You can see it againUnder pressure people bring back shapes and positions long after the wording has gone.
Picture superiority · Shepard 1967, Standing 1973
COMPTIACompTIA Security+
CompTIA Security+ is a globally recognized certification that validates the essential skills required for core security functions in IT security. It is ideal for professionals aiming to secure networks, applications, and devices, ensuring data integrity, confidentiality, and availability. This certification is crucial for advancing in the dynamic field of cybersecurity.
Exam formatMultiple choice and performance-based
Duration90 minutes
DeliveryPearson VUE
Passing score750
Free questions808
Content last reviewed 1 October 2023 · Up to date
The certification
What SY0-701 proves, and what it asks of you
What this certification covers, who it is written for, and what the exam itself looks like on the day.
5domains
28objectives
212concepts
US $425exam fee
What it is
What this certification is
What it validates, who it is written for, and the experience it assumes.
About this certification
The CompTIA Security+ certification establishes your ability to perform core security functions and pursue an IT security career. It demonstrates your skills in securing networks, applications, and devices, ensuring data integrity, confidentiality, and availability.
This certification focuses on practical, hands-on skills to tackle real-world challenges. As a widely recognized credential, it is invaluable for advancing in the dynamic field of cybersecurity.
Who it’s for
This certification is designed for IT professionals who want to validate their skills in security functions. It is suitable for those aiming to secure networks, applications, and devices, ensuring data integrity, confidentiality, and availability. Ideal candidates include those working in roles such as cyber defense analyst, incident responder, vulnerability analyst, and security control assessor.
Recommended experience
CompTIA recommends having CompTIA Network+ and two years of experience in a security/systems administrator job role. Experience with security technologies and tools; Knowledge of secure network architectures; Understanding of identity and access management
The syllabus
What you’ll learn
Every domain and objective CompTIA measures, with the weight they carry on the exam.
The official CompTIA exam outline · checked 1 October 2023 · See the source
General security concepts
- Security controls
- Fundamental concepts
- Change management
- Cryptographic solutions
Threats, vulnerabilities, and mitigations
- Threat actors and motivations
- Threat vectors and attack surfaces
- Vulnerabilities
- Malicious activity
- Mitigation techniques
Security architecture
- Architecture models
- Enterprise infrastructure
- Data protection
- Resilience and recovery
Security operations
- Computing resources
- Asset management
- Vulnerability management
- Alerting and monitoring
- Enterprise security
- Identity and access management
- Automation and orchestration
- Incident response
- Data sources
Security program management and oversight
- Security governance
- Risk management
- Third-party risk
- Security compliance
- Audits and assessments
- Security awareness
On the day
The exam itself
Everything CompTIA publishes about sitting it, and nothing we inferred.
Prerequisites
No mandatory prerequisites — this certification has no required predecessor exam or credential.
Exam codeSY0-701
CertificationCompTIA Security+
Exam formatMultiple choice and performance-based
Duration90 minutes
QuestionsMaximum of 90 questions
Passing score750
DeliveryPearson VUE
LanguagesEnglish, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, Thai
PricingUS $425
After you pass
Where this credential goes next
The path CompTIA lays out, how the credential is kept, and where to book.
Step-by-step path to CompTIA Security+
Credential earnedCompTIA Security+ Certification Renewal and maintenance
The CompTIA Security+ certification is valid for three years. Renew before it expires by completing CEUs or retaking exams. Stay current with the latest technologies and maintain your certification.
Learn more about renewal requirements Lifecycle status
This certification is currently active and available. CompTIA maintains this certification to validate current skills and industry relevance.
Exam status: ActiveMaintained by CompTIA
Exam registration
Register for the exam through Pearson VUE, CompTIA’s authorized testing partner.
Schedule your examVisit the official CompTIA certification page for exam policies and requirements.
View the official pageYour coach
And when you are serious, your coach Pip takes over
Your coach in the app reads what you have answered with the book closed and tells you one thing to do tonight. It will not count an answer you gave with the page open, and it will tell you when you are not ready.
See how the coach worksBefore you book
Questions people ask
What job roles does the CompTIA Security+ credential map to?
It aligns with roles such as cyber defense analyst, incident responder, vulnerability analyst, and security control assessor.
Is there a hands-on component in the SY0-701 exam?
Yes, the exam includes performance-based questions that test practical skills.
What is the retake policy for the SY0-701 exam?
Candidates must wait 24 hours after a first failed attempt, and 14 days before each subsequent attempt.
Can I recertify by passing a different CompTIA exam?
Yes, earning a higher-level CompTIA certification can renew the Security+ credential.
Information freshness · Content last reviewed on 2023-10-01 Up to date
Practice free questions 808 questions, free, no account needed.
The curriculum
The whole exam, mapped and written
Every domain, every objective, and every concept CompTIA measures — each one written out.
5domains
28objectives
212concepts
171free pages
The domains, and what sits inside them
Every objective below is a page you can open and practise now, without an account.
The official CompTIA exam outline · checked 1 October 2023 · See the source
1General security concepts117 questions
2Threats, vulnerabilities, and mitigations138 questions
3Security architecture129 questions
4Security operations262 questions
Computing resources7 concepts · 6 pagesOpen →Asset management10 concepts · 8 pagesOpen →Vulnerability management5 concepts · 5 pagesOpen →Alerting and monitoring9 concepts · 7 pagesOpen →Enterprise security6 concepts · 5 pagesOpen →Identity and access management9 concepts · 7 pagesOpen →Automation and orchestration8 concepts · 6 pagesOpen →Incident response6 concepts · 6 pagesOpen →Data sources10 concepts · 5 pagesOpen →
5Security program management and oversight162 questions
Not a table of contents
Every line on this map already opens
In front of every objective the practice pages are already there, free and without an account. This is one objective, opened.
Security controls7 pagesOpen →
Free in front of it
33 questions on this objective, five to a page. Every range above is a real page, open now, with no account.
Reading the map is not the same as knowing the ground
The curriculum tells you what is on the exam. Proving you know it is a different job — and it is the one the closed-book run does.
Free questions
808 questions. No account, no card.
The whole bank is open. 5 questions to a page, every answer explained, and a discussion thread on each one.
808questions
171pages
28objectives
Freealways
Browse by domain
Every objective, and every page range, is a link — so you can pick up exactly where you left off.
1General security concepts117 questions
2Threats, vulnerabilities, and mitigations138 questions
3Security architecture129 questions
4Security operations262 questions
5Security program management and oversight162 questions
What a practice page gives you
1Five to a page
Short enough to finish, long enough to matter.
2Every answer explained
Not only which one is right — why the others are wrong.
3A discussion on each
Ask, answer, and vote. Every question has its own thread.
A question, and the idea behind it
Every question comes from a concept
These are not trivia. Each one is written against a concept in the book, so when you get one wrong there is somewhere to go and find out why.
The visual book
See it once. Carry it into the exam.
The pages shown here come from our AI-900 book — an example of how each concept is written in plain language and, where the idea needs one, drawn as a full page you can take in at a glance.
212concepts
808free questions
Why a picture, and not another paragraph
Three reasons, and each one is a real finding rather than a slogan.
You can see it againThe whole idea at onceWhere it starts, what happens in the middle, what comes out, and the mistake to avoid.
Multimedia principle · MayerThe look-alikes sit togetherThe pairs the exam tests are drawn side by side, so the difference is seen, not told.
Dual coding · PaivioWhat one page is made of
You are never asked to read a poster here — only to see how one is built. After that, every other page is legible at a glance.
1A numbered strip on top
The idea as a sequence, followed with a finger before a word is read.
2Panels for the parts
What it is, how the machine learns it, when it is the right tool.
3The trap, framed
The distinction the exam tests, given its own box instead of buried in prose.
4One line at the bottom
The sentence to carry into the exam room.
Open book, on purpose
Answer it with the picture beside you
This is the part that teaches. The illustration and the written explanation stay where they are while you work, so a scenario stops being a memory test and becomes something you can simply look at.
It teaches · it does not count
A smartphone uses AI to unlock when the owner looks at the camera. Which AI capability is being used?
AImage classification
BFacial recognition
COptical character recognition
DObject detection
Look at the five steps. Detect finds a face, align straightens it, encode turns it into numbers, search compares it with a stored face, and decide answers one question: is this the same person? Classification would only say “a face”. Detection would only draw a box. Neither decides whose.
Then the page shuts, and it starts counting
The same questions come back with the book closed — that run is the one that counts. After it, your coach picks one thing for tonight, sized to the time you have, and brings pages back before you lose them.
Testing effect · Roediger & Karpicke 2006 · spacing effect · Cepeda et al. 2006
Official resources
Straight from CompTIA
Where the exam is defined, scheduled and scored.
1official link
212concepts mapped
The source
CompTIA’s own pages
We link to them rather than repeat them, so nothing here goes stale behind them.
Checked against the source
Every objective on the official CompTIA outline already has questions here
We build from the official skills outline, not from a summary of it — 28 objectives, 212 concepts written under them, and free questions against every one. When CompTIA changes the outline, this page changes with it.
28objectives on the outline→212concepts written→808free questions
An official page tells you what will be asked. It cannot tell you what you will get right.
That is the only question worth answering the night before, and no link answers it. You answer it by taking the questions with the book closed, and seeing what comes back.