passed 06/14/2014

chucktaylor244

I passed the CISSP exam this morning, took me 2hrs 25 minutes, i didnt do any additional passes or reviews, i just cranked through the exam.

honestly, i felt kind of underwhelmed. I did not feel the questions where that tricky, ok..maybe some of them were.

I felt my study time (3 months) and plan prepared me quite well. Looking back, i think the sybex book combined with the free mcgraw hill online tests would have probably been adequate prep.

in all honesty though, i think experience is what carried me most of the way through the examination. The exam does a pretty good job of synthesis of all the 10 domains.

i'm glad I passed, more so because i dont have to study for this thing anymore and can move on to other pursuits (such as taking another CCIE lab exam in a few months)

CyberfiSecurity

Dr. Taylor,

Congratulations! Aren't you currently holding the CCIE in R/S and Security certifications? Did you take both written and lab exams, or just only written exams? With all your credentials in Cisco, do you think that Data Center track is the most return in investment in all Cisco specializations?

Doyen

I just replied to your older thread and just noticed this one. Congratulations!

chucktaylor244

CyberfiSecurity wrote: »

Dr. Taylor,

Congratulations! Aren't you currently holding the CCIE in R/S and Security certifications? Did you take both written and lab exams, or just only written exams? With all your credentials in Cisco, do you think that Data Center track is the most return in investment in all Cisco specializations?

I took both written and lab exams for both, you cant get a number otherwise. Currently working on the DC track now.

the best return on your investment is to do routing and switching (R/S) it's got a little bit of almost everything in it and serves as a solid base.

once you have that, all the rest of them are just a bonus

chucktaylor244

Doyen wrote: »

I just replied to your older thread and just noticed this one. Congratulations!

Thanks, Glad to get this thing out of the way. it's such a time consuming exam, paints security with a very broad brush.

bigdummy

Congrats!...and thanks for sharing your thoughts on the exam and study materials.

I know what you mean when you say you're glad to be done with this thing, and free to pursue other certs. For techie/engineering types, the more technical certs (like Cisco or C|EH) are genuinely fun to study for, but studying for the CISSP can be a real drag. I keep thinking that they should market the Shon Harris book as a cure for insomnia!

chucktaylor244

bigdummy wrote: »

Congrats!...and thanks for sharing your thoughts on the exam and study materials.

I know what you mean when you say you're glad to be done with this thing, and free to pursue other certs. For techie/engineering types, the more technical certs (like Cisco or C|EH) are genuinely fun to study for, but studying for the CISSP can be a real drag. I keep thinking that they should market the Shon Harris book as a cure for insomnia!

I lasted about the first chapter with show Harris, then shelved it. I like the sybex book combined with Conrad. I think that's a winning combo. For me, shifting back and forth between them combatted the boredom

TheProfezzor

Could you shed some light on the exam itself, without violating the NDA of course. I plan to take it this month and am very nervous. The weakest domains are Telecom and Cryptography. Do you think I really need to dive into the details on these two, if I need to get questions right on the exam?

da_vato

Congrats Dr. Taylor...

Thanks for sharing your journey on this exam. I have been reading some of your other posts (unintentionally) and think you will add a lot of value to this community.

jvrlopez

Congrats! I felt the same way when I took it, that is that the test didn't live up to all the hype that it got.

Also agree with you that the Sybex book and the McGraw Hill practice questions are a solid foundation to study for the CISSP.

Spin Lock

Thanks for the advice and congrats on passing. Less than 2.5 hours? Crazy fast.

EasyPeezy

Well done bro... and congratulations.