SecurityMocks

Security+ difficulty · SY0-801

How hard is Security+ in 2026? An honest look at the exam

CompTIA Security+® is hard enough that experience matters: CompTIA writes SY0-801 for security administrators with about two years of hands-on experience, more than it recommends for A+ or Network+. Much of it asks you to apply what you know to a short scenario, and passers most often name the PBQs as the hardest part. How hard it is for you depends on where you start.

Test yourself free See a question worked through

Written by the SecurityMocks team with AI assistance and checked against the sources below. Last reviewed 7 November 2026.

  • 2yrsHands-on experience as a security administrator: the candidate CompTIA writes SY0-801 for.
  • 9/ 27Objectives that start “Given a scenario”, up from 7 of 28 in SY0-701.
  • 106Acronyms on the SY0-801 list, to know on sight. The acronym list.
  • 0Formal prerequisites. Anyone can book the exam, experience or not.

Is Security+ hard?

It asks you to apply, not just recall

A third of the SY0-801 objectives start with “Given a scenario”. On those, you read a short situation and choose the control, the next step or the most likely attack, and more than one option can look right.

The scenario objectives cover change management, attack indicators, infrastructure, mitigating controls, vulnerability management, identity and access, automation and AI, investigations and security awareness. The rest still ask you to classify a described situation rather than recite a definition. See the Security+ exam objectives in full.

What makes the questions hard

A Security+ scenario question, worked through

Scenario questions are hard because every option is a real concept from the same objective. The evidence in the stem, not your memory of a definition, decides the answer. Try this one, written for this page, before you read on.

SY0-801 · 2.5Worked example
Study mode

Overnight, a company’s sign-in portal logged 1,900 failed attempts from one external address. Each of about 950 usernames was tried exactly twice, once with Winter2026! and once with Welcome1, about an hour apart. No accounts locked out and no attempt succeeded. Which of the following is MOST likely occurring?

Pick an answer to see why each option is right or wrong.

Takeaway: count guesses per account, not total failures. Few passwords across many accounts is spraying; many guesses at one account is brute force. Source: MITRE ATT&CK T1110.003, Password Spraying

Take the full Mock Test 1

Why the wrong options pull you in

Each distractor matches part of the stem. The skill the exam rewards is spotting the detail that rules it out.

  • A. Brute force

    Pulls you in because 1,900 failures from one address sounds like hammering.

    What rules it out

    Two guesses per account. Brute force concentrates guesses, and lockouts follow.

    The tellDivide the failures by the accounts touched.

  • C. User enumeration

    Pulls you in because hundreds of usernames appear in the log.

    What rules it out

    Every attempt tested a password, not whether a name exists.

    The tellAsk what the attacker was trying to learn.

  • D. MFA bypass

    Pulls you in because it’s a sign-in attack and a current topic.

    What rules it out

    Nobody reached the second factor; every attempt failed at the password.

    The tellAsk which factor the attacker is fighting.

Every question in our bank explains every option this way. To practice the reading skill at exam pace, use the full-length SY0-801 practice exams.

What passers say

The hardest parts of Security+, according to passers

We read 2,343 “I passed” posts on r/CompTIA from 2024 to November 2026, plus the written reviews of popular practice banks. The same four things kept coming up.

Performance-based questions

The most repeated complaint among 2026 passers. Several said the PBQs on their exam looked nothing like anything they had practiced.

PBQs explained

Choosing the best answer

Passers say the exam’s questions read more simply than many third-party practice tests, yet two options often look right. The difficulty is in what the scenario rules out, not in long wording.

Worked example

The clock

Up to 90 questions in 90 minutes. In older material, CompTIA estimated that PBQs took about a third of the exam time, so many passers flag them and come back after the multiple-choice questions.

Time budget

Breadth

Five domains, 27 objectives and 106 acronyms, from cryptography to risk registers. Gaps in networking basics, such as ports and protocols, show up across all of them.

Ports list

These are patterns in what passers wrote, not a measurement of the exam. CompTIA doesn’t publish pass rates or a difficulty rating for Security+.

Performance-based questions

Why PBQs make Security+ harder

A PBQ asks you to do the task, not pick a fact. CompTIA lists Security+ among its exams with simulation PBQs: a cut-down mock-up of something like a firewall console or a command line, where more than one sequence of steps can reach a correct answer.

  1. Several answers at once

    A single PBQ can involve several settings or steps, so one gap can cost more than a multiple-choice miss. CompTIA says partial credit may be given.

  2. You can come back

    Simulation PBQs can be skipped and revisited, your work is saved as you move on, and each has a reset button. That’s why flagging them works.

  3. Unknown count and weight

    CompTIA doesn’t publish how many PBQs you’ll get or what they’re worth. Passers report one to five, often at the start.

The fix is practice in an interactive format, under time. Our Security+ PBQ guide shows the six formats we practice and has a free firewall PBQ to try.

Your starting point

Who finds Security+ harder, and who finds it easier

Your job so far decides which domains feel familiar. Weight matters too: Security Operations is 27% of SY0-801 and Program Management and Oversight is 14%.

Our reading of the SY0-801 objectives against common backgrounds. It’s guidance, not survey data.
BackgroundLikely to feel easierLikely to feel harderStart with
New to ITAwareness training, social engineering, policyPorts, protocols, addressing and reading logs, which run through every domainNetworking basics, then the longest study track
Help desk or A+Endpoint hardening, malware, account basicsArchitecture models, cloud, risk and vendor managementDomains 3 and 5
Network admin or Network+Firewall rules, segmentation, monitoringGovernance, compliance, cryptography choices, AI risksDomains 1 and 5, objective 2.6
DeveloperCode flaws, secrets in repositories, CI/CD, automationNetwork devices, operational technology, auditsNetworking basics, then Domains 4 and 5
Audit, risk or compliancePolicies, audits, vendor riskHands-on tasks: firewall PBQs, log analysis, access controlDomain 4 and PBQ practice
SOC analystAttack indicators, investigations, incident responseGovernance vocabulary and SY0-801’s new incident response headingsDomain 5 and the SY0-801 changes

Our Security+ study guide has 4, 8 and 12-week plans; pick the one that matches your starting point.

Security+ vs Network+ and A+

Is Security+ harder than Network+ or A+?

CompTIA recommends A+ before Network+, and Network+ before Security+ SY0-701, and it recommends the most experience for Security+. Beyond that there’s no published difficulty ranking, so treat any “harder” or “easier” claim as one person’s experience. Here’s what CompTIA does publish.

From CompTIA’s exam pages for A+ V15, Network+ N10-009 and Security+ SY0-801, checked November 7, 2026. Each exam sets its own cut score, so the passing numbers aren’t directly comparable.
A+Network+Security+
Exams to pass2 (Core 1 and Core 2)11
Questions and timeUp to 90 in 90 minutes, per examUp to 90 in 90 minutesUp to 90 in 90 minutes
Passing score (scale to 900)675 Core 1, 700 Core 2720750
Recommended experience12 months in IT supportA+ and 9–12 months in junior network roles2 years as a security administrator
US voucher list price$274 per exam$399$439 (V7)

Are ports, protocols and IP ranges already familiar?

Yes

Go straight to Security+

For SY0-701, CompTIA recommended Network+ plus two years in a security or systems administrator role, but neither is required. Take a baseline mock and start on your weakest domain.

Not yet

Learn networking alongside

Security+ questions assume you can read a port number or an address range. Start with our ports and protocols list, or compare the order of exams in the CompTIA certification path.

Judge it yourself

How to judge your readiness honestly

No practice test can tell you whether you’ll pass. What a timed, full-length mock can show is which topics and question types you still get wrong, which is the part you can fix.

  1. Take a mock cold

    Exam mode, 90 minutes, no notes. Your first score is your baseline, so don’t study for it.

  2. Read your domain bars

    The weakest domain and the objectives you missed most are where your study time goes next.

  3. Explain every option

    For each question, say why the wrong options are wrong before reading our explanation. Guessing right doesn’t count.

  4. Look for a margin, twice

    Two unseen mocks estimated clear of 750, with no weak domain, mean our tests found no obvious gap. That’s all an estimate can tell you; it isn’t a forecast of your result.

    How the 750 line works

What each signal can and can’t tell you

Use them together, and know their limits.

Limits of our own practice data. Our scores come from our question bank, not CompTIA’s scoring.
SignalWhat it showsIts limit
Estimated scoreHow you did on our questions, shown on the 100–900 scaleOur difficulty ratings are model estimates, not data from real candidates
Domain barsWhich domain needs workEach mock has 13 to 21 multiple-choice questions per domain, so one or two answers move a bar
PBQ subscoreWhether hands-on tasks hold upFour PBQs per mock is a small sample
Retaking a mockWhether explanations stuckA second attempt at the same test mostly measures memory

FAQ

Is Security+ hard? Common questions

How hard is the Security+ exam?

Hard enough that you need to apply knowledge, not just recall it. CompTIA writes SY0-801 for security administrators with about two years of hands-on experience, and nine of its 27 objectives start with “Given a scenario.” Passers most often name the PBQs as the hardest part.

Is Security+ hard for beginners?

It can be, because it assumes networking basics and some IT experience. There are no formal prerequisites, so beginners can pass, but plan extra time for ports, protocols and IP addressing before the security content. Our study plan has a longer track for people new to IT.

Is Security+ harder than A+ or Network+?

CompTIA recommends more experience for it: two years as a security administrator, against 12 months in IT support for A+ and 9–12 months in networking for Network+. For SY0-701 it also recommends Network+ first. CompTIA doesn’t publish a difficulty ranking or pass rates, so how hard each feels depends on your background.

What is the hardest part of Security+?

Passers most often name the performance-based questions: simulations where you configure rules, read logs or place devices on a network. Many say the PBQs on their exam looked unlike their practice. Practicing interactive PBQs, and flagging them to finish after the multiple-choice questions, are the two most common fixes.

Is SY0-801 harder than SY0-701?

It leans more on scenarios: nine of its 27 objectives start “Given a scenario,” up from seven of 28, and it adds an objective on AI threats. Its acronym list is much shorter, and the pass mark stays at 750. How hard it feels will only be clear once candidates have taken it. See SY0-801 vs SY0-701.

What is the Security+ pass rate?

CompTIA doesn’t publish pass rates for Security+, so figures you see online are guesses or vendor claims. Your own estimated scores across more than one full mock test show which domains need work, but they can’t predict your result.

Find out how hard Security+ is for you

Take free Mock Test 1 cold, in exam mode. Your domain bars and PBQ subscore show which areas need work first.

Start free Mock Test 1 See the study plan
Illustration of a winding path climbing a hill to a flag at the summit

Sources

CompTIA pages checked November 7, 2026.