Passed CISSP 02/06/2016
I last posted a write-up for passing my SSCP and thankfully can now do the same for the CISSP. Before anything else, I have to say this forum is the only one I checked (daily at that) for inspiration, advice, and more so thanks to everyone who posted before me. The encouragement here is very much appreciated.
About me: 8 or so years in IT, progressively moving up from help desk to help desk supervisor, server admin-type roles, then into network and currently in network security. I spend my days now in firewalls, IPS/IDS, proxies, etc. I currently hold the SSCP, CCNA R/S and Security, and previously held Sec+ and various Microsoft/Apple certifications but no degree.
I started studying around last summer following the SSCP and a short break, but work and home life always seemed to get in the way of taking it seriously. I finally booked it for November 2015 and hit the books pretty hard for a couple months. Again, work got in the way and I was forced to reschedule about a month out from my exam date, so studying went back into limbo until the first of the year. Then, I picked back up and hit the material hard, every day, until the morning of the exam. I didn't attend any classes, instead opting for shutting myself away for a couple hours a day (thanks to my wife for a ton of support here) and did it the old fashion way, still passing on my first attempt.
All that said, here's my opinion of the review material I used:
CCCure Practice Questions (7/10):
Clement and crew seem to either be loved or not for their material. The site, yes, is outdated and decides randomly when it wants to work properly and the wording of some questions is suspect, but the quiz engine itself is sound and Clement gladly accepts criticism and does his best to keep things up to date. I took every question his site offers (1800+) and ended around 2200 or so total by last week. The questions are more technical than managerial, but DO NOT OVERLOOK the technical portion. Reviewing these, coupled with my experience, was more useful for ruling out wrong answers than identifying the correct answer and was invaluable. For the price especially, I have to recommend their material.
CBTNuggets (5/10):
I took the day before the exam off and planned to relax, but came across these and found I could do a week trial for free and their videos are only 10 hours. So, I sped them all up to 1.6X speed and got some chores done with these playing in the background. These were used as review only and not primary material by any means. I can credit several questions directly to material I gleaned from these, but would not recommend them for primary study purposes. It's simply too much material to properly address in 10 hours, but the instructor is pretty solid and enjoys what he does, which makes it bearable.
Cybrary.it (9/10):
For video-based material, I would choose Cybrary as the best I came across by far. Kelly does a very good job of explaining the material (her approach to Kerberos was the only one that made it 'click' for me) and it goes into more depth than CBT. The only thing I have to ding them for is the "Update" video for the 2015 material. They say it's only cosmetic and everything maps the same, and while that is mostly the case, do not overlook the material they added (cloud, mobile, etc.) in 2015.
ISC^2 Official Guide (2/10):
As others have said, this will be my primary reference to live on my desk at work and nothing more. I struggled through the very first chapter and retained next to nothing. Dry, long-winded, but incredibly thorough when you need to explore a single topic in more depth. If you can read this front-to-back, you're a better person than I am.
Sybex 7th edition (8/10):
If I had to go with a single print book, it's this one by far. Stewart does a great job of explainign what you need to know, and while some things get long-winded here as well, it covers most topics in a way I could understand and retain far better than the official guide. I read about 70% of the book and have very few complaints. I also have to admit their practice questions were closer to the actual exam than CCCure. Of the 1000, I probably completed 500 or so and recommend them highly.
11th Hour (7/10):
I skimmed this a week out just to see what topics I may have forgotten in favor of focusing on bigger topics and then researched each of those again. Not enough information by far on its own for the exam, but treating it like a "For Dummies" book was helpful.
Sunflower PDF and Combined notes (6/10):
A nice quick-reference to have for last-minute review, but no more.
I also took 50 or more pages of my own notes and compiled close to 1,000 flash cards, but rarely referenced them. It was still helpful to write things out to help commit them to memory and paid more attention this what I highlighted when writing them initially (to remind myself what I needed to focus more on).
Everyone says you never actually feel prepared for the test, but I have to disagree. By the day before, speeding through the CBT videos, I realized how much I had learned and retained (actually learning only one or two things from 10 hours of videos) and felt confident in my grasp of the material. The morning of the exam I tried flipping through a couple more notes, but had to admit if I didn't know it by then, it was too late anyway. Instead I cruised this forum for advice on approaching the questions, but my previous SSCP experience gave me a leg up here as well. Again, you should think like a manager in your approach, but this is NOT everything. It all boils down to what they are asking and what actually is the BEST, FIRST, or LAST thing you should do in that scenario, coupled with plenty of plain old definitions. None of my 2700+ practice questions showed up on the exam, so there's no reason at all to memorize answers - just understand WHY you got something wrong. It's also worth noting I took zero full, 250 question practice exams beforehand - the most I did was 100 questions and did it this way because I knew I would be tired by the halfway point. So, sure enough I paused around question 150 for a restroom break and to wake up a bit before heading back in. Start to finish, I was there for just at 2.5 hours.
If anyone has any questions about my experience I'm glad to help (as long as it doesn't go against the NDA) and hope this helps others working toward the same goal.
Now, the endorsement process begins... Good luck everyone.
About me: 8 or so years in IT, progressively moving up from help desk to help desk supervisor, server admin-type roles, then into network and currently in network security. I spend my days now in firewalls, IPS/IDS, proxies, etc. I currently hold the SSCP, CCNA R/S and Security, and previously held Sec+ and various Microsoft/Apple certifications but no degree.
I started studying around last summer following the SSCP and a short break, but work and home life always seemed to get in the way of taking it seriously. I finally booked it for November 2015 and hit the books pretty hard for a couple months. Again, work got in the way and I was forced to reschedule about a month out from my exam date, so studying went back into limbo until the first of the year. Then, I picked back up and hit the material hard, every day, until the morning of the exam. I didn't attend any classes, instead opting for shutting myself away for a couple hours a day (thanks to my wife for a ton of support here) and did it the old fashion way, still passing on my first attempt.
All that said, here's my opinion of the review material I used:
CCCure Practice Questions (7/10):
Clement and crew seem to either be loved or not for their material. The site, yes, is outdated and decides randomly when it wants to work properly and the wording of some questions is suspect, but the quiz engine itself is sound and Clement gladly accepts criticism and does his best to keep things up to date. I took every question his site offers (1800+) and ended around 2200 or so total by last week. The questions are more technical than managerial, but DO NOT OVERLOOK the technical portion. Reviewing these, coupled with my experience, was more useful for ruling out wrong answers than identifying the correct answer and was invaluable. For the price especially, I have to recommend their material.
CBTNuggets (5/10):
I took the day before the exam off and planned to relax, but came across these and found I could do a week trial for free and their videos are only 10 hours. So, I sped them all up to 1.6X speed and got some chores done with these playing in the background. These were used as review only and not primary material by any means. I can credit several questions directly to material I gleaned from these, but would not recommend them for primary study purposes. It's simply too much material to properly address in 10 hours, but the instructor is pretty solid and enjoys what he does, which makes it bearable.
Cybrary.it (9/10):
For video-based material, I would choose Cybrary as the best I came across by far. Kelly does a very good job of explaining the material (her approach to Kerberos was the only one that made it 'click' for me) and it goes into more depth than CBT. The only thing I have to ding them for is the "Update" video for the 2015 material. They say it's only cosmetic and everything maps the same, and while that is mostly the case, do not overlook the material they added (cloud, mobile, etc.) in 2015.
ISC^2 Official Guide (2/10):
As others have said, this will be my primary reference to live on my desk at work and nothing more. I struggled through the very first chapter and retained next to nothing. Dry, long-winded, but incredibly thorough when you need to explore a single topic in more depth. If you can read this front-to-back, you're a better person than I am.
Sybex 7th edition (8/10):
If I had to go with a single print book, it's this one by far. Stewart does a great job of explainign what you need to know, and while some things get long-winded here as well, it covers most topics in a way I could understand and retain far better than the official guide. I read about 70% of the book and have very few complaints. I also have to admit their practice questions were closer to the actual exam than CCCure. Of the 1000, I probably completed 500 or so and recommend them highly.
11th Hour (7/10):
I skimmed this a week out just to see what topics I may have forgotten in favor of focusing on bigger topics and then researched each of those again. Not enough information by far on its own for the exam, but treating it like a "For Dummies" book was helpful.
Sunflower PDF and Combined notes (6/10):
A nice quick-reference to have for last-minute review, but no more.
I also took 50 or more pages of my own notes and compiled close to 1,000 flash cards, but rarely referenced them. It was still helpful to write things out to help commit them to memory and paid more attention this what I highlighted when writing them initially (to remind myself what I needed to focus more on).
Everyone says you never actually feel prepared for the test, but I have to disagree. By the day before, speeding through the CBT videos, I realized how much I had learned and retained (actually learning only one or two things from 10 hours of videos) and felt confident in my grasp of the material. The morning of the exam I tried flipping through a couple more notes, but had to admit if I didn't know it by then, it was too late anyway. Instead I cruised this forum for advice on approaching the questions, but my previous SSCP experience gave me a leg up here as well. Again, you should think like a manager in your approach, but this is NOT everything. It all boils down to what they are asking and what actually is the BEST, FIRST, or LAST thing you should do in that scenario, coupled with plenty of plain old definitions. None of my 2700+ practice questions showed up on the exam, so there's no reason at all to memorize answers - just understand WHY you got something wrong. It's also worth noting I took zero full, 250 question practice exams beforehand - the most I did was 100 questions and did it this way because I knew I would be tired by the halfway point. So, sure enough I paused around question 150 for a restroom break and to wake up a bit before heading back in. Start to finish, I was there for just at 2.5 hours.
If anyone has any questions about my experience I'm glad to help (as long as it doesn't go against the NDA) and hope this helps others working toward the same goal.
Now, the endorsement process begins... Good luck everyone.
Comments
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Gess
Member Posts: 144 ■■■□□□□□□□
Thanks for sharing. I echo the sentiment about Cybrary, was really glad to stumble into her videos in my studies. It's nice to hear a pass story, I'm testing in a few days and just want to get it over with.
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No_Nerd
Banned Posts: 168
First let me congratulate you on your pass. Thanks for the post.... I am beginning to feel the stress with all of the studying and the test 7 days out. I will have to check out cybery it seems that everyone loves them.
congrats again my friend. -
R6Raven
Member Posts: 28 ■■■□□□□□□□
Trust me, I know the feeling. That's why I couldn't be one to book it 12 months out and study constantly. I reached the point where I would see acronyms in license plates and I'd define what it was in my head. Started to drive me crazy. -
R6Raven
Member Posts: 28 ■■■□□□□□□□
And good luck Gess and No_nerd. I look forward to your passed posts.
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sinjng
Registered Users Posts: 1 ■□□□□□□□□□
Hi Congrats!
I have a quick question on the book you used. Sybex 7th edition. Is this (title: CISSP (ISC)2 Certified Information Systems Security Professional Official Study Guide) by Stewart, not Conrad?
Thanks! -
R6Raven
Member Posts: 28 ■■■□□□□□□□
Yes, you are correct. Sorry for the confusion. Thinking of the 11th Hour while reviewing that one I suppose.
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Danielm7
Member Posts: 2,310 ■■■■■■■■□□
Congrats! I had very similar feelings going in, felt comfortable, did a ton of practice questions as well. I even followed the number of questions, never more than 100 at a time, I didn't need to burn myself out beforehand, I knew it was going to be long and tiring.
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Lugknuts
Registered Users Posts: 4 ■□□□□□□□□□
Congrats on your recent success! Always nice to welcome new mbrs to the fold!
