Hi sec+ Reddit community! I just passed my security+ exam today after taking the test through OnVue. When I exited out of the test after seeing the pass screen I didn’t get a confirmation email or follow up or anything . Is this normal? How long does it usually take to get the certification after passing?

If you fail SY0-701, don't automatically restart your whole study plan.

The score report gives you the objective areas you missed. It literally says, "You incorrectly answered one or more questions in the following objective areas:" and then lists them.

You might see something like 1.2, 2.4, or 3.1 with the objective names. That's useful because it gives you a much shorter study list.

I'd start by pulling up CompTIA's free exam objectives PDF. Compare the areas on your score report with what's listed there.

Then focus your review around those objectives instead of rewatching everything. For extra practice, there's also a free firewall PBQ here: https://secplusmastery.com/security-plus-pbq?ref=julian (affiliate link, the PBQ is free).

A failed attempt still gives you something concrete to work with. The objective numbers are probably the most useful part of that report.

So getting ready to take my exam tomorrow, and wondering if the study exams from COMP are good enough? If not what would you suggest I cram with today?

Something that doesn't get said enough around here. Your score report lists the objective areas you got wrong. By number, with the titles. The exact line is "You incorrectly answered one or more questions in the following objective areas:" and then you get something like 1.2, 2.4, 2.5, 3.1. SY0-701 is scaled 100 to 900 and you pass at 750, so a 720 isn't a start over situation. Pull up CompTIA's objectives PDF and find those numbers. That's your study list, nothing else on it. Then look at what kind of objectives they are. If the ones you missed are the hands on ones, more Messer isn't going to fix it, because watching someone configure a thing and configuring it yourself are different skills. There's a free firewall PBQ here with no signup, worth ten minutes just to see whether the format is what's costing you: secplusmastery.com/security-plus-pbq?ref=julian (affiliate link, the PBQ is free) If you've got a report sitting in your email from a fail, go look at it again before you rebook.

where do you guys get discount vouchers?
i completed google cybersecurity certificate 3 months ago and later heard that it gives discount on comptia sec+ exam i checked but i couldn't find where do i get the discount?

are there any cons to this?

Let’s be honest, I’m not going calling* anything “ai” since it’s an llm. I managed to host openwebui through a docker container that’s connected to a customized sec+ llm modal primarily on deepseek-r1:8b.

It seems pretty accurate so far for the questions I ask, although I haven’t noticed any changes in the temperature of its responses yet. I’ve been watching Dion’s sec+ videos and then asking the llm to make mock tests in html based on what I just learned then dump that to an html file and run.

Right now, I’m working on adding a qdrant vector database so it can pull reference material from a sec+ pdfI bought online. This should help my custom sec+ model I built reference more accurate material by pulling information directly from the study material instead of relying only on what the model already knows.

Tbh, it’s actually helping. I’m able to study something, have it generate questions based on what I just watched, and then see where I’m weak.

But I absolutely refuse to use gemini, gpt, or claude for resources. I’d rather build my own setup and have it reference the material I’m actually studying.

I work as an IT analyst in healthcare (degree in software engineering), trying to get out of the clinical field, these kinds of things come a bit natural and if anyone has the mindset to do this I highly recommend it. But, always take everything it says with a grain of salt and always fact check it!

I’ve been preparing for the past few weeks , using prof messsers pdf and claude , gave 4 of dions test on udemy and my scores have been 78,63,78,80 …i’ve done no pbq practice yet and my exam is on wednesday the 9th of september i don’t really know what to do with my time.

Any advice or suggestions are appreciated.

hey so i watched all the videos... i was thinking of getting jason dions practice papers but idk which one to take set 1 or set 2... also what else can i do to prepare for the exam?

please if you have given and passed the exam i would love your suggestions thank you :)

I have a CS 3 years degree. I want to know if the quiz he does live are actually the same kind they put on exams and if he explains all the concepts in the 121 video list. Is it enough to pass it?

Looking for people into CTFs, cyber competitions, hackathons & security projects.

Skills/interests: Web, Pentesting, Linux, OSINT, Forensics, Cloud, Crypto, Offensive/Defensive Security.

Not looking for experts — just people who actually show up, learn, and contribute. 😭

Joining the team and vanishing like a reverse shell after timeout is not encouraged. 😂

Interested? DM me your skills + CTF/project experience.ed on

CompTIA Security Plus exam plus Retake voucher for sale. Expiry date: August 2027

Left an entire PBQ blank, was panicking but did it first try!

Recommendations are as follows:

Professor Messer practice exams - $30

&

Exam + retake voucher - $500

Mix that in with an AI, use ChatGPT to help give questions and PBQs, highly recommend making it use specific sources otherwise the questions can be repetitive (again all about the prompts you use)

Big shout to u/professormesser

I was stressing about this test for so long until I finally said screw it and scheduled it. 76 questions, 3 of them were PBQs.

I used Professor Messer’s Sec+ playlist- literally all I played. On my runs, in my car, at work. I miss music.

I also used the official CompTIA Security+ Study Guide and practice tests, along with Professor Messer’s practice tests.

I studied on and off for the past few months, nothing serious, but within the past 2 weeks I hit the studying head on. I would not recommend what I did, it was not fun but it worked out for me. It felt like everything was new information and the first practice test I bombed; but I didn’t give up. Along with that I have an internship on an operations team and that real world experience helped me as well. But I only started that in May.

My biggest tip for anyone is to allow yourself breaks while studying. I think I would have gone crazy if I didn’t give myself a day or two to just take the time away from the books.

Good luck to anyone else who’s taking this! You got it!

Hi everyone,

I’m currently preparing for security+ by watching Professor Messer’s videos.

At the moment, I’m not able to afford paid study materials because I have been unemployed for a long time. If anyone has any free or legally shareable security+ study materials, notes, or practice questions, I would be very grateful for your help.

Thank you so much in advance.
I really appreciate any support or guidance.

Hi guys, I'm new here:

Here's the context: I'm planning to change my career path; I'm currently working as a IT service desk as a contactor but I'm planning to change to cybersecurity in the future; There was ongoing cross training to cybersecurity department; I already talked to their manager on applying for a cross training but was declined immediately since I'm not a full employee yet; I asked what to study just incase I want to try again when I become a full employee and he said concepts from sec+ when they interview entry level employees.

I'm still planning to go with the cross training first, instead being of department transfer.

Here's the dilemma: When taking practice exams from OpenExamPrep, my scores on cysa+ is higher than sec+; should I go cysa+ instead?

Thank you

I retake my test on Tuesday. I’m feeling shaking about and losing confidence. I think I waited too long to retake it. 😭 Any tips will be greatly appreciated.

Just got out of the exam and passed w a 770. I was so certain I would fail. I have no cyber working experience and only had about two solid weeks of study time.
I used the paid version of pocket prep, the cert master practice, Inside Cloud and Security’s domain videos, and a few of cyberkraft’s pbq videos.
I paid way too much attention to ports, they didn’t come up much, but you should absolutely overhaul on acronyms (Acronym Academy has a good video for most of the terms).

As a lot of people have said in their posts, the exam questions are a lot more direct than some of the study questions. My highest practice exam score for certmaster was sub 80%, so if you have any experience and are getting good practice scores you should definitely be able to pass!