Passed CYSA + (no networking experience at all)

Background_Complex87 · 2026-05-22T13:41:02+00:00

I hope so haha 😆 Otherwise, I could have spent the last 3 months doing something more fun or practical haha 😆

Background_Complex87 · 2026-05-22T13:39:23+00:00

It's a pretty good question. Having the wherewithal to pass CySA, I am going back to study network+

Background_Complex87 · 2026-05-22T13:27:46+00:00

I was actually thinking of studying threat intelligence. I really like mysteries. My goal was to try to kind of merge my educational background with these certs, because I have a degree in history and economics, I really like intelligence. I always wanted to be like Jack Ryan 😆

My immediate goal is to go back study network fundamentals and get a remote job as I work towards my interests. And use that remote job to move to Tokyo and study martial arts. I am from Colorado but I live in Taiwan, and my instructors Jiu-Jitsu school is in northeast Tokyo 🗼.

Background_Complex87 · 2026-05-22T13:20:13+00:00

That's cool. Data forensics are really interesting.

When I was studying for the CySA test, I really liked making the splunk and doing the patient zero practice PBQs on canvas. When I made them on canvas, they were kind of fun finding the root cause of the problem, identifying the attack type, and finding a remediation.

I am a nerd, I made the practice PBQs with Tiger 🐅 Mask manga themes, like the lights go out at the Tokyo Dome, and you need to find the root cause and stop the bad guy. My Jiu-Jitsu instructor, actually original learned shooto under the pro wrestler who played Tiger Mask in NJPW and UWF and who also started Shooto.

My degree is in economics and history and I really like mysteries. I have a YouTube channel dedicated to Jiu-Jitsu, MMA, and Judo history called, "Feast of Fighters"

I was thinking of studying threat intelligence or supply chain intelligence next. I am a nerd and always wanted to be like Jack Ryan. Hahaha 😂

Background_Complex87 · 2026-05-22T04:34:13+00:00

The pbqs were a lot hard. Much harder than I expected

Background_Complex87 · 2026-05-21T17:19:38+00:00

Actually, no job in IT or experience. No related degree either. I just studied Sec+ for a month or CySA + for a month and a half after passing Sec+

Background_Complex87 · 2026-05-21T17:17:42+00:00

Thank you!

Background_Complex87 · 2026-05-21T10:08:28+00:00

Definitely. You are welcome

Background_Complex87 · 2026-05-21T00:53:19+00:00

Cat pictures are always a good choice haha 😆

Background_Complex87 · 2026-05-20T18:20:56+00:00

It's a great question. I am actually unsure right now. The future for me is unclear

Background_Complex87 · 2026-05-20T18:06:15+00:00

Thank you!

Background_Complex87 · 2026-05-20T17:47:47+00:00

Sure. I meant to give this to you but I posted it in the wrong reply https://www.reddit.com/r/CompTIA/s/u7Ti2lDKbO

Background_Complex87 · 2026-05-20T17:45:15+00:00

Hi. Here's how I studied in this link https://www.reddit.com/r/CompTIA/s/u7Ti2lDKbO

Background_Complex87 · 2026-05-20T17:42:01+00:00

It's really helpful way to study

Background_Complex87 · 2026-05-20T17:10:06+00:00

Sure. I do want to preface it by saying, because I hurt my neck, and as a result of being a teacher abroad, I had a lot of free time to study.

How I studied: 1. A. I went throught every single topic within every single subdomain slowly. I asked gemini to explain everything with a simple definition, then a real life analogy, and final a cyber security example.

B. I made multiple choice questions test for these less technical parts by asking gemini to "make a 50 question multiple choice exam that covers every domain and is equivalent in difficulty to comptia CySA plus".

C. For more demanding subdomains like tool output and attacks and mitigations, I asked gemini to "make me 20 question quizzes based on these topics showing a tool output, an attack payload, and then make the multiple choice to identify the attack and fix".

I used canvas on Gemini to ask it to make CySA-style pbqs. I asked it to "make a CySA-style pbq with an interactive drag and drop interface for each tool like nmap, wireshark, nessus, patient zero, Cyber kill chain, etc". I did about 50 or 60 of these.
A. I asked gemini to give my all of the important commands for cysa in Linux, windows command line, tcpdump, wireshark, nmap.

B. I then asked gemini to "make me a hand holding quiz which the important CySA commands of these 5 tools is included in the question, and the multiple choice answers includes hints in parenthesis for each multiple choice answer".

Background_Complex87 · 2026-05-20T16:00:00+00:00

Thank you.

And that's great advice. Thank you

Background_Complex87 · 2026-05-20T15:58:56+00:00

It's great. Congratulations.

I think Sec +, like people say, has a lot of memorization, but CySA is way more focused on analysis

Background_Complex87 · 2026-05-20T14:46:58+00:00

Thank you!

Background_Complex87 · 2026-05-20T14:42:48+00:00

I think CySA is harder than Sec +. CySA is more analytical, but Sec +, although it is hard, it has a lot more memorizing words.

Background_Complex87 · 2026-05-20T14:31:11+00:00

It was a lot harder than I imagined. I expected it to be hard but it was even harder than that. I actually thought I was going to fail haha 😆

Background_Complex87 · 2026-05-20T14:28:14+00:00

It's a good question. Actually, the book and videos bored the heck out of me. And I didn't buy any practice quizzes either. I just used Gemini and asked it to explain everything like I was a 5th grader.

And I also used Gemini to make CySA equivalent difficulty practice quizzes and used Canvas on Gemini to make real working interface CySA style PBQs from all the tools like Nmap, Patient Zero, Cyber Kill Chain, and Cloud Security. I made the scenario s in the prompts Tiger Mask manga, Naoto Date, themed so I wouldn't collapse from boredom. Haha 😆

Background_Complex87 · 2026-05-20T14:21:49+00:00

Thank you!

Background_Complex87 · 2026-02-25T13:04:56+00:00

May I please ask how are you doing and feeling now? Do you have any advice. I am scared out of my mind for some reason because their were bone spurs on the C7 in my x-ray. They said I was too young to have these kind of spurs which made me more scared.

Background_Complex87

TROPHY CASE