Passed May 9th!

IaHawk · May 2016

Wow, what a feeling!!! I don't really have any advice that is different then whats been posted on here hundreds of times but I'll provide some detail and feedback on the training I had. I took about 5 months to prepare and really locked in the last month.

SANS MGT414 OnDemand course (4 month access) - This was my best resource. I went through the videos twice, listened to the mp3s in my car and went through books that came with it as well. Dr. Cole is my hero. He was also the instructor for my GSEC training. If your work is willing to pay for it, I would highly recommend it.
CISSP Study Guide (3rd edition) - Eric Conrad I liked this book a lot, I only went through it once but I thought it was concise and to the point.
11th hour - This was a GREAT refresher, I read this 3 days before my exam and it gave me a lot of confidence as I understood a lot of the high level concepts.
Cybrary videos - I actually watched the first series a little over a year ago just to get an idea about the CISSP and I thought they were pretty good. I watched the updated videos about 2 days before my exam and it was a nice refresher.
Practice questions:
- SANS - 320 practice questions, pretty easy, more of the definition type questions. I scored 90% on those. CCCure - I paid for 30 day access and it was ok to pick out weak areas but these questions were too technical compared to the exam. Depending on the domain, I was ranging from 65-80% early on and 75%-85% towards the end of my access. Probably did 1500 questions.
Flash cards: I used Brainscape and Quizlet apps/website for a limited amount of time. I could have probably made better use of these resources but I liked writing out flash cards the old fashioned way. I only had around 100 that I made. Quizlet has the official ISC2 cards.

The test was a beast and I honestly thought I was going to fail once I was about 2/3 the way done. I'm so glad I passed so I don't have to go through it again! Time for a cold one!

Seab · May 2016

Congrats!

I will have a look to the flashcard from quizlet, and brainscape, I don't really know these ressources. 1 month to go before the exam!

Seab · May 2016

Just started Quizlet now. Now sure how accurate the answers to the flashcards are... Any opinion?
I don't think I will use that source from what I have seen...

mkohi · May 2016

What was the hardest part? Any areas you wish you had focused on more?

mjb2016 · May 2016

Congratulations! Hope to be in your shoes...I'll be taking mine in less than a month.

Seab · May 2016

same here mjb2016, what is your plan for the last 3-4 weeks?

Planning to simulate a few exams until I am satisfied with the result, using 3 different exams. Finishing my last chapters on Sybex. Completing my final notes for final review. Finishing 11th hour.

IaHawk · May 2016

Seab wrote: »

Just started Quizlet now. Now sure how accurate the answers to the flashcards are... Any opinion?
I don't think I will use that source from what I have seen...

I don't recall any accuracy in information issues, they just didn't do it for me.

IaHawk · May 2016

mkohi wrote: »

What was the hardest part? Any areas you wish you had focused on more?

The hardest part was the length of the exam and having to constantly decide between BEST, MOST, LEAST, etc. You can typically weed out two answers but then the final two are a lot tougher. Ultimately, you need to understand the material and concepts.

webpriestess · May 2016

Hey Man! I was thinking about you this morning. Congratulations, Buddy! I'm so happy for you

mmmike999 · May 2016

Congrats my man!

havoc64 · May 2016

COngrats!

navygrl · May 2016

Congrats! I failed in on the 3rd and will retake within the next 30 days. it was a beast and yes you have to decide what is the MOST BEST LEAST a lot....I think most of the questions are like that. Mine was operations security heavy, almost no crypto on my exam. Its KNOWING and UNDERSTANDING the material!