Passed the CISSP

Well, I passed the CISSP exam I took on Dec. 10. It is an early Christmas present to myself for sure! It is the hardest exam I have ever taken and I worked very very hard to prepare for it.

As I mentioned earler, I felt I had only a slim chance of passing. They do not tell you what your score is if you pass, so I could have made it by 1 point or aced it (porbably made by 1 point though). But I always look at situations like this by saying, "if the MINIMUM wasn't good enough it wouldn't be the MINIMUM."

At any rate and looking back, I would have/should have started my serious study earlier than I did. Other than that, I think I had a sound regimen for my preperation and it made off.

I appreciate every one's inputs and encouragement! I would never have made it without that. Encouragement is so important to the process and I promise to hang around here and the Cisco forums and lend what advice I can and humbly offer any tidbits of wisdom (if I can remember any) that might help others to get educated and certified in this wacky IT world we live and work in.

And in that world, we can't sit still for a single day becuase too much happens, improves and changes. We have to keep up with it all and we have to try to stay ahead of the bad guys.

I will take a couple of weeks off for the holidays and then decide what the next step will be for me, personally. I love cisco gear, but I don't really get enough hands on any more to justify the higher level certs there, so i may go for one or two of CISSP concentrations or look into some SANS certs. But tonight I am going to build a nice fire and drink some hot toddies with my wife and enjoy the fruits of my labor!

Thanks for reading,

Mike

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Comments

TheShadow

Congratulations Mike. Don't worry about the score or it will drive you crazy. Remember what do they call an M.D. that finished last in his or her class
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Doctor.

keatron

Congrats Mike and welcome to the club. Much fun ahead buddy. I think there's like 4 of us here now that are CISSP's. Myself, you, Kenny, and Darkuser. This is a testiment to Techexams.net. I know of only one other forum that has as many CISSP's who are active on it. If there's anybody else, speak up. It would interesting to see how many are actually here.

jescab

CONGRATZ dude.....

Webmaster

Congratulations Mike!

I think there's like 4 of us here now that are CISSP's. Myself, you, Kenny, and Darkuser. This is a testiment to Techexams.net. I know of only one other forum that has as many CISSP's who are active on it.

And we're proud to have you here!

2lazybutsmart

Congratulations indeed

I think I would just pass out if I were told to wait a few days for the results of an exam. I can't stand the few seconds that "please wait...." message blinks on the screeen. It gets me so worked up that I have to put in a lot of effort to breathe normally. I usually close my eyes, and then open them slowly to try and get a glimpse of a "green" status bar (like a golden ticket in a Wonka bar!!!)

You're brave. And CISSP's are supposed to be that way, aren't they?

Enjoy
2lbs.

janmike

Congratulations!

TeKniques

A very fine achievement. Much congrats to you.

stndrd_123

A big conratulations to you!

xevious

Congrats Mike...

I think you'll agree, after finishing the exam - you only had til the next morning to relax as now you're anxiously waiting for the results. It took 2 weeks before they sent me an e-mail.

also... add me to the list, that makes it 5 on this forum.

keatron

xevious wrote:

Congrats Mike...

I think you'll agree, after finishing the exam - you only had til the next morning to relax as now you're anxiously waiting for the results. It took 2 weeks before they sent me an e-mail.

also... add me to the list, that makes it 5 on this forum.

Excellent, we're oozing CISSP's here.

mikeyoung

I feel like I (and others who tested on Dec. 10) was lucky to get notified so quickly. Today I got my endorsment signed and faxed along with my resume so... Now I just have to wait again... but I don't mind. Although I want that certificate on my wall NOW!!

Seriously, the best thing about the CISSP to me, is how it changed my thinking about network security. I look at things in much more depth than I did as little as two months ago. Some of the things we did before I started studying, are no longer acceptable to me. We have already made so many changes. Yes, some of it is stuff we should have been doing and were too busy, or too tired, or too indifferent about and some are things we simply didn't know. But (and here is the key to me) when you know for sure and for certain that something is wrong and you STILL don't change it, then you are derelict in your duties, and I just can't abide that in myself or others.

So... am I better networking guy because I passed the CISSP exam? NO! Am I a better networking guy becuse I studied those ten domains so hard? YES I am. And so will every one else be, who does the same.

Thanks for reading,

Mike

Griz

Mike:

Were you notified via a-mail or snail mail? I took the exam in Houston on 12/10 and haven't heard anything yet... maybe not a good sign.

Congratulations!

mikeyoung

Griz, I got an e-mail mid-morning last Friday. I have noticed on another forum that it has been taking 7-9 working days. So why I and some others got ours last Friday after only 5 days, I cannot say.

I know it is easy for me to say, but I wouldn't read a lot into the time line. I did test in St. Petersburg, Florida which is relitively close to Dundeadin, Fl, where I believe their headquarters are (based on snail mail addresses and fax numbers).

Try not to worry brother. I'll be pulling for you and every one else who goes through that exam.

Mike

amolchaudhari

Mike,
Heartly contratulations for this great achievement!!!
Right now, though i am a beginner, i dream of making it one day.....

Hope this mailing list will prove out to be one of the most important resource for people like me..

2lazybutsmart

Mike, congrats again, and don't forget to add your new achievement in the Certificatoins: section of your profile. You deserve to show it off!

2lbs

youchonium

Excellent job Mike! I sweated through the results of the SSCP, but it's nowhere as difficult as the CISSP. I hope to knock this one out next year.

JDMurray

Yes Mike, add "CISSP" to the cert section in your profile. And mea maxima congratz!!

mikeyoung

J D and Lazy,

I do not have the certification yet. I have only passed the first hurdle of the examination. In addition to that, I have to have my experience validated by ISC2 before I am "official." But trust me, if/when they bless me, I will update my certifications and post the good news.

Thanks,

Mike

Griz

Mike:

Thanks for the info. I still haven't gotten an e-mail, but I keep checking every 30 minutes.

Seriously though, I need to rant for a sec...

The CISSP test scoring is very simple (run through a scantron machine). All proctors Fedex the exam sheets on Monday morning. ISC2 gets them on Wednesday. It is more than a bit irritating that they can score some of them and send results on Friday while making others wait several more days (so far). I mean, we paid $500 for the exam and waiting for results is very stressful. My expectation is that ISC2 would understand that and make sure results are delivered as fast as possible. In my mind, if you can deliver results for one group of test takers on Friday there is absolutely no reason it should take more than a few hours (much less a few days) to deliver results for all test takers.

Okay... done now. I'll keep waiting patiently.

JDMurray

mikeyoung wrote:

I do not have the certification yet.

Passing the exam makes you a "CISSP Associate," so use that until you are validated (if the IISSCC even bothers to do so with you).

keatron

Mike, if you didn't get an email stating that you've been selected for an audit, you should be good to go. Relax man!!!

Ten9t6

Congrats....

Kenny

mikeyoung

Griz,

I hear you and I know I would have the exact same feelings if I didn't get notified and knew others had.

I certainly won't pretend I know how ISC2 adminitstrates, but... I am sure they have their bereaucratiic "stuff" that they deal with like all organizations. It seems to me, you would be right in thinking they HAVE to know people are just dying to know their scores, so I don't know what to think. Maybe their reader broke down.

Now having said all of that.... recent history shows that they typically provide notification on the 2nd Wednesday after the test, so today (or certainly by tomorow) might be the day.

Good luck and lets us know ASAP. I will certainly be checking in throughout the day.

Mike Young
CISSP Associate

JDMurray

mikeyoung wrote:

Now having said all of that.... recent history shows that they typically provide notification on the 2nd Wednesday after the test, so today (or certainly by tomorrow) might be the day.

Except that we are now on the threshold of the December holidays, and things will tend to slow to a crawl--if not completely stop--until Jan 2nd.

What is the percentage of CISSP Associates whose credentials are actually audited? 50%? 33%? Maybe 25% (or less) at this time of year? You might give the IISSCC a call and see if anyone answers the phone. They might have already given you your Xmas present and be home for the holidays themselves.

Griz

Mike:

I finally got my e-mail today... and I passed. Yippee! So, I guess I can forgive them for the delay.

Webmaster

Congrats Griz!

Please tell us a bit about how you prepared for this exam.

Any plans for other infosec certs?

mikeyoung

Congrats, Griz. I am tickled for you. Yes it is easy to foget the "pain" once it stops. I am glad you found out. I know there are some others finding out today too and most reports are favorable (although it takes a lot more guts to post a failure, so it is hard to say how many passed and how many failed from our weekend).

Get that Resume and endorsement faxed in today and you may be credentialed before the year is out, although it will be close.

Either way, go out and celebrate the wonderful new year.

And let me say, "Welcome, brother!"

Mike

Griz

Mike:

Thanks for the congrats. It was certainly a relief.

Webmaster:

My preparation included reviewing the ISC2 published book as well as the ExamCram 2 CISSP book. I found the ExamCram 2 book to be quite useful, while the ISC2 book was much more dry. My feeling was also that the ExamCram book was better at pointing out some of the key information covered on the test, while it was hard to discern what was critical and what wasn't from the ISC2 book. I would still recommend both though.

Having said that, I've also worked in IT audit/security both as an external consultant and as an employee. Prior to that I spent 5+ years working in general IT infrastructure. I think that took me quite a ways in covering about half of the test subject areas.

Thanks again!

Ricka182

Well, I'm late, but congrats anyways!