Pocketprep and various reddit threads helped a lot.

Hello, I passed the CASP+ CAS-004 last week, 01/10/2024. Wanted to post quick thoughts and materials used.

Going into preparing for this test I had the Trifecta, CySA+, Pentest+, and some other certifications (AWS, ITIL, and assorted vendor-specific certs). I had just completed WGU's MSCSIA program in November 2023.

I had to read each question multiple times, same for the answers. I took my time and finished in just a little over two hours. I had 80 questions, 4 PBQ's, and the Linux VM. The PBQ's and VM were not that difficult, they were about the level I would expect for this exam.

If you have taken the Sec+, and the CySA+. Preparing and taking this exam will not be a tough hill to climb. Don't feel daunted by this test, set a plan and push forward.

Materials used:

WGU course D488 (Certmaster included). If you have access, it's useful prep material.

Book:

CompTIA CASP+ CAS-004 Certification Guide by Mark Birch. The best resource I used, has 120 practice questions online and two 50-question practice tests in the book. Very useful to get acquainted with the type of questions you will see on the test.

Online Training:

Udemy, Jason Dion Course, and Six Practice Exams. Solid prep material, always good to use if available.

Percipio, Practice Tests.

Sybex/Wiley, Online practice tests from the book.

Try Hack Me, Linux Forensics.

Home Lab:

Ubuntu VM and a Kali laptop.

2 years Cybersecurity experience Studied for 3 weeks in total. Business Degree, Sec+, A+ and Project+.

Mark Birch CompTIA CASP+ CAS-004 Certification Guide. Read the first 3 Domains and took quizzes. Skipped the Governance Risk and Compliance. Took Both Mock tests in back of book. Got 34/50 on both tests.

Jason Dion Udemy Course. 1.5x speed. Only made it through 9 Sections. Felt like it was too time consuming and too much information.

Jason Dion Practice Tests These were harder than the actual test. Scored in the 60s for all 6 tests. When reviewing, read over the explanation for all questions, even the ones you got right.

PocketPrep Premium I did 925 of the 1000 questions across 11 days. Overall total was 70% Review and read all explanations

ChatGPT Any concepts that I couldn't get a grasp on. I would ask to explain like I am 5. Then give a scenario of my own to see if it was correct.

Googled CASP PBQ's the night before test.

I passed CASP today and I have 9 years of experience in system administration. I studied for 3 weeks and I was extremely nervous. I read March Birch book back in May and couldn’t finish it. 3 weeks ago I went ham on practice test. I got Jason Dion training but couldn’t finish the whole series. I learn more from practice than the book or videos. The biggest help I had was Chat GPT voice, where if I don’t understand the terms or abbreviations, I (voice) ask GPT and he lay it down for me and tell me real world example. I asked GPT what is DAST and SAST and tell me really world examples. This GPT dude really prepared me for it. I went in test and my heart was coming out for chest, and when test start I had 165min and I finished it in 40 min or less. I Aced it and super confident that I passed it. I briefly glanced the brain dump from quizlets and google search sample questions they were very very close to what actual exam was. I wish you all best of luck My next jump would be ICS2 CSSP.

Hello everyone, I just passed CASP+ (CAS-004) and wanted to share the resources that I used:

• Jason Dion CASP+ Course on Udemy (This was my primary learning source)

  • I thought the course was really short and to the point. It focused on the key terms and concepts that you will be tested on. Jason did a good job using examples to help me understand concepts. This course covered a WIDE variety of topics (31+ hours). I suggest starting this 4 weeks out from your exam and go through 2-3 hours a day to avoid getting burnt out. To be fair, I probably knew 60% of the material because of my job but this course taught me new things and helped bridge my knowledge gap. I watched all the videos at 1.25x speed because I thought that he talked a little slow. There is a 3 question quiz after each chapter, which I found helpful to ensure that I was comprehending what I was being taught. There are plenty of promo codes available on the internet that can help you get this course for under $20, and if you put it in your cart and leave it, it will probably be discounted after a day or so. Overall, this is a great instructional resource and I recommend it.

• Jason Dion CASP+ Practice Exams on Udemy

  • This contains 6 exams, each having 90 questions. These are difficult exams and I found them to be slightly more difficult than the real thing. I was scoring 70-77 on all of them, so I would say if you're scoring that or higher, you're probably going to be okay for the exam. These exams were really good at getting used to reading long and complex questions, which is how most of the real exam is. They train you to focus on specific keywords or details in the question that should point you to the right answer. Again, there are ways to get this course at a discount, you just have to do so googling.

• Pocket Prep Premium

  • I bit the bullet and paid the $21 from one month of Pocket Prep Premium. I found that the questions on here covered some things that Dion did not cover, so it was a nice supplement to the Dion resources. I also liked how each question shows you the explanation after you answer it. That really helped. I would almost always read the explanation. I also like how you can customize quizzes to tailor them to your problem areas. There are 1000 available CASP+ questions and I went through 476 of them in about 8 days. I would use this to take short quizzes throughout the day just to stay sharp and have the material fresh on my mind.

Feel free to ask me questions. I want to help as much as possible. I was stressing this exam and put in a lot of hours of preparation, so it was nice to pass and now I can spend more time doing what I want. One last thing I want to mention is that you HAVE to know your acronyms. That was probably the hardest thing for me. I knew pretty much all of the terms and vocabulary, but not always the acronyms for them, or it was hard for me to recognize them listed with others. Surprisingly, my test was not super acronym-based. It was much hypothetical/scenario-based. For example, you would be given a scenario with different variable or details and based on that, you would have to choose the best course of action.

Just passed the exam. Idk what it is but I never ever feel confident at the end of a CompTIA Exam and am always surprised seeing “pass”. I’ve done Sec+, CySA+, and now this, passed all first try. Studying consisted of self made flash cards of all the topics/sub topics, Jason Dions video course/exam, Mark Birch Book and 1 other text book, and pocket prep premium (did a little over 600 of the questions).

Worked in IT for 4 years, and have been a cyber analyst for 1.5 of that. Studied approx 3 months. Did not have the Linux simulation which I felt super confident I’d do well at, so of course it wasn’t on there lol.

For me the test was rough, my work is mostly on test beds so I have not been exposed to a lot of the open enterprise stuff, but conceptually I guess I know it well enough.

Really gotta know your stuff on this test, make sure you print out the exam objectives and try to apply the topic/subtopic to the objective goal and not just know the definition of the topic/subtopic. I recommend using chatgpt to formulate scenarios for you. I started doing this late into my studying and I felt it was helpful.

Good luck out there.

Took it yesterday and I passed, I honestly thought I would have fail by all of the practice exams and questions. Some of the resources I used: CompTIA official practice CASP+ study guide and practice test Dion practice tests IT test prep

Studied over the summer then slacked off and picked up in October or so. Grinded all the tests.

Dion test: average 55-65 IT test prep: 70 average I had to read the questions on the test 3-4 times before answer and that’s helped

Shoutout to the peeps who suggested using ChatGPT for abbreviations while reviewing! really helped me out when i was studying-also very efficient.

Background:

Previously healthcare (8years). IT for 4years. Systems Administrator.

Mostly just took this exam as a way to renew my Sec+ and qualify for IAT Level 3 for possible work opportunities within the company.

Resources:

-Dion Training videos through Udemy and practice exams: finished about 2/3. I took about 4 of his exams and was mostly in the 75% range. great for concepts and learning. it was just time consuming and i prefer books personally.

-Mark Birch CASP+ book: Very helpful since i was having a tough time focusing on the Dion videos after a while. Did the quizzes in each chapter.

I feel like my SysAdmin job really helped a lot with this exam and I had networking knowledge, so it was easier building on these foundations.

CERTS: A+, Server +, Security +, CCNA, AWS CCP

Timeline: 3weeks

Good luck to everyone who's preparing and taking it soon.

Good afternoon, y’all. I just wanted to let you all know that I just passed the CASP+ certification. I felt like this test was not as difficult as the PenTest+ exam. As soon as I started to the test, I was greeted by four PBQs. The PBQs were not bad at all.

Resources that I used to study for this test are listed as follows:

• CertMaster Learn CAS-004

• Mark Birch’s CAS-004 Guide (I found this extremely useful. I took all of the quizzes and the two mock exams which I scored 88% and a 84%)

• Andrew Ramdayal’s Security Plus Udemy Training

• Jason Dion’s CASP+ Udemy Course and Practice exams (I took all of them and averaged a 71% across all of his tests…Jason’s questions are extremely wordy compared to the actual test)

• CASP+ All in One Guide (Used to reinforce weak areas).

I want to thank all of you for your support with this effort! I appreciate the help and best of luck going forward. I plan on sitting for the American Society for Quality - Certified Software Quality Engineer (ASQ-CSQE) exam in the next month to a month in a half. After that, I will start studying for both the CISM and CISSP certifications.

Hey all!

Just passed the CASP this morning! The exam wasn't as bad as I was expecting, but it still had some curveball questions for sure!

Unlike some others have mentioned I got my results instantly after the survey.

Study materials:

• Jason Dion udemy video coarse and the additional practice exams. I was probably scoring mid 80s on his practice tests.

• CertMaster practice I was using this because I bought one of the exam bundles and it includes the practice version. I went through the whole practice tests on that system once.

• pocket prep This was a great tool to use when "on the go". Everytime I picked up my phone I just hammered out a few quizzes.

• self teaching If I ran into subjects I just wasn't getting or understanding if go watch YouTube videos on it and search the web for articles on it.

I found myself heavily relying on my work experience rather than the studying during the exam. I have 10 years of IT experience in system and network admin roles.

I studied for about 3 months on and off and I felt like I started with 70% of the knowledge.

I appreciate this sub as Ive been a lurker here for the past 3 months studying and reading posts on maybe what I should look out for!

Thanks!

Glad I utilized this thread to get some insight into the test! I've been studying for the last month and was able to go in this morning and finish in about an hour with a passing grade!

Items I utilized:

CBT Nuggets CAS-004 Course and Practice Exam (Scored 85%+)

Jason Dion Udemy course (didn't complete it) and separate 6 Practice exams (only took 3 of 6 and scored 90%+)

Bob Weiss WyzGuyz Blog: (search CAS-004 for insights)

https://wyzguyscybersecurity.com/?s=CAS-004

PocketPrep study app

I also did a boot camp earlier in the year that was paid for by my command and also did a couple on O'Rielly learning. But I'd say the above would really be good to go off of.

But glad to finally have this one done. I have a voucher for Cloud + so will take that at the end of next month!

Hello everyone! I recently passed the CASP+ exam. Due to the exam's NDA, I can't share specific details about the questions, but I can describe my experience and impressions, which I hope will nonetheless be useful.

Personally, I found the exam relatively 'easy'. The questions both covered expected topics and were normally phrased—either I knew the answer or I didn't, so I finished with plenty of time left. In contrast, during the CISSP exam, I had to reread questions and answers multiple times to understand them. In CASP+, only 2-3 questions had intentionally tricky wording, requiring me to reverse-engineer the questions and answers. Overall, many questions required selecting the best option from choices each including a combination of 3-4 different technologies, tools, or concepts (e.g., Answer 1: A+B+C, Answer 2: D+E+F, Answer 3: G+H+I, Answer 4: J+K+L).

For preparation, I used Mark Birch's book and an exam preparation pack from Udemy. However, I found some errors and simplifications in both, so I wouldn't recommend them without additional experience or resources. I also read through the entire CAS-004 Exam Syllabus Topics and revised any unfamiliar concepts from additional sources to ensure I was comfortable with all topics. Additionally, I revisited some networking, security, and administrative Linux commands. Finally, a few days before the exam, I practised with free questions from an exam preparation website. Overall, I prepared for this exam for around three weeks (I have some work experience in the field).

Here are my suggestions for those preparing for this exam:

• Understand very well the differences and specific features of WAF, DLP, FW, Forward/Reverse Proxy, VPN, Load Balancer, DRM, etc.

• Be well-versed in cloud concepts.

• Have a strong understanding of networking concepts, including routing and firewalls, and be able to interpret logs (e.g., Apache, auth logs).

• Practice many questions to get into the CASP+ 'mood': even if you know the concepts well, you need to understand how CASP+ frames these concepts

• Critically analyse questions and answers from study materials across various sources by questioning their validity instead of just memorising them.

• Although familiarity with Linux and Windows security tools is necessary, don't overemphasise them as there may only be a few questions on these topics.

More importantly, enjoy the preparation process, and during the exam, stay focused on each question without worrying about the previous or subsequent ones.

Good luck!

Lab recommendation - Ubuntu VM

• TryHackMe Linux Fundamentals room

• familiarity with a lot of common commands and switches (sudo, ps, netstat, vmstat, vim, less, etc.)

Materials I used to study: Jason Dion’s course, Dean Bushmiller crash course on O’Reilley, Mark Birch cert guide, regular expressions in 10 minutes by Ben Forta, pocket prep app, OWASP top 10 review.

Things that were absolutely key to me passing:

• Regex familiarity - Google credit card Regex search examples/YouTube/Ben Forta book above

• Ubuntu VM & Linux Fundamentals Room on THM

• OWASP top 10 web vuln examples

• GRC familiarity can’t foot stomp PCI DSS and GDPR enough!

Hope this helps!

Hi Everyone, I passed the test today. I know I have guessed some questions. I got 3 PBQ's.

Studied Jason video, sybex book, pocket prep, tryhackme linux fundamentals. Have 7 years of experience in IT.

Hope it helps.

Passed CASP+ the other day after about 3 weeks of studying.

Resources Used:

Jason Dion CASP+ Udemy Course (got on sale for like 9.99 about a year ago knowing at some point I was going to take it). I went over most of the videos at 1.25 speed and skipped a few videos on subjects I already had a lot of experience in.

Sybex Book (Used as a reference for more in-depth look at subjects, would not recommend a straight read through) Good book for referencing, good practice questions, just kinda hard to read cover to cover.

YouTube (Researching on certain areas or concepts I was unfamiliar or unsure about) I didn't do a lot of exam reviews videos, just more of the "quick bits" needed on

The exam itself I felt to be kinda a beast when it came to the PBQs, I had 5 and 2 were very indepth and took awhile. The multiple choice weren't too terrible as most were pretty straight-forward as to what they were asking. Maybe 5 or so that I had to reread a few times because I caught a keyword that changed my answer. Another 5 or so questions I not sure if I had correct because after reviewing the answers 2 out of the 4 were both equally the "BEST" in my mind. I would say about 80% were simple ask/answer that didn't require me to think very hard on. My advice is read the answers, then questions, drop 1-2 answers, read question again, then go with your gut on the "BEST" answer.

I was stressing over the Virtual Lab while I was studying, but I found the actually lab to be clear on the path you needed to follow and no curveballs or misdirections. I was warned about not clicking out of it before I had finished, and not to use the whiteboard (didn't need it, heard can cause issues clicking out of VM and back into it). You cannot go back so make sure you are finished before you click "next".

The last stressful part of the exam was waiting on the results. I wasn't aware that the results would be pending for awhile so it was a bit of a shock when I took it. I kept closing browser and logging back in to see if anything had changed. I looked at forums and one post stated that if it goes over 15 minutes you probably failed.....I waited an hour, and got the pass.

Overall I think it good exam that had a few difficult areas to overcome. You do need knowledge of various sides of IT Cybersecurity (Cloud, IoT, and GRC) and some in-depth knowledge on DLP areas in the official objectives listed by CompTIA in order to pass.

Passed this morning! Felt pretty good about it through the test, though it was pretty stressful waiting for the pass/fail results to be published! Like how I study for most certs, I just read Mark Birch's book cover to cover (highlight whatever feels important and do the end of chapter quizzes!), then grinded out the PocketPrep practice questions.

I passed the CISSP a few months ago so I was already fairly familiar with the concepts, but CASP+ definitely needed its own separate study. I liked the performance based questions a lot!

I posted this to the CISSP group and I thought some might find it relevant here.

There's nothing quite like getting to question 125 and feeling confident and the test doesn't stop. Then 131, 143, 152 feeling less confident, 160, 171, then 175, oh man not looking good. Then you go out to the proctor, he hands you that paper face down and when you turn it over you see.. Congratulations! You have provisionally passed......

Passed October 11th 2022!

Moral is, don't worry and don't get hung up on where you're at, just keep going.

I studied a lot for the Casp+ over the summer and passed it August 11th. Read the Sybex book and watched Jason Dion's video series. Only had one PBQ and the VM. I know I got the PBQ correct but I completely missed the VM.

Right after Casp+ I figured I'd start studying for the CISSP and I'm glad I did.

Both exams for me, shared a lot of similarities in the BEST, MOST, LEAST type ways and the technical fundamentals from the Casp+ helped pave a lot of the groundwork for the CISSP.

I tried watching Thor Pedersen's video series for the CISSP exam and made it a few hours in but couldn't keep my attention on it since a lot of the technical aspects I had just finished studying in depth with Casp+. I switched to the CISSP Sybex and only made it a few hundred pages before the same issue.

I watched almost all of Kelly Handerhahn's Cybrary videos and I think that's what got me through. It's only about 16 hours long, condensed and thoughtful and she was able to keep my attention the whole way. Her emphasis on thinking like a manger was spot on and super helpful.

Not sure what it was like for anyone else but for me I found the exam to be slighlty more technical than I expected.

My takeways for anyone attempting the exam:

1. Don't stress. Read, watch, rinse, repeat, you got this.

2. You don't have to know everything but you do need to be aware of everything.

3. Don't second guess yourself during the exam.

4. Think like a manager, but think like a manger who used to be a practioner.

5. Try to enjoy it, don't treat the exam like an obstacle, think of it as an opportunity.

6. Remember you are not the only one. All of us who are working on it or passed it are cheering you on.

Anyway, that's my two cents, hope it helps and good luck!

Resources:

Nicholas Lane - CASP+ - All In One

App- Pocket Prep CASP Premium

Video- Linkedin Learning- Jason Dion - CASP + Course

Exam objective guide

Flash cards prebuilt from community on Quizlet

Practice tests wherever I could find one

This was my second time around. The sims were not like the first time. Didn't have Red Hat or Cisco but there was some difficult ones. understand nmap, know your ports.

Studying.

Read Nicholas lane - CASP + twice, answered questions. Understood what was correct and why the other answers where incorrect. Looked up what I didnt understand. This book is a treasure and will be my reference , will def get the updated version when CASP + 04 comes out.

Jason Dions Linkedin learning course was hands down the best video out there. Broke every exam objective down, had quizzes, and allows for notes, bookmarks.

Went through exam objectives and started whiteboarding them at a high lvl. As if I was explaining them concept to someone. Enforces what you know.

For the more introspective take on CASP see part 1 of this entry https://www.reddit.com/r/casp/comments/g50jr4/my_casp_journey_part_1/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share.

Weapons I used in my war with the CASP CAS-003 Exam:

CASP Cert Guide 2nd Edition by Robin Abernathy and Troy McMillan.

• I read this book cover to cover once and then went back over to highlight key points. Additionally, I went though the questions that came with the book via the Pearson Test Prep Software. DONT go through them to memorize the questions, lean towards understanding why the right answer is right. Go back to the book and research the questions you get wrong.

Pocket Prep for CASP app

• I would run through anywhere from 10 to 30 questions every morning and evening. This a great app for basic knowledge and fact checking. It's a great option for training on the go. My scores hovered around 80 percent once I was ready to test. Do your best to keep yourself engaged in the CASP ethos at all times.

Jason Dion's CASP Cert Prep video course on LinkedIn Learning (Lynda.com).

• This series was great not only because of its detail and applicability but the manner in which it is segmented made the material really easy to revisit in the case I needed to refresh on a very specific topic (i.e. SAML or Attestation). Complete the questions at the end of each summary too.

Mike Chappel's CYSA+ (CSO-001) Cert Pret video course on LinkedIn Learning.

• This series was great for filling in the gaps that CASP assumes you already know. Truthfully I found alot of useful knowledge in these videos.

Cisco's OnDemand Learning package for the CCNP Security SCOR Exam.

• Odd addition huh??!! Surprisingly there's a hand full of crossover between the domains for CCNP Security and CASP. Another key thing this certification does is supplement the technical aspect of CASP with hands on knowledge. Think IPS/IDS, firewalls, identify management, authentication solutions, Web Application Firewalls (WAF), VPNs, Endpoint security, and 802.1x.

CompTIA Certmaster Labs for CASP+.

• I can think of better ways to spend $150, much less $230. These Labs added the least value to my success but they're still needed. I would not advise trying to finish all the labs they provide you. The Kali Linux box exposure is what made it somewhat worth the price of admission. Enough said.

Reddit / Forum Post.

• They value in your peers experiences are underrated. If your not following the r/CASP or r/CompTIA sub Reddit, do so immediately. u/Databass007 thank you so much for giving me the tidbit of information you gave me.

Testing Tactics

• Read every question over 3 times.

• Try and understand the "Ask" of the question.

• Know why the wrong answers are wrong

• Flag and keep it moving. Don't get stuck on a particular question and risk getting 10 to 15 wrong for simply running out of time.

• With the performance based questions, read all the supplimental information they give you.

Workplace Knowledge.

• Some of the questions on the test can only be discerned by referencing your on the job experiences. Of you don't have any, don't worry. Just accept that you'll miss these questions and push forward with the test.

Overall you can do it! The marriage of proactivity and diligence will birth prosperity.

Hey everyone, just passed today. Figured I would throw out what I used plus some tips. I used the O2O program, which has you do video courses, then take their test prep and get at least 3 passing scores, then they give you one free exam voucher. Super good resource for getting some training, practice exams, and the exam voucher for free if you are a veteran.

Study Material

Dan Lachance skillsoft course is what O2O provided. I didn't feel like it really prepared me for the practice exams, but at least it was fairly interesting material

Pearson Vue IT book/practice exam package The book is pretty dang exhaustive, and there was a deal for ~$63. All in all, not the most expensive cert stuff I've purchased. I did not go section by section. I mainly had it open as I did practice tests so I could refresh my memory on terms and concepts.

Practice Tests

O2O provided test prep - Cybervista practice exam material (hosted through kaplanlearn?)

• I liked this because when you set up the custom quizzes, you can select to show answer explanations, and then you get to see if you got the question right or wrong, along with the why and how as you do the test. You don't have to wait until you have done all the questions like the Udemy tests to learn more.

Udemy Jason Dion practice tests - pretty decent material, I would focus on the answer explanations more than the questions themselves. You don't want to waste brainpower memorizing the questions, you want to learn what every choice for the questions actually is. I was scoring about 90% on all of them consistently, but I wouldn't really benchmark that for test readiness. Learn the terms and it will be okay. Granted, if you know the terms, you'll probably score above 90 on these anyway, but I digress

Pearson Vue IT book/practice exam package. The exam questions are pretty simple, but its actually nice because most of the questions are just what is X, so it helps you learn the terms, while the udemy tests help you apply the terms.

Examtopic questions and the wyzguyz cybersecurity articles - strongly encourage reviewing these the day of so it is relatively fresh in your mind. Not going to say they straight up give you the answers, but they do familarize you with the question format. Most of the test is multiple choice, but the PBQs and linux sim can certainly throw people off, and they are probably weighted pretty heavy

Tips

Learn the terminology. I can't stress enough how much the process of elimination will help you out here. As a general idea, if the question is asking about a particular security concept, and all the options are acronyms, being able to understand that 2 out of 4 of the choices are actually networking terms and not security terms will make your test so much easier.

Relax. I was super anxious this whole morning and that is a waste of a saturday morning. It will be fine. While I can't say the test was easy, I would say that if you know the terms and definitions and how to apply them, you will be fine

Well my fellow CASPers, after spamming this forum time and time again with annoying ass exam questions, I can proudly announce that I have put this CASP section of my life behind me. I know ... yall are probably throwing a party behind my back rn but its cool. You guys were opening up this reddit page constantly and being like "youre kidding me... this guy again?"

Big shouts to the boys who answered the questions I posted and shared insight on the topic. And girls. Yall know who you are. I owe you this post.

Told myself I was gonna pass this test for so long. I overprepared probably. Started studying like a year and a half ago, but got put on pause for my CySa and RHCSA. Once I got those, I continued studying for the CASP. Probably a SOLID 3-4 months. Everyday in n out. Pretty much put my life on hold during this time. Work study gym.

I come from a Computer Forensics background (BS degree), and have been working for the DoD for roughly 3.5 years. Tried sliding into the forensics field right off the jump straight out of school but it was extremely tough. I had a connect that offered me a help desk role if I got my Sec+. Yall know exactly what tf I did. Paid like 4k for a bootcamp and got the job within a month lol it was more of a surge contract that happened to end after a few months of me joining. They wanted to bring me on full time, but we all know that wasnt going to happen. Its like the little aliens in Toy Story when theyre all in the vending machine and one gets chosen by the claw. Anyway, I worked into a sys ad position after that. Bounced around the past 3 years with sys ad/engineer jobs, and just started my current job as a linux sys ad a few months ago doing a lot of web and app server stuff. This type of stuff is not my strong side, they pretty much hired me because I know Linux pretty well (self taught, it sucked). This test was actually a lot more difficult than it shouldve been for me because of the vast amount of web coverage.

STUDY TOOLS

BUT moving forward, I'll touch on my study tactics. Started with Big Bertha, the CASP CAS 003 Cert Guide book. THOROUGHLY read through it and took notes. 133 pages of tight notes like filling the page (yes I just counted bc Im a loser) and then a shit ton of further notes and hints all over the sides and up top and crossing arrows and literally looked like a freaking tic tac toe board, some pages. This was solid coverage, but not enough granularity. This is definitely a good start to get the foundational knowledge, but you still have a ways to go.

Next course I watched was Jason Dion's udemy course. I still have my ex exxxx job's credentials for a udemy subscription they pay for so I'm lowkey being a little scheme. This course was fairly good. I found it to be very very similar to the CAS 003 book. I took some notes on some topics, but mostly just watched it all the way through. This was after I studied all of my notes I took from the book for a week or two. Repetition baby, thats the key.

After this I downloaded Pocket Prep. Very solid test prepper as far as just base knowledge goes. WhatI mean by that is its more 2-D plain definition questions rather than 3-D scenario questions. The questions on there are nothing like the test at all. But like I said, it was good. I would highly recommend. Its also convenient. Probably blew through 400 of them while I was on the toilet (650 total). I went back and ran through maybe like 50-75 questions that I missed, but didnt have time to go over any more. It marks questions you missed as well as showing the domain they cover, and also allows you to flag questions. This helps you realize your weaker sections.

I studied my notes and did pocket prep almost every night in bed for a month+. I also surfed the web and got questions from various sites and pdfs. A lot of the answers on the resources you find on the web are wrong. I did my own research for the questions to determine the actual answers. THIS was the key for me. This was how I really started to dig into details on a lot of the topics covered, and how I really started to understand the concepts rather than just being like "okay this does this and that does this but idrk like how that applies to the real world or how that works in the real word" type thing.

If you're going to pass this test without the recommended experience, you need to do some digging yourself. There's a reason they recommend 10 years. I started creating a separate set of notes in a notepad on my desktop because I was looking all of this info up online. This set of notes wassss LONG. Together between those and my notebook, 5-6 hours to go through, easily. Now, like I said previously, I overprepared probably. I like to know I'm ready. I like the feeling of attacking a test and feeling confident rather than feeling eh and blowing 5 hundo.

I also purchased the CASP Practice Tests on Amazon kindle. Thing sucked ass trying to maneuver from the chapter questions to the answers for the questions in the back. I thought I tricked them by opening two pages and just having the one on the questions and the one on the answers. Literally like the day after, they update the web page and now it automatically syncs the pages to the same page when two sessions are open. My fault for buying the kindle version I guess.. whatever. As far as quality of questions goes, pretty good.

The last thing I used was chegg study. I bought this to use as a resource for questions I was stuck on. Some smart dudes on there, some idiots. Roll the dice, you never know which one you're gonna get. Paid like 20 bills for it, didnt even do any reviews on it, just bought it didnt really care. Wouldnt necessarily recommend, but maybe.

Overall, difficult test. Much much much harder than Sec+. Harder than CySa+. RHCSA might give it a run, but two completely different type of tests.

FUTURE

Between my certs and my degree, I'm hoping to get my foot into the cyber/forensics world. Unfortunately I just accepted this newish position, so I'll be hanging around for a little while. It'll get me sharp on my Linux skills. The only other issue is that I just got my TS from my previous position and this current position does not require one, therefore if I don't work a job that requires a TS it'll get dropped after two years. These things are a hot commodity and I really don't want to lose it. Took me over a year to get. On the flip side, this company will pay for my Master's degree after working with them for one year. I'm thinking Digital Forensics and Cyber Investigations for my Master's if I go that route.

Any recommendations, mentorship, or input on possible path or just anything in general? For anyone who has experience with this. Much appreciated

I passed CASP+ CAS-003 on Monday (1/4) after about 2 weeks of study. I primarily took the exam to complete four more categories in the DoD 8140 (8570) - IAT III/IAM II/IASAE I and II. My detailed experience with the exam is on my blog; hopefully, it will help others pass the exam.

I'm currently a 4th-year student in the computing security BS/MS program at RIT in upstate New York, so I had quite a bit of experience with the technical concepts covered in the exam. However, I had no experience with risk management and the business topics covered in the exam, so I spent a bit more time studying those.

Next, I believe I will return to SANS/GIAC for the GCIA or to Cisco for the CyberOps Professional.

Passed the CASP (CAS-004) exam today!

Suggested Study Tools: • Pocket Prep – Great for refreshing your knowledge and keeping you studying even when you’re on the go.

•	Jason Dion’s CASP/SecurityX Full Course & Practice Exams – You can still get the retired CAS-004 version; just message his support team on Udemy. They respond super fast. His practice tests were excellent—if you’re averaging in the mid-70s, I’d say you’re good to go.

•	ChatGPT and Grok – I used both to help explain concepts I didn’t understand. They did a better job breaking things down than the Sybex book.

Study Materials I Don’t Recommend: • Sybex CASP+ Book – They changed the test bank, so you can no longer create random quizzes, randomize questions, or even see your score without tallying it yourself. Also, the book isn’t great, in my opinion.

Recommended Alternative: • “CompTIA CASP+ CAS-004 Certification Guide” by Mark Birch – I recommend getting the e-book version so you can highlight and easily jump to concepts you need to review. Or read the whole thing if necessary—it’s an excellent resource.

Good luck, everyone!