CISSP Passed and how I did it the 2nd time!
As promised I wanted to give back to the forum and outline the steps and resources that I used to successfully pass the CISSP exam last week after my first attempt with a score of 692 in June.
After two weeks of trying to figure out what to do to pass the exam the next time and get over the frustration I began using the following resources and different approaches.
1 – I subscribed to safari online and watched the CISSP Shon Harris Videos. Specifically my weaker domains and the ones that we know we will see more questions of on the exam, (Top 5 domains).
2 – QUIZ, Quiz, Quiz and more Quiz using CCCure, McGraw-Hill, and Transcender. Transcender was the most valuable tools for me. It gave detailed answers on why the option was correct and why the other options were incorrect, extremely valuable. I kept a spreadsheet of quizzing scores, 50 questions at a time. The week before my exam I had done over 3000 questions.
3 – I was comfortable with the material but had to come up with better way of tackling the 6 hour exam, without making any silly mistakes, because this may have contributed to my 692 on my first attempt. For this I purchased CISSP Least Crappy Answer: Test Taking Strategy | Expanding Security – Certification & NICCS training . I picked out a handful of tips that certainly helped when came time to taking the exam.
4 – A few days before sunflower pdf
The main difference for me the second time was I used more video based training, its seems like I retained the most by this way of studying. We had a corporate account to CBT nuggets and included was the transcender quiz engine. Fantastic tools for me. My first attempt I was reading too much of the CISSP guides that are available and it simply did not work out.
One of the best tips I came across and used when doing my test quizzing was to cover all the answers. Read the question, twice if you have to and reveal each answer one by one not all at once. How I did this was by opening a notepad window when practicing and dragging the window. During the exam you don’t have notepad but I knew from the first time that you could launch the calculator at each question, and it was the calculator window that I used to cover all the answers and reveal each of them on by one.
Hit me with any questions you have that I can answer without violating my NDA.
What a journey……currently in the endorsement phase now. Toughest part for me was getting over the 692…….
Gene
After two weeks of trying to figure out what to do to pass the exam the next time and get over the frustration I began using the following resources and different approaches.
1 – I subscribed to safari online and watched the CISSP Shon Harris Videos. Specifically my weaker domains and the ones that we know we will see more questions of on the exam, (Top 5 domains).
2 – QUIZ, Quiz, Quiz and more Quiz using CCCure, McGraw-Hill, and Transcender. Transcender was the most valuable tools for me. It gave detailed answers on why the option was correct and why the other options were incorrect, extremely valuable. I kept a spreadsheet of quizzing scores, 50 questions at a time. The week before my exam I had done over 3000 questions.
3 – I was comfortable with the material but had to come up with better way of tackling the 6 hour exam, without making any silly mistakes, because this may have contributed to my 692 on my first attempt. For this I purchased CISSP Least Crappy Answer: Test Taking Strategy | Expanding Security – Certification & NICCS training . I picked out a handful of tips that certainly helped when came time to taking the exam.
4 – A few days before sunflower pdf
The main difference for me the second time was I used more video based training, its seems like I retained the most by this way of studying. We had a corporate account to CBT nuggets and included was the transcender quiz engine. Fantastic tools for me. My first attempt I was reading too much of the CISSP guides that are available and it simply did not work out.
One of the best tips I came across and used when doing my test quizzing was to cover all the answers. Read the question, twice if you have to and reveal each answer one by one not all at once. How I did this was by opening a notepad window when practicing and dragging the window. During the exam you don’t have notepad but I knew from the first time that you could launch the calculator at each question, and it was the calculator window that I used to cover all the answers and reveal each of them on by one.
Hit me with any questions you have that I can answer without violating my NDA.
What a journey……currently in the endorsement phase now. Toughest part for me was getting over the 692…….
Gene
Comments
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papadoc
Member Posts: 154
With regards to Tip #3-- what exactly did you receive for the $69? Was it a bunch of PDFs with test taking tips specific to the CISSP? A video? -
GeneC
Member Posts: 51 ■■□□□□□□□□
@papadoc
It is a online video (adobe connect) you will get a username and password to login and watch the video as many times as you like. I watched it about 3 times at various times during my study period.
Not sure if it expires at a certain point but purchased back in July and its still available for me.
Gene
