Passed CISSP 6/3/2016
Hi All,
Passed the CISSP about 2-3 hours ago and was my first attempt. Oh what a relief it is. It only took me 3 hours and 20 mins which kind of scared me but felt so relieved when I got the notice back that I passed. Surprisingly going through it, I felt it was a lot easier than I expected, or after these 5 months everything I thought I knew was a lie.
Background:
Information Security Analyst for 1 1/2 years. Mostly doing risk management and GRC stuff. A little incident response/
Help Desk (First Level and Second Level) 4 years -
Security Guard (hey, it counts as experience. While I was in college) 3 years
Other Certifications:
GSEC
Sec+
GISP
ITILv3
Study Material
1. SANS MGT 414 - Training Program for CISSP. This was amazing, and would truly recommend. Fortunately I am lucky enough to have my employer pay for it. I took the OnDemand course which I had access to since early February (actually expired today) and Eric Cole is just amazing. Last summer, I took his GSEC course and in October scheduled the exam and took that. He is so good at breaking things down and explaining them to me (non technical). 2 weeks ago, I took the GISP which is SANS version of the CISSP, just not that recognized in the industry. That test, which is open book, I felt was so much harder than CISSP and there were times I thought I was going to fail. For that test, you only have 5 hours and I took 4 hours 55 minutes. For CISSP, you have 6 hours and only needed just over half that. That GISP though I felt prepared me so well for this CISSP so would definitely recommend taking if it's something your employer can help out on.
2. Cybrary Videos - Kelly was great. She explained everything at a high level and these last 12 days I had her in my ear every chance I had and listened to each module at least twice. Eric Cole's course from SANS was extremely detailed which allowed me to get a good grasp of everything and Kelly explained everything at a high level which allowed everything to click at the end.
3. CCCure quizzes. I have been lurking these forums for well over a year and try to read almost every post of both pass and failed. It did seem that were more positives than negatives for these quizzes so I eventually bit the bullet and purchased 1 month. I do agree that they are WAY more technical than needed, but I am not technical at all so it helped me learn some things that I may have missed. I was a bit nervous on these practice tests though because I was getting a lot of 50s, 60s, and 70s. By the last few days I was getting some 80s but I started to get frustrated at times with how many low scores I would be getting and was nervous I wouldn't pass the exam.
4. I purchased Eric Conrad's 3rd edition before I decided to go with the SANS. Didn't really read much of it. I did skim through the BCP/DR and SDLC parts just because I read on here the exams are heavily focused on those, which I do agree. On those sections, he explained them pretty well. Used the practice questions Elsevier: conrad: CISSP Study Guide Practice Exams which I thought were pretty good.
5. ISC2 App - "Wiley CISSP". This did cost me $10. I thought the practice questions were pretty good. They didn't have as big of a variety as CCCure did but may have been more reflective of the exam. I was using these practice tests whenever I could as well.
What's Next?
I am going to be finishing my MBA over the next year, so that will take priority. I do believe I will get the opportunity for another SANS course next year by my employer. Probably will want to do GCIH. I definitely see CRISC and CISM in my future, but that may be at least 2-3 years away. CISA would be nice too, just have zero experience auditing.
I want to thank everyone on these boards for posting their experiences with it. It has been a great asset reading these responses, so this is why I feel like I have to do the same. Like most people say, it's NOT a technical exam which I think helps in my case. Reading people's responses saying escalate to management or answer as the "Risk Advisor" really helped me in choosing that correct answer.
Looking forward to going out tonight and celebrating!
Passed the CISSP about 2-3 hours ago and was my first attempt. Oh what a relief it is. It only took me 3 hours and 20 mins which kind of scared me but felt so relieved when I got the notice back that I passed. Surprisingly going through it, I felt it was a lot easier than I expected, or after these 5 months everything I thought I knew was a lie.
Background:
Information Security Analyst for 1 1/2 years. Mostly doing risk management and GRC stuff. A little incident response/
Help Desk (First Level and Second Level) 4 years -
Security Guard (hey, it counts as experience. While I was in college) 3 years
Other Certifications:
GSEC
Sec+
GISP
ITILv3
Study Material
1. SANS MGT 414 - Training Program for CISSP. This was amazing, and would truly recommend. Fortunately I am lucky enough to have my employer pay for it. I took the OnDemand course which I had access to since early February (actually expired today) and Eric Cole is just amazing. Last summer, I took his GSEC course and in October scheduled the exam and took that. He is so good at breaking things down and explaining them to me (non technical). 2 weeks ago, I took the GISP which is SANS version of the CISSP, just not that recognized in the industry. That test, which is open book, I felt was so much harder than CISSP and there were times I thought I was going to fail. For that test, you only have 5 hours and I took 4 hours 55 minutes. For CISSP, you have 6 hours and only needed just over half that. That GISP though I felt prepared me so well for this CISSP so would definitely recommend taking if it's something your employer can help out on.
2. Cybrary Videos - Kelly was great. She explained everything at a high level and these last 12 days I had her in my ear every chance I had and listened to each module at least twice. Eric Cole's course from SANS was extremely detailed which allowed me to get a good grasp of everything and Kelly explained everything at a high level which allowed everything to click at the end.
3. CCCure quizzes. I have been lurking these forums for well over a year and try to read almost every post of both pass and failed. It did seem that were more positives than negatives for these quizzes so I eventually bit the bullet and purchased 1 month. I do agree that they are WAY more technical than needed, but I am not technical at all so it helped me learn some things that I may have missed. I was a bit nervous on these practice tests though because I was getting a lot of 50s, 60s, and 70s. By the last few days I was getting some 80s but I started to get frustrated at times with how many low scores I would be getting and was nervous I wouldn't pass the exam.
4. I purchased Eric Conrad's 3rd edition before I decided to go with the SANS. Didn't really read much of it. I did skim through the BCP/DR and SDLC parts just because I read on here the exams are heavily focused on those, which I do agree. On those sections, he explained them pretty well. Used the practice questions Elsevier: conrad: CISSP Study Guide Practice Exams which I thought were pretty good.
5. ISC2 App - "Wiley CISSP". This did cost me $10. I thought the practice questions were pretty good. They didn't have as big of a variety as CCCure did but may have been more reflective of the exam. I was using these practice tests whenever I could as well.
What's Next?
I am going to be finishing my MBA over the next year, so that will take priority. I do believe I will get the opportunity for another SANS course next year by my employer. Probably will want to do GCIH. I definitely see CRISC and CISM in my future, but that may be at least 2-3 years away. CISA would be nice too, just have zero experience auditing.
I want to thank everyone on these boards for posting their experiences with it. It has been a great asset reading these responses, so this is why I feel like I have to do the same. Like most people say, it's NOT a technical exam which I think helps in my case. Reading people's responses saying escalate to management or answer as the "Risk Advisor" really helped me in choosing that correct answer.
Looking forward to going out tonight and celebrating!
Comments
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Clm
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CongratsI find your lack of Cloud Security Disturbing!!!!!!!!!
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