CompTIA Security+ Deluxe Study Guide: Exam SY0-301

Customer Reviews:

The most underadvertised CD ever!

By Jerry White "certify" - July 13, 2011

Curious as to what the differences are between the standard edition of the study guide (which sells for much less) and the "Deluxe" edition, it turns out the most significant difference is in the media. For some reason, the publisher isn't going out of their way to make it readily apparent, but the Deluxe/hardbound edition has a CD which includes a slew of items not in the standard edition. Among them: almost an hour of video on security topics, a "simulation engine" that lets you test your knowledge with something other than multiple choice, more bonus tests and a whole lot of PDFs - lab exercises, cabling info, etc. There is so much value in the CD alone, that it would be nice to see it packaged and sold separate or at least advertised as being the differentiator between the two books.

Passed first time

By Julian - July 6, 2011

After taking the A+ and Network+ exams, I knew what to expect from CompTIA. I found the text great and passed the exam on the first attempt with an 810; however, the practice questions were not nearly as extensive as some of questions on the actual exam. I used other study materials for the this test and found these to more closely match the exam. I would suggest buying the Standard edition, saving $15, and then using another form of study material for practice questions. I'm not entirely sure why the Sybex questions were so easy in this book when the Network+ questions were very close to the actual exam. But if you only study this book and its questions you will not likely pass the exam, simply because you will not expect many of the questions, some of which are not even covered in this text.

Again, it's a fine book for a novice, but the questions are far too easy to adequately prepare a person for the exam, I was getting 85% on the first try. Go to CompTIA.org and take... read more

Don't use this alone to prepare!

By ICW - July 12, 2012

Here is my review on this book. It's not the prettiest most organized and researched one, but here it is!

Passed security+ today, but barrrrrrrrrely. I really did get LUCKY with that test. When I took the test, I was not familiar with a good bit of material. I read the book from front to back doing the exercise questions to scouring the entire CD included. This book was well written but it could of easily been expanded on certain subjects that require a more thorough understanding of so when it comes test time you don't hesitate. I would recommend additional supplements for taking this test. I took a class a year ago, read some other security+ prep books, have looked up security applications for this stuff on web and fiddled around with, and apply these kind of concepts in the real world at my job in general IT (nothing too advanced). Heed my warning or you will be out of $270 and staring at a FAILED screen with some papers in hand that tell you what objectives you... read more