First, a bit of background, been interested in Hacking for about 20, just never had the confidence to really pursue it. I was let go from a job around this last year, one reason I took the job, was because I got to code, and I thought maybe I could pivot into Cybersecurity from, or at least save enough money to do a cert like the OSCP. Before that I did, 10 years in IT support, mostly 1st and 2nd level, after that I tried desk-side role with same thought pivot into Cybersecurity, guess what it did not work out, I just not suited for desk-side, then I did a Big Data Course as I got to code and got a couple of certs in Python and SQL, which lead to the job I got let go from.
Here in Ireland when you becoming unemployed, you can do the courses to up-skill, the training material is provided by third party company, and the Social welfare department will pay for your voucher to do the exam for the cert, The company that has the contract to run the courses is the same company that ran my Big Data Course so I knew what to expect, they provide all training material and you had passed a multiply choice tests at end of each module to move on to next module, once completed would apply for the voucher, think the pass mark was 80% or 90%.
I was able to get through the material pretty quick as I was able to retake the test, till I hit the pass mark and the question we’re all ways the same. The first time I would get between 60% and 70%, so after revising the ones I got wrong I usually pass the next time, I don’t think had to do a module test more than 3 times. Once complete all the modules I booked the exam, for 2nd September which was about 4–6 weeks away,
I used online practice exams and watched some Professor Messer videos, the most import one was, the first where he advised how to approach the exam on the day, it 90 minutes you get between 50–90 Question, the first few are performance, the like drag and drop or in this situation you need to do x, y and, the rest were multiple-choice, marked between 100–900, the pass mark is 750. His advice was to leave the performance till last, I also decided that I answer all multiple-choice questions as quick I could flag any I wasn’t 100% sure of and came back at the end. I also found I had enough time to go back over all the question again, though this could be a mistake as one or two I changed the answer two or three times, though in end it did not matter as I got 790, and the pass was 750.
The first thing I focused on was time, I wanted to see how may I could do in 30 minutes, using online practice exams , I got through about 50 questions ever 20–30 minutes it gave me confidence that I would able to complete the exam in 90 minutes. The other recommendation I would give is if you can wear earplugs. They block out all the background noise, like computers or people moving about, they will help you keep focus.
My goal is to use the CompTIA Security +, to get an entry-level IT security role and work my way up to a red team pen-tester. CompTIA lasts for 3 years so that how long I have given myself, I will be 41 then. I already completed some simple retired machines on Hack the Box and done some Hacker 101 Capture the Flag challenges to gain the patriarchal skills.
