SSCP Pass!
AverageJoe
Member Posts: 316 ■■■■□□□□□□
in SSCP
I passed the SSCP exam Friday and thought I'd jot a quick note to share my experience.
First, I already have several certs, including CISSP, CISM, and Sec+, and I've worked in IT for a long, long time. But I'm always looking for ways to increase my knowledge and garner CPEs/CEUs/Etc.
I didn't start out to get the SSCP. I recently started a new job and didn't want to dedicate the time to prepare for an exam, but I wanted to renew my Sec+ and needed some CEUs. I decided to do the FedVTE SSCP prep course (16 hours of videos). Overall, I thought it was a decent review of things I was mostly familiar with.
When I was about a third of the way done with the videos I started thinking I could grab the cert without a whole lot more prep, so I ordered the SSCP All-in-One Second Edition by Darril Gibson as a second source (I always try to have at least two prep sources) and scheduled the exam for about 3 weeks out.
With a deadline set for the exam, I wish I could say I spent 3 weeks really studying, but I really started hitting it about 10 days out. I went through the book pretty quickly, and the last 2 days I also reviewed notes I had made when studying for Sec+ and CISSP.
I didn't go through any practice tests except the FedVTE quizzes and some of the AiO end-of-chapter review questions (first 4 chapters, I think... after that I was just trying to steamroll through all the material as quickly as possible).
So Friday I took the exam. My lesson learned was that I should avoid exams at 5pm on Fridays!! There were several times I felt like I was just staring off into space, tired, not focusing like I should. At one point I even slapped my face (not hard, I was trying to be quiet). Despite that, I finished in about an hour (you get 3 hours).
No score is given, so I don't know how well I did except that I passed. I felt pretty confident all the way through, though. There were a few questions that that I didn't remember being covered by either source, and even a couple of questions that I thought I understood well enough but would have sworn had no correct answer listed, but overall I felt like my study materials covered more than enough to pass. My plan is always to not waste time on questions I don't know the answer to... I either know the answer or I don't, if I don't I quickly try to narrow it down, then I guess and move on. I don't mark questions for review and I generally don't go back to any questions unless I want to double check that I read it right. Most of the questions seemed pretty straight forward to me. Way, way easier than CISSP (of course), but I have to say that I also thought it seemed easier than Sec+.
Okay, that's it. Not even sure I'll send in the endorsement, but passing an exam always makes me feel good
First, I already have several certs, including CISSP, CISM, and Sec+, and I've worked in IT for a long, long time. But I'm always looking for ways to increase my knowledge and garner CPEs/CEUs/Etc.
I didn't start out to get the SSCP. I recently started a new job and didn't want to dedicate the time to prepare for an exam, but I wanted to renew my Sec+ and needed some CEUs. I decided to do the FedVTE SSCP prep course (16 hours of videos). Overall, I thought it was a decent review of things I was mostly familiar with.
When I was about a third of the way done with the videos I started thinking I could grab the cert without a whole lot more prep, so I ordered the SSCP All-in-One Second Edition by Darril Gibson as a second source (I always try to have at least two prep sources) and scheduled the exam for about 3 weeks out.
With a deadline set for the exam, I wish I could say I spent 3 weeks really studying, but I really started hitting it about 10 days out. I went through the book pretty quickly, and the last 2 days I also reviewed notes I had made when studying for Sec+ and CISSP.
I didn't go through any practice tests except the FedVTE quizzes and some of the AiO end-of-chapter review questions (first 4 chapters, I think... after that I was just trying to steamroll through all the material as quickly as possible).
So Friday I took the exam. My lesson learned was that I should avoid exams at 5pm on Fridays!! There were several times I felt like I was just staring off into space, tired, not focusing like I should. At one point I even slapped my face (not hard, I was trying to be quiet). Despite that, I finished in about an hour (you get 3 hours).
No score is given, so I don't know how well I did except that I passed. I felt pretty confident all the way through, though. There were a few questions that that I didn't remember being covered by either source, and even a couple of questions that I thought I understood well enough but would have sworn had no correct answer listed, but overall I felt like my study materials covered more than enough to pass. My plan is always to not waste time on questions I don't know the answer to... I either know the answer or I don't, if I don't I quickly try to narrow it down, then I guess and move on. I don't mark questions for review and I generally don't go back to any questions unless I want to double check that I read it right. Most of the questions seemed pretty straight forward to me. Way, way easier than CISSP (of course), but I have to say that I also thought it seemed easier than Sec+.
Okay, that's it. Not even sure I'll send in the endorsement, but passing an exam always makes me feel good
Comments
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mang109
Member Posts: 15 ■□□□□□□□□□
Congratulations. I was reflecting earlier (while studying for upcoming CISSP) how much I enjoyed learning SSCP. I actually think SSCP was more useful for me than CISSP will (hopefully!) be.
I also used the Darril Gibson for SSCP, and thought it was excellent. -
tedjames
Member Posts: 1,182 ■■■■■■■■□□
Excellent work! Congrats! One thing: why wouldn't you send in the endorsement after all of that effort to pass? -
AverageJoe
Member Posts: 316 ■■■■□□□□□□
Thanks!
I'm only thinking twice about sending the endorsement because I already have both lower level and higher level certs, so this one would increase my annual maintenance fees without any real return on investment. My employer only pays for keeping up one cert, so any others are on me.
I got something out of the prep process, and the exam confirmed a certain knowledge level for me, so I feel pretty good about it even without the cert. Still, I'm somewhat of a completist, so I'll probably go ahead and do the paperwork. Darn that OCD! -
FreshCoastDon
Registered Users Posts: 1 ■□□□□□□□□□
Congrats on the pass!
Would you recommend any other material to study for the exam? -
AverageJoe
Member Posts: 316 ■■■■□□□□□□
Thanks! I think the All-in-One was probably enough, but if you have access to Fed VTE I do think it was worth the time to go through those videos as well as reinforcement.
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BuzzSaw
Member Posts: 259 ■■■□□□□□□□
AverageJoe wrote: »Thanks!
I'm only thinking twice about sending the endorsement because I already have both lower level and higher level certs, so this one would increase my annual maintenance fees without any real return on investment. My employer only pays for keeping up one cert, so any others are on me.
I got something out of the prep process, and the exam confirmed a certain knowledge level for me, so I feel pretty good about it even without the cert. Still, I'm somewhat of a completist, so I'll probably go ahead and do the paperwork. Darn that OCD!
Just do the paperwork man! ha -
mandy7777
Member Posts: 35 ■■□□□□□□□□
Congrats! keep goingWhen life gives you lemons, make lemonade:thumbup: -
AverageJoe
Member Posts: 316 ■■■■□□□□□□
Just do the paperwork man! ha
Ha! Just got an e-mail from (ISC)2 the other day that they have a new online endorsement process, so I went ahead and filled it out and clicked "submit."
