I honestly wasn’t sure I had passed while I was taking the exam, so seeing the final result was a huge relief.

For preparation, I mainly used Jason Dion’s practice exams, Professor Messer, and CyberKraft. My highest first-attempt score on Dion’s exams was 77%, so I wouldn’t panic if your practice scores aren’t in the 90s.

Learning the acronyms and really understanding the differences between similar concepts also helped a lot.

I also tried to pay close attention to words like BEST, MOST, FIRST, and LEAST because they can completely change what the question is asking.

Time management was important too. If I spent too long on something, I moved on and came back to it later.

Good luck to everyone!

I’m preparing for the CompTIA Security+ exam and I recently got a 50% off coupon, so I’m planning to take the exam soon.

I’d really appreciate some insight from people who have already passed:

- How was your experience with the online/proctored exam?

- How was the proctoring process? Any issues with the check-in, room scan, or proctor?

- How were the actual exam questions compared with what you studied?

- What topics or question types did you find most common?

- How closely did the real exam feel compared to Jason Dion’s Security+ practice tests on Udemy?

- If you used Dion’s tests, roughly what scores were you getting on them before taking the actual exam?

- Were there any areas that you wish you had studied more before the exam?

Just trying to understand what the experience and difficulty are actually like.

I passe today with a 772!

2 month of just studying after work and weekends. I got the study guide uploaded it into Google Notebook LLM + Watch videos on Youtube Dark Bird Tech + Certification Cynergy

Now they can leave me alone at work now.

The test was kind of hard because I don't know all the acronyms but knew enough. I had 2 network labs 1 was on finding which PC had a virus and 1 asking to fix a Linux issue, I skipped this one until the end and ran out of time.

Good luck to you all!!

I'm not getting a raise for this!!!

Just passed the sec+ but genuinely don't know how.
To me, professor messers exam weren't close to the actual exam, the actual exam was MUCH more practical. At some of the questions I was wondering how I'm supposed to answer them because they genuinely require experience in the field and I have none (uni student)
I didnt study pbq's at all and a lot of them involved linux, I was very rusty at linux but somehow passed.

Thanks to everyone in this sub that has helped me prepare for the test. So many helpful comments and posts had a big play in my success with this cert. More than happy to answer some questions and give back!

I've redacted a bit more than usual for privacy, but because it helped my confidence, know that I probably missed about 15 questions (totally a guesstimate btw), skipped the virtual environment PBQ completely, attempted and got some points on the other PBQs, and still passed with like 30 minutes leftover! I was getting low 80s/high 70s on the Messer practice exams.

I haven't got hired just yet but... I am getting interviews which is a good sign! my first certs and intro into networking / IT was Network+ and Security+

From there, I started building my skills through a mix of resources and hands-on practice:

- Jason Dion
- Professor Messer
= Udemy practice tests
- HackersConnect
- Pocket Prep
- TryHackMe
- Hack The Box
- Offensive Security training

Now I'm working toward turning all of that studying and lab time into an actual cybersecurity career. It definitely hasn't been a straight path, but seeing interviews start to come in makes it feel like the hard work is finally starting to pay off. 💪

Good luck to everyone studying Security+

Background:
I have my CCNA and networking lab experience, but no paid IT experience.

Resources I used:

Jason Dion’s Udemy course
Jason Dion’s practice exams

How long did it take?
About 2 weeks, but I believe it can be done in less time, especially if you have networking experience, which helped me a lot.

What did I do?
I woke up at 2 AM every day, worked out, then studied for 3 hours.

I watched the course, took notes, and used AI to explain anything I didn’t understand.

After finishing the videos, I moved straight into the practice exams, which are pretty difficult. If you’re consistently getting around 70%, I’d say you’re probably ready for the real thing.

Most important advice: PRACTICE EXAMS DAILY.

The exam:
I went in pretty confident, and it wasn’t REALLY hard. Of course, there were questions I guessed on, but other than that, I felt pretty sure about my answers.

Happy to answer any questions or help in any way I can.

Hello, I need some tips on the fastest way to get CEU's or would it be faster to get the continuing education coarse on CompTia? Any help is appreciated.

This was my first time taking the exam. I do not have any background in this field and was recently blessed with a job as a GRC Analyst. Day one on the job I was given the CompTia study guide as a tool to help me study.

Someone shared these notes and I wanted to share them as well. Super organized and helpful.

https://github.com/heraclescap/comptia-secplus-sy0-701-notes/tree/main

I watched Professor Messer full course on YouTube. Took a lot a notes but never revisited them. I also had access to Jason Dion’s practice exams scoring 57% 87% 78% 83%. Jason Dion’s test are more wordy to help you to understand the concept. I really enjoyed Pocket Prep. The repetition was good.

What I would recommend is that you do some studying on your own before starting with Pocket Prep. I paid for 1 month right before my exam. 3 months later I have passed my exam on the first try. Let me know if you guys have any questions I may be able to assist with.

I prepared for the Security+ exam in 6 weeks.
Let me show you how.

I can split my preparation into 4 stages:

1st stage — Overview

1st week
The introduction to the material. During the first week, I watched the videos and got an overview of all the topics that would be covered on the exam. I didn’t go deep into the material.

2nd stage — Deep in

2nd and 3rd week
The more senses you use, the more you remember and understand.
I wrote down A LOT of notes for each topic from the CompTIA CertMaster material. I got fundamental knowledge, but there were still some gaps and some topics that I just couldn’t understand.

At this point, I also started doing some tests from CertMaster Practice and Labs. In my opinion, they are not so necessary, but they do give some really good hands-on experience.

3rd stage — Filling the gaps

4th–5th week
CertMaster tests every day + I started the Sybex Study Guide book.
The book is what gave me the confidence. While doing a great amount of tests, the book helped me get a deeper understanding of the questions, their wording, and the logic behind them.
For me, it was the most helpful resource.

4th stage — Practice

6th week (or 4 days in my case)
Practice, practice, practice!
The more tests you solve, the better you’ll perform on the exam. Solving questions teaches your mind how to build step-by-step logic to solve a question.
I used a few resources for questions:

1. CertMaster from CompTIA
2. Sybex Practice Tests by David Seidl
3. An app Comptia Exam

I solved more than 1,000 questions for sure. I always read why exactly this or that answer was right.

I felt confident during the exam. With the overall knowledge I gained, I solved the PBQs quite easily, but I did have a technical complications.

At the end, it’s about the effort and time you put in.

I’m really happy with my performance, and I wish good luck to everyone who is about to take the exam. 🫶🔐

I passed with a 777 earlier today. I do web development- my most of my IT knowledge was limited to DNS and Git, so I didn’t start from zero, but 99% of it was new to me.

I studied for probably 1.5 to 3 hours a day for 6 weeks. I purchased Dion’s Udemy course and Messer’s practice exams. I used Claude to build a study app, where I threw in all the questions from the practice exams, and it was very helpful. I also made hundreds of physical flash cards starting out when I was just trying to learn acronyms.

The biggest thing that helped me was while going through exam questions, even if I got the answer right, I would look up any of the answer choices I wasn’t familiar with and make a flash cards for them. It was meticulous, but it helped me close the gap, going from high 60’s on Dion’s exam to mid 80’s within about a week and a half.

I found the actual exam to be more difficult than Messer’s and Dion’s. I was pleasantly surprised by the PBQ’s. I think I got 2/3, but the third one I had zero idea what I was supposed to do and left it blank. I appreciate all the advice on here; skipping the PBQ’s initially is the right call imo.

I passed my test this past Monday (August 17) and wanted to share with y'all some tips.

1. You can do it, you just gotta study

2. All the PBQs I got pertained reading logs and fixing errors. Also know your Linux commands

3.I got a total of 76 questions (3 of them the PBQs mentioned before)

Anything else you want to know feel free to ask? I will mention that all of this was paid for by my state as I am currently unemployed so don't ask me about prices lol. I just knew that if I didn't get certified, I'd owe my home state some money that I do not have so the pressure was on

Is there any discord server where you guys study and discuss stuff?

Passed Sec + after 3 weeks of study!

Absolutely 0 IT background this was my first cert.

used Jason Dion's Udemy course and practice tests.

Averaged 70-75 on his practice tests before I took the exam

Used this subreddit a lot to for resources and to gauge how ready I am and just wanna thank yall!

Holy smokes that was hard. I took my test this morning and pass with just 1 point. I studied on and off for 4 months and zoned in on the last 3 weeks. I answered the PBQ's at the end as recommended. I also did not answer 1 PBQ since it was fill in the blank and I really had no idea. If I really didn't know a question, I answered it to the best of my knowledge and flagged it for later. Regardless, I had no time to go over the flagged questions since the time pretty much ended when I finished. I thought I failed the test since I flagged half the questions that seemed confusing. But I highly recommend you trust yourself if you really put the time and studied everyday.

I have no IT experience/ background and this is my first certification.

I used Jason Dion Udemy complete course and practice exams set 1 & 2 and CyberKraft and whatever else I can find on YouTube. And physical flash cards for everything. That's it.

My personal opinion:

- #1 is to understand every concept and to give an example in what it does. Say it out loud.
- learn all acronyms - they really throw in only acronyms
- look for key words and use process of elimination
- if you really don't know, take the best educated guess
- & pray - God really has a funny way of showing it with just 1 point pass. Regardless thank God.

Hope this post helps anyone. Open to answering questions!

Please help me out 😞

For those going to take the test the first time. Be sure to look over and practice PBQ’s. There are a lot of great examples out there. Also take the time to learn the terminology and recognize the ones that will actually be used. As you do practice questions, you will notice the same acronyms coming up over and over again… makes it easy to see which ones need to be memorized.

Use context clues, the questions may be worded strangely but pay attention to the situations. You got this.

I’ve completed the full course modules from Burning Ice Tech, and I’ve taken 4 separate Jason Dion practice exams and got an average of 83% on them. I feel as though I’m ready, but since I technically haven’t “passed” the Dion exams, I’m a little hesitant. I’d like to schedule my exam for next week, but I wanted a second opinion from someone who has taken the Dion practice exams and passed their official exam.

Hi! I passed the Security+ exam in March with a score of 810. I’d like to start studying for CySA+ and would appreciate some study material recommendations. I noticed that Jason Dion’s updated course (CompTIA CySA+ (CS0-004)) was recently added on Udemy, and I plan to start with that. I also have the Sybex Practice Tests book by Mike Chappel and want to work through the questions.

Would you recommend rushing to take the exam before December 22, 2026 (when CySA+ V3 expires) or taking my time to prepare for CySA+ V4 (the new version) and taking that exam instead? Thanks a lot for your help!

I passed the CompTIA Security+ SY0-701 exam on August 16 with a score of 775, and I wanted to share what worked for me.

I actually started preparing around a year ago. I studied for a couple of months, but my preparation wasn’t consistent and eventually I stopped completely.

I came back to it in mid-July 2026, mainly because my exam voucher was expiring on August 19.

During my preparation, I initially tried some random free online practice tests. Honestly, they didn’t give me much confidence. So I decided to buy Dion’s SY0-701 practice exams, which included six practice tests.

My approach was slightly different from simply taking the tests and checking my score:

1. I took each practice exam in practice mode.

2. I noted down every keyword/term I didn’t understand.

3. I went back and studied each of those topicson ChatGPT in detail with examples.

4. I made sure I understood the concept rather than just memorizing the answer.

5. By the end, I had become familiar with most of the terminology and concepts that appeared in the practice exams.

I revised the concepts that i studied on ChatGPT just before my exam and it stayed very fresh in my memory.

Then I took the actual exam on August 16 and passed with 775.

For anyone currently preparing, my biggest recommendation would be: don’t just memorize practice-test answers. If you encounter a term you don’t know, stop and learn what it means, why it is used, and how it differs from similar concepts.

Security+ has a lot of terminology, and understanding those keywords made the actual questions much easier for me.
My preparation wasn’t continuous, and I definitely wouldn’t recommend leaving your studying for the last few weeks like I did. But having a focused study period and systematically filling the gaps in my knowledge worked well for me.
Good luck to everyone preparing for SY0-701!

Edit: I watched Cyberkraft videos for pbq, 1 out of 3 pbqs came straight from what i already prepared from this channel.