How to study for the CompTIA SecAI+? A 30 day and 60 day study plan.

Understand The Exam

CompTIA will release SecAI+ on February 17, 2026 under exam code CY0-001. The test will validate your ability to protect artificial-intelligence (AI) systems, use AI tools inside security operations, and apply governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) controls to AI projects. CompTIA has not yet posted the final passing score or exact number of questions, but the company's pattern suggests up to 90 items in 90 minutes, with a scaled score of 100 - 900. Plan for multiple-choice and performance-based questions. Recommended experience is three to four years in IT with at least two years in cybersecurity, plus prior study equal to Security+, CySA+, or PenTest+. Those prerequisites matter; SecAI+ builds on them rather than replacing them.

Master Exam Domains

The draft objectives divide the exam into four weighted sections.

1. Basic AI concepts related to cybersecurity - 17 percent of the exam. You must explain machine learning, deep learning, natural-language processing, and common AI use cases in threat detection.
2. Securing AI systems - 40 percent. Expect controls for training data, model integrity, supply-chain risks, and cloud or on-prem deployments.
3. AI-assisted security - 24 percent. This covers using AI to triage alerts, enrich logs, automate response, and model attacker behavior.
4. AI governance, risk, and compliance - 19 percent. You must align projects with NIST AI RMF, GDPR, and similar frameworks while addressing bias, transparency, and auditability.

Choose Study Materials

Gather resources that map straight to the objectives. The CompTIA official study guide and its practice-question app will appear soon after launch; preorder links exist now. Until then, use the draft objectives as a checklist. Supplement with:

• A vendor-neutral AI security handbook, such as NIST SP 1270 for risk management.
• A beginner-friendly machine-learning text or course that explains training data, features, models, and overfitting without heavy math.
• A cloud security reference (AWS, Azure, or Google) that shows how to lock down AI services, object storage, and model endpoints.
• A governance source, for example the ISO/IEC 23894 standard on AI risk or the EU AI Act final text, to grasp policy terms that may appear on the test.
  Select one primary text for each domain. Skim others only for weak spots. Using too many books at once wastes time.

Develop Lab Skills

SecAI+ is hands-on. Build a small lab so you can follow each control in practice. A low-cost option combines:

• One free-tier cloud account. Spin up a GPU-less instance and deploy an open-source large-language model with container images.
• A second account or a local virtual machine that plays the attacker. Conduct inference-time prompt injections or supply a poisoned dataset, then log events.
• Security tooling such as OSQuery, Suricata, or ELK. Feed model logs into the stack, write basic detections, and try automatic response playbooks.
• Governance controls. Store an AI risk register in a shared document, tag each experiment with purpose, data source, and retention period.
  Taking screenshots and notes from each exercise cements memory and creates quick-reference material for final review.

Track Your Progress

Set a baseline with a diagnostic test. No official questions exist yet, but you can adapt Security+ or CySA+ practice tests and filter for AI content. Record scores by domain. After each week, retest and chart growth. A simple spreadsheet with four columns-date, domain, raw score, notes-keeps you objective. If you plateau, shift methods: watch a video, build a new lab step, or teach the concept to someone else. Teaching exposes gaps fast.

Sixty-Day Schedule

Weeks 1-2 Startup

• Read the draft objectives end to end. Highlight verbs such as "implement," "mitigate," or "govern."
• Complete a high-level pass through your core texts, 25 pages or one video module per day.
• Build the lab environment, verify you can launch containers, collect logs, and save snapshots.
• Finish a diagnostic quiz and note weak domains.

Weeks 3-4 Deepen

• Focus on Securing AI systems, the largest domain. Each weekday, implement one control: data encryption, access policies, model versioning, supply-chain validation, adversarial training.
• On weekends, shift to Basic AI concepts. Train a simple classifier with a public dataset, examine accuracy, and test adversarial noise.
• Finish two practice quizzes per week, timed at 90 minutes. Score at least 80 percent in each domain before moving on.

Weeks 5-6 Finalize

• Concentrate on AI-assisted security and GRC. Write a short policy that maps AI controls to NIST CSF, build a SOAR playbook that calls a language model to enrich alerts, and document ethical safeguards.
• Run a full-length mock exam every three days. After each attempt, trace every wrong answer back to the objective and lab step.
• In the final four days, drop heavy reading. Instead, review flashcards, mind maps, and your lab screenshots. Complete one last exam-length quiz 24 hours before test day, then rest.

Thirty-Day Schedule

Days 1-7 Foundation

• Skim the objectives and read all summaries in your primary texts.
• Build the lab but limit scope to one cloud account and one open-source model.
• Run a short diagnostic, 30-question quiz to find gaps.

Days 8-15 Reinforce

• Alternate days: odd days for Securing AI systems, even days for Basic AI concepts.
• Complete two lab tasks per day, such as configuring an inference-only IAM role or performing label-flipping on a dataset.
• End each day with 20 flashcards that cover new terms.

Days 16-23 Apply

• Turn to AI-assisted security and GRC. Write detection rules for model mis-use, map them to MITRE ATLAS, and draft a risk-treatment plan.
• Complete three timed quizzes of 50 questions each. Aim for 85 percent or higher.

Days 24-30 Review

• Two full mock exams on Days 24 and 27. Analyze every miss.
• Create a one-page cram sheet per domain with formulas, key ports, and framework acronyms.
• Day 29: light lab walkthrough, flashcards only.
• Day 30: rest until evening, then skim cram sheets once and sleep early.

Exam Day Tactics

Arrive 30 minutes early if you test at a center or finish the webcam system check one hour before an online session. Bring two forms of ID and have your photo ID ready on camera. Use the tutorial to write down the four domain weights on your scratch paper. Flag tricky questions and return after the performance-based tasks; CompTIA often front-loads PBQs. Budget one minute per multiple-choice item and five to eight minutes per PBQ. If unsure, pick the most specific and least risky answer-CompTIA favors secure defaults.

Maintain Your Skills

SecAI+ will carry the standard three-year renewal period. Earning CySA+, PenTest+, CASP+, or a higher-level ISC² or GIAC certification inside that window renews SecAI+ automatically. You can also submit continuing-education units by attending AI-security webinars or writing white papers. Schedule at least ten CEUs per year so renewal never becomes a last-minute scramble. Keep your lab running and update models monthly; AI threats evolve faster than policy cycles.

Following either plan gives you structured, measurable progress toward SecAI+. Adjust time blocks as necessary, but keep the sequence-understand, secure, automate, govern-because that is how the objectives and the real world line up. A disciplined schedule, a modest lab, and steady quizzes are enough to enter the February launch window ready to pass.