CISSP Pass Today -- my take on prep and test taking
Sat and passed the CISSP test today (1st attempt). Thought I’d pass on what worked for me.
**Test Prep **
I used Sybex, CCCure and the video’s (Hanrahan). I don’t learn very well by reading books and frankly get bored. What I’ve found works best for me is to become familiar with the material and then use test questions as my research. Initially when doing test questions I force myself to look up the answer (rather than using the test engine). So I’ll search the sybex book (kindle or pdf) or I will use the internet to see if I can research the answer. This makes me read the material with a purpose and I seemingly comprehend it much better.
CCCure was good for this since you could do 5-10 questions at a time. Also they have the feature where you can choose questions by topic. So I used these questions to study my topics. Using the internet for research was really helpful as I found many good study sites… aka… “Explain like I’m 5: Kerberos” was a site that really helped in my initial understanding of kerberos.
I found it very helpful to take the 250 Question test from Sybex. You need to get a feel for what sitting 250 question is like and train yourself to stay focused.
**Test **
I did the 250 questions in one shot, took a lunch and then checked my answers. Yes I actually brought a lunch and took a break. I was done with the test in 4 hours.
The biggest difficulty I had was understanding the questions. I found that neither the Sybex nor CCCure represented/worded question in a way that I experienced on the test. I had to re-read/ re-phrase test questions multiple times to really understand just what the hell they were asking. What I found helpful is I would choose my test answer and then put it back up in the context of the question. If asked “What is the BEST way of performing X”, I would choose my answer and read it back as “ –answer- is the BEST way of performing X”.
There were two topics (with multiple questions) that I was unprepared for. I wrote down the question numbers that pertained to each topic and reviewed them. By looking at the question together and the answers presented, I was pretty much able to figure out the correct answers. So, use the test as a knowledge tool.
I did not find the question to be straight forward so be prepared for that. Don't hesitate to break the questions up and rephrase them if needed. On a few I felt like I was back in my 7th grade grammer class showing the sentence structure.
**Test Prep **
I used Sybex, CCCure and the video’s (Hanrahan). I don’t learn very well by reading books and frankly get bored. What I’ve found works best for me is to become familiar with the material and then use test questions as my research. Initially when doing test questions I force myself to look up the answer (rather than using the test engine). So I’ll search the sybex book (kindle or pdf) or I will use the internet to see if I can research the answer. This makes me read the material with a purpose and I seemingly comprehend it much better.
CCCure was good for this since you could do 5-10 questions at a time. Also they have the feature where you can choose questions by topic. So I used these questions to study my topics. Using the internet for research was really helpful as I found many good study sites… aka… “Explain like I’m 5: Kerberos” was a site that really helped in my initial understanding of kerberos.
I found it very helpful to take the 250 Question test from Sybex. You need to get a feel for what sitting 250 question is like and train yourself to stay focused.
**Test **
I did the 250 questions in one shot, took a lunch and then checked my answers. Yes I actually brought a lunch and took a break. I was done with the test in 4 hours.
The biggest difficulty I had was understanding the questions. I found that neither the Sybex nor CCCure represented/worded question in a way that I experienced on the test. I had to re-read/ re-phrase test questions multiple times to really understand just what the hell they were asking. What I found helpful is I would choose my test answer and then put it back up in the context of the question. If asked “What is the BEST way of performing X”, I would choose my answer and read it back as “ –answer- is the BEST way of performing X”.
There were two topics (with multiple questions) that I was unprepared for. I wrote down the question numbers that pertained to each topic and reviewed them. By looking at the question together and the answers presented, I was pretty much able to figure out the correct answers. So, use the test as a knowledge tool.
I did not find the question to be straight forward so be prepared for that. Don't hesitate to break the questions up and rephrase them if needed. On a few I felt like I was back in my 7th grade grammer class showing the sentence structure.
Comments
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dhay13
Member Posts: 580 ■■■■□□□□□□
congrats. i think i have a harder time understanding what the question is asking more than knowing what the answer is -
Foley
Member Posts: 6 ■□□□□□□□□□
Can't really disclose topics, but yes they were in Sybex but not to the level of info to answer the question. "Just checked my sybex book" and the few paragraphs seem almost like an afterthought ...
