CompTIA CySA+ practice test: 4 free CS0-004 questions in the analyst shape

CompTIA CySA+ at a glance, with the source for every line

Every row below is quoted from a document published by CompTIA and carries the date we checked it. Where CompTIA publishes nothing, the row says so instead of quoting a number from somewhere else.

Exam code

CS0-004 (V4), launched 23 June 2026.Source: CompTIA, Cybersecurity Analyst (CySA+) V4 page, verified 7 August 2026

Questions

Maximum of 85.Source: CompTIA, Cybersecurity Analyst (CySA+) V4 page, verified 7 August 2026

Time limit

165 minutes.Source: CompTIA, Cybersecurity Analyst (CySA+) V4 page, verified 7 August 2026

Passing score

750 on a scale of 100–900.Source: CompTIA, Cybersecurity Analyst (CySA+) V4 page, verified 7 August 2026

Recommended experience

Approximately four years in a SOC analyst or vulnerability analyst role.Source: CompTIA, Cybersecurity Analyst (CySA+) V4 page, verified 7 August 2026

How long it lasts

Three years from your certification date, renewable with continuing education units.Source: CompTIA, Certification Renewal Policy, verified 7 August 2026

Previous version

CySA+ V3 (CS0-003) is retiring: English training materials retire 22 November 2026 and the exam retires 22 December 2026.Source: CompTIA, CySA+ certification page, verified 7 August 2026

Security+ format, for comparison

CompTIA publishes a maximum of 90 questions in 90 minutes for Security+ (SY0-701), at the same 750 passing score on a 100–900 scale.Source: CompTIA, Security+ certification page, verified 7 August 2026

Pass rate

Not published by CompTIA. CompTIA does not publish a CySA+ pass rate.Checked against: CompTIA, CySA+ certification page, verified 7 August 2026

Raw number of correct answers needed

Not published by CompTIA. CompTIA does not publish the raw number of correct answers this exam requires. It publishes the scaled passing score only, and gives no conversion between that scaled score and a number of questions.Checked against: CompTIA, Cybersecurity Analyst (CySA+) V4 page, verified 7 August 2026

Exam price

Not published by CompTIA. CompTIA states no exam price on the CySA+ certification page. Vouchers are sold separately through the CompTIA Store rather than priced on the certification page, so there is no single published figure to quote.Checked against: CompTIA, CySA+ certification page, verified 7 August 2026

Always verify: CySA+ V3 (CS0-003) retires on 22 December 2026 and V4 (CS0-004) launched on 23 June 2026. Confirm which version you are booking at comptia.org.

What CompTIA publishes as the official CompTIA CySA+ blueprint

These weights are CompTIA's, quoted from the source below. They are the only weights on this page that describe the real exam.

Scroll the table sideways to see every column.

Source: CompTIA, Cybersecurity Analyst (CySA+) V4 page, verified 7 August 2026.

What our CompTIA CySA+ question bank covers

Scroll the table sideways to see every column.

What actually trips people up on CySA+

Remediation is not complete until you rescan

The systems team saying a patch went out is not evidence. Independent validation by rescanning is the step candidates skip, and the exam tests it repeatedly. Closing a ticket on somebody’s word is always wrong here.

Never edit a CVSS score to make a problem go away

CVSS describes the vulnerability itself, not your organization’s progress against it. If a patch cannot be applied, the answer is a documented risk exception with compensating controls and a target date, not a lowered score and not quietly dropping the asset from the scan scope.

Volatile evidence dies when you pull the plug

An encryption key that exists only in RAM is gone the moment the machine powers down. Live memory acquisition first, then disk. Order of volatility is the single most reliably examined forensics concept, and the instinct to "preserve the scene" by shutting down is the wrong one.

The incident response phases have hard boundaries

Containment stops the spread. Eradication removes the malware and the attacker’s artefacts. Recovery returns systems to production. Lessons learned comes last. Questions work by describing an activity and asking which phase it belongs to, and recovery and eradication are the pair people mix up.

16% of the exam is writing things down

Reporting and communication is a real domain with real marks. Who gets told, in what format, with what severity language, and what a stakeholder-facing summary leaves out. It is the easiest domain to ignore and the cheapest to pick up.

A 6-week study plan

Six weeks, assuming you already hold Security+ or equivalent knowledge. Our CySA+ bank holds 650 questions across the four official domains, though the shares are ours rather than CompTIA’s published weighting.

Weeks 1–2: security operations

The 34% domain. Network and system architecture from an analyst’s seat, indicators of suspicious activity, detection tooling, threat intelligence and threat hunting.

Week 3: vulnerability management

26%. Scanning methodology, reading assessment output, prioritization, and the governance around exceptions. Practice the full lifecycle, not just the scan.

Week 4: incident response and management

24%. Attack frameworks, the response phases and their boundaries, and forensic technique with order of volatility drilled until it is reflex.

Week 5: reporting and communication

16%, and quick to learn. Vulnerability reporting, incident reporting, audiences and escalation paths.

Week 6: simulate at full length

Sit 85-question, 165-minute simulations. The length is the point: practice staying accurate in hour three. Use the per-domain breakdown to pick what to drill.

Is CySA+ hard?

CySA+ is harder than Security+ in kind rather than in threshold. Both pass at 750 out of 900, but CySA+ gives you 165 minutes for 85 questions where CompTIA gives Security+ 90 minutes for 90 questions. That extra time is not generosity: the questions hand you scan output, log excerpts and part-finished incidents and ask what an analyst does next, and they take longer to read.

CompTIA recommends about four years as a SOC or vulnerability analyst before sitting it, and that recommendation is the honest measure of difficulty. Candidates who have never worked an alert queue find the process questions, especially validation and evidence handling, harder than the technical ones. CompTIA publishes no pass rate.

Our own bank of 650 questions puts 216 at difficulty 3 and 181 at difficulty 4, with security operations carrying 214 questions and vulnerability management 195. Those are the two heaviest domains on the real paper at 34% and 26%.

How the CompTIA CySA+ differs from the exams beside it

CySA+ gives you nearly twice the time per question that Security+ does: 165 minutes for 85 questions against the 90 minutes for 90 questions CompTIA publishes for Security+. That is the tell. This is not a recall exam. It hands you scan output, log excerpts and half-finished incidents and asks what an analyst does next. Where Security+ asks what a SIEM is, CySA+ assumes you have one and asks what the alert means. It also carries a reporting and communication domain no other exam in this family has, which CompTIA weights at 16%.

Questions people actually ask about the CompTIA CySA+

What is a passing score on CompTIA CySA+?

750 on a scale of 100 to 900, the same threshold as Security+. CompTIA does not publish the raw number of correct answers that represents.

How long is the CySA+ exam?

165 minutes for a maximum of 85 questions, against the 90 questions in 90 minutes CompTIA publishes for Security+. The extra time is there because the items are analysis scenarios built on scan output and logs rather than recall.

Is CySA+ harder than Security+?

Different rather than simply harder. Both pass at 750, but CySA+ assumes about four years of analyst experience and asks you to interpret evidence instead of define terms. Candidates who have never worked a real alert queue find it a step up.

Which CySA+ exam code should you book?

CS0-004, the V4 release, launched 23 June 2026. The older CS0-003 exam retires on 22 December 2026, so book V4 unless you are already deep into V3 material.

Do you need Security+ before CySA+?

It is not required. CompTIA recommends roughly four years as a SOC or vulnerability analyst, and most people arrive with Security+ already. Nothing blocks you from booking CySA+ directly.

How long does CySA+ last?

Three years from your certification date, renewed with continuing education units. It also renews your Security+ and Network+ if you hold them.

How long should you study for CySA+?

Six weeks is realistic if you already hold Security+ or the equivalent knowledge: two weeks on security operations, one each on vulnerability management, incident response and reporting, then a week of full-length timed runs. Without time on a real alert queue, plan on longer.

Are these real CySA+ exam questions?

No. All 650 are original, built from CompTIA’s published CS0-004 objectives. Live items are covered by an exam security agreement and reusing them can void a certification. Ours are written in the analyst shape the real exam uses: scan output, a log excerpt, and a decision about what to do next.