Different CISSP books consecutively or repeatedly?

babmhkk

Hi all,

Studying for CISSP and wanted your take on a studying strategy. I already read through sybex 7th ed once. I also have Eric Conrads 3rd ed and am going to order new Shon Harris when it comes out. I'm wondering if I should do multiple passes of each book before moving on to the next, or should I cycle through one after the next.before repeating? Thanks!

V/r,

B

cyberguypr

Reading book after book, cover to cover may introduce fatigue and provide little benefit. I don't know what works best for you, but I selected one book as my main source and used supplementary books as needed. For some of my strongest domains I only used my main book. For the weakest, I used secondary books as well as other stuff I looked up on the web.

Ertaz

I read Shon Harris's book. It explained concepts really well and flowed better than most. I used the Sybex book as my primary study once I got it. Between the Sybex and the Cybrary videos there is enough info to pass the test.

Swimfan2516

I'd recommend the Sybex 7th edition and take some practice questions.. Then learn your weak areas and study up on those, after that take some more practice questions and study your weak areas... break up the cycle by watching videos or just take a day or two off from studying. Also toss in prep time for taking a 250Q/6hour exam if you're not used to taking long exams. Make sure you're feeling confident about your knowledge level, test taking skills and what you've studied... Just my 2 cents.. Good luck w/ your studies..

havoc64

First off, there will not be another Shon Harris book, regrettably she passed away. The publisher may put out another CISSP book, but it will not have Shon's style of writing.

I read a lot of different books, and of them all I felt the Sybex was the better book as the way it broke down the 8 domains into concise chapters. 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.

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.

Good luck!

babmhkk

Thanks so for the feedback! Yeah I remember her passing away. With the new style do you think it'd be worth exploring, or at least the new practice exam book? Would you all be able to rank what you think the best practice questions are, please? (Has anyone tried integrity publishing's that came out last year?)