Passed CISSP 04/14/15 Thanks to this Forum - First Attempt

dannamite

I hope to keep this thread short, but I feel I have to do a thorough review to give back to the community. I want to thank all the members of this forum who come here regularly to offer advice and share their experiences on CISSP preparations and test.

I only discovered this forum a few months ago when I started preparing for the CISSP but came here almost every week to just read people's experiences on the test and their preparation methods. I used to read both the fail and pass threads but about a month to my Exam I stopped reading the failed threads. They were very demoralizing and were affecting my confidence. The passed threads however, were very inspiring and motivating. Anytime I would be down and frustrated with my preparation, I'll take a break, come to this forum and read all the pass threads. Then I'll be inspired and motivated to go back and keep pressing on.

I started studying towards the end of January. I would study 4 hours a day after work for 3 days a week and then a couple hours a day 2 out of the remaining 4 days. My studies intensified after I registered for the exam mid-way through February. I took the week and half before the exam off work and studied for long hours everyday. The final week and half was just study-eat-sleep. Everything else was on hold and the studying was intense!

My exam was 8am in the morning. I answered every question on my first pass but flagged the questions (54 total) I wasn't too sure about. I had just 20mins left after my first pass, and then went through each flagged question. As I went through the flagged questions, I wondered why I had flagged most of the questions, as my answers to me were the best choices. I only had to change two of the answers from the flagged questions. By the time I was done with reviewing the flagged questions, I only had a minute left on the exam. I used up all the 6 hours for the exam, and took two breaks, a 2 minute bathroom break and a 5 min break to eat a sandwich my wife had packed for me.

As the exam progressed, I felt very good about my chances. There were a few questions that were worded vaguely and started to frustrate me but I kept reminding myself to be calm and not lose focus. Most questions had two perfect answers but I always looked for KEY WORDS and thought like a manager on such questions. I also feel the exam is designed to psychologically test your emotions and mental toughness. I couldn't identify any of the 25 bogus questions, or maybe I didn't even care to look. I was just busy focusing on choosing the BEST answers. When I was done with the exam, and saw on the screen to pick up my print out, I knew I had passed.

Thanks again to everyone on this forum.

My preparation materials were as follows:
1. Eric Conrad Study Guide 2nd Ed (My main book. Read the whole book cover to cover and made my own handwritten notes)
2. CBT Nuggets CISSP Videos (Very good)
3. Shon Harris AIO (Started with this book but dropped it for the Conrad Book after one chapter - Too verbose)
4. Eric Conrad 11th Hour (Used during the final week but didn't really need it as my notes were better)
5. The Sunflower PDF (Read this the night before the exam. It was really a good final refresher)
6. Shon Harris CISSP Practice Exams Book (3ed) (Used it to practice questions in Telecom, Access Control and Crypto domains) - Also listened to some of the Audio on the CD that came with this book. Helped solidify my understanding of Telecom domain.

Practice Questions
1. Transcender Practice Test. (Taking a clue from another reviewer from this forum, I hit this hard during the final week and was the most helpful). The questions on the final exams are very different from any of the questions in any of the preparation materials but Transcender comes close.
2. Every end of chapter question from the Conrad Book.
3. Practice questions from the Shon Harris CISSP Practice Exams book (Just for 3 domains, Telecom, Access Control and Crypto)
4. All TotalTester Questions
5. A few questions from the McGraw-Hill Website.

mjsinhsv

Congratulations on the pass. Great review as well.
Sounds like you were a man on a mission.
You are one of the last "passed" posts on the now "old" test format.

I bet there were tumbleweeds blowing through the CISSP test centers today..