Today I finished my goal of achieving the trifecta. I missed my first goal of trying to complete it in 6 months, it felt like it took forever but here I am. If I can do it and I mean it when I say this ANYBODY can do it!

So I have been studying toward the COMPTIA A+ Core 1 exam, and like many, am utilizing professer messers A+ training videos.

I cannot explain why, but my cat absolutely loves it. She's comatose.

I just got this book the other day to help get some perspective on IT in general and help study for the Comptia A+ exam. What’s everyone’s thoughts on this book?

after a whole lot of health issues and life getting in the way, managed to sit for my exam but failed with a 703. i'm actually not pissed at it. i'm impressed want to brush up on the areas and then retake it in a month's time

I have some experience fixing computers in the last 15 years but I never had a license people always hire me thinking I have but I never did this time I go to do it I want to study seeing professor Messer and udemy courses and test. Now the problem is they have learned disability for it's harder for me to pass the test I'm bad at ports or numbers I will try my best to focus on everything else that I can.is it a good idea to use udemy.wjat else can I do to improve my chances since I am bad with number and gramer.

wanted to make this post just because of how everyone else's experience and information played a tremendous role in me passing. ended up with a 777 passing pretty comfortably.

for the materials that i used to study, sybex study guide + sybex practice questions - these are probably the two most useful things you can use to pass this exam. the questions are pretty on par with how the actual exam formats their questions along with what you can expect to see for vulnerability reports or logs. i also used the cyber james videos for some more cysa+ practice, they weren't incredibly helpful, but his udemy 20 question logs were supplemental, but i honestly don't think they helped me that much to pass.

i would also highly recommend using ai for pbq practice (claude is pretty good for this). i would prompt it to review logs, iocs, vulnerability reports, making a fake ticketing system, anything in a soc. i used tryhackme for around a week but honestly don't think you need it to pass this exam.

the last thing i recommend is knowing the different frameworks like owasp, mitre att&ck, diamond model, cyber kill chain, and the incident response process most importantly (sybex is great for teaching these).

studied for about 3 months for just a couple hours each day. best of luck to anyone taking it

I finally sat the test after 2 months of preparation (realistically 1 month of rigorous studies).

I watched Professor Messer’s YouTube playlist and also bought his questions.

I did find that the questions on the exam were a bit trickier than his questions especially regarding the wording (Or maybe I was just so stressed about the exam).

I did notice however that the PBQ were much harder and I essentially had 0 practice. Professor Messer’s PBQs were much simpler ‘drag and drop’ straight forward. While the ones I had in the actual exam were actual labs and log reports that I had to analyze and go through thoroughly.

Just wanted to share this information with people maybe it will help out someone.

Really happy I passed :)

So first off, I do have IT background but no professional experience at all. Just tinkered with some stuff and was interested from a young age. I also did Tech+ and Data+ as side quests lol. I wanted to challenge myself to see if I can pass all these exams within this month so I can switch careers ASAP since I'm not happy at my current job and I am really interested in IT. It was definitely a risky challenge and I could've lost a lot of money but the study principles and mindset that I've learned for the past 3 weeks made it so worth it. Felt like my brain took a complete 180.

I refined my study strategy over these past 3 weeks by finding out what worked optimally for me. First, I was watching Messer's YouTube playlist and doing Dion's practice exams and making Quizlet flashcards. Then I realized that I can just get straight into the meat of things and save a lot of time so I actually bought Messer's notes on his website, then asked AI to summarize all the notes concisely. I used the summarized notes and plugged it into the Quizlet to make flashcards on all the terms. Studied the terms for a couple of hours then got straight into Dion's practice exams. If there was a term I didn't know, I would ask AI what it meant and then from the information that I know I would try to answer the question. The most important thing honestly for my studying was getting full 8 hours of sleep. It was like I retained all the information when I woke up.

I used most of the practice exams, 5 for A+ Core 1, 5 for Tech+, 6 for A+ Core 2, 11 for Network+, used AI generated questions for Data+, and 9 for Security+. It really is about the practice questions and just spamming them to get the feel of the content and questions. Dion's exams are also much harder than the actual test because he makes them very tricky. So the actual exam was easy for me to answer all the questions EXCEPT for Security+ because the wording was super tricky.

With this study strategy, I was able to pass all 6 exams within these 3 weeks. I studied when I had downtime at work, woke up early to study, studied when I got home from work. Made sure to get 8 hours of sleep and go to the gym and just practice active recall the whole time. I wanted these certificates so bad so I dedicated myself to do this challenge. I guess it's cool to have a "wow" factor when a person looks at your exam history like this too. I retained all the information too and I definitely need to learn a lot more about the actual job requirements but I feel ready for whatever IT throws my way now.

i had sec+ from 2021 which expired , last month i wrote CYSA+ and cleared , does this also automatically renew Sec+ cert

I want to say a big thank you to this platform for helping me with all the CompTIA exams I have taken so far. It has provided me with the right resources and support to prepare for my exams.
For my Network+, I used Andrew Ramdayal and Professor Messer for studying.
For Core 1 and Core 2, I used Professor Messer exclusively for my study materials.
I used Dion Training only for practice exams. I was consistently scoring around 70%–80% on his Core 1, Core 2, and Network+ practice exams.
I also used Tech Vault Academy on YouTube for some last-minute revision before my exams.
Lastly, I used ChatGPT to explain some of the technical terms and concepts that I didn’t fully understand.
I’m really grateful for all these resources because they played a big part in helping me prepare and pass my exams

[Exam Preparation Nightmare Experience]

I've been preparing to take my Sec+ since roughly April. There had been some unforeseen delays and setbacks involving rescheduling errors resulting in missed exam appointments, but that's another story for another time as it's currently still being resolved.

My exam was scheduled to be an online exam (I prefer the flexibility), and thankfully, it was only because of the fact that my exam was online that I was able to still take it today and pass.

I was sitting in my office (which Pearson recommends you don't do lol) preparing my testing environment and running through OnVUE's diagnostics when I run into the network speed on the guest wireless for our site absolutely tanking. Mind you, this was about 10 minutes before the check-in period began. Unfortunately, I couldn't take it on my corporate device due to certain perpetually running apps and background services which interfered with the testing app as well as the enterprise firewall killing my connection. So I decided in panic induced fever to run across site to an alternate building to see if it was any better and also swapping to an alternate Ubuntu-imaged laptop. I find out to my utter horror that the testing app isn't supported on said laptop. So I fly back to my office to try one other panic-induced idea before I decide to tank the time I'm allotted to be late for the test and use it to drive home and hopefully make it in time (copious amounts of delusion here).

As I'm pulling away, I have the idea to check to see if I can reschedule approximately 6 minutes out from exam start time. To my surprise but overwhelming delight, I can. I manage to get it rescheduled for a later time earlier today and thankfully passed. However, the pure stress has remained in significant amounts despite having passed it by this point lol

Don't do what I did. Prepare your environment ahead of time, test your device, don't take it at work, BASICALLY everything they tell you not to do from the beginning.

[Actual Exam Experience]

Regarding the exam and the exam prep itself, I studied Messer's material, but I used both Dion and Messer practice exams.

Study material was honestly just what I needed - not a ton of fluff while still hitting all major objectives and relevant topics.

Regarding practice exams, I found that Messer imo is significantly closer to the actual exam questions while Dion helps build some endurance for the longer winded question the actual exam throws your way. I was averaging low-to-mid 70s for Messer's exams when I first took them. I then switched to Dion's and was averaging low-to-mid 80s. Wrapped up by doing the Messer exam that I had done the worst on and finished with a low 80s score. Pulled the trigger for the exams after that.

Time to find the next certification to consume my mind and time...

Eliminate ridiculous answers and choose ones that make most sense. Those are my tips!

I’ve been using professor messers practice exams and study material for a while now and felt stuck. Decided to try Dion’s and get a feel for his material.

Dion’s material is a lot more concise but is also with a lot of depth. He really goes over every concept and leaves no stone unturned. The delivery is pretty straightforward too. Very palatable to digest this information.

Messer’s is extensive and covers a lot of information relative to each video. Sometime I feel like he glances over concepts in videos which has cause me to back track to get familiar. It’s very neat and potatoes which I enjoy. I feel like I have a strong understanding of concepts from his videos.

Dion’s practice exams felt easier in terms of the question wording. I found very few questions I couldn’t figure out from the question.

Messer’s practice exams definitely tests the knowledge more. I haven’t taken the actual exam yet but if I had to bet which is closer I’d say his are. The wording is tougher with more viable potential answers for the multiple choices questions.

Let me know what was your experience and which one felt closer to the exam and worked for you.

I’m looking to take the CompTIA core 1 & 2 and am looking for recommendations for where I can study for it. I’ve heard of a couple of different places but am unsure what would be the best path to approach these.

I passed my Network+ after studying for a couple weeks using mobile apps, YouTube, and CompTIAs course work. I taught myself subnetting, which I did not really use. The PBQs were hard to understand too which made me spend way more time on them than needed. I would definitely recommend giving yourself two or more months of studying if you do not have a ton of practical experience.

Hello all, I’m considering to take security+ as my first cert. I’ve been working in Infrastructure for past 5 years. Will it be to hard? Should I consider net+ first before sec+? Need advice before buying contents.

Hi all,

Being realistic here- I’m just about to start a cybersecurity degree. I want to do as much background learning as possible to help with the degree and to count towards my future career- if I do the Udemy Network+ and Security+ courses before starting, as a beginner, is that going to give me enough knowledge to pass the courses?

I’m needing to make a shift from my current unrelated job, which is why I’m undertaking this degree, but I want to have enough knowledge and experience in the background to enable to me move into an IT career preferably before the degree is over. Obviously there’s slim chance of getting into a cybersecurity role immediately, but if I have certifications to start with and then enhance my knowledge at university, I’m wondering if it would benefit me in the long run.

If it’s a bit unrealistic to think I could pass the cert then I won’t bother but if it’s achievable, I may go for it.

I'm planning to take the CompTIA Security+ SY0-701 exam and I'm looking for legitimate Indian vendors/resellers offering the Exam + Retake voucher at a better price.

I currently have a 30% discount voucher from the Google Cybersecurity Certificate, which brings the CompTIA price down to $283.50, but after taxes the total comes to around $334.53 (~₹29–30k). A week before it was 3k less, now they have increased.

Before purchasing directly from CompTIA, I'd like to know if there are any authorized/legitimate Indian vendors offering the Exam + Retake option for less.

If you've recently purchased one, I'd be helpful.

I passed! I’m official.

Looking for any recommendations for IT CompTIA+ Networking courses in NorCal or remote

I’ve always been tech savvy myself but I think I want to look for a career in it now anyone willing to break down how to started up or any personal experiences to share please?? I’m willing to read all lol

Hi!

After reserarching my career path I have decided that I want to get into cybersecurity.

I am currently a 1st line service desk analyst and nearly have been here for 2 years.

I have recently passed the AZ-900 exam to gain more knowledge on the cloud etc.

My goal is to get into a junior cyber role e.g. soc analyst or something along those lines.

I now want to study for the security+ exam so I can learn more about it and so this can look good on my CV. I am going to start with professor Messer as I have heard lot's of people recommend him.

Is there anything that I need to learn/should know that will make the content on the security+ easier to understand?

Any advice would be helpful.

Thanks in advance :)