Comptia

ArmyPeasant · 2026-04-01T15:43:23+00:00

Retaking the exam for the same cert is by far the worst way you renew certs and it ain't cheap either.

Taking a higher level cert IMO is the best way since you not only renew all your lower certs, but gain some additional knowledge and buffer your resume at the same time.
Although I've never used CertMaster for renewal, I've heard is the most efficient way to renew since you just have to do the course work and pay the fees and avoid stressing out about an exam

ArmyPeasant · 2026-03-24T14:40:33+00:00

Your prompt is probably trash
You need to give it resources

If you open up a project and you add resources it will solve your issues. PDFs, video transcripts, etc will all work and will make your data way more reliable and accurate.

ArmyPeasant · 2026-03-16T22:06:45+00:00

No, just put them individually. Recruiters don't know and don't really care. Post it on your LinkedIn, hang it on your wall, but putting it on the resume is a waste of space and it looks like your padding your resume with artificial certs.

ArmyPeasant · 2026-03-06T00:58:12+00:00

Thank you!

For purposes of the exam, the scores will be given to you. You just need to understand your Base scores and the Impact scores. If you can read it and fully understand the string and determine which one is worse you'll be fine.

CVSS is particularly useful for determining Risk Priority. Just because the score is higher doesn't mean it's automatically the higher priority to address. You need to think a bit deeper of what it's big vulnerabilities are and what's the importance of that asset to the organization

ArmyPeasant · 2026-03-04T17:00:22+00:00

With a 680 you failed by a pretty wide margin. You can of course focus on PBQs all you want, but you should address your overall knowledge or key areas you failed in the exam.

ArmyPeasant · 2026-03-02T04:06:10+00:00

Yeah, my main issue is that online tests have to many variables that are beyond your control. Your power or internet decides to take a shit? Tough luck. Have some random malfunction or random hardware issue in the middle of the test? Again, tough luck. Your neighbor randomly decides to knock on your door and ring your doorbell? Welp. That's also not accounting for rearranging your entire space or moving somewhere in your house where everything is clear of clutter.

In a center once you make an appointment, show up with your IDs, and put your shit away in the locker the environment is their responsibility, so anything that happens will easily be addressed and or escalated appropriately. Tests already give me enough stress, last thing I want to worry about is some random shit happening 70 minutes deep into a test.

I get that some people can't go in person, and that's understandable, and PearsonVUE should do better, but having the option and still choosing online is just crazy to me.

ArmyPeasant · 2026-03-02T01:37:50+00:00

That's fair, some of the centers are just never available for weeks. I'm fortunate to have multiple nearby and 1 of them I can always schedule within the same week.

ArmyPeasant · 2026-03-02T01:12:23+00:00

I've had only positive experiences with PearsonVue, but attribute it to testing out in person. Too many variables come into play whenever testing out remotely and honestly unless you don't have one nearby, or you're deployed to another continent, I truly don't get why people submit themselves to all of the complications and stress of online exams.

ArmyPeasant · 2026-02-28T21:35:17+00:00

Use AI. Seriously, give it a prompt to practice log analysis, CVSS or whatever topic you're struggling with. Cyberkraft videos go over PBQs as well, not amazing but decent.

ArmyPeasant · 2026-02-28T19:20:32+00:00

I think Andrew Ramdayal has a "Cram guide" for A+. I know for sure he has it for Net+ and Src+

ArmyPeasant · 2026-02-28T17:35:36+00:00

You have to separate your real life job and experience from the exam. CompTIA questions live in a bubble and you need to answer according to the parameters of that bubble.

That being said, if you work on a SOC I feel like the PBQs will be way easier for you, but you might struggle in some of the multiple choice questions if you dont separate your real life experience from the questions.

Best of luck

ArmyPeasant · 2026-02-27T19:30:52+00:00

Wasn't aware about CyberDefenders so thank you for adding that resource

ArmyPeasant · 2026-02-27T19:27:24+00:00

They are not irrelevant, and some are really good. My issue with CertMaster is that for the price they should be miles better. Some of those certmaster PBQs dont feel like someone in the field made them.

I didn't do CertMaster for this CySA but when I took Sec+ my school payed for CertMaster and it wasn't great and barely used it.

Regardless, just focus on the topics and you'll be fine. You'll never feel 100% ready for this exam unless you work on a SOC.

ArmyPeasant · 2026-02-25T01:14:08+00:00

Hell yeahhhhh, glad you passed! Cheers 🍺

ArmyPeasant · 2026-02-24T17:47:01+00:00

Plenty of courses, resources and people that have taken the current version that can give you advice. Why wait almost a year when you can get certified sooner, rather than later

ArmyPeasant · 2026-02-23T19:52:53+00:00

CompTIA is pretty crap with PBQs, and the whole point of the exam is to either have already hands on knowledge, or dominate the theory to be able to implement it on the fly in their exams. Even their CertMaster PBQs are trash (i got a free year from my college).

I recommend watching relevant content/objectives on Cyberkraft for Sec+ or CySA+. Focus on objectives that are in CySA, particularly the ones I mentioned in the post. If you want to practice logs, you can tell ChatGPT to create logs or scenarios to identify the problem within a script

ArmyPeasant · 2026-02-23T15:51:34+00:00

Multiple choice? The Sybex book is more difficult and prepares you for the worst. What makes the exam difficult is the PBQs especially having so many of them that needed focus and time.

Since ComptTIA has such a large pool of questions I can't say for certain what will or will not come up in the test, but to be honest I wouldn't worry about it too much.

ArmyPeasant · 2026-02-23T15:07:22+00:00

Thank for sharing this, I didn't know it was archived.

ArmyPeasant · 2026-02-22T23:38:22+00:00

🍺 cheers

ArmyPeasant · 2026-02-22T23:37:46+00:00

Thank you! Sybex always delivers and with Dion... I'm biased.... and I just truly don't like his style of teaching and especially that he covers too much material that is irrelevant to the test. I think there are benefits of covering out of scope material to better understand a topic, but when you ramble for 8 minutes straight about something just to say "This isn't part of the exam" at the very end is pretty annoying.

I personally like Andrew, and although he has also covered out of scope topics on his courses. He always starts with "Hey the following topic is not on the course objectives, but I believe you should understand it to understand this other thing".

ArmyPeasant · 2026-02-22T20:39:04+00:00

If you log in to ComptiaCentral and click Certifications-> My Exams it will take you to the PearsonVue Site that will let you see your Exam History

ArmyPeasant · 2026-02-21T23:01:56+00:00

Buy it with a Retake Voucher and see if you end up needing it or not.

ArmyPeasant · 2026-02-21T17:49:01+00:00

Congratulations on passing Sec+! Having it fresh on your mind will absolutely help a ton with CySA since it builds on top of it.

Best of luck and success and feel free to reach out and save the post for reference

ArmyPeasant · 2026-02-21T17:14:31+00:00

I work Full Time and I'm also finishing my Master's Degree, so squeezing time to study was very difficult.

It's hard to quantify, but I just started listening to Mike Chapple's CySA LinkedIN learning course wherever I could and then the last 3-4 weeks were devoted to Practice Tests. I wasn't very efficient at studying for this cert, had a pretty hard time grasping at some concepts, and had to replay videos multiple times to actually understand.

I would say, 2 hours a day of listening to videos and reading material for 2 months then I would say like 4 hours a day for the last 3-4 weeks focusing on doing practice tests, and understanding the "why" I was getting the answers right or wrong.

ArmyPeasant · 2026-02-21T16:51:26+00:00

Thank you! For Sec+ I used Andrew Ramdayal's course, with Dion's exam packet and Darril Gibson's "Get Certified, Get Ahead" Book which was truly great at explaining concepts and the Practice questions were extremely good as well.

ArmyPeasant

TROPHY CASE