CISSP in T-12 Hours...

roninkai

The big day is finally here. Am I prepared? Yes and no.

I'm not scoring as high as I'd like in my practice tests.
But I am passing all of them. Hard to say how this will translate on the real test.

I've been studying a while now, but juggling work/family/school has made the process challenging.

But no turning back now. My test is at 2PM PST.
So another hour of review, then bed and hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to report I've passed my CISSP.

I'll post an update, good or bad as soon as I'm done.

protacticus

Good luck man

ankit2455

Good Luck dear

shamim.sec

Good luck

roninkai

Well that was grueling. But 5 more letters to add to my name!

shreenag

Congrats Dragonsden !!. Can I know which practice tests you used and what the score where ?

roninkai

They don't reveal a passing score, only if you didn't pass. I used CCCure and the ISC2 Official Practice Tests book that just came out.

protacticus

Congrats! What was your score in ISC2 Official Practice Tests before exam? Please share your exam preparation experience.

shochan

WOOHOO, CHEERS! That has to feel great!

roninkai

Yep, feels good to have worked so hard and finally knocked this out.

For studying, here was my method:

Books: (Safari Books is awesome, but I also have these in paperback/kindle)
1) CISSP Sybex Book 7th Edition - 1 read thru (actually stopped at ch 12, and used the rest for reference)
2) CISSP Study Guide 3rd Edition (Conrad) - used as reference, refresher
3) CISSP 11th Hour - read once last year, once recently as a refresher

Videos:
Cybrary CISSP 10-Domain, Kelley Handerhan - watched thru once
Cybrary CISSP 8-Domain (updated), Kelley Handerhan - watched thru once
CBT Nuggest CISSP 8 Domain, watched thru once
CISSP Video Course, Sari Greene - used as refresher, extra domain coverage

Audio:
Shon Harris 10-Domain Audio MP3, listened through once on the morning / evening commute
Cybrary CISSP 8-Domain (MP3 version), kept this on repeat daily once all other CISSP stuff was done.

Practice Tests:
CCCure.org - did 3 100 question domain tests
CISSP Pocket Prep for Android - basic but helpful for testing on the go.
ISC2 Practice Exams Paperback - did entire book in pencil (then went back over weak areas with the digital version)

I'd say that of the sources, the Cybrary materials were my favorite (kept it interesting). The ISC2 practice exams were good too, but I feel they were
harder than the actual exam. I was scoring about 82% - 85% on individual domain tests, but about 72%-75% when I did a full 250 all domain exam. Test day came and I was hoping my prep scores were higher, but thankfully the test wasn't as bad as I had prepped for. The ISC2 book had me prepping for audit methods like SOC1, SSAE-16 Type I, etc, but that was no where found in the materials.

I did see quite a few EAP, L2TP, and Cloud related questions. Lots of BCP/DRP questions. Though people said there wouldn't be many technical questions and to think like a manager, I did see quite a few. For example, there was some CEH-like questions about the TCP handshake I recall, plus a few other more technical questions. I'd say do think like a manager, but when all else fails, think like a security professional / auditor, not only as a manager (decision maker).

My tip is this (which helped me a lot, and kept from spending too much time on 1 question):
If you don't know the answer, use the scratchpad and marker and do the following. You need to get your brain to relax, remove the obvious incorrect answers, and get down to the 2 possible answers, and make your best guess. For example, on the pad, write it like this:

#153: A B C D

Then simply go thru each option, and if you can easily tell that A for example is definitely not the answer, cross it out. If B might be a possibility, make a small check mark or tally underneath it. In almost every situation, you can narrow it to two answers, giving yourself much better odds in case you have absolutely no idea.

In total, I took 5 hours to complete the 250 question. In my preparations, my biggest fault was skimming / moving too fast, and therefore getting very easy/dumb questions incorrect. So I really slowed it down, read the question twice, carefully looking for those tricky words like 'LEAST, MOST, IS NOT LIKE, BEST, etc'.

ankit2455

Congrats dear

Adamkathy23

Beat your Chest and Take a Bow!!! Its Job well done!
Hey, do share the total time taken from the day you first sat to study to the day you walked in for the exam. Could really help us aspirants.

Kudos!

Deadly-Dosage

Congrats DragonsDen! Thanks for the plan, I am going for round 2 myself next month and will add this to my study routine.

sameoj

Congrats

pinksj

Congratulation on the hard work.

fodtest08

Congrats dragonsden! You deserve it!

fodtest08

Hi Guys, Anyone can provide me an ebook of CISSP Official ISC2 Practice Test? [h=1][/h]

roninkai

I'd bite the bullet ($30 or so) and get the paperback book. Have someone else read you the question while you consider the answer. This helped me greatly. Also, once you get the book, you get online access to their digital version of the test, where you can customize it to the domains you need work on.

shamim.sec

Congrts....On ur grt achivement

h1ck5r

Congrts.

TreySong

Thanks. Very useful.