New Here. Studying for the CISSP

Realist2001

Hi everyone,

Quick question. I'm in the process of studying for the CISSP. Are the 2009 Shon Harris videos still a good source to study? I have the 6th Ed of her book, the Eric Conrad 11th hour book, the CBT Nuggets Videos and a bunch of practice questions. Been using McGraw Hill questions too as well. So I think I have a good bit of material. Just wanted to see if the Shon Harris video were good enough to listen in the car.

CISSPGOAL

Based on forumn feedback. If you study Shon Harris book and her practice question. You should be able to pass.
Correct me if this is incorrect.

TheProfezzor

The only suggestion I can give here, is to grasp the concept. You won't see questions that are directly related to a particular topic. However, you will see questions that challenge your knowledge for the topic and will test your comprehension of the concepts altogether. Questions might be asked to evaluate your understanding of different concepts and how you would act. Don't memorize, understand.

And to answer your question, what book you should read depends upon what sort of experience you currently have and how much security exposure you have. For example, I would grade the 5 best books, according to the following:

1- AIO Guide to CISSP CBK 6th (1-2 Years of Experience)
2- CISSP Study Guide 6th - Sybex (2-4 Years of Experience)
3- CISSP for Dummies (2-3 Years of Experience)
4- Official Guide to CISSP CBK 3rd (2-4 Years of Experience)
5- CISSP Study Guide 2nd - Eric Conrad (4-6 Years of Experience)

Having said that, all the writers have a different style of writing. You can start off with a book and get to know it. See if it fits your reading style. Furthermore, Official Guide seems to contain much erroneous information and people say that it's not very good to grasp. But, I found it very good and I read it to get a good understanding of the CIB. I cannot emphasis enough on the concepts part. It doesn't matter what book you read, as long as you completely understand the essence of the topics.

Good Luck

Realist2001

Thanks for the suggestions. I don't have a lot of experience so a lot of this will be from my book studies. I just want to make sure I'm as prepared as possible seeing as though I'm at a disadvantage than those with experience.

Realist2001

After watching Shon Harris' videos, and then taking the practice tests in the back of the AIO book and McGraw Hill, I've determined my weak areas are Security Architecture, Software Development, Telecommunications, Cryptography and Access control, in that order, according to the test. Besides reading the book, which I'll be doing again, what other suggestions would you guys have for getting this info to stick better?

Realist2001

has anyone ever used the questions from CISSP Exam Training - Study Guide - Online Study Material and if so, what's your opinion?

JDMurray

CertGuard says it's safe: cisspexampractice.com