CISSP Passed 02-2016
Hello all, finally passed CISSP after about 9 months of studying. Materials used:
1. Shon Harris book: Even though this is not the most recent of books, I loved the search feature in the .pdf and used it constantly when taking practice exams. The book is long and by the time you've gotten halfway, you've already forgotten the first chapters. I had to keep going back. I would not recommend reading this book like a novel. see my note below about cybrary.
2. Cybex official study guide: barely skimmed it only for the new material but honestly, what I found online about the new material was more than enough. I don't think I got too much out of it.
3. Cybrary.IT - the most useful and I didn't find out about it until I accidently found this forum. I listened to all the lessons over 3 times each. If I were to do it all over. I would listen first to the cybrary chapter, then read the corresponding chapter in Shon Harris, then do practice questions... and move through it that way. That strategy would have saved me some time.
4. CCCure - I paid for the practice exams and did almost ALL the questions. Did it help.. not so much in terms of getting similar questions but in terms of understanding the material.
All in all, as an encouragement to all - the test was not nearly as difficult as I thought. I was scoring about 60-70% on CCCure and other exams on average even after all this studying but I felt the difficulty level on the exam was way less than the practice questions and also way less technical. Some were straight out common sense if you have more than 5 yrs experience.
Don't be intimidated by this test, it is not that bad!
I did however finish with 1 MIN to spare because I did read some questions and answers multiple times. The wording can be tricky - I am also a slow test taker. Even with multiple practice of the calculations questions, I ended up taking a guess on all of them because I didn't want to waste time. I never had time to go back and re-do them. Had I spent too much time, I probably would have ran out of time and failed. WATCH YOUR TIME ON THIS EXAM.
Good luck.
1. Shon Harris book: Even though this is not the most recent of books, I loved the search feature in the .pdf and used it constantly when taking practice exams. The book is long and by the time you've gotten halfway, you've already forgotten the first chapters. I had to keep going back. I would not recommend reading this book like a novel. see my note below about cybrary.
2. Cybex official study guide: barely skimmed it only for the new material but honestly, what I found online about the new material was more than enough. I don't think I got too much out of it.
3. Cybrary.IT - the most useful and I didn't find out about it until I accidently found this forum. I listened to all the lessons over 3 times each. If I were to do it all over. I would listen first to the cybrary chapter, then read the corresponding chapter in Shon Harris, then do practice questions... and move through it that way. That strategy would have saved me some time.
4. CCCure - I paid for the practice exams and did almost ALL the questions. Did it help.. not so much in terms of getting similar questions but in terms of understanding the material.
All in all, as an encouragement to all - the test was not nearly as difficult as I thought. I was scoring about 60-70% on CCCure and other exams on average even after all this studying but I felt the difficulty level on the exam was way less than the practice questions and also way less technical. Some were straight out common sense if you have more than 5 yrs experience.
Don't be intimidated by this test, it is not that bad!
I did however finish with 1 MIN to spare because I did read some questions and answers multiple times. The wording can be tricky - I am also a slow test taker. Even with multiple practice of the calculations questions, I ended up taking a guess on all of them because I didn't want to waste time. I never had time to go back and re-do them. Had I spent too much time, I probably would have ran out of time and failed. WATCH YOUR TIME ON THIS EXAM.
Good luck.
Comments
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havoc64
Member Posts: 213 ■■□□□□□□□□
Congrats!
Calculation Questions? Wow, I didn't have anything like that on my exam back in November. I guess they do change it up! -
shreenag Member Posts: 26 ■■■□□□□□□□
@anyone 123: "what I found online about the new material was more than enough"
I am currently learning with Shon Harris AIO.For me, this book explains the concepts better than official study guide.
But I fear that - the new syllabus will not be covered with this book.
WHat did u find online abt the new material ??
or where did u find more info online on the new material??
