I go to a vocational school and I’m currently studying now for my Net+ and Sec+ which I will be taking before the end of this school year. Unfortunately alike a large number of people in these fields I’ve seen Ai take over essentially everything. I feel as if I’m going through a mid life crisis just trying to choose a career path which I assume most people feel, but in today’s age the situation is just a little different with this unknown “Super Intelligence” upon the horizon. With that rant out of the way I feel I have two options, go to the Air National guard for cyber warfare, which would result in free college tuition. Or grind certs, build home labs, and attempt to get an internship without a being enrolled in college.

Recently passed PenTest+! AMA (within what can be answered)

I might have been out of time but I still nailed it. :)

I currently have A+, Network+, & Security+, and those certs were going to expire next month. I decided to haul ass the past 2 months for the CySA+ cert to improve my cybersecurity knowledge and skills, renew the older certs, and got it!

The extra time for non English countries came in handy because I'm a bit slower at processing English text and also because these pbqs were tough! I got 5 pbqs and ended up guessing on 2 of them and started doubting whether I would pass but was relieved when I glimpsed the word "congratulations"

For preparation I used Prof. Messer's videos and PowerCert Animated N+ course, both free on youtube. I would also ask Gemini to explain stuff all the time. I watched a lot of the practice videos on youtube and I would note what I wrong and try to improve those topics, then I did 5 practice tests from Dion's first exam set scoring ~75% on average

To celebrate I will not study for few days

Not sure if it makes more sense to do Network+ next, or Security+.

I want to eventually become a sysadmin.

I will be studying harder for core 2, most knowledge came from past experiences playing/maintaining/building computers, and my bachelors in cyber security that I finished in May.

Notes - was not prepared for so many damn printer questions, or some acronyms that I forgotten over the years.

Still a first step for me, I always wanted to work in technology, and after May next year, I can move back home and start that new career. Net/Sec + are next on the list, deadline is hopefully by December/ early january

I need to renew my SecurityX certification and just discovered that there isn’t a CertMasterCE pathway for it. My employer doesn’t pay for any of the pre-approved trainings that have SecurityX/CASP applicable courses. I’m the only one in my organization that holds SecurityX, so I have no one local to lean on with guidance.

Is there anyone else in my shoes who has found a way? I’m starting to think my only way forwards is to retake (and pass) the test.

In about a fortnight I sit for the Security+ exam. My practice tests (Dion and Messer) range anywhere from 70%-75%, not counting retakes. I plan to study my wrong answers and weak domains to tighten up. My PBQ performance is actually better than I was expecting. A bit of a vague question, but am I in good shape to test? I bought the retake just in case.

Passed my Core 1

Idk whether I’m happier about passing or the fact I didn’t waste 300 bucks lol If I could give any advice it would be just to not overthink it. You know your port numbers, you know what cable connections are what and just because the tests may word it a different way doesnt mean you don’t know it. Trust the knowledge you spent all this time acquiring and trust yourself.

Now onto core 2.

I am currently studying the net+ using the certmaster course and professor messer. I’m getting between a 67% and a 72% on the timed practice test, which I know is lower than ideal. But when going through my last test I felt largely confident throughout it until I seen the score.

I’m wondering if anyone here has used the Certmaster practice timed test specifically and how much that actually compares to the exam. I was hoping to schedule the test for this Thursday as I seen an opening for it locally but after today’s study session and test I am unsure.

Hello I’ve been scheming through Reddit on how long it took people to pass the compTia courses and a lot of people say it takes about 6 months for one and I don’t have six months ngl I’m trying to pass net , sec and a by February Is that feasible I’m a 3rd cybersecurity student I have also started watching messers videos for a core 2

For those who have relied on Messer's practice exams, would it be most accurate to weigh all questions (multiple choice + performance based) as one point each? Or can we give ourselves part marks for the performance ones? Just trying to gauge my total as accurately as possible to the actual exam.

A+ done, working full-time shifts, WGU cybersecurity in progress. I keep going back and forth on this.

Half the advice I see says do Network+ first because Security+ assumes networking you do not have yet. The other half says skip Network+ as a cert, just learn the networking material, and go straight to Security+ because that is what the entry-level SOC / help-desk-to-security postings actually name.

For anyone who did this while working full-time: which order actually helped you land the first interview, and did skipping the Network+ exam ever come back to bite you? I have limited study hours each week so I am trying to spend them once, in the right order.

I was planning to purchase the Security+ V7 voucher but I saw that V8 is coming in November.
Are the prices raised with new versions, and if yes is it worth just getting the V7 or will it be considered outdated once V8 launches.

Hi guys, I hope you are doing well.

In fact, I am preparing for the Security plus certification having already passed the net+ in January.

I would especially like to have your feedback on the preparation of the sec+, are there any of you who have managed to prepare it in 2 weeks?

If so, how did you take it? Any tips?

From time to time for just 1.5 weeks, I review a little the notions with the content of John Traning is professormesser

What's everyone's thoughts on the Jason Dion course on Udemy? I am trying to find a video course for this. My instructor said his course wasn't good but I can't find any other video courses. Thanks!

I tried looking for a clear answer and found none. My boss says yes but I don't want my sec+ to lapse.

If I pass in November, will my Sec+ that's due to expire in December renew?

Currently studying for network +, I have my a+ already. Im watching Andrew Ramdayal’s videos where he has labs and uses cisco packet tracer.

I think I can kill 2 birds with one stone here, my dad set up a home lab 12-15 ago for our house for surveillance cameras. The switch is quite old and has a lot of problems, now if I connect wireless I don’t have any problems, I spent all day trouble shooting, terminating cables that are wired throughout the house etc, and I learned quite a bit, really cemented all this book knowledge I have.

Would it benefit me network+ wise greatly to get a new switch and build the homelab from the ground up myself?

As someone with zero professional IT experience, I am excited to have passed Network+ this morning!

I had studied quite a bit with a buddy of mine every other day, and was feeling confident on online practice tests, but man was I a bit concerned this morning when I started flagging and skipping questions right out the gate due to not quite remembering the topic or not knowing altogether. Miraculously, I made it!

My study materials:

• 1 round of watching all of Prof. Messer's Network + videos
• 100 Network+ Practice Questions with Andrew Ramdayal
• NetworkChuck's You Suck at Subnetting series on Youtube (real funny guy and helped me understand the concept and nail manual subnetting theory REALLY quickly.
• SubnettingPractice for a constant variety of Subnetting questions to practice on
• ExamCompass's Many Network+ Practice Tests
• And then some flashcards on UnionTestPrep in the last two days before today's exam.

I will say that during my exam, I realized I need to practice more with command prompts like nslookup, netstat, and general network troubleshooting through that as two of those PBQs caught me 100% off guard. Pretty sure I bombed them both immediately.

Now my goal is to coast through November, propose to my gf, then in early-mid December I plan to start applying to entry-level IT jobs again to see what I can get. The reason I'm waiting is so I can comfortably claim one last Christmas bonus from my current place of employment, and I don't want to turn down potential recruitments from places I've applied before then as I could really benefit from that bonus.

huge shoutout to the people who recommended crucial exams on other threads. i used that, the sybex study guide (one read through and all practice tests), and the material that became accessible with it. studied for a couple weeks, was scoring 95% avg on the practice exams (i strive for near perfection with practice cause i know i’ll choke at the exam haha), and sent it!
this was my first comptia exam since getting my sec+ in april of 2021, so i’m stoked that i passed with relatively so little prep and relatively no AI experience. this was a push from my program customer (gotta have someone on deck with the cert and my team consists of old heads who showed no interest), so hopefully there’s recognition that comes with it.

Passed cysa+ 004 :))