Options

Passed CISSP - 23 June 2016

tchera19tchera19 Member Posts: 12 ■□□□□□□□□□
Hi guys ,

I passed the CISSP exam on my first attempt today. Thanks to the wonderful advices on this forum and Cybrary videos from Kelly Handerhan, I nailed it :)

BACKGROUND : Wireless - 1 year , Networks - almost 4 and did a bit of coding in University ; worked with ISP, Date Centres and Financial Institutions
Other Certs - CCNA, CCNP, CCNA Sec , CEH, ITIL

PREPARATION :
Total time - 4 months (about 250 hours)
Resources - Eric Conrad 3rd edition , Cybrary Videos and CCCURE practice exams , Eric Conrad 11th hour, google,youtube

I started by watching the older Cybrary videos. I printed the pdf files for the videos and added other information as I watched along. Next up was the Eric Conrad book which was really good and concise. I then reviewed all the chapters from Eric conrad and my notes from Cybrary , took about 1000 questions from CCCURE scoring about 78-80% on an average. I then wrapped it up by watching the new Cybrary videos and the 11th hour on the last day. I used google and youtube to get a more indepth understanding on a few concepts.

I focussed more on the concepts rather than memorization as has been recommended on this forum time and time again. I took my own sweet time with Risk , BCP and SDLC. The technical part was just a review for me.
The exam was completely different from CCCURE but I highly recommend it as it sets your brain to Exam mode and gives your stats per domain. The explanations were what really helped me. The HARD mode aligns more with the real exam

EXAM : The exam was not very hard but it does need an understanding of concepts from a high level. I completed the exam in about 5 hours taking two short breaks and marking down 9 questions for review. I did feel that I would pass , which I did. Overall , I would say that the exam was about 15% technical and the rest were conceptual. The exam was fairly balanced , maybe a little bit more on Risk/BCP. If in doubt I would rephrase the question and as myself- what will I do as a Risk Advisor ? I also used good test taking skills and narrowed down the answers to the last two. When my brain was stuck , I would think about my pet and reset myself lol

Good luck to the people preparing for the exam !! Understand the concepts and be confident.

Now next step for me is the endorsement :)
Thanks again to everyone who posted/commented on this forum.

PS - sorry for any typos....still tired

Comments

  • Options
    protacticusprotacticus Member Posts: 91 ■■■□□□□□□□
    Congratulations, whether there was a difference in the old and new cybrary courses?
  • Options
    tchera19tchera19 Member Posts: 12 ■□□□□□□□□□
    Thanks.

    The new videos align with the new 8 domain CBK. Both sets of videos are similar but the new one's have more details for the Security Engineering (module3) and the Software Security parts. There are also Larry Greenblatt's videos on youtube which have good reviews but I did not get the time to go through these.
  • Options
    sameojsameoj Member Posts: 366 ■■■□□□□□□□
  • Options
    Swimfan2516Swimfan2516 Member Posts: 42 ■■■□□□□□□□
  • Options
    protacticusprotacticus Member Posts: 91 ■■■□□□□□□□
    OK, thank you for info.
  • Options
    DAVIS NGUYENDAVIS NGUYEN Member Posts: 1,472 ■■■□□□□□□□
Sign In or Register to comment.