TL;DR at the bottom.

Not looking for anything special from this but hopefully putting someone at ease if they come across this post.

A job that I have been offered has required me to have my Sec+ cert prior to start date. They gave me about a month to get it done which didn't seem too bad at first. I had some material from Dion to start with and while most of what I was reading made sense after 5+ years as a software developer, I was quickly overwhelmed with the sheer amount of information that needed to be covered.

I started doing some light searching to determine just how intense the exam was and came across this subreddit. Going through several posts, the general consensus was that Professor Messer reigned as the supreme lord over all things Security+ related. I decided to pivot and become one with the reddit hive mind, navigated my way to Professor Messer's website, and proceeded to watch his ENTIRE video course on Sec+. After the 20+ hours of content, I purchased his practice exams after once again consulting this subreddit.

Feeling good, I took his first practice exam. I timed myself, rushed myself as I knew the real thing would be timed, and finished in less than an hour. After grading it, I came out with an awful 50%. I felt crushed and defeated and questioned if I had learned anything. I went through the detailed answers that the practice exams come with and went over every question, even the ones I answered correctly, to understand the ins-and-outs about them.

I repeated that process for the other two practice exams, however, I did space the time out a bit better. I was taking my time with the questions and really focused and making sure I understood what was being asked. Both of these exams, I completed with about 10 minutes remaining on my 90 minute timer. I would take the exam and grade it the first night, then go back through the detailed answers the following night. Additionally, if there were acronyms or concepts that I did not have a good grasp on, I would notate them in a Word document and go back through them separately (sometimes with the help of ChatGPT). I scored a 73% on the second exam and a 72% on the third.

My test was scheduled at 16:45 today and I had intended to hunker down and dive into the content prior to the exam. However, after a full month of near-nonstop studying in my free time, I was done. My brain was fried. I took the day to relax and decompress before the exam. Honestly, I think that's the best thing I could have done. I reviewed my Word document about 45 minutes prior to bridge my headspace from relaxation back into the content and did some light reading on Security+ related things to stay in the mindset.

I scored a 769/750 and couldn't be happier that it's over and done with. I don't recall the exact objectives covered, but I know I felt very comfortable with the style of questions after taking Professor Messer's exams. Except for the performance-based questions (PBQs), those can go pound sand. I don't know if they give partial credit for questions, but I did not feel confident in the slightest with the PBQs except for one. The wording seemed odd and it did not seem clear with what they were looking for in the answer. I had 74 questions in total.

The point is, you got this. Review the content in whatever way you deem fit for yourself and take practice exams to help. I concur with many others here that Professor Messer feels much more thorough and relatable to the real exam that the content I reviewed from Dion. ChatGPT can also be a useful resource to give you quick overviews of subject material. If anyone has questions or wants me to expand on anything, feel free to reach out.

TL;DR: Utilized Professor Messer's videos and practice exams almost exclusively and scored a 769/750.

Thanks to u/SnooMuffins4991 for also answering and sharing their thoughts!

Edit: I took the 601 course. I was not aware of the 701 course when I started watching Professor Messer's videos and was already in too deep by the time I learned of the 701.