CompTIA Security+ (SY0-701) Exam Prep

No. It is an independent free course built on Professor Messer's free SY0-701 videos, credited on every module. CompTIA and Security+ are trademarks of CompTIA, and neither CompTIA nor Professor Messer is affiliated with EDWartens.

No. The certification is awarded only by passing CompTIA's exam, booked and paid for through CompTIA. This course prepares you for it and gives you an EDWartens certificate of completion.

Yes. The course follows Professor Messer's complete SY0-701 series, which covers every objective across the five domains, in 12 teaching modules.

About 19 hours of lessons, notes and practice questions, plus about 10 hours for the project. Spread over several weeks, with time for revision, is a realistic plan before booking the exam.

No, though basic networking knowledge helps. CompTIA recommends some IT experience before sitting the exam itself.

Yes. Every module, the notes, the 130 practice questions, the project and the final assessment. The only paid item is the EDWartens certificate, if you want it.

Yes, as of September 2026. CompTIA expects to launch Security+ V8 (SY0-801) on or around 17 November 2026, and SY0-701 stays available for a period after that, so check CompTIA's retirement date before you book.

A security assessment of a 25-person accounting office in Geelong, Australia: an asset list, a risk register with SLE and ALE figures, an incident response procedure and a prioritised report mapped to the five exam domains. It doubles as a revision checklist and a portfolio piece.

No. The lab is optional practice. You can skip it whenever you like, and it never blocks your progress, the final assessment or your certificate.

Yes. Every lab level for this course opens in your browser, free, with nothing to install.

The CompTIA Security+ (SY0-701) Exam Prep course has 13 modules. It opens with "How the Security+ exam works", goes through "Security controls and fundamental concepts (1.1 to 1.2)", "Types of vulnerability (2.3)", "Hardening, assets and vulnerability management (4.1 to 4.3)" and "Governance, risk and compliance (5.1 to 5.6)" and ends with "Final Assessment". The full list with minutes is under "What you learn" on this page.

After the CompTIA Security+ (SY0-701) Exam Prep course: Classify security controls and explain CIA, AAA and zero trust; Explain PKI, encryption, hashing and digital signatures; Recognise threat actors, vectors, social engineering and attacks. These are the practical outcomes the course is written around, and the final assessment of 15 questions checks them.

For the CompTIA Security+ (SY0-701) Exam Prep course, software: None required. A free virtual lab (for example a Linux virtual machine) is useful for the project. Hardware: any computer with a browser. The course itself is free.

CompTIA Security+ (SY0-701) Exam Prep is rated beginner. Beginner in security. Basic networking knowledge (IP addresses, ports, what a firewall does) helps; CompTIA recommends some IT experience before sitting the exam. It is written for candidates preparing for the CompTIA Security+ SY0-701 exam, and IT staff moving into security, and takes about 19.4 hours at your own pace.

Skills from the CompTIA Security+ (SY0-701) Exam Prep course (for example: classify security controls and explain CIA, AAA and zero trust) are used in roles such as OT security analyst, security engineer, network engineer and compliance analyst, and in information security analyst work. The course gives you practical evidence of the skill; it does not promise a job, and employers decide on experience and interview.