Passed Sec+ and PSAA (Practical SOC Analyst Associate) from TCM
I did the PSAA and Sec+ together - took me about 4 months to land both certs (Passed first time on each attempt) Dont be like me...do one at a time, it was silly but i thought it would prepare me for any PBQs..it didnt
Security + Do not take this test lightly, its tough. What got me was the start, I glanced through the PBQs leaving them for later and then started answering the MCQs..the first 15 questions were so tough, not so much the questions actually but that there were almost 2 answers to the questions. Nothing easy like the difference between a RPO or RTO. I cant give the examples because of obvious reasons
If you are new to the field like me give it the respect it deserves, take your time with studying. I used Dion on Udemy plus a variety of Practice exams(18 in total), then with the questions i didn't understand I researched and dove deeper then used flashcards. Had 4 PBQs...3 were firewall/network related while the other one dealt with logs. Passed Pentest+ 003 last year this time and i thought this was on par with the difficulty. Also had 90 minutes which didnt give me time to relook at my answers...request 30 minutes of extra time if you can. Did the exam at a Pearson VUE site
PSAA - This was a fantastic course by TCM. Over 35 hours of material. Provided real world lessons and to be honest it worth every cent. This prepares you for an entry level job way better than sec + in my opinion. If you want to do the test i advise you have atleast 8mb of ram because you are going to have lots running! VMs, webpages, scripts...
Glad its done. All the best for your studies and well done to those who have it in their pocket