What is on the CAS-005 exam?

Up to 90 questions in 165 minutes, graded pass or fail, with no scaled score. Domains: Governance, Risk, and Compliance (20%), Security Architecture (27%), Security Engineering (31%), Security Operations (22%).

Which domain is worth the most?

Engineering at 31% and Architecture at 27%. Start there, and keep coming back: the heaviest domains decide most pass and fail results.

How long should I plan for?

Set aside five to eight weeks at about five focused hours a week, then let a full practice sitting decide your exam date. If you already work in IT, the first weeks move faster. Do not book until a fresh sitting, with questions you have not seen, lands above the pass mark.

What score do I need to pass?

This exam is graded pass or fail. The simulator shows a pass or fail result and never invents a scaled score.

Study architecture decisions, not products. The exam asks why a design fits, not which button to click.

Do I need hands-on experience?

Helpful, not required. The browser labs let you practise the hands-on tasks without a server or a rack, and each lab grades the end state rather than the exact command you typed.

Are the practice questions the same as the real test?

No. SecLern questions are written originally for this site and mapped to the published objectives. They are never copied from a real exam.

What should I do the week before the exam?

Take one full simulation early in the week and review every miss. Spend the middle of the week on the two domains that scored lowest, then stop adding new material 48 hours out. Confirm your appointment and ID, sleep, and read the goal line twice on every performance task.

Is this page current?

This page is built against Exam Objectives Document Version 3.0 (3.0), verified 2026-10-17. Exam owners change objectives and retirement dates, so confirm the date for your language before you book.

CertificationsSecurityX

CompTIA · CAS-005

CompTIA SecurityX CAS-005

CompTIA SecurityX (CAS-005) is the expert-level exam above Security+ and CySA+: security architecture, advanced engineering, and operations judgment, graded pass or fail. It assumes years of hands-on experience, not just study time.

Senior security engineers and architects with roughly a decade of IT experience, and Security+ or CySA+ holders planning the long climb to expert level.

Study CAS-005 free

See labs Check version dates

Version status

CompTIA has not published an exact date. Three years after launch is an estimate.

Retires: Estimated 2027

Where the marks live

Domain weights from the current CAS-005 objectives. Start with the heaviest slice, not the first chapter.

Engineering leads at 31%

31%Engineering

How much study time does CAS-005 need?

Pick the closest starting point. The range below is a planning estimate, not a promise or a pass prediction.

130 to 190 hoursat a steady pace

That is up to 38 weeks at 5 hours a week, or 24 weeks at 8 hours. Some IT background, but the exam material is still new.

Estimate only. Based on the exam level and a study-pace assumption. Your background, exam date and practice scores will move it.

A study plan that works

Order matters

Study architecture decisions, not products. The exam asks why a design fits, not which button to click.
Weight your time toward engineering (31%) and architecture (27%) together.
Practice emerging topics honestly: post-quantum crypto, AI risk, containers and infrastructure as code.
Read scenarios twice. Expert questions hide the deciding constraint in plain sight.

Try one question

Live demo

Demo questionSecurity architecture

A business unit wants a new public API. Which design decision best shows defense in depth?

Written for this page. It is a teaching demo, not an item from the question bank or the real exam.

Try the hands-on shape

About 2 minutes

Try it: change a firewall rule and see the probes change

HTTPS from anywhere
Telnet (block it)
SSH from admins only

HTTPS (port 443): connected
SSH (port 22): connected
Telnet (port 23): refused by the rule
HTTP (port 80): no rule matches, so the default deny drops it

A teaching model of rule order and default deny, not a real firewall.

Demo preview. A teaching model with fixed sample data, not the real lab. Full labs run in the browser with checkable steps.

Practice a performance question

20 performance-based questions are written for CompTIA SecurityX CAS-005. They ask you to do the task in a simulated console, table or form, and they grade in parts, so a half-right answer still earns credit.

How performance questions are scored

Sample performance questionMatch each task to the control or service

Tailgating at the badge door

A contractor badge still works after the contract ends

Smoke in the server room, and water is not allowed

A teaching demo written for this page. It is not a real exam item, and nothing here is saved.

This matching sample is local and ungraded. The full set is included in practice for this exam.

Common traps

Ways smart people lose points on this exam.

Answering like an administrator instead of an architect. The exam wants design judgment.
Treating new topics as buzzwords. Know what problem each one solves.
Expecting a score report with numbers. Pass or fail is the whole result.

Practise CAS-005, three ways

Every lab is a job task in the tool that job uses, graded on the end state you leave behind. The PBQ pages explain the performance formats this exam uses and open one real scenario in the browser. The practice test gives you fifteen questions with a reason for every option.

Open the CAS-005 labs

Objectives by domain

Every published CAS-005 objective, grouped by the domain that carries it. The wording stays with CompTIA.

4 objectives

Governance and risk20% of the exam

1.0Governance, Risk, and

Architecture27% of the exam

2.0Security Architecture

Engineering31% of the examStart here

3.0Security Engineering

Operations22% of the exam

4.0Security Operations

The full entry for each objective (the explainer, key terms, traps and practice questions) lives in the Study Book. One objective per certification is free to read; Pro opens the rest.

Questions about this exam

90 questions in 165 minutes. Graded pass or fail, with no scaled score. Domains: Governance and risk (20%), Architecture (27%), Engineering (31%), Operations (22%).

Study CAS-005 with your weak spots in view

Daily sessions that aim at your gaps, hands-on labs, and full simulations under the real clock. Free to start.

Start studying free

Free tier, no card. Pro starts with a 7-day trial; a card is required and you can cancel before day 7.