I Passed the CompTIA Security+ SY0-501
07/21/2021
Yesterday I took and passed the Security+ SY0-501 exam. It has been something I have been working towards for a long time. I have often been picking up and putting down study material for this over the last two years. I finally got focused and over the last several weeks I put in a lot of time to get this done before the exam retired. I really did not want to purchase new study material.
I wanted to put together a quick post about how I got through this. I'll share what study materials and methods I used and how I feel about those. First I will share some thoughts on the test. I went into the exam feeling unprepared and somewhat already expecting to have to get a retake exam. Thankfully I did not need to do that since I passed. You get 90 minutes for this exam. I had less than 15 minutes left by the time I got through all of the questions. I was unable to get through all my flagged questions during this time. I utilized every minute I had to do this exam.
My study strategy starts with some video courses. I watched SY0-501 courses from ITPro.TV and from Professor Messer. The ITPro.TV course was good but Professor Messer's videos were far superior. When watching these I just try to absorb as much information as possible while watching these. I also purchased Jason Dion's course but I never watched it in its entirety. With Jason's course I mostly just watched the sections I was having issues with. I am not a fan of how he combined SY0-501 and SY0-600 topics into one video course. I also have a collection of books. I used these more for reference for something I didn't understand or was struggling with. All of these are linked down below.
I then use practice questions to determine what I do and do not know. Professor Messer has study groups with practice questions that I would listen to in the car. Also some of those books I purchased come with practice questions on a cd.
When I took those questions I would write down what I did not understand. I would find the relevant information in a book. I would then turn that into a flash card. This forced me look into the topic, make a note as to what something was and then be able to review it during spare time. I would keep repeating practice questions and flash cards. I kept finding things while browsing the book(s) that I didn't understand and made cards for those topics as well. And I just repeated this process until the day of the exam.
This has been a very stressful but rewarding adventure. I really have learned a lot. I put in a lot of time and a lot of effort to be able to pass this exam. If you have any questions about it, feel free to send me a question on Twitter. Thank you to everyone who has supported me in anyway! And thank you for reading.
Professor Messer’s SY0-501 CompTIA Security+ Course
https://www.professormesser.com/security-plus/sy0-501/sy0-501-training-course/
ITPro.TV CompTIA Security+ (SY0-501)
https://www.itpro.tv/courses/comptia/security-updated-2017/
Jason Dion's CompTIA Security+ (SY0-501 & SY0-601) Complete Course & Exam
https://www.udemy.com/course/securityplus/
CompTIA Security+ Review Guide: Exam SY0-501 4th Edition
Mike Meyers' CompTIA Security+ Certification Guide, Second Edition (Exam SY0-501) 2nd Edition
CompTIA Security+ All-in-One Exam Guide, Fifth Edition (Exam SY0-501) 5th Edition
https://www.amazon.com/CompTIA-Security-Guide-Fifth-SY0-501/dp/1260019322/ref=sr_1_5?crid=3VPYT5S0Y5LRY&dchild=1&keywords=security%2B+501&qid=1626844621&sprefix=security%2B+%2Caps%2C217&sr=8-5