack. But make sure you have cards for key/block sizes
• Acronyms. Just anytime you see an acronym, make a card and keep it with its respective chapters cards. There are questions that give a scenario and you might not be fully comfortable with the answer but can knock out 1 or 2 answers because you know those acronyms don’t even relate to the subject.

* It’s a small list but you get the idea

6) Performance-Based Practice

I had 5 performance-based questions straight out of the gate and I thank myself for taking some time to check out some practice questions beforehand. I just ran through the attachments that came with my voucher through certified4less.com. They were static images on a .pdf but even just being acquainted with a representation of the layout prepped me mentally.

If I had to do it again I would pay for a lab environment to practice these. I can’t speak to the value of any, as I didn’t use them but here’s a free resource to get you started:

https://blogs.getcertifiedgetahead.com/security-and-performance-based-questions/

Some General Test Taking Tips

• Relax. If you’ve made it this far and have honestly followed these steps, you’ve done everything you can do to prepare (at least everything I did).
• Eat healthy and sleep well leading up to the exam. I mean, I guess that’s good advice for an ideal lifestyle but just try your best to stay away from sugars and junk food. HYDRATE.
• If you’re someone who panics under stress, try a breathing technique.

https://k12.thoughtfullearning.com/minilesson/using-5-5-5-breathing-calm-down

You will feel calm.

• Remember to flag any questions you’d like to go back to.

**Really Big, Super-Important Note**

I will tell you that aside from the academic difficulty, CompTIA forces you to use Pearson as the proctor (If online, IDK how it works at a test center). And if you haven’t been previously acquainted, Pearson is a mess.

I was in college in the early 20-teens when online education portals were first becoming common practice and I had to use Pearson for various labs, etc. The UI felt dated at the time and there seems to have been little update since.

• On my practical Questions there were drag and drops where the screen cut off the lower answer choices and the only way to see them was to grab the sliver available and pull/hold it center-screen where the answer showed translucent.
• During the practical you often have to click in/out of the actual prompted question to see the graphic instead of just having the question hang as a banner above.
• Make sure to take your time during the multiple choice as there seemed to be significant lag and I almost moved on to the next Q, but the bubble had not filled on my answer. I don’t believe the exam flags your unanswered questions by default, so even if I was correct, it might not have counted.
• Reviewing your answers is a bit sketchy. I wasn’t sure how to review the practical questions from the review page as I was stuck with the multiple choice ones. After contacting the proctor through chat I was told I would review those after. I was worried clicking the “next” (or whatever it was) button was going to just submit the exam without being able to review.

Lastly, the feeling of a passing grade validating your time and effort is well worth it.

Good luck,

Carter Rankin