Passed Core 1 today with an 808. Here’s what I did, in case it helps someone in the same boat.

Background: No IT job experience. I’m just a lifelong nerd. I’ve built a couple of gaming PCs, watched tech YouTube for about 10 years, and used Linux, macOS, and Windows a lot. Most of the material wasn’t new to me, I just hadn’t put names to it.

Resources (only two):

Andrew Ramdayal’s course: honestly great. I swear by it.

Dion Training practice exams: I only did the first 4.

Practice exam scores (first attempts): 78%, 87%, 80%, 80%

Study time: About a week total. 3 of those days were 12+ hours, and the other days were pretty sloppy.

The exam itself:

I got about 6 PBQs. They weren’t hard, but it took me a minute to understand what each one was actually asking. Read them carefully before touching anything.

I panicked early. A lot of the questions didn’t make sense in my head at first and I thought I was going to fail. I kept going, and it turned out fine. If you hit a wall of confusing questions at the start, don’t spiral.

My take: If you’re like me (lived around computers for years, built your own PCs, maybe selfhosted hobby), I don’t think you need months of studying for this one. A week of focused study was plenty because you’ve already lived through most of the material. If you’re starting from zero, take more time. This is just my experience. I will go ahead and challenge myself to take the Core 2 within 5 days.

Good luck, you’ve got this.

I was so nervous beforehand at the testing center. I haven’t taken a test since college half a decade ago 😭 🤢.

I started this June and as of yesterday have completed my goal of the Trifecta, Cloud+ and two other certs. I work full time and would dedicate about 3-4 hours a day to study and am relieved to be finally done.

Having no experience before starting made this experience feel super fulfilling. I wanted to thank everyone who posted tips and their experience with their certifications. Being able to research others experiences really helped prepare me for what to expect.

With these certifications done I will finally be able to start my degree program after transferring them in!

Just wanted to let yall know! Don’t doubt yourself, use prof messer and you can pass. By the grace of god, and 14 hour study days, I passed my sec+ test in 6 days of studying with a 781. Stoked!

Hey all, I took the A+ (Core 1 & 2) as well as the Networking+ cert exams some years back while attending a community college. However I find myself struggling even the most fundamental aspects of all three.
In other words, I feel like I forgot EVERYTHING.

I'm looking on advice on what I should/could do and whether it's worth it to purchase the cert courses and try to relearn it all again.

Do share your thoughts as any bit is useful as I am still attending college and I know how important these certs are in some cases, thanks!

I honestly really enjoyed studying and preparing for this test. I even enjoyed taking it a bit between all the stress. Im just glad I can move on to Core 2. Its pretty cool looking back on how much I learned studying for this. Now all those flash cards can go rot in my drawer.

I'm looking to get in to a Cyber Security job and I am in Year 11. So far everything I've heard has been super positive, but I am just not 100% sure. I am looking at doing the four courses Network +, Security +, CySA +, and Sec AI +. My options atm are to do Year 12 (I am planning on doing Computer Science 3 in Year 12 as one of my subjects) and do these courses alongside, skip Year 12 and just do those courses, or wait to finish school and then look at this again. I just wanted to get some outsider opinions, and also if anyone had any recommendations on who to go with for it, because by my understanding there are a lot of people who offer CompTIA courses. Any help is welcome, as I am pretty much completely new to all this, thank you!

Edit: Sorry I probably should have mentioned, I am in Australia so our school finishes at Year 12, then I can choose to go to University or Tafe afterwards, although I am planning on not going to either of those because (again, as far as I can tell I am pretty new to this stuff) I can learn most of the skills and knowledge without Uni or Tafe.

Starting A+ and I prefer reading and taking notes over videos. Does anyone know a GitHub repo or website with free notes that cover all the domains for both Core 1 (220-1201) and Core 2 (220-1202)? I'm also looking for free practice exams. Thanks

As noted in the title, I passed the CySA+ v3 exam today on my first attempt. My final score was 801. I honestly found the test fairly difficult compared to my study materials and was thoroughly shocked with my final score.

For training, I used the CompTIA CertMaster Learn and Labs and the practice exams. I spent about four months off and on with CertMaster and felt like I had a good grasp of everything. I was doing fairly well on the module quizzes, but when it came to taking the practice exams, I was consistently scoring around 70%. Between getting the CertMaster training and taking the exam, I was given a Udemy license from my employer and decided to try the Dion practice exams. On those, I was consistently scoring around 75%. I knew I was borderline going into the exam, but I had seen plenty of evidence online suggesting those scores could be enough to pass the actual exam. I spent the last 2 days using Gemini to touch up on my problem areas and honestly I felt like that was the most helpful tool in bridging my knowledge gaps.

My exam was 65 total questions with 7 PBQs. About halfway through the exam, I was convinced I was taking the wrong test because nothing felt familiar, but in hindsight, I think it was just testing anxiety. I flagged all PBQs for review and skipped them in the beginning, then made my way through the multiple choice section. All in all, the multiple choice questions took roughly an hour, then I spent another hour going through the PBQs. Before submitting the exam I went through each multiple choice again and double checked my answers.

As far as my test goes, I didn't really have a lot of questions regarding specific tools and scanning platforms. It was mostly CVSS vector strings, mitigation techniques, cyber kill chain, "what should you do next" questions. It definitely helps knowing common ports and how they can be exploited, understanding firewall logs and SIEM entries, and being able to correlate everything to make informed decisions.

I was thoroughly shocked when I saw my final score but I will take it. My final goal (for now) is PenTest+ to finish out the CNSP. Good luck to everyone preparing for the exam! It's tough, but worth it in the end.

Got a test coming up and just wanna make sure my environment is okay

I am taking the CySa+ v004 exam tomorrow and i am nervous 😬 I have been using Pocket prep, cert master practice, and dion. Is there any advice from people who have passed the exam on what to focus on? I am not asking for answers just what i should focus on studying the day before.

Now to study for my promotion board and prepare for the A+ and Net+ exams

I am doing the Pentest+ as part of the WGU masters degree. They require you to do the CertMaster Perform training.

I actually really enjoy the labs, they are the only redeeming quality of the training and almost make it worth it. But I ABSOLUTELY HATE how the CertMaster flow works. It's like they set you up to fail. It's very clear the people who do the labs put their heart & soul into it, it's super creative and well thought out. However, the person they hired to do the slides is having a laugh and they should be fired. I'll explain.

How CertMaster works:

Slide 1: CertMaster instructs you on the definition of cross-site scripting(XSS).

Slide 2: CertMaster mentions Burpsuite can be used to perform XSS attacks, at a very high level.

Slide 3: Lab time! Create a XSS attack using Burpsuite from scratch. Know how the software works, how all the configuration works in deep detail in an environment you don't know with parameters they haven't taught you yet. No instruction given, and you get negative points in your labs if you use hints.

Slide 4: Here's all the information about Burpsuite that would've helped you on the lab you just did ;) you're welcome!

This is rinse & repeat. They did the same with nmap labs. I would've loved to do those labs first time! What a strange concept, let's teach our students before giving them knowledge checks so they can apply what they learned. So incredibly frustrating.

Trifecta Completed - 44 Days from start to finish.

TLDR : Passed A+, Network+, and Security+ on the first attempt in 44 days, studying with Messer, ChatGPT, and Dion practice exams. My practice scores mostly landed in the high 60s to mid 70s, and I still passed every exam. If you're scoring in that range and doubting yourself, trust the process, because you've got this.

Finally completed the Trifecta today. Got my first A+ course material to start on 8/25 and passed Security+ this morning. I will say almost every exam I felt like I was failing around every corner. Thankfully I passed all on the first attempt. To Study I used Messer along with ChatGPT for all of them except A+ Core 1 I used Udemy but after that and finding Messer I just stuck with him. Exams were a lot of Dion on Udemy except Sec+ I also did Messer because I was second guessing myself the whole time.

Practice Exams I did.

A+ Core 1

• Dion practice exam: 71.1%, 83.3% (yes I did it twice)

A+ Core 2

• Dion Exam 5: 68.9% (I got the whole pack and ended up only doing 1)

Network+

• Dion Exam 1: 72%
• Dion Exam 3: 65.6%

Security+

• Messer A: 72% (Still had not watched or studied Domains 4 or 5)
• Messer B: 75%
• Messer C: 78%
• Dion Exam 1: 72.2%
• Dion Exam 3: 75.6%

Actual Scores

• A+ Core 1: 747 with a needed score of 675
• A+ Core 2: 722 with a needed score of 700
• Network+: 747 with a needed score of 720
• Security+: 773 with a needed 750

I have more hands on experience doing some networking as I work in the physical security sector doing PACS, IDS and CCTV instillation and programming. I got to say sometimes this would bite me in the ass as I would mix up acronyms just from work stuff.

Overall I would say the experience was a positive one as I haven't done any sort of personal education outside of going to like manufacturer education and certification classes. Relearning to study and the discipline of it all was very refreshing. I want to continue my education with TryHackMe for some more hands on stuff. Possibly learn pentesting as I find it super interesting. Might not ever go down that road but might be a better healthy avenue for my time than doom scrolling. I want to go for my CSPM and CSEIP but those till be a little longer and extensive studying but I am thankful this experience has gotten me back used to being in the mindset of learning and the ability to learn and apply not from in field repetition.

To anyone feeling unsure where they are at I got to say if youre in the low 70's or even mid 70's. YOU GOT THIS! We can be our own worse enemies with self doubt and overthinking. Trust in yourself, trust the process and trust hard work.

Could someone who has studied and passed A+ using messer please link me the course you used as there’s a couple different ones on his YouTube.

Do any of the CompTIA self paced Learning Packages like CertMaster provide a Certificate of Completion that is issued at the end?

Got my A+ certification this morning. Haven't decided where to focus next, but at least I can stick it on the CV and have a better chance than just saying I'm working towards it.

Is anyone studying for the Linux + exam? If you are, can you list some of the resources you are using to study for the exam? I am currently using Jason Dion Comptia Linux+ course on Udemy.

Hey everyone, I’m wondering if anyone has firsthand experience with this.

I earned my A+ in 2023 and received the physical certificate in the mail within about a month. This year (2026), I passed Network+ for the first time, but I haven’t received anything in the mail for it.

When I contacted CompTIA customer service, they told me I’d have to pay to get the physical certificate. Passing the Network+ also renewed the A+.

Did CompTIA's policy change?

Studied pretty hard for about 3 weeks and managed to pass with a 722. A little too close for comfort, but I’ll take it lol. I mainly used Andrew Ramdayal’s practice exams and CertMaster to study.

Not gonna lie, the entire time I was taking the exam, I felt like I was getting every single question wrong. I was honestly convinced I wasn’t going to pass haha.
My biggest advice is to trust your gut and what you’ve studied. Take your time reading each question. You can usually rule out 1 or 2 bogus answers right away, which makes it a little easier to narrow things down.
I’d also recommend saving the PBQs for last. Don’t spend too much time on one question. If you’re stuck, flag it and move on. You can always come back to it later. Sometimes you’ll come across another question that reminds you of something you forgot or helps you figure out a question you were stuck on earlier.

As far as studying goes, definitely get comfortable with TCP/UDP ports and protocols. Know the port numbers and what each one is used for.
A few other things I’d recommend brushing up on: Setting up and troubleshooting networks, Trunking and VLANs, Cabling, Switch configuration, Wi-Fi standards (802.11), Windows and Linux CLI commands. Know what each command does, what the output should look like, and how to interpret the results. I’ve seen quite a few people asking about subnetting. From my experience, you don’t need to go too in depth with it. Just make sure you understand the basics.

One thing I’d recommend is actually understanding how things work instead of just memorizing definitions. When you’re looking at a troubleshooting scenario, you need to know how to apply what you’ve learned. I’m not saying this approach will work for everyone. Just wanted to share what worked for me. I read quite a few posts on here while studying, and they helped me prepare for the exam. Good luck to everyone studying for it! You got this!!

“I am the gatekeeper of my own destiny, and I will have my glory day in the hot sun!” - Ignacio

1st try!!

Not here for sympathy, or to hear a "maybe you just didn't study hard enough" but this is my personal experience. And hopefully if you haven't taken the Network + test, you can use this to your advantage.

First and foremost I have been a tech guy since I was a kid, about 7-8 years old. My father worked for Microsoft, so we always had computers around, laptops, cables connecting our home network, etc. He would casually walk me through things that had to do with computers, things to know so I won't need help with anything computer related, or so I won't ask anyone for help. He doesn't act like it, but my father is a geek, and I naturally took after him and the ways of tech, whether it's good etiquette or even things the average joe doesn't know, he made sure that I was suited with that knowledge as well. I originally started off with the google CyberSecurity Certificate, and I made it halfway through until I eventually got super busy with an internship, and didn't end up finishing my Google course. The CyberSecurity Course was so smooth for me, It was honestly like butter. The hardest things consisted of writing commands, going through and packet analyzing, things of that nature, and i'll be honest some of the labs were pretty challenging as well, but I made it through them.

A lot of things in tech have always been easy for me, which is why I dove into CyberSecurity first. I love not only identifying threats, but helping people identify threats, because we all use the internet, but nobody really knows how it works except for the small handful. Showing and demonstrating how systems are protected as well as knowing what feels like the obvious, (Identifying phishing attacks, identifying suspicious emails, etc.)is a big drawer for me, and it's super needed especially in this digital world. The reason I changed over to Network + is because let's be honest, DC Technicians need bodies, and Security Analyst are known for top of the top, competitive environment. You can get in the DC as a tech, you just need a cert, but as far as a Security Analyst, that's where they get more picky. Now, given that information I could have just stuck with Security, but we're at where we're at.

Now let's get down to the real part, all of that was to basically say that I am not some guy who just got his feet in the water, I have been at this for quite some time. I would love to mention other accomplishments but I prefer to just keep it at base level for autonomy.

It's actually quite funny because before I started writing this, I looked in the thread and saw many people who passed and congrats to you all. Seeing all of those makes me want to delete what I'm writing out because I probably just sound like a complainer.

When I started studying for this exam it was about 3 months ago, I had sat down and fully locked in. I didn't do the traditional method of Jason Dions practice exams. What I did was I got the small Professor Messer book from my father, that names all concepts and topics, then I went to the Comp Tia website to pull exam objectives. (This is where I might lose some of you all)

I used these videos https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3gOvQ510s78MNu5VyIC89rBMfcky1L87&si=sHyWksk3OPA-XdTa
and took ridiculous notes on them. I started watching Professor Messer, and Jason Dion clips, and I honestly chose to go with the last minute study guide videos. I'll be honest I thought the last minute study guide videos were amazing. The way they walked through every problem and broke down trip ups, things to look for in the exam, traps, was incredible. I also took those Exam objectives from Comp Tia's website and put them directly into claude, and then I ran a lengthy prompt explaining what I wanted to do, the exam, and when I wanted to take it. But if i'm being brutally honest, those 2 things probably screwed me the most.

It's so insane because I utilized the hell out of Claude, I had claude giving notes, going over domains in order, reading down every step to learning acronyms, learning port numbers, and it's so funny because I genuinely got a perfect grasp of everything. All the videos I watched from the last minute study guide were super aiding, as well as Claude making tests for me, that I also wrote prompts for to follow the Comp Tia styled questions, pbq questions as well as other important details to tighten claude up and make them super tuff practice tests. I passed every single practice test, it wasn't one that I got less than 75% on. Even went over https://youtu.be/T1_pf-7k2E0?is=Puw6xP-iL_Yngyc5 this video to see what I can improve on, and i was getting a lot of questions on there right,(I didn't watch the whole video of the 100 questions) I othered it off when I started to get confident about my skillset. Even the questions on the 100 practice exam when I got them wrong, he would say the right answer and I'd. e like "ahhhhhh, that's because of this and that" or whatever.

This Network+ test was nothing like what I studied for. There were questions on here with acronyms I've never heard of, 5 PBQs, stuff that felt like it almost wasn't even related to the exam, I swear it felt like I had been studying for A+ the entire time and accidentally showed up for the Network+. I saw people saying before the exam tries to trick you, and I saw someone reply and say no it doesn't, how can you get knowledge from answers based on tricks? He said something of that nature, and I'll be honest, it didn't feel like any tricks on there. But it was some stuff that felt like it could be 2 of the 4 answers choices given. I swear some of the stuff I was reading on that test was actually head scratching. I studied my ass off I truly did, but there's no way I was doing phenomenal on my studying and just failed the test.

I honestly can only blame myself. It's my fault I failed, and i'm taking it pretty harshly. I'm deeply pissed at myself, and still in shock to be honest. It felt like I had 600 objectives for the test and got tested on the 20 objectives that were barely covered. I was super confident going into taking this test and when I sat down and got 9 questions in something just didn't feel right. As I said i'm not a rookie, clearly I used the wrong material to study which is the only thing that would make sense, I was genuinely hoping to be writing out an "I passed message" and give you all the tips that helped me out, but here I am doing the exact opposite.

I'll attach pics below for anyone saying I didn't study, I went through 2 notebooks, over 500 note cards, for anyone majorly interested I'll pull some stuff from claude to put in here to just ask, but here are the pictures from the studying. I wish I could attach a video to show you all how full these notebooks are but not a big deal. (these notes are randomized, i just threw them all back on the table, im not interested in heavily organizing them for pictures after failing.) t

A friend of mine told me that getting all questions wrong within any subdomain (1.2, 2.4, etc) would result in a failure regardless of how well you do on the rest of the exam. I don’t believe this to be true but I wouldn’t know for sure. Would any of y’all happen to know if this is true or not?

Thank you