I used about 3.5 hours of the total 6
I was unsure or guessed on 67 of the 250 total questions (flagged them)
My background is about 6 years full-time in State govt IT operations with the certs/degree listed under my name. I found the quality of the test and questions to be very high and thought out. There were a few things that appeared on the exam that I have never seen or heard of before. There were probably about 20-30 "gimme" questions, but the rest made me work. I can't say that I enjoyed the study or test experience because they were grueling and nerve-wracking.
Now...on to my study methods! (there is a summary at the bottom of this post):
Anki:
I heavily utilized
Anki for much of my studying. Anki is a
spaced repetition software that incorporates increasing intervals of time between subsequent review of previously learned material. I felt using Anki was necessary because there is such a large amount of information. I created 2129 custom flash cards in Anki based on the materials below and reviewed them daily for the first 2 months of my preparation (averaging about 200-300 cards daily). Note: I have used Anki to study Japanese and I find it is the
best possible way (for me) to memorize large amounts of information as efficiently/quickly as possible.
Transcender(CISSP 2012) 984 questions / 1040 flashcards:
I started my studies with this. I did each question at least two times, and used the explanations to the answers to create flash cards in Anki:
FOR EXAMPLE. I also went through the Transcender flash cards once and added anything I was unfamiliar with to my Anki deck.
Transcender(CISSP 2015) 886 questions / 894 flashcards:
I stopped inserting things into Anki at this point and just drilled questions to get a feel for the CISSP state-of-mind. For example I focused on learning things like: how should a CEO think, who is responsible for what, what takes precedence over what, what are the duties of x, y, and z roles.
CCCure.org 2012/2015 ~1600 questions(?):
I ran through each of these questions once, and reviewed the questions I got wrong. There are a LOT of repeats between the 2012 and 2015 exams in both CCCure and Transcender. Not necessarily a bad thing, but just saying.
Shon Harris AIO (6th Edition) 468 questions:
I did NOT read this like a novel, and I would never recommend anyone to so. I went through the end review of each chapter and created flash cards in Anki for anything I was unfamiliar with. I also did the same for the practice questions at the end of each chapter as well as the final long test at the end of the book.
2015 CBK 4th Edition:
I made the mistake of buying this.
I do not consider this a valid resource.
Study summary:
Timeline: 98 days
Resrouces: Anki, Transcender 2012/2015, CCCure.org, AIO 6th Edition
Flash cards unique: 4063 (Anki custom = 2129 + Transcender Flash)
Flash cards total: ~15495 (Anki custom = 13561)
Practice questions unique: 3938
Practice questions total: ~5000
If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask and I will do my best to answer!
Edit: Someone requested my Anki deck, so I'll just post it here in case anyone else wants it. Bear in mind it's not comprehensive and contains only items that I handpicked. If you use it, make sure its only as a supplement:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_FkihCKT7uzalJKMjVZdGFPTXc/view?usp=sharing
