The CompTIA Security+ exam everyone says is one of the harder certifications to pass. It is, mainly because of all of the acronyms, a lot of the questions are kind of vague and unlike other CompTIA certifications you can take by themselves,  for Security+ you really need a networking background and preferably Network+.

I took a semester long course for Security+ at the local community college. I needed the credits and might as well add to the certification list. The class used the Microsoft textbook with a lab only because that’s what the instructor based all of his lectures on. It’s a good textbook, but a little outdated since the Security+ exam changed for 2008. He updated the material in his notes and we did a ton of lab exercises which gave us hands on configuring Windows 2008 Server, using Wireshark and installing and using certificates for digital signatures and encryption. This instructor had a practice exam for each chapter and also about a dozen practice exams for the certification which I’m sure helped a lot. The exam questions can be vague and multiple answers appear to be correct. You can usually take out two of the four as being totally wrong and decide between the other two. Rereading the question and paying attention to what the question is really asking will help also.

During the last two weeks before the actual certification I read Security+ Get Certified, Get Ahead by Darril Gibson. Mainly because it is up to date and I always have more than one source for my certifications to give a broader understanding and in case one source misses something. The Gibson book was really good. Easy to read with larger print than most, easy to understand and I especially liked the “Remember” boxes on every other page to highlight points in the chapter. It made for a quick review the last day, I read over the the Remember boxes, the sample questions in the book and other practice quizzes I had the instructor gave me. The Gibson book actually covered a few things the class missed that were on the test, not many, but I know  it helped on one question.

It’s a good book by itself, but I’m glad I had the other class and practice exams. The only bad part of the book is there was no CD, so the chapter quizzes were only on the hard copy in the book.

Security+ is a tough exam only because you need a networking background and you really need to know all of the acronyms regarding security and encryption and it’s a tough subject to begin with.

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