Passed CISSP - 2nd Attempt

voodoo26voodoo26 Member Posts: 56 ■■□□□□□□□□
in SSCP
Hi All,

First i have to say that it is not an easy exam like some of people think that it is. You need to really put effort on it and need experience. I am an Information Security Officer with 7+ years of experience and dedicated to information security from start to present. Access Control, Telco, Cryptography, Infosec Governance, Physical Sec., BCP/DR domains i mostly worked with. I have worked in mostly Telecommunication and Financial sectors. I start to study CISSP past 2-3 years from time to time and in this year i take it seriously and worked almost 6 months.

First Attempt
My primary resource was AIO. This book is really good but it distracted me a lot. After finishing AIO i moved to Eric Conrad's book and i felt relax with pinpoint and solid information that he provides. But i really suggest you to understand end chapter questions and summary in AIO. I solved too too many questions but the one i can suggest is McGraw Hill CISSP Practice exam questions. Very well formed questions and directly testing your knowledge.

Exam
I felt like that i am ready to go and reserved the exam. I started the exam with shaking hands after i saw first question and i had no idea about it. I finished first 100 questions and took a break with headache i really do not know what i have to do. It is like i knocked out in first round of the match :D Returned back and finished all questions i almost finished on time and had no extra time to review it. I finished exam and i took the paper from lady and i saw failed score and i can not describe how bad feeling it is :) after this heartbreaking news went to home i made a new plan to study to my weakest domains. I was really unmotivated and i really do not want to study at all. Just one good thing i learned from first exam experience which is "what to study and how to study"

Second Attempt

Phase I-Review and Study
I give up to making model kits, playing Warcraft, playing guitar. "Cause you do not deserve time for them" said to myself icon_wink.gif. Made plan to review my weakest domains and i choose ISC2 Official Study Guide for to study. It was really bad feeling to study from start but i did not give up. I stick to the plan and moved on. I strongly recommend this book there is no unnecessary information in it. I keep focus on this book and i learned too many things which is necessary for the exam. I listened Shon Harris MP3s from work to home very good resource.

I did not solve any questions during second attempt. Just studied very well and seriously understanding the concepts. I used NIST documents also for my weaker domains. I took notes from ISC2 Official Guide and review them before exam.

Exam
The day before exam i could not sleep very well i am lucky the test center is close to my home. I did not have breakfast, no food, no energy bars. I just take a cup of coffee and cigarettes before the exam. I was highly motivated and did not want to fail again. I started the exam and i was more confident than first attempt. Tons of information in your head and you need to call correct ones. I take a 5 mins break after 100 questions i was not sure how i was going and felt like failing again. First 100 question was really confused me but very well formed questions. Take another 5 mins break at 200 with brain melting. This time i felt like i am on the right way. I finished exam in 4 hours and rest of the time i reviewed all questions and corrected i think more than 5-6 questions. I finished reviewing all questions and i had just 1 minute to finish. I did not click to end the exam i just watched the timer counting down to zero :) time is up and i just click to end exam and result sent to printer i just moved to the desk to take paper from lady and i finally saw Congrat... What a relief... after days and nights of study. Dedicating your 6 months to this exam.

Final Conclusion and Suggestions

Before starting to study to CISSP i said that "If others can do it, i can do it" with this motivation i ended my CISSP journey yesterday and i did it. I suggest you to motivate yourself and study seriously and never give up. Do not underestimate the exam cause you will face with very good questions :) Take the question from management perspective, i will repeat as everyone, this is not a technical exam maybe some of Telecommunication domain. Do not go too deep, understand the concept of domain. Listen Shon' s MP3s and end of each domain there is a review that she asks questions about, try to answer them if you do not know return back to this part and learn it. I got much benefit from NIST documents try to look them also

My Study Resources

ISC2 Official Study Guide - Main resource
NIST Documents - Must look
Eric Conrad's 11th hour study guide - Quick review
Shon Harris's AIO - End of domain reviews and practice questions
Shon Harris's MP3s - Listened those instead of Joe Satriani :D
McGraw Hill practice tests - Very good practice tests for exam

Thats all. I also really thank to contributing members which they share their experience, guides and suggestions. Take a look that So you want to be a CISSP topic also.

Best
2014 Goals CISSP COLOR=#008000]Passed[/COLOR, 2015 Goals CISM COLOR=#ff0000]June[/COLOR
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