Unauthorized Training Materials

Did you know that CompTIA may ban you “from taking CompTIA exams” and/or revoke your certifications if you use unauthorized training materials?

I’m not sure why, but I’ve been getting a lot of queries from people recently that are using unauthorized training materials. This often comes in the form of “can you explain this question to me?”

When I ask them where the question came from, they name one of the well-known sources of unauthorized training materials.

After I explain the danger of using these materials, they are often surprised and indicate they were unaware of the problems using these materials.

Memorization vs Understanding

Many sources of unauthorized materials do not include explanations. Users memorize the answers without understanding why. When CompTIA modifies the questions slightly, it changes the meaning of the question and causes people to answer the question incorrectly. Worse, it’s not uncommon for these sources to have incorrect answers so people memorize the incorrect answers making it that much harder to answer the question accurately. This is often why people aren’t ready for exam day and get an opportunity to take the test again.

Identifying Unauthorized Training Materials

CompTIA previously maintained a list of sources of unauthorized materials, but they no longer do so. Instead, they have these words on their site:

“If you are ever unsure whether the training material you are using is authorized or unauthorized, please visit certguard.com. Although this is not a comprehensive list, if your training materials appear in this list, you should discard and not use the materials.”

CertGuard Challenges

Unfortunately, there’s a disconnect between CompTIA and CertGuard, and CertGuard’s site is buggy.

As one example, CompTIA says to check the list on CertGuard, but the CertGuard site does not include a list of unauthorized sites. At least, not one that I could find.

As another example, if they haven’t evaluated a site, their search engine returns an error like this:

error ‘80040211’
/inc/inc_SendMail.asp, line 88

One way to see this is by entering comptia.net on the CertGuard search page. CompTIA’s URL is comptia.org so this search comes up empty. However, instead of indicating that comptia.net has not been evaluated, it gives an error like this:

CDO.Message.1 error ‘80040213’
The transport failed to connect to the server.
/inc/inc_SendMail.asp, line 88

I have tried to communicate with the site owners. Unfortunately, using their Contact page, I get this error:

This is the same error I was getting about 6 months ago.

CompTIA Security+ Study Guide

The 601 Version of the Study Guide

The CompTIA Security+: Get Certified Get Ahead: SY0-601 Study Guide is an update to the top-selling SY0-201, SY0-301, SY0-401, and SY0-501 study guides, which have helped thousands of readers pass the exam the first time they took it. It includes the same elements readers raved about in the previous four versions.

Each of the eleven chapters presents topics in an easy to understand manner and includes real-world examples of security principles in action.

You’ll understand the important and relevant security topics for the Security+ exam, without being overloaded with unnecessary details. Additionally, each chapter includes a comprehensive review section to help you focus on what’s important.

Over 300 realistic practice test questions with in-depth explanations will help you test your comprehension and readiness for the exam. The book includes:

A 75 question pre-test
A 75 question post-test
Practice test questions at the end of every chapter.

Each practice test question includes a detailed explanation to help you understand the content and the reasoning behind the question. You’ll be ready to take and pass the exam the first time you take it.

If you plan to pursue any of the advanced security certifications, this guide will also help you lay a solid foundation of security knowledge. Learn this material, and you’ll be a step ahead for other exams. This SY0-601 study guide is for any IT or security professional interested in advancing in their field, and a must-read for anyone striving to master the basics of IT security.

Kindle edition also available.

How To Use CertGuard to Identify Unauthorized Training Materials

To use CertGuard, enter the URL of the site you want to check into the Search box. You’ll get one of three responses.

Don’t Use. If the site has unauthorized materials, it will be identified as a Braindump site. They recommend you don’t use their materials.
Safe to Use. If the site has authorized materials, it will be identified as Safe. Using their materials will not risk your certification.
Unknown – probably safe. If CertGuard doesn’t have information on the site, it will return an error. They appear to have automated tools that they use to identify braindump sites, so this probably indicates that the site is safe.

Security+ Non Braindump Sale

To guide readers to safe materials, I’m doing a limited time sale for CompTIA Security+ study materials. [Sorry, but this sale is over. You can still access quality materials here.]

These materials are derived from the CompTIA Security+: Get Certified Get Ahead: SY0-501 Study Guide, which has been certified as CompTIA Approved Quality Content (CAQC) and covers all of the SY0-401 objectives.

All of the practice test questions have full explanations to help you understand why the correct answers are correct, and why the incorrect answers are incorrect. This way you can answer the questions correctly no matter how CompTIA words them.

Security+ Test Taking Strategies

Here’s a list of some of the blog posts I’ve created that include test taking strategies to help you pass the first time you take the Security+ exam.