Mike Meyers' CompTIA Security+ Certification Passport 3rd Edition (Exam SY0-301) (Mike Meyers' Certficiation Passport) [Paperback]

Update 9/12/2011: I passed the exam today; 833/900. Not stellar but OK. There were questions on the exam that were not found in any of the three books I used. Many questions were poorly worded or didn't contain enough information to properly answer the question. I found that to be true with both A+ and Net+. Aside from that, I still found this book to be excellent. You will pass memorizing this book. Unlike A+ or Net+, the Sec+ exam is pure memorization with little problem solving. As I said below, get the Security+ Study Guide along with this book. Skip the monstrous Sybex book. It has way too much information not pertinent to the exam. Good luck!

Update 9/8/2011: I agree with Kindlecrazed. I have finally gotten to the CD. I took the first exam closed book, knowing darn well I passed it. I got 51%! So I retook it open book, and the answers are all screwed up. The hints and answers have nothing to do with the question being asked. What a disaster! Kindlecrazed got this reply for a patch from the editiors: [Amazon removed my link so see the reply under Kindlecrazed]. It's ironic that a security book that discusses the software development cycle, including review, would ship with a completely defective test engine!

I haven't taken the exam yet, but I thought I would review each of the books I have used so far. This is my third Passport book. I have used the A+, and Network+ books and they definitely helped me pass. What I like about the Passport books is that they are short and to the point. T. J. Samuell (the author that deserves a larger name on the cover, not Mike Meyers) does not ramble about extreme technical details that don't pertain to the exam. However, I must say that of the three Passport books, this one is so mismatched to the order of the Security+ objectives that it is extremely hard to type up a note sheet following the objectives without wearing out the index. That may be the fault of the objectives as I have found them to repeat a lot of topics. As I said in another review, you would literally have to tear the book apart and rearrange it to follow the objectives. There are also some objectives that are completely overlooked. Most topics are discussed very clearly though, although I recommend also getting the Security+ Review Guide in addition to this book to compare explanations. That book follows the objectives exactly. There is one critical typo on page 114. While discussing hashing he states "if they're identical, the message was altered". This really threw me on my first read and I had to compare it to another book. It should be "unaltered". I like the review questions at the end of each chapter, although they are extremely easy. I hadn't looked at the CD until close to test time. See my update above.

Pros: Concise. Exam Tips and Travel Advisories, and Travel Assistance are very useful. I have found some interesting web sites and freeware in the Travel Assistance such as packet sniffers, wardriving tools, and other goodies.

Cons: Misses a few objectives and is terribly out of order with the objectives.

Overall, a good study guide, but not perfect.

I purchased this book in the middle of June. Last week I decided that I was ready to take the practice test on the CD. Long story short - the CD is worthless. Once you take the test it prints out a study guide which supposedly lists the question, the correct answer and an explanation. The answers were sometimes wrong and the explanations were to other questions. When a question was regarding ports , why was I getting an explanation about risk management? What a mess. I called LearnKey and they said to call McGraw Hill. I got hold of an editor who did some research and confirmed that a "glitch" had happened. She stated that they would have a new CD out by the end of next week. No good for me since I'm scheduled to take the test on Monday. In addition, when I logged into the LearnKey website to get my free exam, the 3rd Edition Mike Meyers Passport wasn't even listed. McGraw Hill called Learnkey and told me that she got LearnKey to load the 3rd edition tests on the website and had confirmed as such. Unfortunately it was no surprise that when I went to login again, the tests were still not available. I had enough. I am not interested in providing free quality control service. The book is decent but it only has 10 review questions after each chapter so you had better find some other source for test questions since the CD and Website are having major issues.

I bought this book based on the success I had with the Network+ book. They are both fine books and easy to read. They are NOT boring. There are a few new sections in the 301 exam and this book did a good job of explaining them. I recommend it to all wanting to pass the 301 exam.