Shon Harris - AIO - 6th Edition: Totally Needed?

Hi everyone,

I started studying for the CISSP a few months ago, strictly sticking to Shon Harris' AIO 6th edition (Note: I've been studying at a very casual pace).

I'm currently reading through AIO cover-to-cover, and honestly, am finding it to be pretty brutal. I'm currently 33% done (about 462 pages into it) and have been taking electronic notes on each domain so far. I'm pretty thorough and usually end up with about 30-40 pages of notes per domain-- which probably explains why going through this beast of a book is taking me so much time.

My question is: Do I really need to read this cover-to-cover? How many people used it just as a reference? How many people didn't use it at all?

I was thinking of switching to Conrad's book.

Thanks!

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cyberguypr

Short answer is NO, but that depends on your experience and familiarity with the domains. Check the "passed CISSP" threads and you'll see what everyone has been using. I planned on using the AIO as my primary resource but quickly found fit overly verbose and couldn't handle it. I switched to the Conrad guide and used the AIO only for my weakest domains.

TheProfezzor

Eric Conrad's book is for people who have been working extensively in InfoSec for many years. It touches a lot of topics and I found many things amiss in there. Shon Harris's book is for people who are not directly involved in the InfoSec industry and want to gain good knowledge to build up on their concepts. I personally read both of them and found that Eric's books isn't enough for CISSP, if you are not very good at InfoSec. I believe it's an industry wide opinion that Shon Harris's book is the most logical choice for people pursuing CISSP. Combine the two in your study and will have a pretty good chance of nailing it.

dustervoice

Ill have to agree with the above post. Eric Conrad alone isnt enough to get you through the test unless you have years upon years of experience. i started using Shon Harris and gave up i did however pass the test but i had to dig deep. if i was suppose to do this again i would use the AIO book.

Khaos1911

By "Eric Conrad," do you guys mean the Eleventh hour book or the Study Guide book?

zxbane

Khaos1911 wrote: »

By "Eric Conrad," do you guys mean the Eleventh hour book or the Study Guide book?

I used both, the Study Guide leading up to the exam and then the 11th hour book for the last couple weeks prior to testing.

Robicus

Thank you for all of the great information, everyone! I will continue to stick it out with AIO.

Cheers,

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