I am now officially CompTIA Security+ Certified. Am I dreaming?

I always love to write about my personal struggles in life because I am a realist 24 7. I hate fake lifestyle whatever with my blood. That’s my life. That’s my choice. That’s my cup of zobo.

You’re free to read my stories and laugh, mock yourself (not me), learn to appreciate my honesty and strong determination or twist my words as blowing trumpet or whatever. Not my business . It is a free world. Ko ju be lo .

I read about 7000 pages (PDF files) , over 2500 past questions plus more than 400 hours of YouTube videos. I studied back-to-back to pass my CompTIA Security certification. I suffered and stressed my brain beyond limit.

The CompTIA Security+ SY0-701 examination is a globally-recognised certification that validates the baseline skills you need to perform core security functions and pursue an IT security career.

The CompTIA Security+ certification is the world’s most sought-after cybersecurity certification. I recently watched the testimony on YouTube of one young American lady in her early 20s.

She passed this exam early this year 2024 and got a job in Dubai as a Systems Administrator/Cyber Security Analyst.

This is probably the hardest examination in my entire life.

That’s my personal opinion, don’t come up with emotional “bla bla bla” narrative.

I memorised over 100 acronyms and about 25 port numbers. Acronyms like DLP(Data Loss Prevention), AUP, MFA, SASE, ALE, ARO, RTO, CIA, AAA, IoT, IoC, WAF, CRL, ACL, OCRL, BIA, MTBF, CVE, CVSS, DNS, CASB, NGFW, NAT, NAC, MTTR, MTTB, SIEM,TCP, UDP, FDE, SCADA, HIDS, IDS, IPS, DKIM, DMARC, RAID, LDAPS, PGP and many brain-stressing acronyms. I suffered ooo.

As a cyber security professional, you cannot forget Domain name Server(DNS port number 53), Https (443), Http(80), FTP(21), LDAPS(636), RDP(3389), MySQL(3306), TelNet(23), SSH(22), Kerberos(88), POP3(110) and many more .

You must also understand Linux commands because you will be working in a Linux environment (not Microsoft Windows) as a Network Engineer, Penetration Tester, Ethical Hacker or Systems Administrator. It is a long story .

I invested in my future, and spent close to £1500 to achieve this feat. But why? I bought some tech ebooks, past questions, and attended many IT conferences to learn more from the experts. You will need around $430 to register for this IT exam. Please check CompTIA website for the current price. Thank you.

There are some online training “schools” charging minimum of £3500 to train you on how to pass this challenging exam but I cannot afford the payment and I did everything on my own.

Hear this bombshell: I failed 2 times despite all the time, money and energy spent to prepare for this “Agbako” examination, and just passed at my third attempt against all odds on Friday, 18th October, 2024. I was reading for about 10 hours per day for almost 6 months.

The pass mark for this exam is 750/900 but both times that I failed, I scored exactly 730/900. Very painful. I wept! This examination is very HARD, quote me anywhere. You need to understand Computer networking and advanced cyber security to pass very well.

Remember at a certain stage in life(above 50!), to read and understand complicated academic textbooks, you will need to struggle and stress your brain beyond limitations, except if you’re a genius like Albert Einstein or Steve Jobs. *I am Dare Lasisi.

I sincerely recommend this textbook : CompTIA Security+: Get Certified Get Ahead SY0-701 Study Guide by Darril Gibson and Joe Shelley.

One of the authors, Darril Gibson died at 64 on September 8th, 2022. It was a long year battle fighting sarcoma cancer; the tumour started in a kidney and grew, to spread to all his vital organs and one of his missions and dreams was to encourage many people to go into Cyber security career. Uncle Darril, this VICTORY is for you, perfect peace for your brilliant soul.

Professor Messer (search this name on YouTube) to understand and know more about CompTIA IT certifications. You will surely thank me later.

On the day of the examination, get ready for serious security checks, CCTV cameras everywhere. No time for nonsense cheating!

You can only enter the exam hall with your ID, nothing must be in your pockets, no calculator. Pen and papers shall be given to you inside the exam hall and you must return everything to the invigilator after the exam.

You must get ready to be photographed and sign NDA(Non Disclosure Agreement).

Why NDA? You cannot really discuss the exam questions(word for word) with anybody but you’re free to give a general overview or summary.

Another tip or trick to remember: If English language is not your first language, you can “smartly” apply for extra 30 minutes while registering for this examination because the examination is just 90 minutes for 90 questions, but you maybe lucky to have less than 90 questions. I got 78 questions instead of 90 questions.

The most challenging section is known as PBQs(Performance-based questions) which are strictly PRACTICALS. You cannot guess the answers. You must know everything from A to Z. That’s the TRUTH.

Once you cannot properly answer PBQs , that’s FAILURE except if you perform extremely VERY WELL in the multiple choice questions, meaning you only missed 5 questions because if you miss more than 10 questions. Forget SUCCESS. That’s FAILURE.

I was given 3 PBQs and to be honest, I struggled to finish 2 out of 3, the last PBQ question was on private and public subnets; limited or no idea but I did my best to just fill the “drag and drop” parts.

This story is just to motivate, educate and inspire my friends (and enemies) that NO EASY WAY TO BREAKTHROUGH in life. It has nothing to do  with this controversial Yoruba proverb : Ti isu eni ba ta yen yen yen bla bla bla yidi yada yunmu yunmu.”

When I left the exam hall in Glasgow, I was afraid and nervous to open the result. Fear of third FAILURE?

My blood started pumping abnormally from my heart to other parts of my body.

Eru ba mi oooo. I swear to God.

Although, once you finished the exam, you will see the result on the computer screen in less than 5 seconds, I clicked as if remotely controlled by unseen spirit, but I did not look at the computer screen. I quickly clicked and jumped up as if running away from an electrical shock. Funny but REAL. I swear to God.

I was patiently waiting for the email confirmation(FAILURE or SUCCESS?) and it came at last yesterday(Saturday, 19th October, 2024) and the rest is now HISTORY.

Free at last. I passed at the third attempt because I scored above 750 over 900.

A pass is a pass, even if I scored exactly 750/900.

Congratulations to me, I still cannot believe I passed this exam. I swear to God.

I swear again, again and again. Oluwa seun oooo.