Passed CISSP

DavidEthington

I finished in an hour and a half. I didn't hang out on questions where I wasn't sure of the answer. I simply chose what I believed to be the best answer and moved on. I made sure that I didn't study anything the day prior, and instead relaxed and got a solid night's sleep. As for studying, the best advice I can give is to not rely on sample tests. I know people don't like this answer, but the best way you can prepare is to honestly know, understand, and be able to apply the information.

As for study guides, I used the Conrad, Harris, and Sybex guides. Never, EVER rely on a single study guide for this. All of them provide their own unique perspectives on the domains, and give you a more holistic view of things. 11th Hour is utterly useless. If you don't know the material in the book that close to test day, you may be in for a bit of a disappointment.

Finally, don't hang out in domains where you are strong. It's tempting because it's easy. But if crypto baffles you, keep reading. If the books aren't getting the message across, start doing your own research. Had a technical guy who took the course along with me, and he really had to make an effort to move away from the technical stuff and into physical and operational security and legal.

The CISSP, for some, can be a bit of a mind game, especially if you get blitzed with hard questions at the beginning (which seems to be the norm). Read the questions carefully, read the answers, and choose based on what you have learned. It's really that simple. Don't let a single question hold you hostage while the clock is winding down. If you don't know it right off, then one guess is as good as any. Use common sense, think like a manager, and be mindful of the clock.

impelse

Congrats, everybody study differently.

For me I read a lot many times the same domain, at the same time I do some quizzes to confirm the knowledge of take notes of some parts I did not get it before.

I read Conrad, Sybex,I am reading 11 hours and part of Sharon Harris ( I am reading with this book the weak areas).

Spin Lock

Congratulations on passing David. The speed with which you did it speaks to your preparation and experience. Very impressive.

>As for study guides, I used the Conrad, Harris, and Sybex guides. Never, EVER rely on a single study guide for this. All of them provide their own unique perspectives on the domains, and give you a more holistic view of things.

I could not agree with this more. I'm still preparing for the exam so I'm not in a position to say if my method of preparation is effective or not, so I was happy to read this in your post. All the major CISSP prep guides/books add value, but it's unrealistic to think any one book should be your "golden source".

A perfect example of this, for me, is BCP/DRP. I've read this module in AIO, Conrad, Sybex and CBK Review Seminar, and they all describe the BC Planning phases/preparation differently. If I had read just one book, I'd have been left with the impression that is the only way BCP is done (since I have no practical experience in this area). By reading multiple sources, I had to reconcile the differences and that forced me to think and understand the planning process rather than just memorize it.

Thanks again for your feedback and suggestions.

itguy1979

David congrats an hour and a half to finish that test is amazing and almost unheard of, that's a rate of .36 seconds per question.... Congrats

cissper

This is getting interesting. Last a day or two back someone posted that they completed exam in 2 hours and now you break his record.

What puzzles me is that you guys are able to read 250 questions, think, and answer so quick. Is there some time of fast reading crash course out there?

jvrlopez

I finished in about 2 hours and 30 minutes and everyone in my office was surprised (a few people had tested previously and took the entire 6 hours). To be honest, the questions were, to me, short and straight forward. The monstrous ISC2 scenarios that everyone seemed to complain about were about 3 sentences in length, some of which was fluff or filler to try and throw you off. I've always been a good reader and having been taking standardized tests since I was in 1st grade (20 years).

Read the question straight forward, recall in your memory, and answer it. I think some get too hung up looking into the question too much.

What I don't understand are the cases were people run out of time on their first pass through of the questions. Like OP said, if you don't know the answer off the bat, guess, because it sure as heck isn't going to fix itself the more and more you read it.

DavidEthington

itguy1979 wrote: »

David congrats an hour and a half to finish that test is amazing and almost unheard of, that's a rate of .36 seconds per question.... Congrats

Yeah, I wish I had hard data on my time, but I was out of there in that timeframe, from official start to when I got up and left. I don't think I was clocking less than half a second per question, though. I didn't really pause or slow down either, though. I felt like it was anywhere between 2-3 seconds per question when I was taking it. I even took a short pause for a security model question.

Maybe I entered some weird wormhole?

DavidEthington

jvrlopez wrote: »

I finished in about 2 hours and 30 minutes and everyone in my office was surprised (a few people had tested previously and took the entire 6 hours). To be honest, the questions were, to me, short and straight forward. The monstrous ISC2 scenarios that everyone seemed to complain about were about 3 sentences in length, some of which was fluff or filler to try and throw you off. I've always been a good reader and having been taking standardized tests since I was in 1st grade (20 years).

Read the question straight forward, recall in your memory, and answer it. I think some get too hung up looking into the question too much.

What I don't understand are the cases were people run out of time on their first pass through of the questions. Like OP said, if you don't know the answer off the bat, guess, because it sure as heck isn't going to fix itself the more and more you read it.

The scenario ones were the easiest. Sometimes I hardly even read the question, because three out of the four answers were just so obviously wrong, in any situation.

tufexams

Geezus. You are all either geniuses, or I'm a fricken dumb @ss because I took the whole 6 hours and the proctor had to practically wrestle me out of there and still didn't get the P. $hit next go around if I have the courage and ballz to I might just got in there and answer questions like I own the test. Just don't really like letting go of $600 and leave there with a disappointing piece of 8.5 x 11" worthless piece of paper with a F.