Professor messer

Just passed my test with a 741 on my 1102. Now I'm A+ certified.
Resources I used include Professor Messer's video course, Dion's practice exams on Udemy, and other freely available practice tests. Only paid resource I used was the Dion exams.

Anyone that graduated from Wgu that got a BCSIA (bachelors in cybersecurity and information assurance), do you guys still use the information from the A+, Security+, Network+ information in your jobs?
I’m going to be attending Wgu in may and thought I could get a head start by studying the material for Professor messer on the A+, Security+, Network+. I just feel it’s so much material that I’m kinda doubting you need to know all of it once you get a job in cyber security. So I was wondering how much of the material you learned from Wgu you actually apply, all of it or some of it?

I took my sec+ exam this morning after 1 month 2 weeks of passive studying and 2 weeks of locked in studying if that makes sense I scored a 765 I used the CompTIA app paid 10 dollars for full access I watched professor messers YouTube videos alongside watching a 10 hour video on all the domains by inside cloud and security YouTube channel he covers everything as well but it took me a awhile to get through the whole video because I have a short attention span I also purchased Jason dions and messers practice test dions comes with 6 and messers come with 3 I think there both good dions are good because they are automated and tell you your score at the end but messers test are longer and he asks questions more similar to the way they do on the actual exam the only issue is it’s pdf format so you have to check your own answers at the end I would recommend printing them out the only thing I wasn’t prepared for was the pbqs I had 4 of them on my test with a total of 80 questions I answered them as best I could but that was the hardest part along with how the exam asks questions

Every month, Professor Messer has a livestream on YouTube, hosting a study group for each of the exams in the Trifecta (A+ Core 1, A+ Core 2, Net+, Sec+). Each show consists of an hour of questions, answers, and explanations provided by Professor Messer. Afterwards, there's an hour plus of Messer answering questions from the YouTube chat.
It's such a good resource. It's good for reviewing the material, learning testing-taking strategy, and Messer often gives career advice in the second half. And it's FREE. Even if you can't make the livestream while it's airing, Profrssor Messer keeps an archive of all the study group videos up on YouTube. Check it out!

I just passed SEC + using professor messer videos, his practice exams, and dions exams

I passed my 1101 today, and my 1102 last week. 741 and 758, respectively. I am early 30's, been working paycheck to paycheck my adult life and just now focusing on starting a career, currently work at a grocery store. Have been a PC gamer most of my life and was already familiar with a lot of the hardware configurations, but not RAID, troubleshooting, ports, the more complicated stuff.
I used ChatGPT, Professor Messer's YouTube series and his practice exams, as well as Dion's practice exams on Udemy, but I do not personally recommend Dion. There were at least a dozen grammar or spelling errors across all the exams, which may not sound like a lot because it is hundreds of questions, but on top of that there were several answers that were just straight up not on the exam objectives and seemed outdated or concerning a related concept. Professor Messer's practice exams very closely resemble the real thing, everyone says that for a reason.
​
Now onto ChatGPT as a study buddy. I would be very specific, and provide as much detail as possible concerning the areas I was having a hard time understanding. Think about it like this, ChatGPT is like having an unlimited number of teachers that can explain the same concept to you. One of them will click. One of the wording variations is exactly what your subconscious mind needs to see to stay preserved in your memory effectively. Ask ChatGPT to explain RAID configurations to a middle schooler, or using Star Trek characters, or specifically say you are studying for your CompTIA A+ exam, you're looking for an entry level job, and you want to know how RAID configurations work. If you don't understand, simply ask it to explain it again using different concepts. If I got a practice exam question wrong, I would copy and paste it into the chat, and ask it why the answer I selected was not correct, and how I could best come to understand the reasoning for the correct answer. Sometimes I would provide ChatGPT with a list of several exam objectives, say it's my first day on the job as a help desk technician, and to come up with some real world scenarios which involve these objectives. It is also helping me build my homelab.
​
If I can do it, you can do it. Oh yeah, TWO of my 1101 PBQ's were printer related, and I had at least 5 or 6 multiple choice printer questions.
​
tl;dr - Used ChatGPT to explain concepts to me in many different ways until I was able to effectively commit those concepts to memory. Also, you can feel good asking ChatGPT "stupid questions" which don't sound right on Google or Reddit. Happy studying.

Guys, I had my exam scheduled for today (11/30/22) and let me tell you, life decided to throw me a curveball. Everything just came crumbling down lol. But instead of postponing my exam until things got better, I decided to tough it out. You know what they say, tough times don't last but tough people do.
I used the GCGA book and did some practice tests from Jason Dion, Mike Meyers & Professor Messer. My scores were between 65-70, which is way less than what they say it should be for you to be "ready".
But guess what? I took the exam today and passed with a 774! So, here's a big Merry Christmas to me! Lol.

Just passed core 2 with 727 points. I was close to filling but here I am Certified! On Dion's exams I was scoring 70-74%. I watched some of professor Messer videos I looked through the notes by professor Messer I watched the whole course provided by Michael Myers And that's all I did.

Really thought I failed my exam when I was reviewing my answers but I was really surprised that I actually passed (ill take it lol)
My key takeaway & tips to anybody about to take the exam. 1. If your study materials is only relying on professor messer’s videos, his course notes, his study groups sessions and his practice exam (which all of this I only used) its not going to be enough and I suggest you guys find an additional source, don’t get me wrong though professor messer’s content really did help me out this exam I just felt like it was not enough to pass the exam and I only got lucky.

1. Do labs! Trust me the PBQ is no joke its not just matching type port numbers or interfaces etch. It really feels like you are doing the troubleshooting job itself like looking at each computer part and identifying what went wrong as to why the computer just powered off.

Im still grateful that I passed the exam I just really hope that the 1102 exam is going to be much easier than the 1101 exam, Goodluck to anybody who is about to take exam!

Hi everybody, I’m taking the A+ 1101 exam tomorrow morning! I need some good luck and encouragement.
I’ve been studying past couple months but really hit it hard last couple weeks. I watched Mike Meyers course on LinkedIn learning first and then watched professor messers videos. Also purchased his practice exams and been watching his live streams.
I feel like I’m in a good spot but there’s some questions that’s trip me up (mostly hardware and networking) Got any advice on what to review the night before?
Also, BIG thank you to everyone on this subreddit- it’s been a great resource!

Finally making one of these posts. I'm 29, with a background in marketing for the last five years, with Uber and various gig economy jobs on the side, and two years in finance before that.
Looking to be done with the trifecta by April 12th, 2023 and to start a career in IT. I'm not sure which direction yet, but starting at Help Desk.
I passed the A+ Part 1 on January 18th, the A+ Part 2 on March 2nd, and the Network+ TODAY, March 22nd (2023).
I studied 2 1/2 weeks for the Network+ exam.
After taking 4-5 weeks to study for each part of the A+ exams, I was able to dial in my study methods and cut down my study time for the Network+ exam.
My mindset during the Network+ exam was not as positive as it was for the two A+ exams. I thought I was failing the entire time I was taking the Network+. But I'd studied really hard and knew I got some key questions right, so I held on to hope that if I just kept going, I'd pass. I must have been doing better than I thought. This was a mindset issue on my part.
The PBQ's were like nothing I'd ever seen before. However, two of the PBQ's had to do with subnetting, which I felt relatively confident about. I was still cursing in my head the entire time. Anyone else curse in your head the entire time you're taking these tests or is it just me?
Towards the end of the exam, I ran out of time, and did not get to review any of the multiple choice questions I'd flagged for review throughout the exam.
I watched the clock hit zero as I was finishing what I could of the PBQ's, which I'd saved for last.
The test timed out and I was brought to the 15 minutes survey.
After the survey, I was brought to the results screen, and saw the 739/720 PASS. Sweet relief.
Study tools I found helpful for the Network+ exam specifically:

1. https://www.subnetipv4.com/ (The videos explain subnetting in a way I understood. And I practiced subnetting with this website every day)
2. Professor Messer (aka the GOAT) - Free Youtube videos. Bought his study guide. Printed it out. Wrote notes in it as I listened to the Youtube videos. Paused and rewound the videos every time I missed something.
3. ChatGPT - I asked ChatGPT 500,000 questions about everything Messer taught in his Youtube videos. The answers really helped hammer in the concepts I was trying to learn. ChatGPT was my coach for this Network+ exam.
4. I also printed out the Exam Objectives directly from CompTIA. (Messer's video's and study guide did an incredible job of matching point for point the CompTIA Exam Objectives *in order*)

Thankful for everyone on this reddit forum, whose posts I've lurked for the past 3 months.
​
EDIT: I forgot to add that I also used Jason Dion's 6-Pack Practice Exams from Udemy. I found those helpful after I'd completed all of Messer's study materials, because Dion's practice tests provide amazingly detailed explanations for each question.

I feel pretty confident I'll pass but I'm still nervous. I could use some tips on the most common types of questions people see. Like are professor messer's questions close to what the real questions are? Are they normally multiple choice?

Passed this morning. I got a 789 out of 900. about 88% score. Still waiting for the email to confirm.
I have been working in IT in End user Support roles for about 5 years. Right now I am level II / Desktop support.
I got my CCNA back in August 2022. I decided to get my Sec + to compliment that.
What I studied:

• The Get Certified Get Ahead book by Darril Gibson. Read the ebook all the way through. Took all the exams. Took notes etc.
• Watched about half of the professor Messer videos. I started watching these a little too late in the process so I could not get through them all in time.
• Bought the Messer practice exams. Scored 70-85 on all of them the first time. I then read through all the detailed answers and took notes on the terms I was not familiar with. Took Exam A again the night before the exam and only got 1 wrong.

The Exam Experience:

• I was surprised on how hard it was. Most people say the CCNA is the hardest "entry" level exam (I dont think its entry level) and Comptia exams are a joke but no going to lie, that was about as difficult as I remember the CCNA being.
• Was not confident on most questions. Most of the questions you have to choose the BEST option. You can use process of elimination on 2 or 3 answers but there are typically 2 remaining answers that are very close.
• Since there are always two close answers you really have to have a good reasoning for your answer.
• MAKE SURE TO STUDY ALL THE PORTS THAT THE SECURITY + CONTENT EXPECTS YOU TO KNOW.

That is pretty much it. I think it would have been more beneficial for me to have had time to go through all of the Messer videos and to have created flash cards but I passed so I'm happy.

Hi all! I've been an apprentice for a year in a very small IT company as a support technician, mainly on phones, dealing a lot with stuff like new users, phone issues, slow hardware and mostly, the very basic stuff. I've worked a little bit with azure and 365, with RDS and local servers. Just a bit of everything really.
My goal is to get into cyber security but I've been struggling with any networking ticket. Some concepts feel really hard to swallow. At the moment I'm trying to understand how DNS really works and how to troubleshoot that. I'm watching professor Messer's videos on Network+ but it's still hard to connect things with each other and work out logically why something isn't working.
So the way I'm trying to approach this whole situation is by creating a map of the connection in my head, and see where it could break, but because of the lack of knowledge I feel like most of the times I get confused in terms and stuck.
I'm genuinely interested on how people learn networking because I find it complicated, even if I know everything has a logic to it. Even worst, even if I manage to get something working, I don't know what the background proccesses actually did for the error to go away, I kinda do it because I know it works. It like having a formula and knowing the numbers in it, but not knowing why the formula has been created in that certain way.
Also, how do these 14-16 year old hackers manage to hack into data bases and stuff, I feel like there is a lot to learn before realising where to look for vulnerabilities.
I'm looking for any sort of advice and opened to any kind of discussion on how I may improve my cyber security + networking skills.

Any learning resources like Professor Messer but for Linux+.
Any active discord groups specifically for this certification?

So I've been studying for the A+ off and on for almost a year now and I am consistently getting 60s-70s on my practice exams. I've taken professor messer exams and jason dion practice exams. I've gone through professor messer's playlists on youtube, looked through quizlets, and looked at comptia's objectives for the exam. If anyone has any words of advice or resources that might get me to the point where I'm getting in the 80s on the practice exams that'd be greatly appreciated!

I am just starting to study for A+ with watching professor messers videos. I have experience as an IT tech and I’m wondering how you prepped for the course? I am worried about acronyms as so far most of the hardware I’ve I have work experience with already. Just looking for some advice on knocking this class out quick and studying efficiently!!

Quick question. Dion Training has degaussing as a purging method while Professor Messer has it as destruction. Which one does CompTIA recognize? I'm finding conflicting answers online.

I was just wondering do I HAVE to use there material to do the Comptia network plus work or can I use my own material like professor messer and just use his stuff for there work?

Dirtbag hiker here, my certificate expired while I was on a long, long, trail. BARELY passed with a 752. Studied for 4 hours each day for 10 days straight, honestly not the way to go. It sucked.
SO,
Took the advice from this sub and bought the Jason Dion Udemy courses and 6 Practice tests, plus I loosely watched the Professor Messer Sec+ playlist on Youtube and took 1 of his practice tests. Definitely bombed the PBQs but I never studied using a certmaster or anything. Thanks guys, real good advice on here. Back to the office I guess.

So I’m extremely new to the field. I’m currently enrolled at DSDT. We are in the security+ module at the moment and CySA is next. But my question is about the network+ test. I’ve purchased the prof. Messer practice package for $179. I feel like my school didn’t prepare me well enough or maybe the time that has passed I’ve forgotten some things. Anyways how bad is that network+ test? I’ve passed every exercise in my course through my school so far but on the professor messer modules I’m doing average. Am I overthinking this or should I maybe wait and try for Sec+ instead. Sorry if this is all over the place , I’m a tad stressed right now.

I passed today (barely lol) with a 756 but a win is a win!! I watched Professor Messer's course on YouTube and also occasionally referenced the Mike Meyer's Security+ Certification Passport Textbook. Jason Dion's practice tests also helped but my highest score on all of 6 of them was a 75%, I reviewed all my incorrect answers and took notes based off the given explanations. I also wrote flashcards and used the daily Anki SRS method for retention. During the end of my exam preparation the practice tests on Examcompass.com helped a ton, especially since I have a hard time retaining information long term. Now it's off to TryHackMe and the dreaded job search!!