Not doing good on McGraw-Hil CISSP practice exams

binarysoul

I'm getting low marks on practice exams by late Shon Harris (RIP) while using other prac exams I'm doing better. Anyone else taken these exams?

McGraw-Hill Education | CISSP Practice Exams

Spin Lock

Lots of folks on this forum have taken the MH exams. Search throught the "Passed CISSP" posts and you'll see the MH practice tests get very high ratings. The general consensus seems to be that none of the practice exams accurately represent the actual exam, but the MH tests come closest.

I think I'd put more weight on how I did on the MH quiz than I would other quizes you might find online.

Have you analyzed your test results? Is there a particular domain or two that you consistently do poorly on? If so, that would be the area to focus on.

dustervoice

Are you using the Shon Harris book as your main study guide? If not, then you might struggle with the questions. Read the explanation of why an answer is correct and make notes. Dont get caught up on getting the questions wrong as the cissp is not a memorization test so you will not see any of those questions on the real test. Focus on the high level concepts and you will be fine.

Paperlantern

dustervoice wrote: »

Are you using the Shon Harris book as your main study guide? If not, then you might struggle with the questions. Read the explanation of why an answer is correct and make notes. Dont get caught up on getting the questions wrong as the cissp is not a memorization test so you will not see any of those questions on the real test. Focus on the high level concepts and you will be fine.

Very much this. I felt the same way as I would imagine 99% of the candidates that sit for the CISSP when I took it. I felt like I was going to fail. Whether it was practice test results, overwhelming notes, or even just feeling like you don't know enough and you just can't look at the material anymore. But I passed. The test is concerned with overarching concepts and scenarios that try to determine of the test taker understands each domain. Not if they know how many lumens a light has to be in a parking garage. Like duster said, high level concepts. You'll do fine. Just keep drilling the questions, note the ones you miss and try to understand those areas and concepts better.

Dub_lad

Define a low score?

binarysoul

Dub_lad wrote: »

Define a low score?

65-70% !

binarysoul

dustervoice wrote: »

Are you using the Shon Harris book as your main study guide? If not, then you might struggle with the questions. Read the explanation of why an answer is correct and make notes. Dont get caught up on getting the questions wrong as the cissp is not a memorization test so you will not see any of those questions on the real test. Focus on the high level concepts and you will be fine.

I always thought unless one understands material well, memorization is like a very cheap glue not worth having! Areas I'm weak at are Kerbrose, RADIUS, Diameter and like most people Crypto is confusing, but I'm getting a hang of it. I've been preparing for about 6 months (at a slow pace). But now I'm intensifying my efforts. So now, I'm reviewing Shon Harris book (watched her entire video course a while ago) and few other sources.

binarysoul

Good question dustervoice; I watched Shon Harris CISSP videos, but now I'm reading her book (with lots of caffeine on the side).

Dub_lad

binarysoul wrote: »

65-70% !

Im getting 75-85% and consider that as a pass.

only 7 days till my exam