PASSED! 10/4 - Plus my observations
Hello everyone!
I passed today and I wanted to share my observations on my study habits and what I felt contributed most to me sitting in for the exam.
IT Experience : Since 2001 with a 3.5 year break early on.
Industry : Hospitality
Previous Certifications : SSCP, Security+, Network+
Study Materials
Official (ISC)2 Guide to the CISSP CBK, Second Edition - It's old, but I read it cover to cover. Lots of great information that shows you areas that will be covered on the exam.
SSCP Systems Security Certified Practitioner All-in-One Exam Guide -Read and passed during my study of the CISSP (Darril Gibson). The SSCP gave me an understanding of how (ISC)2 worded their exams. Mind you, the SSCP and CISSP are quite different from each other but feel you get a bit more comfortable with the CISSP having completed another exam from the same provider.
CISSP All-in-One Exam Guide, 6th Edition (Shon Harris) -I never got past chapter 1... Laziness.
CISSP All-in-One Exam Guide, 7th Edition (Shon Harris) -I purchased it again thinking the information would be different. I never got past Chapter 1 since I found out about the Sybex book.
CISSP (ISC)2 Certified Information Systems Security Professional Official Study Guide 7th Edition (Sybex) -I read the first nine chapters then I bounced around looking for the areas I was weakest at. This is the third book I've read containing "Darril Gibson" as an author. His writing style and contributions to a book are very obvious for me and it makes a lot of sense when I read his work. I think all of my InfoSec achievements are because of him. [Thanks Darril!]
Eleventh Hour CISSP, Second Edition: Study Guide - After completing a number of practice exams, I read the chapters where I scored the lowest. This gave me a better overall understanding of the material and helped me out quite a bit during the actual exam. I did not pick up this book until T-24 hours before the actual test. I read it for maybe 8-10 hours before the day of the actual exam.
Practice Exams
CISSP Practice Exams, Second Edition - I completed only the first set of practice exam questions covering Chapter 1. The way the questions were worded were very similar to the actual exam and it helped me to understand what keywords to look out for.
(ISC)2 CISSP Official App on iOS (learnZapp) -I completed each practice exam and went through the Mock Test the night before. My score was all over the place in each chapter which led me to go back to the Sybex book and study the weaker areas. I got an 84% on the Mock Test the night before the actual exam.
CISSP Exam Prep 2016 Edition on iOS (Pocket Prep, Inc.) -If I called out a single element that I felt helped me out the most, it would be this app. With over 600 questions in the test bank, I studied approximately 10-20 questions each day and looked back at the Sybex book on why I got the problem wrong. Eventually, I was answering the question without reading the actual question (very bad!) but I am a sucker for patterns.
Overall Comments
My on the job experience helped me out in a number of different domains. I honestly didn't think it would have contributed to it since I often see InfoSec and Public sector folks on these forums. Coming from Hospitality where we are notoriously behind the times when it comes to technology, I found a lot of what I do contributed heavily to the areas where I was most successful in the practice exams. The areas we didn't touch were obviously very weak spots for me and I spent a lot of more time in the last 2-3 weeks studying those areas.
During the actual exam, I was still not 100% confident in my weak areas but it at least allowed me to eliminate two of the four possible answers to the exam thereby increasing my chances at guessing on which answer appeared to be the best of the four.
Hopefully this information helps. I know you guys have had great information here and I always looked to TechExams.Net 90 days before a major exam so I'm trying to pay it forward a bit.
Off to play video games since I've been deprived for months.
I passed today and I wanted to share my observations on my study habits and what I felt contributed most to me sitting in for the exam.
IT Experience : Since 2001 with a 3.5 year break early on.
Industry : Hospitality
Previous Certifications : SSCP, Security+, Network+
Study Materials
Official (ISC)2 Guide to the CISSP CBK, Second Edition - It's old, but I read it cover to cover. Lots of great information that shows you areas that will be covered on the exam.
SSCP Systems Security Certified Practitioner All-in-One Exam Guide -Read and passed during my study of the CISSP (Darril Gibson). The SSCP gave me an understanding of how (ISC)2 worded their exams. Mind you, the SSCP and CISSP are quite different from each other but feel you get a bit more comfortable with the CISSP having completed another exam from the same provider.
CISSP All-in-One Exam Guide, 6th Edition (Shon Harris) -I never got past chapter 1... Laziness.
CISSP All-in-One Exam Guide, 7th Edition (Shon Harris) -I purchased it again thinking the information would be different. I never got past Chapter 1 since I found out about the Sybex book.
CISSP (ISC)2 Certified Information Systems Security Professional Official Study Guide 7th Edition (Sybex) -I read the first nine chapters then I bounced around looking for the areas I was weakest at. This is the third book I've read containing "Darril Gibson" as an author. His writing style and contributions to a book are very obvious for me and it makes a lot of sense when I read his work. I think all of my InfoSec achievements are because of him. [Thanks Darril!]
Eleventh Hour CISSP, Second Edition: Study Guide - After completing a number of practice exams, I read the chapters where I scored the lowest. This gave me a better overall understanding of the material and helped me out quite a bit during the actual exam. I did not pick up this book until T-24 hours before the actual test. I read it for maybe 8-10 hours before the day of the actual exam.
Practice Exams
CISSP Practice Exams, Second Edition - I completed only the first set of practice exam questions covering Chapter 1. The way the questions were worded were very similar to the actual exam and it helped me to understand what keywords to look out for.
(ISC)2 CISSP Official App on iOS (learnZapp) -I completed each practice exam and went through the Mock Test the night before. My score was all over the place in each chapter which led me to go back to the Sybex book and study the weaker areas. I got an 84% on the Mock Test the night before the actual exam.
CISSP Exam Prep 2016 Edition on iOS (Pocket Prep, Inc.) -If I called out a single element that I felt helped me out the most, it would be this app. With over 600 questions in the test bank, I studied approximately 10-20 questions each day and looked back at the Sybex book on why I got the problem wrong. Eventually, I was answering the question without reading the actual question (very bad!) but I am a sucker for patterns.
Overall Comments
My on the job experience helped me out in a number of different domains. I honestly didn't think it would have contributed to it since I often see InfoSec and Public sector folks on these forums. Coming from Hospitality where we are notoriously behind the times when it comes to technology, I found a lot of what I do contributed heavily to the areas where I was most successful in the practice exams. The areas we didn't touch were obviously very weak spots for me and I spent a lot of more time in the last 2-3 weeks studying those areas.
During the actual exam, I was still not 100% confident in my weak areas but it at least allowed me to eliminate two of the four possible answers to the exam thereby increasing my chances at guessing on which answer appeared to be the best of the four.
Hopefully this information helps. I know you guys have had great information here and I always looked to TechExams.Net 90 days before a major exam so I'm trying to pay it forward a bit.
Off to play video games since I've been deprived for months.
