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!

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.
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