Taking the CISSP tomorrow - do not feel prepared at all

tonglebeak

Background: A+,Net+,Sec+,ITIL-F v3,Linux+ (including the 2 other certs that comes with it)

Just did a 5.1 day CISSP training thinger through InfoSec Institute. Have been taking the practice tests off the shon harris book (which is 10 domains instead of 8 ) and the synergy practice tests. I did look at the mhprofessional as well but those look the same as the shon harris.

In 8/10 domains on the shon harris cd, i'm getting mid 80s to low 90s. Two more I need to work on (legal stuff and telecom...which is embarassing because I worked in telecom for 9 years, but I digress). I also need to work on memorizing NIST standard numbers apparently, which is nuts.

I honestly don't feel ready for the test. Even though I may be doing okk on practice ones, I just don't feel ready. I feel like resources conflict with each other...for example, the ISC2 cbk (with 8 domains) had practice questions that conflicted with the actual material, and that's just one instance of various conficts we've noticed this week. It's very, very concerning and to be honest, it makes me feel like I'm not ready to test. At to the fact that there are no other resources out there regarding just the new 8 domains...

The test is tomorrow afternoon. I've never felt so unprepared for a test in my life. I plan on using the process of elimination on every question in order to verify answers I feel confident about, or narrow down answers I'm not sure about. This is just mountain of stress and I'm hoping to hear some pointers. We were referred to the 11th hour book, but it looks very similiar to the material that infosec provided us so it's not much more help.

Thanks.

Codyy

I'm not sure you can feel extremely prepared for this exam. As for the memorizing the NIST's, don't bother. Concepts, concepts, concepts ..don't go too deep. Get out of the technical mindset, think like a senior manager, always refer to policies first, human life / safety is always #1.

Shame you don't have time to go over the cybrary.it videos, they were the best resource I used by far.

Stuart Clowes

It will be fine. Don't overthink it, engage common sense. The vast majority is concepts. It is a technical management cert, so think like a manager!

tonglebeak

Somehow I managed to pass. Weee. Now to find out if my work experience is worth anything...that may be the tricky part.

pramin

tonglebeak wrote: »

Somehow I managed to pass. Weee. Now to find out if my work experience is worth anything...that may be the tricky part.

Congrats on your pass. How long was your study/prep time?

j.petrov

Congrats on the pass!! Many people I know also felt totally unprepared for the test and then ended up passing the exam. I think anyone who studies hard for a few months can conquer this exam.

Chinook

Congrats on passing. It is one HELL of a tough exam and very long. For anyone else thinking of taking this, take your breaks. It lets you clear your head and refresh you.

tonglebeak

pramin wrote: »

Congrats on your pass. How long was your study/prep time?

A week. Basically just the infosec institute training and the shon harris practice questions along with the synergy questions.

And yup, that test is surely something else. I felt unsure of every answer, but got it done in two and a half hours and didn't bother reviewing anything since I had a migraine by that point.

joshmadakor

tonglebeak wrote: »

A week. Basically just the infosec institute training and the shon harris practice questions along with the synergy questions.

And yup, that test is surely something else. I felt unsure of every answer, but got it done in two and a half hours and didn't bother reviewing anything since I had a migraine by that point.

The test is....definitely interesting. I studied pretty hard over about 90 days (I have a thread about it), but the majority of what I studied did not show up on the test. I really don't get it, but whatever.

Congrats on the pass!

jt2929

tonglebeak wrote: »

A week. Basically just the infosec institute training and the shon harris practice questions along with the synergy questions.

And yup, that test is surely something else. I felt unsure of every answer, but got it done in two and a half hours and didn't bother reviewing anything since I had a migraine by that point.

Well, that explains why you were feeling unprepared. Congrats on the pass.

g33k3r

Congrats on the pass! Can you tell us how helpful you found the training class? I haven't seen too many books that are updated with the new test version. I ordered the CISSP Study Guide, Second Edition by Eric Conrad based on reviews.

Thanks!

tonglebeak

g33k3r wrote: »

Congrats on the pass! Can you tell us how helpful you found the training class? I haven't seen too many books that are updated with the new test version. I ordered the CISSP Study Guide, Second Edition by Eric Conrad based on reviews.

Thanks!

In the end, it seemed to tie a lot of my experience and prior knowledge together. I just used the infosec material and the shon harris CD questions, along with synergy practice questions. Other than that, it was building off other things, and learning the other ways of doing things. I certainly would not recommend this for those with no experience, as this is a monster.

kukku

Congrats....!!!!!

grungeisevil

A week?!?! That is crazy! Congratulations nonetheless.