How Hard Is the CompTIA Security+ Exam? (2026 SY0-701 Reality Check)

So you’re staring down the CompTIA Security+ exam, wondering if you’re walking into a buzzsaw or a victory lap.

Honest answer: it depends. The Security+ exam (current version SY0-701) is harder than most people expect going in, but it’s nowhere near impossible. I’ve been teaching this stuff for thirty years — first the original SY0-101, every revision since, and now SY0-701. The pattern is always the same. People who treat Security+ like a vocabulary test fail. People who treat it like learning a craft pass.

This post walks you through exactly what makes the exam hard, what makes it manageable, and what you need to do differently than the people who don’t make it.

How hard is the Security+ exam, really?

Let’s start with the data, because there’s a lot of breathless “OMG SO HARD” content out there that isn’t grounded in anything.

CompTIA doesn’t publish official pass rates, but based on training-provider data and candidate surveys, here’s the rough picture for SY0-701:

• Self-study candidates with no formal prep: 50-65% first-attempt pass rate
• Candidates with structured training and practice exams: 70-75% first-attempt pass rate
• Bootcamp and instructor-led training attendees: 85-93% first-attempt pass rate

So Security+ is hard enough that roughly one in three self-studiers fail on their first try. But it’s also gettable enough that 9 out of 10 people who prep properly walk out with the cert. The difficulty isn’t the content — it’s the gap between casual prep and proper prep.

For context, Security+ sits in the middle of CompTIA’s difficulty curve. It’s harder than A+ or Network+ (the entry-level certs), but it’s not the brick wall that CASP+ or PenTest+ can be. Most people who pass Network+ can pass Security+ with another 8-10 weeks of focused study.

What’s actually on the SY0-701 exam

You get up to 90 questions in 90 minutes. That’s 60 seconds per question on average, which sounds tight because it is. The questions are a mix of standard multiple-choice and performance-based questions (PBQs), the simulated-task questions where you might configure a firewall rule, analyze a log entry, or drag-and-drop attack types to their right mitigations.

The passing score is 750 out of 900, on a scaled scoring system. That works out to approximately 83% correct, though the math isn’t quite that clean because PBQs may be weighted differently than multiple-choice questions.

The exam covers five domains:

Domain	Weight	What it covers
1. General Security Concepts	12%	CIA triad, control types, cryptography basics, identity concepts
2. Threats, Vulnerabilities, and Attacks	22%	Threat actors, attack vectors, vulnerability types, indicators of compromise
3. Security Architecture	18%	Network security, cloud security, zero trust, secure design principles
4. Security Operations	28%	The biggest domain — monitoring, incident response, hardening, change management
5. Security Program Management & Oversight	20%	Risk, governance, compliance, audit, third-party management

If your study time is limited, prioritize Domain 4 (Security Operations) and Domain 2 (Threats). Together they’re half the exam.

Why Security+ trips people up

There are four things that make the Security+ exam harder than candidates expect. Knowing them in advance is most of the battle.

Reason 1: It’s a reading-comprehension test as much as a security test

This is the single most common feedback you’ll hear from people who passed: the exam isn’t really testing whether you know what a firewall is. It’s testing whether you can read a 50-word scenario carefully and figure out which of four “correct-sounding” answers is the best one.

You’ll see questions where all four answers are plausible. The trick is picking the one that’s most aligned with what CompTIA considers the right approach. That means knowing the framework mental models — defense in depth, least privilege, separation of duties — and being able to apply them to scenarios you’ve never seen before.

If you’ve been hammering flashcards but haven’t done a lot of practice questions yet, this is where you’ll struggle. The cure is volume — work through hundreds of practice questions and pay attention to why the wrong answers are wrong, not just memorizing the right ones.

Reason 2: The performance-based questions

PBQs typically appear first on the exam — three to five of them, usually — and they each take 5 to 10 minutes if you tackle them head-on. That’s a problem because if you spend 30 minutes on PBQs at the start, you’ve got 60 minutes left for 85 multiple-choice questions.

The standard advice from people who passed: flag the PBQs, skip them, knock out all the multiple-choice questions first, then come back to PBQs with whatever time you have left. PBQs are easier to think about clearly when you’ve already warmed up on the multiple-choice portion.

If you’re not practicing PBQs in your prep, you’ll be slow on test day. Look for practice resources that include PBQ simulations — not just multiple-choice questions.

Reason 3: Acronym overload

Security+ has more acronyms than any other CompTIA exam I’ve taught. CIA, AAA, DLP, DMZ, IDS, IPS, SIEM, SOAR, SASE, ZTNA, MFA, RBAC, ABAC, MAC (which mode of MAC?), TPM, HSM, KMS, OCSP, CRL, SCEP, CASB… I could keep going for another two paragraphs.

You don’t need to memorize all of them. But you need enough familiarity that when a question says “the CASB blocked the request,” you don’t lose 30 seconds trying to remember what a CASB is. Keep an acronym list as you study and review it daily. The official CompTIA exam objectives PDF has a full acronym list at the back, so print it out and tape it next to your monitor.

Reason 4: The 750 passing threshold is unforgiving

Security+ has one of the higher passing thresholds in the CompTIA family. You need ~83% correct. By comparison, Network+ requires 720/900 (about 80%). That extra 3% sounds small but it means roughly 3 fewer wrong answers you can afford on a 90-question test.

Three wrong answers doesn’t sound like much. But when you’re staring down a scenario question at minute 75 and you’re tired, that margin disappears fast.

What about the upcoming SY0-701 objective update?

Quick but important note: CompTIA has not announced that the SY0-701 exam objectives are getting an update. CompTIA certification generally run on a three year cycle, so we anticipate a change in late 2026.

If you plan to test in 2026, you are great to start your studies. CompTIA generally allows for a six month overlap once the new exam is released. Either way: don’t let the objective update scare you into delaying. The fundamentals haven’t changed.

Is Security+ harder than other CompTIA certs?

Here’s the rough hierarchy for the CompTIA core certs:

• CompTIA Tech+ — Entry-level concepts, broadest scope, easiest of the bunch
• CompTIA A+ — Hardware and software fundamentals, two exams, moderate difficulty
• CompTIA Network+ — Single exam, networking fundamentals, comparable to Security+ in difficulty
• CompTIA Security+ — Moderate-to-hard, biggest jump in conceptual depth from Network+
• CompTIA CySA+ — Hands-on cybersecurity analyst skills, harder than Security+
• CompTIA PenTest+ — Offensive security focus, harder still
• CompTIA CASP+ / SecurityX — Expert-level, significantly harder than Security+

If you already have Network+, Security+ is the natural next step and you should plan on 8-12 weeks of additional study. If you’re coming in with no other certifications and limited IT background, plan on 12-16 weeks of consistent study.

How long does it take to study for Security+?

The honest answer: it depends on your starting point.

Starting point	Realistic study time
You have CompTIA Network+ and 2+ years IT experience	6-8 weeks
You have Network+ but limited hands-on experience	8-12 weeks
You have no certs but solid IT background	10-14 weeks
You’re new to IT entirely	14-20+ weeks

That assumes 8-12 hours of focused study per week. If you can only put in 4-5 hours a week, double those timelines. Security+ isn’t something you cram in two weekends.

What does it cost?

The Security+ exam voucher costs $439 USD if you buy directly from CompTIA. Discount vouchers from authorized resellers like Total Seminars typically save you 10-20% off retail — currently around $380 with our discount voucher pricing.

That’s the floor. Add to that:

• Study materials (book + video course + practice exams): $50-$300 depending on what you choose
• Optional: instructor-led training or bootcamp: $1,500-$4,000
• Optional retake voucher if you don’t pass on your first try: another $439 (you can retake immediately, no waiting period for the first retake)

Total realistic spend if you self-study: $400-$700. Total if you go the bootcamp route: $2,000-$4,500.

How to pass on your first attempt

Three things matter more than anything else.

First: practice exams are non-negotiable. Don’t book your test until you’re consistently scoring 85%+ on at least three different full-length practice exams. Not one lucky run — three exams in a row. The candidates who fail almost always skipped this step or rushed it.

Second: practice PBQs separately. Multiple-choice practice and PBQ practice are different skills. Your practice resource should have PBQ simulations that look and feel like the real thing. If yours doesn’t, get one that does.

Third: review your wrong answers carefully. Every wrong answer you get on a practice exam is a gift. Don’t just look at what the right answer was. Read the explanation. Understand why the other three answers were wrong. That’s how you build the “CompTIA logic” that makes the exam pickable rather than mysterious.

If you do those three things, you’re in the 85-93% pass-rate group.

What study materials work?

Here’s what I see actually correlating with first-try passes:

comprehensive learning:

• A solid book (we publish the Mike Meyers’ CompTIA Security+ Certification Guide, and yes, that’s me — I’m not going to pretend I don’t have skin in the game here)
• A video course (we make TotalVideo for Security+ and there’s also free content on YouTube)

practice and PBQ prep:

• A practice exam platform with hundreds of questions plus PBQ simulations (we make TotalTester for Security+ which is what I’d point my own students at)
• The official CompTIA CertMaster practice if your budget allows it

hands-on:

• TotalSims for Security+ if you want simulated lab exercises in your browser
• A free TryHackMe account for some genuinely good free labs

You can absolutely pass Security+ on a combination of free videos and a single solid practice exam platform. You can also pass it with our books and TotalTester. The brand doesn’t matter as much as the breadth and the volume of your studies.

The bottom line

The Security+ exam is moderately hard. It rewards proper preparation and punishes shortcuts. The candidates who pass do three things consistently: they put in the study time (8-12 weeks), they hammer practice exams until they’re scoring 85%+, and they don’t underestimate the PBQs.

It’s not the hardest exam in IT. It’s not even the hardest exam in the CompTIA portfolio. But it’s the gatekeeper between “I’m interested in cybersecurity” and “I have a credential employers will pay me for.” Worth doing properly.

If you’re ready to start prepping, we have everything you need: discount Security+ exam vouchers, TotalTester practice exams, TotalVideo courses, and books from McGraw-Hill. Pick whatever combination works for your learning style and your budget. Then put in the time.

You’ve got this.

Frequently Asked Questions