Thanks to everyone
I have been a silent member of this forum and have benefited immensely from the contribution of everyone who posted topics on how to pass the CISSP exam. I took the exam on the 26th of February 2015 and it took me over 5 hours before i clicked the submit button and was relieved after I got my print out and saw the passed indication. Below are the materials I used.
Shon Harris 6th Edition Boxed Set: Covered everything I needed to know. Read it once and for anyone who is using the book I will recommend after going through the first pass to also go through the Key terms of all the chapters for reinforcing the contents. I found that I was able to get quick answers and valuable information from the key terms that is after going through the book once.
The Combined Notes: I found this material to be very helpful when i need to just go through the materials. I read this like twice before the exam. I also used it a day to my exam to reinforce the concepts and also used it after going through the Shon Harris.
The SUNFLOWER PDF: Funny enough i went through this pdf once and i think it is shallow compared to the Combined note up there but then for reference it is quite good to remember tiny details about a topic.
Total Tester Questions: It Came with the shon harris book and I found the questions to closely match the types of questions in the exam.
McGraw Hill Questions: I found the questions on this site is also closely related to the total tester questions that came with the shon harris (Total Tester).
CCure: I paid for this 10 days to my exams and I after going through some of the questions I was able to narrow down my weak domains which also reflected on the total tester questions I was taking. I found this site to be helpful as well but I will say if you have the total tester it should be enough to test your knowledge of the whole domains.
Skillset: Used this site sparingly and i found the questions to be rlatively easy but then I like the way they provided answers to their questions.
One of the points I picked from here was having a strategy for the exam, it took me 3 hours to go through the whole questions and i took a break and when I got back i went through the questions again and changed some of my answers ( I did not stick with the dont change your answers from the first time) after I did the first pass through I flagged some questions I was not sure of the answers, at this point i had spent 4 hours 20 mins and after the first review of the whole questions I had answered I went back to check the flagged questions and also changed some answers but by this time i was sure i had passed the exam.
I went out and the server generated an error and those few minutes were like hours I had to ask if i could go outside but I was told to wait till the result was printed and when it came out all good i felt relieved but I was very tired from the mental strain the exam put on me.
It was fun reading for the exam, I will say it took me 6 months to prepare for the exam, most of that time though was spent reading the Shon Harris AIO but I am glad i did.
I have only come to say thank you to everyone that provided useful insights on how to pass the exam and also for posting the Combined Notes and Sunflower PDF notes.
Up next for me is look for another job but also looking at CISA/CISM/ISO 27001.
Shon Harris 6th Edition Boxed Set: Covered everything I needed to know. Read it once and for anyone who is using the book I will recommend after going through the first pass to also go through the Key terms of all the chapters for reinforcing the contents. I found that I was able to get quick answers and valuable information from the key terms that is after going through the book once.
The Combined Notes: I found this material to be very helpful when i need to just go through the materials. I read this like twice before the exam. I also used it a day to my exam to reinforce the concepts and also used it after going through the Shon Harris.
The SUNFLOWER PDF: Funny enough i went through this pdf once and i think it is shallow compared to the Combined note up there but then for reference it is quite good to remember tiny details about a topic.
Total Tester Questions: It Came with the shon harris book and I found the questions to closely match the types of questions in the exam.
McGraw Hill Questions: I found the questions on this site is also closely related to the total tester questions that came with the shon harris (Total Tester).
CCure: I paid for this 10 days to my exams and I after going through some of the questions I was able to narrow down my weak domains which also reflected on the total tester questions I was taking. I found this site to be helpful as well but I will say if you have the total tester it should be enough to test your knowledge of the whole domains.
Skillset: Used this site sparingly and i found the questions to be rlatively easy but then I like the way they provided answers to their questions.
One of the points I picked from here was having a strategy for the exam, it took me 3 hours to go through the whole questions and i took a break and when I got back i went through the questions again and changed some of my answers ( I did not stick with the dont change your answers from the first time) after I did the first pass through I flagged some questions I was not sure of the answers, at this point i had spent 4 hours 20 mins and after the first review of the whole questions I had answered I went back to check the flagged questions and also changed some answers but by this time i was sure i had passed the exam.
I went out and the server generated an error and those few minutes were like hours I had to ask if i could go outside but I was told to wait till the result was printed and when it came out all good i felt relieved but I was very tired from the mental strain the exam put on me.
It was fun reading for the exam, I will say it took me 6 months to prepare for the exam, most of that time though was spent reading the Shon Harris AIO but I am glad i did.
I have only come to say thank you to everyone that provided useful insights on how to pass the exam and also for posting the Combined Notes and Sunflower PDF notes.
Up next for me is look for another job but also looking at CISA/CISM/ISO 27001.
Comments
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Rimmi
Member Posts: 22 ■□□□□□□□□□
Ken, you deserved to pass. Congrates
CISSP is not difficult and the questions are well structure.
I'm working on CISM and 27001 too. -
bigdogz
Member Posts: 881 ■■■■■■■■□□
Congrats on the pass!!!
Just curious... what are the 'Combined Notes' ? -
ctx
Member Posts: 11 ■□□□□□□□□□
The first post in this thread http://www.techexams.net/forums/isc-sscp-cissp/102723-passed-cissp-yesterday.html
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Spin Lock
Member Posts: 142
Congratulations on passing and thanks for sharing your test experience.
From reading your post, it sounds like you went into the exam well prepared. You even said that you knew you had passed after completing the second pass. Again, I think that shows you studied the right material and topic in preparation for the exam.
I'm not asking you to reveal anything the NDA prohibits, but can you share any general advice on topics you would recommend all test-takers know thoroughly? I've not taken the exam yet, but from reading all the PASSED threads, it sure does seem to me that you better know how security at the enterprise level is implemented. That means knowing information governance, information risk management, understanding risk assessment & security architecture frameworks, etc.
Obviously you must know everything the 10 domains cover, but my sense is, you can get yourself in trouble if you spend time memorizing how many s-box transformations AES performs and not enough time understanding the where ISO 27000, ITIL, CMMI or NIST SP 800-30 fit in grand scheme of enterprise security. -
mjsinhsv
Member Posts: 167
Agree completely on a strategy for the exam.
A 6 hour exam covering that much information requires a strategy of preparedness, diligence, and stamina.
I think that is part of what seperates the CISSP from other certs.
Congratulations on the congratulations paper. -
impelse
Member Posts: 1,237 ■■■■□□□□□□
CongratsStop RDP Brute Force Attack with our RDP Firewall : http://www.thehost1.com
It is your personal IPS to stop the attack. -
kenerep
Member Posts: 10 ■□□□□□□□□□
@Spin-Lock like everyone here has been saying more attention should be placed on thinking on what a manager will do, human safety first and also like it has always been said, the exam is 1 mile wide and 1 inch deep, just know the basics and practice questions will help reinforce the concepts. Unlike most people on here i did not get above the 84% in my practice questions. I knew my weak domains and it was those domains i focused two days before the exam.
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Spin Lock
Member Posts: 142
Thanks for the advice. You are correct, your advice reaffirms what many others have said in this forum : don't dive too deep!
The problem is, the practice exams definitely expect you to dive deep. What TCSEC level first implements a formally verifiable reference monitor? What's the recommended period of change for cryptographic keys? The Mobile Commerce Extension Specification is used for ____ purpose. The take-grant model uses directed graphs for which purpose? ....I could go on, and on.
Yes, I know - "No practice exam comes close to replicating the actual exam!". So just because the practice exam gets into the weeds doesn't mean the actual exam will. The challenge then is to remember that while you take practice exams that dive so deep you gotta wear a pressure suit!
