Hi All,
After failing twice (677, 691), I passed the CISSP exam on Feb 11.
I’ve spent a long time lurking on this forum sponging up information from passed/failed threads, and now it’s time to wring out my thoughts/experience with my first post.
The exam:
The test centre is about an hour away. Gave myself 2 hours to get there and arrived an hour early. Sat in the car, drank some green tea and cleared my mind for a half an hour. Entered the test centre 30 minutes early. I was hoping I’d get to start a little early but there was an issue with another test takers credentials, so I ended up starting right on time. I was going at a good pace throughout the first 50 – 60 questions and then it just all slowed to a crawl. I’d get a gimme question here and there, but for the most part I had to think long and hard or flag the remaining questions. It took me about 4 hours total to complete the test and review about 30 - 35 flagged questions. After clicking finish, the TA had me verify my ID and gather my belongings before handing me 2 sheets of paper. The last 2 times I received 2 sheets it was a fail. I left the test centre and let the door close and then looked at the first sheet looking for a score. Thankfully there wasn’t one and the first word was “Congratulations!” Took the toll highway to get home quicker and got wasted with my buddies.
What I used to prepare:
After failing twice I scoured the internet for tips and tricks and eventually found this forum. There is an abundance of information located throughout this forum that definitely helped me sculpt a new, and evidently successful thought process. The pass/fail threads are priceless. Special thanks to havoc64 and the words of wisdom posted here (
http://www.techexams.net/forums/isc-sscp-cissp/117111-why-most-them-fail-cissp-exam.html#post1001076) (3
rd post down).
(Books used)
I mainly used the new Sybex 7
th Edition for my studies and used Eric Conrad 3
rd Edition for quick review. Initially when I began my studies I used the Shon Harris book which gave me a great foundation but was to lengthy to read a second time or even sift through. The breakdown of the domains in the Sybex book was excellent. The book kept reiterating important concepts from previous chapters, making it easy not to forget what you read in the first chapter as you read later chapters.
(Tools/practice)
For the first 2 exams I used CCCURE as well as questions from the Shon Harris, Eric Conrad (
Elsevier: conrad: CISSP Study Guide Practice Exams), McGraw Hill (
https://www.mhprofessional.com/sites/CISSPExams/exam.php?id=AccessControl). The 3
rd exam I only used the Sybex practice engine that came with the book and the questions located in the Eric Conrad 3
rd Edition book. The Sybex questions are closest to the style and feel of the real exam I felt.
I also utilized the combined notes and sunflower PDF located somewhere in these forums. (sorry I’m tired of searching links lol)
(Video)
I only used the Kelly Handerhan videos on Cybrary.it (
https://www.cybrary.it/course/cissp), so I can’t really compare to any other video training. I thought Kelly did an exceptional job at explaining topics in layman’s terms. The section on cryptography is a must watch if you’re having trouble grasping the information in that domain. The training is free and only 15 hours long. After you’ve got a good foundation and understanding of the domains I suggest using these videos as a review. You can speed up the video to 1.60x the speed to cut the total length down to under 10 hours. Oh, and there’s also an app so you can watch the videos on your phone.
That's all the time I have for right now. If there's something I missed or if there's any questions anybody has don't hesitate to reply and i'll do the best I can to respond/help.
