Testing on April 11th

Ertaz

I was going to take this test back in November, but I put it off for other life events. I have been studying "hard" now for 2 months.I have read the AIO and Sybex books from cover to cover. I am rereading 1 chapter from the Sybex book each night. I am taking the practice exams and reviewing questions daily, reflecting on what I missed and why. (Whether a knowledge gap, a misunderstanding, or a mental lapse) I am scoring in the High 80's to 100% most of the time for the practice exams from each. I had a subscription to CCCURE, but I let that lapse after taking around 1000 questions. So, now for the bad part. I have to say that my two weakest areas are Software development security and BCP/DRP. I am a mostly technical guy with 20 years of JOAT experience with a network operations and security inclination. I passed the SEC+ back in the fall with about a month of studying (845/900). I prepped for that test so hard that I thought my eyes/ears would bleed. Everything I've read says that really technical people struggle with this exam, so I don't want to be a statistic. What other study tools would you recommend?

puttar

https://www.cybrary.it/course/cissp/ helped clear some concepts up for me. Might help you out with software development and BCP/DRP. Its only about 15 hours long. If you have time maybe watching it all is an option. Good luck!!

Ertaz

puttar wrote: »

https://www.cybrary.it/course/cissp/ helped clear some concepts up for me. Might help you out with software development and BCP/DRP. Its only about 15 hours long. If you have time maybe watching it all is an option. Good luck!!

I watched the videos all the way through back in December. They would make an excellent review after all this studying. Thank you for the reminder.

DocRoy

Keep us posted of your progress. I am hitting the books hard and will probably try an schedule a date for testing in late May or June.

Terminator X

My advice is do not get lulled into a false sense of security with the CCCure. That is a great study source not doubt, but as long as you understand why the answers are what they are is the most important part. Because of the way the CISSP exam is worded, it is more important that you understand that. I hope to see a post in the coming months that you have passed your exam.

Ertaz

Terminator X wrote: »

My advice is do not get lulled into a false sense of security with the CCCure. That is a great study source not doubt, but as long as you understand why the answers are what they are is the most important part. Because of the way the CISSP exam is worded, it is more important that you understand that. I hope to see a post in the coming months that you have passed your exam.

Thank you for the encouragement. I guess the main thing about this is that the scope is so wide. I want to take this and pass it to move on to the next thing.

Ertaz

So, 1 month from today is go-time. I am going to keep plugging away at it. Reading for a few hours each night. The first thing I'm going to do is take my family out some place nice, because I know all this time I'm spending studying is taking away from time with them.

clarkincnet

Taking care of the family is a great idea - I know for days and days after I finished I still felt like I needed to be studying... took me a while to get out of the habit... so I took them out for several nice dinners.

Ertaz

Last week I got saturated and decided that I couldn't take studying anymore. I rescheduled the test for today. I passed, but it wasn't what I expected at all. Thank you to everyone who posted helpful suggestions and encouragement. I will come back later with a detailed report on my resources and what I thought I could have used more of.

Hunter85

Congrats

Do you think it was the right decision to reschedule the exam? or do you think you actually took a big risk?

I am going to be taking my exam next week wednesday

Especially for the last 2-3 days I didnt have any chance to study even 1 hour (I have been assigned to a new project and the work load is intence)

I took 3 days off so I will study hard on saturday, sunday, monday and tuesday

I have been studying for the last 3 months, do you think it is doable?

Ertaz

Hunter85 wrote: »

Congrats

Do you think it was the right decision to reschedule the exam? or do you think you actually took a big risk?

I am going to be taking my exam next week wednesday

Especially for the last 2-3 days I didnt have any chance to study even 1 hour (I have been assigned to a new project and the work load is intence)

I took 3 days off so I will study hard on saturday, sunday, monday and tuesday

I have been studying for the last 3 months, do you think it is doable?

I was burning out and I felt ready. After seeing the content of the exam, I guess it was a big risk. I was strong and absolutely killing practice exams. But the test was completely different. How are you doing on your practice exams?

Hunter85

Ertaz wrote: »

I was burning out and I felt ready. After seeing the content of the exam, I guess it was a big risk. I was strong and absolutely killing practice exams. But the test was completely different. How are you doing on your practice exams?

I am doing between 80-90% in CCcure or Sybex ones.

Since the exam is really different from any practice source what would you suggest that I do?

Do more practice exams? Or read the concepts from the official book?

I am also burnt out and going through the same subjects is killing me.

You said actually it was a big risk. If you had a time machine and go back, what would you advise to yourself?

havoc64

I'd say the Sybex was one of the better books I used to pass the test. I also liked the combined notes from this forum...you can download them here..CISSP Combined Notes.pdf

I also recommend doing some word sluething when taking the exam. READ THE QUESTION LAST! This is what I do and I preach this over and over...Read the answers first, then read the question. In the question look at the Adverbs and Adjectives and descriptive words, i.e. Physical, Administrative, Best, Most Likely, Least, Worst. Defining these will eliminate one or more of the possible answers leaving you with fewer possible answers.

Good Luck

Ertaz

Hunter85 wrote: »

I am doing between 80-90% in CCcure or Sybex ones.

Since the exam is really different from any practice source what would you suggest that I do?

Do more practice exams? Or read the concepts from the official book?

I am also burnt out and going through the same subjects is killing me.

You said actually it was a big risk. If you had a time machine and go back, what would you advise to yourself?

Having seen the exam that I got, I would have reviewed more Cloud based contract management, more Web auth technology, not just from a memorization standpoint, but an implementation and process flow standpoint. It was stressful during, but I don't know that it was that much more stressful. Knowing the outcome, I'm very glad it's over.