CISSP Today - DID NOT PASS!!!!

chazechaz

I did not pass today...I studied for months and this is no joke I felt like I did not have ONE easy question...This test had nothing to do with any of the material I studied...Nothing was easy. Not one question was a given easy answer....crazy..I am a little mad today and feel that I studied the WRONG materials. I studied Harris, CBT Videos, Cybrary, over a thousand test questions and Eric Conrad study 11th hour..I can say that there was maybe 30 questions that were familiar to me and the at least 50-100 questions did not make sense...This is crazy!!!!

I was extremely prepared and thought I was ready to go...Guess not..Good luck and share your thoughts if you feel the same way I do....

danny069

Sorry to hear, currently I am reading the Sybex 7th ed. (find it to be very good) and thinking about using CCCure practice questions. Did you feel as if the Cybrary videos helped you at all? and do you plan to take this exam again?

Clm

Depending on your experience level you might want to get a full book all the resources you named are review / help material
I used the eric Conrad 3rd edition full study guide, Kelly Handehan Cybray IT and trancenders and I finished the test in three hours and it wasn't as hard to me. I only have 7 years experience

the cybex book is good also

chazechaz

Cybrary helped to understand but I had no questions on the test that were straight forward "Definition\Term based" It was 100% scenarios and had 1 question on TCP\IP and maybe on question on CIA, one on MAC and one on DAC....Seriously...It was like this was a a bad dream...

chazechaz

I will take it again in maybe 6 months..500 bucks is not an easy one to swallow again..I need to get over the pain...LOL...
Cybrary helped to understand but I had no questions on the test that were straight forward "Definition\Term based" It was 100% scenarios and had 1 question on TCP\IP and maybe on question on CIA, one on MAC and one on DAC....Seriously...It was like this was a a bad dream...

gespenstern

Depends on your experience and understanding all the topics well. What's your experience in the industry? Any other certs/education? All of this adds up and this exam is certainly not an easy ride, you have to be well prepared.

Ertaz

chazechaz wrote: »

I did not pass today...I studied for months and this is no joke I felt like I did not have ONE easy question...This test had nothing to do with any of the material I studied...Nothing was easy. Not one question was a given easy answer....crazy..I am a little mad today and feel that I studied the WRONG materials. I studied Harris, CBT Videos, Cybrary, over a thousand test questions and Eric Conrad study 11th hour..I can say that there was maybe 30 questions that were familiar to me and the at least 50-100 questions did not make sense...This is crazy!!!!

I was extremely prepared and thought I was ready to go...Guess not..Good luck and share your thoughts if you feel the same way I do....

My first questions were like that yesterday. It was really about the process of elimination and test taking. I don't feel like I aced it by any means. Good luck and don't be discouraged.

chazechaz

I have 16 years of IT experience and 12 of those are in Access and Identity Management. That is one domain and I know in and out.... and all of my Networking experience and Development was worthless as they did not ask one question on those subjects...errrr...This will make me stronger for the next time I take this test...now I know what to be in store for...

Ertaz

chazechaz wrote: »

I have 16 years of IT experience and 12 of those are in Access and Identity Management. That is one domain and I know in and out.... and all of my Networking experience and Development was worthless as they did not ask one question on those subjects...errrr...This will make me stronger for the next time I take this test...now I know what to be in store for...

Man the scope on that test is so wide and the luck of the draw is so bad. I studied everything but I felt like I spent probably 20 worthless hours on just crypto.

Terminator X

Sorry to hear and I know how you feel. When I took it the first time and failed I felt so much misery! I was mad at the world and couldn't understand how I didn't pass the exam. I felt I did well but didn't. The second time I studied Shon Harris (book and mp3), took a boot camp and studied flash cards that I wrote out. I passed the second time around but actually felt like I didn't do very well. There is not one resource out there that simulates what the CISSP exam questions are like. The second time I took it I felt that I understood the concepts much better than before. Lean from this experience, lick your wounds and came back better than before. Good luck in the future.

ScottFiesta

chazechaz wrote: »

I did not pass today...I studied for months and this is no joke I felt like I did not have ONE easy question...This test had nothing to do with any of the material I studied...Nothing was easy. Not one question was a given easy answer....crazy..I am a little mad today and feel that I studied the WRONG materials. I studied Harris, CBT Videos, Cybrary, over a thousand test questions and Eric Conrad study 11th hour..I can say that there was maybe 30 questions that were familiar to me and the at least 50-100 questions did not make sense...This is crazy!!!!

I was extremely prepared and thought I was ready to go...Guess not..Good luck and share your thoughts if you feel the same way I do....

I can relate to this so strongly! I didn't think it was an easy test at all, and while the questions kind of required a broad basis of IS understanding to be able to answer, I came away from mine feeling that much of what I studied was not relevant.

My recommendation is this: first, don't give up. YOu've come this far and have dedicated so much time and effort to this that you owe it to yourself to overcome your present frustration and give it another shot.
2. write down everything you remember from the test. The questions you found hard, terms you didn't know, types of questions in general... everything. Us this as the basis for your next study plan
3. reexamine your test taking techniques. A good portion of your correct answers can come from eliminating improbably answers and making a educated guess among the remaining ones. There's a variety of exam taking strategies like this you really be familiar with. I think this made the difference for me.
4. know that you're not alone in feeling this way. I came out having the exact same thoughts as you did, and while I passed, I doubt it was by much and I definitely didn't have confidence that i did at the end. Before I left I was prepared to rebook my exam in a couple months and give it anther shot - you should be too.

All the best. You can overcome if you believe you can

Mjoshi

Appreciate your efforts and all the best

TheFORCE

The questions are not straight up definition questions. They are created in such a way to test your understanding of a definition without directly using a definition. Taking hundreds of test questions as preparation is not a good way to study, you should study more the CBK's to understand the topics.

Danielm7

TheFORCE wrote: »

The questions are not straight up definition questions. They are created in such a way to test your understanding of a definition without directly using a definition. Taking hundreds of test questions as preparation is not a good way to study, you should study more the CBK's to understand the topics.

++ I don't think I got any straight definition questions, and I didn't expect any either. It's supposed to test your experience and understanding, not "what is the 4th layer of the OSI level". Either way, sorry about the fail, you have the right materials, you might just be going about the studying in a different manner. Being able to define what something is is one thing, but being able to look at that as part of a bigger plan and how it interacts with a few other things, while using the viewpoint they want you to use, is another thing entirely.

FWIW, on the quoted part above, everyone learns differently. I did thousands of test questions and I found it really helpful to narrow down what I needed to focus on. I had a very wide/varied background so I had touched on a lot of the different topics before, but wasn't clear on how deep a lot of them would need to be.

havoc64

Sorry for the bad experience.

As for advice, I can only say what has been said...the CISSP exam is not a memorization or definition exam. I see some who fail the CISSP who have other certifications. The CISSP exam is more than a Factual exam, it's an Understanding the concept exam. Seen it time and time again in these forums....it's a Managerial exam.

When taking the test, do not read the questions in the wrong frame of mind, don't argue with the question. Determine what the question wants and then give it the best answer of what it provided. Don't think like a technician, think like a manager.

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.

And most importantly, There is no single place to read or garner all the knowledge you need for this test. You will need experience in the field of Information Assurance (Information Security) and you will have to study many different sources.

If you look at this forum for the "CISSP Passed" threads you will see a lot of study questions and material mentioned. Additionally it has been mentioned SEVERAL times that there are ZERO question banks that are just like the test exam. The practice exams only test your knowledge and not your understanding of all the material you need to know to pass the CISSP exam. The CISSP certification is more of a Managerial Certification rather than a Technical..hence the stringent prerequisites. With all that being said, below is my list of study material.

Books and study Material in order of my purchase and reading.
(ISC)2 Official CBK - Hardest book I have ever read, so much fluff..
CISSP Study Guide, 2E by Eric Conrad
CISSP Study Guide 11th Hour by Eric Conrad
**CCCure Practice Exam
CCCure Review Notes
**Transcender Practice Exams
Sunflower Review Notes
**(ISC)2 Official Study Guide 7th Edition - Sybex
**Cybrary CISSP videos and MP3s.
**Combined Notes from this forum.
**Quizlet (ISC)2 Official Flash Cards (These are free and are the exact same flash cards they gave us at the class)
**Official (ISC)2 Traning Guide CISSP CBK - Official Training Guide from the class.

I read them all, cover to cover. The ones with the ** are what I think were most beneficial to my passing the exam. These along with the class, is what I believe helped me pass the exam. I took the official (ISC)2 Class November 2-7th, taught by Buzz Murphy from Training Camp. I took the exam on the 7th of November. It took me 4 hours to get through the first pass and an additional 44 minutes to go over the 40 flagged questions, if which I changed 11 of them.

There are a great many people who think they can read the Shon Harris book and pass the test. Maybe they can, but I don't recommend it. The majority of people who pass the test use several different resources and have years of experience.

Hope this helps, and good luck on the re-test.
Peace!

NOC-Ninja

I think failing is a part of certs. You will get it next time.

renacido

Sorry about the bad experience, I know it sucks. Keep in mind many people have been there, done that, and passed on subsequent attempts. You're in good company. Take this as feedback and prepare for the next attempt knowing what you need to do.

Now for some honest advice that hopefully with help you out.

This exam is targeted at Infosec Managers. Not saying that you have to be one to pass the exam or get the cert, but that's the target demo for this exam. What this means is that you need to not only know concepts, taxonomy, nomenclature, standards, frameworks, etc., dealing with information security, you need to be able to make managerial decisions and demonstrate your understanding of how those concepts play out in a realistic scenario.

Many people describe this exam as "mile wide, inch deep" or "know a little about a lot" but those are inaccurate IMO. The test attempts to determine if you can manage a security program/department, which doesn't require in-depth understanding of how to install or administer specific technologies, but rather solid enough understanding of the technology and information assets at risk, what the risks are, what admin and technical countermeasures could be deployed, where to draw the line between security and usability/cost/performance/stability/business need, etc. That requires a foundation of broad technical knowledge and management experience that over times forms professional judgment.

My advice is don't get a quick review guide and take a zillion practice test questions. There is no shortcut for this exam. Quick review guides are for exactly that - quick review of what you already learned. Practice exams are for that exactly - practice taking the exam. They assess your strong/weak areas and rehearse the exam process for you so you're not going into the real exam without an indicator of what to expect.

Read a full, thick, zillion page study guide that is recommended by those who have passed. Put your infosec manager hat on and keep it on while you study AND very importantly while you take the exam. For this exam you're an IT Security Manager for a large enterprise network. As you study the topic, keep that in mind - WHY is this important? WHEN will this be something to consider? WHAT are the pros/cons/impacts of using this?

Here and there test your progress with a practice exam. But practice exams aren't very helpful at teaching you the material. They show you what areas you need to focus on.

I wish you the best, learn from the experience and you will pass next time.

dannys1s1

I scored 691 of a required 700 on 3/30/16I studied PT 10-12/15 & FT non stop 1/16 - 3/29/16 within addition to 20 years at a high level IT background. The materials out there are helpful from a subject matter familiarization perspective which is important being able to filter ambiguously worded solutions with multiple reasonable choices is also meaningful. The best advice I can offer is to know each topic inside and out and be able to articulate it thoroughly. I personally scored lowest in Software Development and Security and Risk Management which I am going to focus on for my next retake in early May.

CIPHERSTONE

Sorry to hear it man, don't get discouraged!

dannys1s1

They way I look at it is I now know what to expect and can put emphasize on certain areas.

t@tt003dg33k

I agree that this exam is not easy. I took the exam in January, and although I passed, I was literally exhausted at the end. Not many of the questions looked familiar, but the concepts were. Software was my weakest domain and I had more software related questions than anything on my exam. I used many of the same books as you, and I also went through the CBT Nuggets videos and attended a boot camp. What helped me the most imo was the Transcender and CCCure questions. I feel like nothing helps this stuff sink in the way it should like those questions. Keep at it, and good luck on the next round!

chazechaz

you hit the nail on the head...I feel that the way they worded it was so crazy that i was getting confused...And I think every question was choose the BEST answer and I was able to get it down to the final 2 but feel that i chose the wrong one most of the time...hence the 589...errrrr...I will hammer out the parts that I was weak on as well...my weak subjects were security engineering and software development and asset security...Those were the top 3

Time to start studying again soon...I think i am going to take my team and read and understand much better before trying it agin...Thought understanding the material was enough...need more managerial thinking and I am a manager...errrrrr....LOL

Seab

Hi,

Scary thing to read! I still have about 45days to study.
I mostly use Sybex 2015 + Sybex questions + cccure questions.
Sybex questions are mostly copy/paste from the book, they are not easy, but almost no scenario, similar for cccure.
I use cybrary for the MP3, and video if I have time. I think they are really good, somehow more interresting than other. I guess Cybrary video covers about 75%, and probably are not totally up to date, but still nice to have.

Any recommendation for practicing scenarios??

Thanks!

techtia

Sorry to hear that.

Danielm7

techtia wrote: »

Man this thread makes me sad. I have 0 years in IT and thought maybe I had a chance, now after reading this seems like this is way over my head.

Even for my entry certs, I studied and put in lot of effort so its sad to hear this story.

I'm curious as to why you'd go for the CISSP with 0 years in IT?

dustervoice

CISSP is a test you can pass only with experience. Simply reading a book and applying memorization wont help. Even practice questions wont do much for you. Gain some experience and try again.

DocRoy

I think your being too hard on yourself. Please don't give up. You've invested too much time and effort. You will get it on the 2nd time around. I am studying hard now and will be taking a 1 week bootcamp thru my employer. Im hoping with this study and bootcamp I can knock this thing out. Look forward to reading on this forum sometime soon that you successfully passed.

renacido

techtia wrote: »

Man this thread makes me sad. I have 0 years in IT and thought maybe I had a chance, now after reading this seems like this is way over my head.

Taking the CISSP exam with no infosec experience is a huge waste of time and money, FYI. Even if you pass, it does nothing for your job prospects because you need 5 years of experience to attain the CISSP cert.

t@tt003dg33k

techtia wrote: »

Man this thread makes me sad. I have 0 years in IT and thought maybe I had a chance, now after reading this seems like this is way over my head.

Even for my entry certs, I studied and put in lot of effort so its sad to hear this story.

You have to have 5 year experience or 4 years plus an approved certification or degree to sit for the exam. Even if you pass, you won't get certified because you won't be able to get an endorsement.

techtia

t@tt003dg33k wrote: »

You have to have 5 year experience or 4 years plus an approved certification or degree to sit for the exam. Even if you pass, you won't get certified because you won't be able to get an endorsement.

Ooh, thanks for explaining. I'll come back in a few years then.

daviddws

$500 dollars a pop. Where's the booster pack for CISSP exams