Do you know about the SY0-401 Security+ beta questions that are appearing in the SY0-301 Security+ exam?
Lately, I’m hearing from a lot of people saying that they are seeing questions that seem like they’re completely out of the blue. None of the materials they studied covered any of the questions, which has had them a little confused.
Worse, they’ve sometimes seen so many of these questions that they start to think they’ll fail the exam.
SY0-401 Coming in Spring of 2014
Many people have been querying me about the new Security+ exam (SY0-401) coming out soon. Here’s some information you might find valuable:
- First, the SY0-401 exam isn’t officially out and isn’t scheduled to go live until Spring of 2014.
- The current version (SY0-301) will likely remain available for at least six months after the new SY0-401 exam comes out.
- If you pass the current version, you are Security+ certified even after the new SY0-401 exam comes out.
- You can access the new objectives from the CompTIA site by clicking on the “See what the exam covers” link and registering.
Update
- CompTIA announced the SY0-401 version will be live in May 2014
- You can view the new objectives here
- The SY0-301 version will remain available until the end of the year – December 31, 2014
Security+ Beta Questions Not Graded
CompTIA uses Security+ beta questions for testing. If everyone gets the question correct, the question is too easy. If everyone gets the question incorrect, the question is too difficult. They determine a question is valid using some predetermined metric between these two extremes.
The good news is that beta questions aren’t graded. The bad news is that you do not know what questions are beta questions so you have to answer each question as if it’s a valid question.
CompTIA has been adding these questions as beta questions on the current version of the SY0-301 exam to test questions for the SY0-401 exam.
That’s right, you’ll see 401 questions on the 301 exam. In other words, these are questions based of the 401 objectives that are not covered by the 301 objectives. They did the same thing when testing questions for the SY0-301 exam while the SY0-201 exam was live.
Almost all test vendors test questions this way so it isn’t anything new. However, it can be a little disconcerting when you see five or more questions that look completely foreign to you.
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Our online Security+ study materials are the perfect complement to the CompTIA Security+: Get Certified Get Ahead: SY0-501 Study Guide. They can also be used to help ensure you’re ready no matter what study guide you’re using.
This exam is expensive.
Make sure you’re ready before exam day.
Here’s what you’ll get:- All of the multiple-choice questions from the best-selling CompTIA Security+: Get Certified Get Ahead: SY0-501 Study Guide. See a demo here. All questions have full explanations so you’ll know why the correct answers are correct and why the incorrect answers are incorrect.
- Over 40 new multiple-choice questions we’ve added after publishing the study guide.
- Over 30 performance-based questions. See a demo here.
- All of the flashcards from the study guide. View them in any Web browser.
- All of the audio from the study guide. Listen to a sample here.
- Access to a free discount code for 10% off your Security+ voucher.
Buy The Full Access Study Package Today
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All materials are available online shortly after making your payment.
| Pass the First Time! |
Up-to-date Content
New multiple-choice and performance-based questions added regularly
Pass the first time with quality practice test questions, performance-based questions, flashcards, and audio.Buy The Full Access Study Package Today
60 Days Access
Need more time? You can easily renew for another 60 days at a significantly reduced price.
All materials are available online shortly after making your payment.
Get the Security+ Full Access Study Package Here
Our online Security+ study materials are the perfect complement to the CompTIA Security+: Get Certified Get Ahead: SY0-601 Study Guide. They can also be used to help ensure you’re ready no matter what study guide you’re using.
This exam is expensive.
Make sure you’re ready before exam day.
Here’s what you’ll get:- All of the multiple-choice questions from the best-selling CompTIA Security+: Get Certified Get Ahead: SY0-601 Study Guide. See a demo here. All questions have full explanations so you’ll know why the correct answers are correct and why the incorrect answers are incorrect.
- Realistic SY0-601 Security+ Practice Test Questions
- Performance-based questions.
- All of the flashcards from the study guide. View them in any Web browser. See demo here
- All of the audio from the study guide.
- Access to a free discount code for 10% off your Security+ voucher.
Buy The Full Access Study Package Today
60 Days Access
All materials are available online shortly after making your payment.
Security+ Beta Questions Examples
As an example, several readers have recently asked me about bollards. Bollards are physical security barricades and refer directly to this SY0-401 objective:
2.7 Compare and contrast physical security and environmental controls.
- Physical security
- Barricades
Similarly, several people have asked me questions about protocols and OSI layers. The OSI model is not include in the SY0-301 objectives. However, the following objective in the SY0-401 exam specifically mentions OSI:
1.4 Given a scenario, implement common protocols and services.
- OSI relevance
Don’t Panic with Security+ Beta Questions
With all this in mind, if you come across a question on the exam that isn’t familiar at all to you, don’t panic. It may indeed be a beta question. And of course, the good news is that beta questions aren’t graded.
Master Performance Based Questions Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_1s9njlWLU
Then again, if the first 50 questions don’t look familiar, feel free to start panicking. It could be that you weren’t studying the right material and you’ll have another opportunity to take the exam in the future. With that in mind, make sure you read up on the new Security+ performance based questions before taking the exam.
Looking forward to the new test. although, i can’t find any recent study guides to begin with.
most books are for Pre-order and don’t come out till april or july. some brands i never heard of.
my window to study is May-July. nor are the video tutorials sites i’m a member of updated for the new test!
Hi Glenn,
If your window to study is May-July, I’d strongly suggest you focus on the SY0-301 exam. There are many resources for that available right now and you’ll have until December 31 of this year to take it.
Hiring managers rarely care what version of an exam you passed but instead only want to know that you passed.
Hi Darril,
This is regarding how to study for the exam.
Recently i have purchased CompTIA Security+: Get Certified Get Ahead: SY0-301 Study Guide from Amazon.I am preparing for the exam.
I have verified on page 2 ” how to use this book session”, it was mentioned as below.
Review the objectives and learn the materiel related to this objective”.
So, does that mean i need to study according to the ” objective to the Chapter map” or do i need to concentrate on Chapter vise..like Chapter 1, chapter 2 and then relate it to the objective to the Chapter map.
Please clarify.Thanks.
Hi Vinod,
The short answer is to use it the way it works best for you.
Many people read the book from page 1 to the last page and this works. The chapters build on each other making this easier for many people.
However, if you have much of the knowledge, you might just browse the objectives to identify what isn’t familiar and study those topics.
Hope this helps and good luck.
I wonder what impact those questions have on the examinee’s time limit. Is the countdown paused while they are answering a beta question?
The time isn’t affected at all. This is one of the reasons why it’s best not to spend too much time on any single question. If you don’t know it, skip it, and move on to the next question.