Michael's DFIR Blog

I’ve been studying for the past few months for my Security+, worried about making sure I filled the knowledge gaps I might’ve had to get a decent score. As of this morning, I’m finally finished and certified with a 792. Not the best score possible, but a passing score nonetheless! I figured I would throw some thoughts down in case any of my readers are thinking of getting the certification and wondering what sort of study materials to go through.

Most of the time I spent was going through Darril Gibson’s “Get Certified, Get Ahead” study guide – designed for the previous SYO-601 version of the test, but still relevant to the content in the SYO-701. The book is a bit dense at times, but covers the topics on the test pretty thoroughly, at least enough to get you most of the way there with some additional work.

Secondly, I used Professor Messer’s course – primarily primarily his practice tests. Going through and making note of subjects that I missed questions on, then watching his videos and reading the course notes really helped cement some subjects on the test I was weaker on. There’s a decent amount of video there – around 15 hours of total coverage, which will take you a bit to cover and completely absorb depending on how familiar you are with the subject matter. It’s invaluably good as a study guide, though.

I attempted using the official CompTIA study material as well through the education store, however it didn’t quite click for me. The videos weren’t quite as engaging as Professor Messer’s course, and a bit tedious to get through. Not that they won’t work for you, but they weren’t really worth it for me. Reminder as well that a .edu email address gets you the education discount on a voucher, as well.

What’s next? Splunk Power User and CCNA probably, but for now I take a bit of a study break. Stay tuned!