Security+ has a reputation for being the entry-level cert everyone tells you to get first. What that reputation doesn’t always include is an honest answer about how hard it actually is — and the answer varies a lot depending on where you’re starting from.
Short version: if you have some IT background, Security+ is manageable with two to three months of focused study. If you’re coming in completely fresh with no technical experience, it’s genuinely difficult and will take longer than most prep materials suggest.
Here’s what you’re actually dealing with.
What the Exam Covers
The current version is SY0-701, released in late 2023. It covers five domains:
General security concepts, threats, vulnerabilities and mitigations, security architecture, security operations, and security program management and oversight. CompTIA weights these differently — threats and mitigations gets the most attention at around 22% of the exam, while program management is the lightest at 20%.
The exam itself is up to 90 questions with a 90-minute time limit. It uses a mix of multiple choice and performance-based questions (PBQs) — the latter drop you into simulated scenarios where you have to actually configure something, drag and drop an answer, or work through a problem rather than just pick from four options. PBQs appear at the start of the exam and trip up a lot of people who weren’t expecting them.
Passing score is 750 on a scale of 100–900.
Who Finds It Easy vs Who Finds It Hard
Background matters more than anything else here.
IT helpdesk or sysadmin experience (1+ years): You’ll recognize a lot of the concepts already — network basics, Windows environments, user account management. Security+ builds on that foundation. Most people in this category pass with two to three months of part-time study, often on their first attempt.
Network+ or A+ certified: CompTIA designed Security+ to follow these, and the overlap is real. If you’ve already passed Network+, you’re walking in with maybe 30% of the Security+ content already understood. Study time drops to six to eight weeks for most people.
Complete beginners with no IT background: This is where Security+ earns its difficulty. You’re not just learning security concepts — you’re also trying to absorb networking fundamentals, operating system basics, and cryptography at the same time. Doable, but it takes four to six months of serious study, and a first-attempt pass rate is lower. Some people benefit from doing CompTIA A+ or a networking fundamentals course first.
Career changers from non-tech fields: Similar to complete beginners, but often with stronger study habits and more time available. The conceptual density is the challenge — Security+ covers an enormous breadth of topics without going very deep on any of them, which means a lot of memorization alongside applied understanding.
What Makes It Harder Than People Expect
The breadth is genuinely wide. Security+ doesn’t let you specialize. You need to know something about cryptography, incident response, cloud security, physical security, identity management, compliance frameworks, wireless protocols, and about forty other topic areas. You can’t just focus on what interests you and wing the rest.
Performance-based questions require real understanding. Multiple choice lets you eliminate wrong answers and make educated guesses. PBQs don’t. If you’ve only memorized definitions without understanding how things actually work, PBQs expose that quickly. A common complaint from people who fail is that they felt fine on the multiple choice but got destroyed on the scenarios.
The wording is deliberately tricky. CompTIA exam questions often include answers that are almost right. “Best” and “most appropriate” show up constantly, and two answers will look equally valid until you understand the specific context the question is testing. Reading comprehension matters as much as technical knowledge.
Time pressure is real. 90 questions in 90 minutes sounds like one minute per question, but PBQs can take five to ten minutes each. If you hit three or four PBQs at the start, you’ve already used a quarter of your time before reaching the multiple choice section.
Study Resources That Actually Work
Professor Messer’s Security+ course is the most widely recommended free resource and genuinely deserves that reputation. His videos cover every exam objective, he updates them when the exam changes, and the accompanying study notes are useful for review. Available free at professormesser.com.
Jason Dion’s Udemy course is the most popular paid option. He goes deep on exam-taking strategy and includes a lot of practice questions with detailed explanations. His practice exams are harder than the real exam, which is intentional — if you’re passing his tests consistently, you’re likely ready.
CompTIA’s own CertMaster is expensive and not worth it over the alternatives above.
Darril Gibson’s “CompTIA Security+ Get Certified Get Ahead” is the most thorough book option if you prefer reading over video.
For practice exams specifically: do as many as you can find. The goal isn’t memorizing answers — it’s understanding why each wrong answer is wrong. That reasoning process is what carries you through the real exam when you see questions phrased differently than anything you’ve practiced.
Realistic Study Timeline
No IT background: 4–6 months, 1–2 hours per day IT helpdesk or basic networking experience: 2–3 months, 1 hour per day Network+ or A+ already certified: 6–8 weeks, 1 hour per day Working in IT security already: 3–4 weeks, targeted review of weak areas
These assume consistent daily study, not cramming. People who try to compress Security+ into two weeks of intensive prep generally don’t pass on the first attempt unless they already have significant experience.
Pass Rates and Retakes
CompTIA doesn’t publish official pass rates, but community data from Reddit and various forums puts the first-attempt pass rate somewhere between 60–75% depending on preparation level. That means a meaningful percentage of people do fail the first time, which is worth knowing before you go in.
If you fail, you can retake after 14 days. After a second fail, the wait extends to 14 days again, but after a third consecutive fail you must wait 6 months. Most people who fail retake within a month and pass — the exam reveals exactly where your gaps are.
The exam costs $392 as of 2026, which is a real incentive to prepare properly before sitting it.
Is Security+ Worth the Difficulty?
That question gets its own article, but the short version: yes, for most people entering cybersecurity. It’s DoD 8570 approved, widely recognized by employers, and genuinely opens doors that pure experience or a degree alone sometimes doesn’t.
If you’re still weighing whether cybersecurity is the right field before committing to cert prep, the broader question of how hard cybersecurity actually is as a career is worth reading first — Security+ difficulty is one piece of a larger picture. And if you’re deciding between a certification path and a degree, whether a cybersecurity degree is worth it covers that comparison directly.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Security+ hard for someone with no experience? Yes, genuinely. Without an IT background, you’re learning networking, operating systems, and security concepts simultaneously. It’s doable but takes four to six months of consistent study and more effort than most prep guides admit.
How long does it take to study for Security+? Most people with some IT experience need two to three months studying about an hour a day. Complete beginners need four to six months. People already working in IT security can often prepare in three to four weeks of targeted review.
What is the passing score for Security+? 750 on a scale of 100–900.
How many questions are on the Security+ exam? Up to 90 questions, including multiple choice and performance-based questions, with a 90-minute time limit.
What are performance-based questions on Security+? PBQs are scenario-based questions that require you to configure a firewall, match security terms, drag items into categories, or solve a simulated problem — rather than selecting from multiple choice answers. They appear at the start of the exam and require applied understanding, not just memorization.
What happens if you fail Security+? You can retake after 14 days. There’s no limit on total attempts, but after a third consecutive fail, you must wait 6 months before trying again. The exam fee applies each time.
Is Security+ harder than Network+? Most people find Security+ harder. Network+ is narrower in scope. Security+ covers more domains and requires understanding how security applies across networking, cloud, identity management, compliance, and incident response simultaneously.
Do employers care about Security+? Yes. It’s one of the most recognized entry-level security certifications, required or preferred for many government and defense contractor roles under DoD 8570/8140, and listed in a large percentage of security analyst job postings.
The Bottom Line
Security+ isn’t the hardest cert out there, but it’s not a pushover either. The difficulty depends heavily on your starting point — someone coming from an IT helpdesk job has a very different experience than someone switching careers from an unrelated field.
What trips most people up isn’t the overall difficulty level, it’s underestimating the breadth of topics and underpreparing for performance-based questions. Study consistently, do a lot of practice exams, understand the reasoning behind wrong answers, and you’ll be in good shape.
