Frequently asked questions

No. 8140.study is an independent training product — not affiliated with, endorsed by, or an official system of the U.S. Department of Defense. In practice that means: nothing you do here goes into a DoD system of record, no completion here qualifies you for a work role by itself, and your component's own process is still the one that counts. What we give you is preparation for the certification exams that process accepts, plus the qualification data with every source cited so you can verify it yourself.

The certifications don't come from us — they come from the vendors: CompTIA, ISC2, ISACA, EC-Council, GIAC, Cisco, CertNexus. Those vendor certifications are what the 8140 qualification matrix lists, so a Security+ earned after studying here is exactly the same Security+ as one earned any other way. We prepare you for the vendor's exam; the credential and its standing with DoD are the vendor's and DoD's.

No — deliberately and importantly, no. Every practice question here is original, written by us from the vendor's published exam objectives. We have never seen the vendors' actual exam questions, and we don't want to: sites that traffic in real exam content ("braindumps") violate the vendors' candidate agreements, and using them can get a candidate's certification revoked. Studying here doesn't put you in conflict with any vendor's candidate agreement. Our questions match the exam's published domains and weightings — what the exam covers, not what it literally asks.

No, and be wary of anyone who does — the exam is written and graded by the vendor, and how much you practice matters more than any platform. What we do instead: build every course from the vendor's published exam blueprint so nothing on the exam is a surprise topic, put a knowledge check in every module with every answer explained, and give you practice exams so you know where you stand before you book the real one.

Free without an account: the entire reference catalog — work roles, the qualification matrix, certifications, the 8570 baseline, all of it. Free with an account: the first module of every course, with its labs and a knowledge check, plus progress tracking and the credential wallet. Paid ($39/month or $390/year): everything past the first module — the full courseware, all labs, and practice exams. The pricing page draws the line item by item.

Yes, yourself, without talking to anyone. Cancellation is a button in your account that opens the Stripe billing portal. It takes effect at the end of the period you've paid for — you keep access until then and aren't charged again.

Monthly: cancel anytime, no partial-month refunds. Annual: non-refundable — cancel anytime and it won't renew, and you keep access through the year you paid for. The free tier exists so you can evaluate before paying at all. Full details on the refund policy page — it's three rules long.

Yes, and you buy them yourself. Pick a tier on the team page, pay by card, and you get an invite link to send your people. Whoever buys becomes the team administrator.

The admin dashboard shows each person’s progress, their best practice-exam score, their weakest domain and whether they are on track for the date you set them — and exports it as a CSV of training records. Seats are annual and priced per seat, cheaper the more you buy.

When someone leaves, revoke their seat from the dashboard: they lose access immediately, their training record is kept, and the seat frees up for the next person. You can reinstate them later if the team has room.

If you need an invoice, a W-9 or a purchase order instead of paying by card, email support@8140.study.

Yes, whenever you're signed in. Progress, study plan, exam attempts, and your credential wallet live in your account, not in the browser — sign in on a different machine and pick up where you left off.

They're the categories from DoD 8570, the framework 8140 replaced — IAT and IAM, each at levels I through III, with a certification baseline for each cell. Contracts and job postings still say things like “IAT Level II” constantly, which usually means Security+ CE or an equivalent from that cell's list. The 8570 baseline page lays out every cell, which certifications satisfy it, and how it maps to today's 8140 model.