Professor Messer-s Comptia Security Sy0-701 Co...

The transition from the SY0-601 to the SY0-701 exam was a seismic shift. CompTIA stripped out "fluff" like legacy cryptography and expanded heavily on operational resilience and cloud security. Many paid course providers took six months to update their material.

Messer released his SY0-701 playlist within weeks of the exam launch. He did this not because he has a massive team (he famously operates almost solo), but because his format is agile. He does not need to re-shoot a Hollywood production; he just needs to update a slide.

Furthermore, Messer’s "Study Groups"—live monthly sessions where students answer practice questions—address the single biggest failure of self-study: isolation. Watching a video is passive. Participating in a chat room while Messer explains why option B is wrong (and not just that A is right) builds the critical thinking required for CompTIA’s performance-based questions.

I analyzed dozens of “I passed SY0-701” posts from r/CompTIA and the Tech Discord. Here’s the consensus:

“Messer got me 80% of the way. His videos nailed the concepts. But you NEED PBQ practice – I almost failed because of the first two PBQs.” – u/security_matt

“I only used Messer’s videos and his course notes. No books. Passed with 782. The practice exams were harder than the real thing.” – u/cyber_newb Professor Messer-s CompTIA Security SY0-701 Co...

“Messer explains encryption and hashing better than my $2k bootcamp.” – u/techie_j

Common criticism: His voice can be monotonous, and he doesn’t dive deep into labs or CLI commands. However, for exam objective coverage, former students rate him 9.5/10.

Professor Messer is not an academic professor in the traditional sense. He’s a longtime IT professional, consultant, and trainer who has been creating CompTIA certification videos since 2002. His approach is straightforward:

Unlike paid platforms like CBT Nuggets, Pluralsight, or LinkedIn Learning, Messer’s core video series is 100% free on YouTube. He makes money through advertising, his monthly study groups, and sales of PDF course notes and practice exams.

For SY0-701, he published the first video within weeks of the exam’s announcement and completed the full series by early 2024. The transition from the SY0-601 to the SY0-701

Perhaps the most fascinating part of the Professor Messer phenomenon is his monetization. Everything essential is free: the videos, the study groups, the transcripts. He sells only two things: course notes (PDFs of his slides) and practice exams (digital PDFs).

There are no monthly subscriptions. No "premium tier." No ads on the videos.

In an industry where vendors like to "gatekeep" knowledge behind expensive paywalls, Messer operates like a public library. His implicit contract with the student is: If you pass because of my free content, you will buy my notes as a thank you. It is a trust fall, and the IT community has caught him every time. His SY0-701 notes are legendary for their density—condensing 20 hours of video into 200 studyable pages.

Yes, for foundational knowledge and multiple-choice preparation. No single free resource comes close.

No, for PBQ readiness and hands-on practice. You’ll need to supplement with PBQ simulators or additional practice exams. “Messer got me 80% of the way

If you’re on a tight budget ($0 for the course, ~$55 for notes + exams), Messer is the gold standard. If you have more to spend, combine him with a PBQ-heavy resource and a textbook like Darril Gibson’s Get Certified Get Ahead (though Gibson’s SY0-701 version took longer to release).

You must be honest about the limitations of a single person.

Beyond the main course, Messer offers:

All of this is listed on his website: professormesser.com under the SY0-701 section.