Let me tell you – when I first decided to tackle the Security+ exam, I felt like I’d walked into a Best Buy on Black Friday. Overwhelmed. Sweaty-palmed. Surrounded by flashing acronyms (PKI? SSH? RTO?) that might as well have been written in Klingon. I’d just switched from retail tech support to a junior cybersecurity role, and my boss dropped the “You’ll need this cert in 6 months” bomb like it was no big deal.
My rookie mistake? Buying every study guide Amazon suggested. I had a Tower of Certification Terror in my home office – Mike Meyers’ book gathering dust next to Darril Gibson’s, half-finished Udemy courses mocking me from my browser tabs. (Still convinced the “CompTIA Security+ For Dummies” cover side-eyed me every time I opened Hulu instead.)
The turning point came at 2 AM, three Red Bulls deep, when I accidentally set my VPN lab on fire. Metaphorically. (Though my AWS bill that month did look… crispy.) Here’s what finally worked:
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Embrace the PBQs like your annoying-but-useful cousin
Those performance-based questions aren’t just exam fluff. I practiced setting up firewalls in Packet Tracer while rewatching The Office (Seasons 2-5 only – fight me). Turns out, memorizing port numbers clicks better when you’re also debating Jim vs. Dwight life philosophies. -
Acronyms are your Starbucks order
CompTIA loves alphabet soup. I made flashcards with Sharpies and leftover Panera napkins:
- SSH (Secure Shell) = “Stop Snooping, Hackers!”
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RTO (Recovery Time Objective) = “Really Time to Order pizza” (because that’s what I’d need during downtime)
Stick them on your fridge next to the grocery list. You’ll accidentally learn them while reaching for the OJ.
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The App You’ll Actually Use
Forgot Quizlet. The CompTIA Security+ Pocket Prep app ($20/month) became my bathroom break companion. 10 questions per… uh… session. Scored higher each week than my Wordle average.
Here’s the cold brew truth – No guide covers everything. I passed with 782/900 (barely survived the cryptography section) using:
- Professor Messer’s free YouTube videos (that man deserves a Nobel for clear explanations)
- Jason Dion’s practice exams (brutal, but they prepare you for CompTIA’s trick questions)
- Homelab made from an old Dell OptiPlex (ran Kali Linux while my cat “helped” by walking on the keyboard)
Wait – the secret sauce? Schedule your exam BEFORE you feel ready. I booked mine during a Dunkin’ Donuts caffeine high, which lit a fire under me faster than any study plan.
Final thought: Security+ feels like drinking from a firehose, but you’re not trying to swallow the ocean. Focus on attack vectors (that’s just a fancy way of saying “how bad guys get in”) and disaster recovery. Oh, and disable Windows updates on your practice VM unless you enjoy surprise reboots mid-lab.
(You’ve got this. And if you fail? Welcome to the club – retakes build character. Now go enable MFA on your router before some script kiddie hijacks your smart fridge. Seriously.)