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Passed CISSP - 10/8/2015
jasonkthomas
Registered Users Posts: 2 ■□□□□□□□□□
in SSCP
Background
16 years in IT consulting, management and security (SARBOX, user security, remote access, firewalls, VPN).
The Exam
It took me 2.5 hours with no breaks to complete exam. A break in between would have been good, but, I wanted to just get it over with. By the end of it, I was fairly certain I had passed. The information in this forum was extremely helpful in achieving my goal. I didn't find it extremely hard or super technical, but, by no means an easy exam. It is definitely the hardest certification exam I have taken.
As many have mentioned, there were a ton of BEST and MOST questions. I could narrow down most questions to 2 answers. There were a handful of scenario-based questions that weren't too bad. No drag-and-drop questions. It was a fairly even mix of all the domains. There were also some questions on the newer material, such as cloud and mobile. Those questions were the quirkiest, so, I have a suspicion those may have been some of the "throw away" questions. Finally, I found a few questions to be pretty bizarre, so, again, maybe those were "throw aways" as well. Just a theory, nothing more.
Study Methods and Materials
I studied for 2 months pretty much every evening after the family went to bed. I used two resources:
Eric Conrad CISSP Study Guide - Straight and to the point. Not too little, not too much material. You can bang out most chapters in an hour or two.
Transcender CISSP 2015 - $200, but worth every penny. It is a book in of itself. Excellent explanations to answers. They key is to the read and understand the explanations for the wrong AND right answers. People keep saying that there are no tests out there that are exactly like the exam, but, that is an unrealistic expectation. The Transcender has VERY similar questions to the actual exam. I completed about 600 of the 900 questions. Use Offercode TRAGOOGLE15 to save $30.
Pocketprep was garbage (you get what you pay for).
Recommendations
You don't need to use a million resources, it will just overwhelm you. If you have at least 7+ years of experience in IT administration / management, you can pass using the resources above, the process of elimination (2 answers are usually obviously wrong), some common sense, and a little bit of luck.
One last thing: I found it irritating that at the end of the exam, it tells you "Congratulations, you've COMPLETED the exam!" Then, you realize you have to go pick up your printout for your score.
Good luck!
16 years in IT consulting, management and security (SARBOX, user security, remote access, firewalls, VPN).
The Exam
It took me 2.5 hours with no breaks to complete exam. A break in between would have been good, but, I wanted to just get it over with. By the end of it, I was fairly certain I had passed. The information in this forum was extremely helpful in achieving my goal. I didn't find it extremely hard or super technical, but, by no means an easy exam. It is definitely the hardest certification exam I have taken.
As many have mentioned, there were a ton of BEST and MOST questions. I could narrow down most questions to 2 answers. There were a handful of scenario-based questions that weren't too bad. No drag-and-drop questions. It was a fairly even mix of all the domains. There were also some questions on the newer material, such as cloud and mobile. Those questions were the quirkiest, so, I have a suspicion those may have been some of the "throw away" questions. Finally, I found a few questions to be pretty bizarre, so, again, maybe those were "throw aways" as well. Just a theory, nothing more.
Study Methods and Materials
I studied for 2 months pretty much every evening after the family went to bed. I used two resources:
Eric Conrad CISSP Study Guide - Straight and to the point. Not too little, not too much material. You can bang out most chapters in an hour or two.
Transcender CISSP 2015 - $200, but worth every penny. It is a book in of itself. Excellent explanations to answers. They key is to the read and understand the explanations for the wrong AND right answers. People keep saying that there are no tests out there that are exactly like the exam, but, that is an unrealistic expectation. The Transcender has VERY similar questions to the actual exam. I completed about 600 of the 900 questions. Use Offercode TRAGOOGLE15 to save $30.
Pocketprep was garbage (you get what you pay for).
Recommendations
You don't need to use a million resources, it will just overwhelm you. If you have at least 7+ years of experience in IT administration / management, you can pass using the resources above, the process of elimination (2 answers are usually obviously wrong), some common sense, and a little bit of luck.
One last thing: I found it irritating that at the end of the exam, it tells you "Congratulations, you've COMPLETED the exam!" Then, you realize you have to go pick up your printout for your score.
Good luck!
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Archon
Member Posts: 183 ■■■□□□□□□□
jasonkthomas wrote: »
One last thing: I found it irritating that at the end of the exam, it tells you "Congratulations, you've COMPLETED the exam!" Then, you realize you have to go pick up your printout for your score.
Good luck!
Congrats and yes its very annoying. -
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JoJoCal19
Mod Posts: 2,835 Mod
Congrats on the pass!!! It's also nice to see someone who passed it with pretty much an identical prep to myself. I also studied for about two months just reading the Eric Conrad book (I also used his 11th hour the week of the exam). I also had the Transcender but only did a few hundred of the questions.Have: CISSP, CISM, CISA, CRISC, eJPT, GCIA, GSEC, CCSP, CCSK, AWS CSAA, AWS CCP, OCI Foundations Associate, ITIL-F, MS Cyber Security - USF, BSBA - UF, MSISA - WGU
Currently Working On: Python, OSCP Prep
Next Up: OSCP
Studying: Code Academy (Python), Bash Scripting, Virtual Hacking Lab Coursework -
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havoc64
Member Posts: 213 ■■□□□□□□□□
jasonkthomas wrote: »Background
Study Methods and Materials
I studied for 2 months pretty much every evening after the family went to bed. I used two resources:
Eric Conrad CISSP Study Guide - Straight and to the point. Not too little, not too much material. You can bang out most chapters in an hour or two.
So did you just read the book, or read and highlight or read hightlight and take notes or did you outline it? I see a lot of people read these books and mention but never mention their study practices with the book..
Sorry, been a while since I have studied..last college class was 1994..lol -
Optionsg33k3r
Member Posts: 249 ■■□□□□□□□□
Congrats! Of the books I am reading, I prefer Eric Conrad's guide the best by far! I purchased Transcender as well to focus on a month before my exam.
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OptionsJoJoCal19
Mod Posts: 2,835 Mod
So did you just read the book, or read and highlight or read hightlight and take notes or did you outline it? I see a lot of people read these books and mention but never mention their study practices with the book..
Sorry, been a while since I have studied..last college class was 1994..lol
I used the same book and my method was to read it, one chapter a day, real slowly the first read through, really thinking about each paragraph and making sure I understand it well. Then I did a second read through which was quicker and more to ingrain the information into memory. I ended up not doing notes because I felt comfortable with what I read. In lieu of notes I read the CISSP 11th hour which is a condensed version of the full CISSP Study Guide.Have: CISSP, CISM, CISA, CRISC, eJPT, GCIA, GSEC, CCSP, CCSK, AWS CSAA, AWS CCP, OCI Foundations Associate, ITIL-F, MS Cyber Security - USF, BSBA - UF, MSISA - WGU
Currently Working On: Python, OSCP Prep
Next Up: OSCP
Studying: Code Academy (Python), Bash Scripting, Virtual Hacking Lab Coursework -
Optionsjasonkthomas
Registered Users Posts: 2 ■□□□□□□□□□
@havoc64:
Read the book and took notes in a Word document of things I thought to be important. I did the same exact thing with the Transcender explanations.So did you just read the book, or read and highlight or read hightlight and take notes or did you outline it? I see a lot of people read these books and mention but never mention their study practices with the book..
Sorry, been a while since I have studied..last college class was 1994..lol -
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chrisone
Member Posts: 2,278 ■■■■■■■■■□
Congrats! I hope to pass within 2-3 months. Just started studying this week!
Certs: CISSP, EnCE, OSCP, CRTP, eCTHPv2, eCPPT, eCIR, LFCS, CEH, SPLK-1002, SC-200, SC-300, AZ-900, AZ-500, VHL:Advanced+
2023 Cert Goals: SC-100, eCPTX -
Optionscwelber
Member Posts: 38 ■■■□□□□□□□
Way to go! I passed and my Endorsement is in, just waiting for word on it.
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clarkincnet
Member Posts: 256 ■■■□□□□□□□
Congrats!Give a hacker an exploit, and they will have access for a day, BUT teach them to phish, and they will have access for the rest of their lives!
Have: CISSP, CISM, CRISC, CGEIT, ITIL-F
