Each document in these notes was created at a different phase of my studying.

There is overlap
in the information between them and some are not in any particular order. Any references to
chapter numbers in my notes comes from the “CompTIA Security+ Exam Guide Fifth Edition
(Exam SY0-501)” by Dr. Wm. Aurthur Conklin. The ISBN # for the book is 978-1-260-01931-5. I
also read Darril Gibson’s “Get Certified Get Ahead” book and did some of his labs.

Some of my notes contain random phrases I used as memory hooks that are mostly pop culture
references. If you don’t understand them maybe they’ll be off the wall enough for you to
remember them.

The issue with reading any study books is that all of the concepts are interlinked, so you may
learn about something that relies on hashing for instance, and then not learn what hashing is for
another ten chapters meaning you have to go back and forth repeatedly. I think that just reading
Gibson’s book once through without stressing about understanding everything is a good starting
point. You will have to go back either way so just embrace the fact that there is too much
information. Gibson’s book explains things in a more intuitive way, but has everything jumbled
around as a result. Conklin’s book is formatted more like a reference; so it is better for studying
and worse for understanding when you are first reading through.

References to sections in a format such as 1.2 or 3.3 are utilizing the official CompTIA exam
objectives. Those may change somewhat over time.
https://certification.comptia.org/docs/default-source/exam-objectives/comptia-security-sy0-501-
exam-objectives.pdf

The spreadsheet is a catalogue of all the shorter, more memorizable concepts on the exam,
whereas the word document is mostly ideas to understand more fully. That being said much of
what’s on the spreadsheet warrants a closer look into the book if you can’t put it into context in
your mind. The colors are just so you can tell where sections end and begin; nothing more.

The protocol numbers are not emphasized as heavily in this version of the exam as they were in
401. Which ones I say to memorize are conjecture. These seem to mostly be useful as clues to
understanding the “performance based” questions in this exam. It is not clear which protocol
numbers are likely to be a part of anything, but I was not asked directly about any of them.

My Handwritten notes help to fill in some of the info missing from my main 2 documents (the
spreadsheet and word doc). If anyone would like to add this information to those documents and
send them to me I would be grateful and it may help you review some things in the process.

Take practice exams, but know that none of them that I found were great. Some even had
incorrect questions. They all frustrated me to no end, but they helped. I knew I was ready to
take the exam when they stopped helping. The practice exams often have more than one
answer that could definitely be right but only one that is counted as correct. I heard many times
that this is how the real exam is, but in my experience that only seemed true on concepts that I
didn't understand well enough. There were a number of questions where you really have to pay
attention to the wording to get them right, but not nearly to the extent that practice exams
emphasize this.

Professor Messer (a popular online tutor and note provider) was helpful but not particularly in
depth. I found he doesn’t really do anything that having these spreadsheets can’t do (that is just
reviewing concepts), but I did not discover him until I was quite prepared so your experience will
likely differ. He also has a note set you might like. I like mine a little better, but his may be
clearer to you since these were written by me for me.

Lastly, using these notes I passed the exam with a score of 786 (750 is passing 900 is perfect)
on the 1st try so these notes do, in fact, have almost everything you need to know. However, I
was so sure I would not pass by the time I was 20% of the way through the exam that I changed
my goal from passing to just learning what the exam was really like so I could pass the next
attempt. The exam is made to be more difficult than you can perform on it. Do not give up as
you are taking it! I came into this with no knowledge or experience whatsoever. Just put in a lot
of work and you can do it.

You can contact me on Reddit.com which is one of the places I am posting these materials
since there is a pretty good subreddit for the exam. My username is drfantabulo. You can also
reach me at drfantabulo@gmail.com. Please send me any edits to inaccurate information and/or
a version of the documents with my handwritten notes’ information added in if you are so
inclined.