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Passed - 10/30/2015 - My Story

mnetworkmnetwork Member Posts: 6 ■■□□□□□□□□
in SSCP
Finally had a chance to join this forum and post this... I passed! I wanted to share my own experience, so it could maybe help someone else in the future.

I took a CISSP prep course through Global Knowledge almost two years ago (12/2013). For ME it wasn't really worth it for two reasons. One, I found it hard to absorb the knowledge in the course as quickly as the course was moving. Two, I did not study and take the test soon after. I got sidetracked with regular work and wound up not even touching anything CISSP for a little over a year. This January I started reading the Shon Harris book that I received, but started slowing down late spring and eventually came to a halt in May. Networking was the last section I got through in the book. My original plan was to read a domain in the book, make my own notes after, take the practice tests that come with the book, form more notes off of those, and move on after I feel I know the domain well enough. That became too much at the networking and I again I got sidetracked with some acquisitions at work. I did want to take the test in the spring, but my pace was too slow to do this and I became discouraged. In October my supervisor told me he wanted me to take the test before the end of the month. There was obviously no way I was finishing the Shon Harris book by the end of October. I was also nervous because I knew they had changed the test back in April and all my previous studying and materials were based on the older format and CBK. I downloaded the CISSP CBK-5 Exam Prep 2015 app for my Android tablet and started practicing questions from there. I also downloaded the Eleventh Hour CISSP: Study Guide by Eric Conrad and finished that book a few days before my test. I used this book to get to the last FIVE domains that I didn't get to in the Shon Harris book (Cryptography, BCP/DR, Legal, Software Dev, and Security Operations). I took the week off and used the Eleventh Hour guide (also was still finishing the book at this time), notes I could find online, and notes from my original Global Knowledge course to finish my set of notes that I started at the beginning of the year. I kept using the CISSP CBK-5 Exam Prep 2015 application and two days before started using the Shon Harris practice test application again. The day before was pretty much reading through my notes and adding anything I could find from failed practice questions. Late the night before I took a full 250 test using the Shon Harris practice test application and got an 88%. I then went through all the missed questions and added those to my notes and eventually went to sleep. I woke up three hours later and hopped on the bus and made my way to downtown NYC. The whole way I was reading through my notes on the tablet. I stopped at a Dunkin Donuts as everyone is always saying to make sure you eat before you take the test. I bought a sandwich and a coffee and kept reading through my notes with the little time I had left. I then walked two blocks over to the testing center, nervously waited to register, registered, and began my test. I took the test at a good slow pace taking a lot of time for questions that needed more thought. I would flag a question if I wasn't sure about it AND I thought there was a possibility that my answer could change. If the question was one that I was pretty sure about or was one I really didn't know and had to guess I wouldn't even bother flagging it. It took my five hours to get through all of 250 questions. I took the last hour to go through my flagged questions and wound up changing one or two of my answers out of twenty or thirty something questions. I ended a few minutes before the six hour mark. I signed out, went to the front, and received my passing letter. I was extremely thrilled mainly because I would never have to go through this again (with this test at least). My story is a long and unorthodox one, but it all worked out in the end.

My Resources:

Books
http://www.amazon.com/CISSP-All-One-Guide-Edition/dp/0071781749 - Very large, but in my opinion has almost everything you need to pass the test. I only got through Networking, but what I did read was very good
http://www.amazon.com/Eleventh-Hour-CISSP-Second-Edition/dp/0124171427 - Definitely a good read before you take the test, but will not prepare for the test on its own

Practice Tests
http://www.amazon.com/CISSP-All-One-Guide-Edition/dp/0071781749 - The practice exam question application that comes with this book is very valuable in my opinion
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pocketprep.cissp&hl=en - Good for practicing questions on the road, but it more definition/terminology and less thought provoking

Web Sites
CISSP | Adventures in the programming jungle - This programmer put some pretty decent notes together a while ago. A lot them come directly from the Eleventh Hour Book, but I found them helpful
https://quizlet.com/ejohn20/studied - A very large list of flash cards
https://quizlet.com/rblockmon - Another list of flash cards
CISSP - InfoSec and RiskMan Flashcards - A small list of flash cards
Google - I of course Googled many terms and questions when I needed to which led me to the sites above
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