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Passed CISSP on 4/22 first attempt
DisneyFanatic4
Registered Users Posts: 2 ■□□□□□□□□□
in SSCP
Hello all,
This is my first post and I used these forums to help guide my studying. I really wish I would have more actively participated in these forums prior to my exam but I guess hindsight is 20/20. Anyways, I figured I'd share my exam preparation experience with anyone who can benefit from it.
Books and Study Guides
CISSP Study Guide, Second Edition by Eric Conrad (Read twice)
Eleventh Hour CISSP, Second Edition: Study Guide by Eric Conrad (Read twice)
CISSP All-in-One Exam Guide, 6th Edition by Shon Harris (Purchased but never used)
Official (ISC)2 Guide to the CISSP CBK, Third Edition by Steven Hernandez (Purchased but never used)
Sunflower CISSP Summary v1.1
Training
If you or your company can afford it, I highly recommend the SANS course MGT414: SANS +S Training Program for the CISSP Certification Exam. Prior to taking this course, I studied about 1-1.5 months using only the CISSP Study Guide by Eric Conrad. This helped me going into the course because the course is "fire hose training". It's a ton of information in a short amount of time. The training includes it's own course books and practice exam questions that are very valuable. The instructor was also Eric Conrad himself. He thoroughly covered all ten domains and provided very valuable advice on how to successfully study for and pass the exam.
Practice Exams
CCCure.org
Eric Conrad 500 Free CISSP Practice Questions
Practice questions found in both of Eric Conrad's books
Practice questions provided by SANS MGT414
Day Before Exam
I took the day off and studied all day. I initially completed some short practice exams in the morning on CCCure.org then at noon I chose to read the Eleventh Hour CISSP by Eric Conrad from front to back. This really helps drill in the main concepts within each domain. Anything I had questions about I would look up in the CISSP Study Guide by Eric Conrad. I felt comfortable by the evening and chose to get a good nights sleep so I went to bed early.
Day Of Exam
My exam was scheduled for 8am. I woke up at 5am to eat breakfast (which I usually never do) so that I'm not hungry during the exam. I had 2 cups of coffee and while eating I reviewed the Sunflower CISSP Summary v1.1. I took with me a bottled water, two granola bars and the necessary two pieces of identification. I arrived 30 minutes early to register. Registration went well and I put my food and water in the locker provided. I then began the exam. I chose to do the 2 pass method. I answered EVERY question on the first pass. Any question I wasn't 100% sure about, I would flag it. I completed my first pass in 4 hours. I then chose to take a break. I used the restroom, drank my bottled water and one granola bar. I then went back to the exam to complete my second pass. I began the review of my flagged questions. I only changed a few answers. Be very careful not to change too many because usually your first answer is the right one. I was at about question 210 of 250 and had about 30 seconds left so I couldn't complete the review of all of my flagged questions. I chose to complete the exam. Immediately I felt horrible for two reasons. I didn't complete the review of my flagged questions and the past two hours I've only been looking at the questions I wasn't 100% sure on. The proctor checked me out and told me to obtain my results at the front desk. I found out I passed and was so happy I hugged the receptionist. I hope all of you can experience the pure happiness I felt when I passed the exam.
I'm now waiting on the endorsement process and submitted the necessary paperwork on 4/28. Hopefully in a few weeks I'll be an official CISSP. Best of luck to you all as you prepare for your CISSP exam!
This is my first post and I used these forums to help guide my studying. I really wish I would have more actively participated in these forums prior to my exam but I guess hindsight is 20/20. Anyways, I figured I'd share my exam preparation experience with anyone who can benefit from it.
Books and Study Guides
CISSP Study Guide, Second Edition by Eric Conrad (Read twice)
Eleventh Hour CISSP, Second Edition: Study Guide by Eric Conrad (Read twice)
CISSP All-in-One Exam Guide, 6th Edition by Shon Harris (Purchased but never used)
Official (ISC)2 Guide to the CISSP CBK, Third Edition by Steven Hernandez (Purchased but never used)
Sunflower CISSP Summary v1.1
Training
If you or your company can afford it, I highly recommend the SANS course MGT414: SANS +S Training Program for the CISSP Certification Exam. Prior to taking this course, I studied about 1-1.5 months using only the CISSP Study Guide by Eric Conrad. This helped me going into the course because the course is "fire hose training". It's a ton of information in a short amount of time. The training includes it's own course books and practice exam questions that are very valuable. The instructor was also Eric Conrad himself. He thoroughly covered all ten domains and provided very valuable advice on how to successfully study for and pass the exam.
Practice Exams
CCCure.org
Eric Conrad 500 Free CISSP Practice Questions
Practice questions found in both of Eric Conrad's books
Practice questions provided by SANS MGT414
Day Before Exam
I took the day off and studied all day. I initially completed some short practice exams in the morning on CCCure.org then at noon I chose to read the Eleventh Hour CISSP by Eric Conrad from front to back. This really helps drill in the main concepts within each domain. Anything I had questions about I would look up in the CISSP Study Guide by Eric Conrad. I felt comfortable by the evening and chose to get a good nights sleep so I went to bed early.
Day Of Exam
My exam was scheduled for 8am. I woke up at 5am to eat breakfast (which I usually never do) so that I'm not hungry during the exam. I had 2 cups of coffee and while eating I reviewed the Sunflower CISSP Summary v1.1. I took with me a bottled water, two granola bars and the necessary two pieces of identification. I arrived 30 minutes early to register. Registration went well and I put my food and water in the locker provided. I then began the exam. I chose to do the 2 pass method. I answered EVERY question on the first pass. Any question I wasn't 100% sure about, I would flag it. I completed my first pass in 4 hours. I then chose to take a break. I used the restroom, drank my bottled water and one granola bar. I then went back to the exam to complete my second pass. I began the review of my flagged questions. I only changed a few answers. Be very careful not to change too many because usually your first answer is the right one. I was at about question 210 of 250 and had about 30 seconds left so I couldn't complete the review of all of my flagged questions. I chose to complete the exam. Immediately I felt horrible for two reasons. I didn't complete the review of my flagged questions and the past two hours I've only been looking at the questions I wasn't 100% sure on. The proctor checked me out and told me to obtain my results at the front desk. I found out I passed and was so happy I hugged the receptionist. I hope all of you can experience the pure happiness I felt when I passed the exam.
I'm now waiting on the endorsement process and submitted the necessary paperwork on 4/28. Hopefully in a few weeks I'll be an official CISSP. Best of luck to you all as you prepare for your CISSP exam!
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impelse
Member Posts: 1,237 ■■■■□□□□□□
CongratsStop RDP Brute Force Attack with our RDP Firewall : http://www.thehost1.com
It is your personal IPS to stop the attack. -
OptionsTheProfezzor
Member Posts: 204 ■■■□□□□□□□
Could you please shed some light on the material, you thought is over rated as you didn't find it in your exam. Also, any focus points of study would help. Thanks.OSCP: Loading . . .
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kalkan999
Member Posts: 269 ■■■■□□□□□□
Congrats. I felt the same way, and also hugged the test proctor. -
OptionsDisneyFanatic4
Registered Users Posts: 2 ■□□□□□□□□□
@TheProfezzor
I don't want to highlight anything as being overrated but I will say that on my exam I didn't see many technical fact style questions or questions found on CCCure.org. Most of the questions I saw were "BEST, LEAST, WORST, FIRST, etc." type questions in which you need to apply the concepts you studied. In hindsight, I think the study objective is to know all of the core concepts of each domain inside and out so that you can apply these concepts when answering a question like "What's the BEST...". I would use the practice exams found in books and online to test your knowledge of these core concepts but do not expect your exam to be like the practice exams.