How I Passed 6 IT Certification Exams on the First Try
After I left my most recent job, I did not have a clear-cut plan on how to transition to a career in IT security.
I just knew that I did not have the time to implement my plans and that I needed to resign so that I’d have more time to study.
I attempted to study for the CompTIA Security+ exam various times before and failed to follow through on my studying, due to working full-time (and, at one point, working two jobs.)
During the summer of 2017, I started a year-long savings challenge and saved enough to financially take care of myself for several months. I handed in my resignation mid-September 2018 and, by the first Monday of October, I was nose-deep in an e-book. By the first week of January 2019, I passed the Security+, CCENT, CCNA: Security, CCNA: Routing & Switching, AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner and Splunk Core Certified User exams.
Below are the resources I used to pass the exams.
- “I Passed” Threads on Reddit
Until recently, I actively avoided Reddit. I’ve heard the worst things about it. However, after doing my own research, I learned that there are certain sectors of Reddit that are not so terrible. The r/CompTIA and r/CCNA sub-Reddits have been super helpful to me. Usually, when someone on Reddit passes an IT certification exam, they’ll start a thread entitled “I Passed [insert exam name here]” and list the resources they used to study.
I noticed that the most commonly referenced resources used by Redditors who passed the Security+ exam were Professor Messer’s videos and Darrill Gibson’s “Get Certified Get Ahead: SY0–501 Study Guide” book.
2. Test Prep E-Books
The debate over reading from a digital copy vs. physical copy is based on a person’s preference. However, I highly recommend digital copies.
For one, digital copies are weight-less (a physical copy of the official CCNA study guide has almost 10,000 pages and is literally 8.5 lbs.)
Two, text is easier to reference in a digital copy with custom bookmarks vs. a book full of Post-It notes.
I read my test prep e-books with Adobe Acrobat; Acrobat allowed me to create and edit bookmarks in the PDFs, which was a life-saver. The bookmarks I created in these PDFs allowed me to keep track of all the topics that are covered in the exams and to compartmentalize all of the information I retrieved from these thousand-page books (if you don’t have access to Adobe Acrobat, PDF-Xchange Viewer is a free PDF editor that edits bookmarks.)
3. Test Prep Videos
Test prep videos are a good study resource for those who are visual learners and/or need an additional explanation of the material that the books cannot offer. This is where video series like Professor Messer’s videos come into play (fun fact: Prof. Messer is the reason why I pursued the CCNA exams after the Security+; he pointed out in one of his study group videos that networking is the foundation of security and that the main focus of his first job in security was firewall configuration, a networking-related task.) What I like the most about Prof. Messer’s videos is that he makes sure to cover each topic in the CompTIA objectives of the exams that he covers.
For exams other than the Security+, Cybrary is a resource that consists of videos from instructors who teach certification material.
As well, there are YouTubers, aside from Prof. Messer, who offer free video content.
4. E-Flashcards
Like the PDF bookmarks, Quizlet was a lifesaver for me. My biggest concerns while studying are whether I’ve gone over each topic in the exam objectives and if I’ve gone over each topic enough to pass the tests. Quizlet helps with these concerns because, with Quizlet, I create e-flashcards for each topic on the exams. When I studied for the CCNA: Security exam, I needed a visual representation of the Cisco router/switch commands needed to configure the more complex topics like IPSec VPNs (and Quizlet’s mobile app made studying easier as well.)
Because Quizlet doesn’t have a library of images of Cisco firewall commands, I purchased a one-year premium subscription to insert my own images into the flashcards. If anyone would like to use my e-flashcards, let me know and I will give you links to my cards.
5. Practice Labs
I ordered these methods based on the order in which I used them; however, practice labs are probably the most important method in this article. Out of the 6 certification exams that I took, 4 of them were performance-based. Practice labs help test takers prepare for performance-based questions. Darrill Gibson has practice performance-based questions on his blogs. There are people who have created their own labs for others to use via Packet Tracer; these are helpful for the Cisco exams. For other exams, free practice labs are difficult to find; ITPro.TV offers practice labs for the exams in their catalog for about $40 per month.
6. Practice Tests
Boson’s Ex-SimMax software offers excellent practice tests. I honestly believe that Boson’s practice Cisco exams are the reason why I passed them. They covered material that the test prep books. Some of the questions were performance-based and very similar to actual questions on the exams.
Their practice tests are about $100, but Boson offers discounts every now and then.
I hope this list offered adequate information for anyone out there who has been stuck on how to tackle their study plan. And, if you are currently studying, good luck!
