Hi all,
I just came out of the exam, and my head is hurting but I thought I'd come share my experience here, since this forum has been helpful to me.
My background:
Been doing Info-Sec for about 6 years, and currently an Info-Sec Engineer at the world's largest interconnected data-center provider. As part of my experience I also was an engineer in a Root CA National PKI Project. I did a Master's degree recently in Info-Sec. I did the ISO 27001 Lead Auditor.
BUT...
Although I have a fair amount of experience in Info-Sec, maybe over 70% of the CISSP content wasn't something I came across and I had to study hard for this stuff. With that experience I wouldn't have been able to pass the exam if I didn't read and study for it and cover ALL the 8 domains. Some of the crypto stuff and OSI model and technical details, yeah are familiar and experience did help with them, but still. I needed to study everything.
My study:
- I read the Cybex book the new one cover to cover.
- When I find a topic I don't fully understand, I google it.
- Last month I listened to the CISSP MP3s I found for free in the iPhone Podcast (just search CISSP)
- This week I went quickly through Eric's book, not in details.
- I did CCCURE questions.
- I spent about an hour or two yesterday skimming through the Cybrary MP3.
The Exam:
Until last night I was thinking (people are thinking too much of this thing) but I'll tell you, It's NO JOKE. This exam is not easy. But not too difficult either. Here's what I mean:
- If you memorize ALL CCURE questions, you'll fail
- If you simply memorize definitions in the books you'll fail
- If you
understand the basic concepts, you should pass
And yes, when they tell you "It's for managers! It's no technical! think like the boss....etc" This is all CRAP!
CISSP, including the exam, gets very technical, whether you like it or not. So be prepared for that.
Oh yeah, and with 250 questions, when I reached 125 and I said "oh I'm half way" I felt like crying.
I finished the exam in about 4 hours, and then reviewed questions I marked for review and then I felt almost sure that I failed and I just wanted to leave.
Once done, I went outside and got the report that says "Congratulations...."
