CISSP exam passed Today: the Beast is defeated !!
Someone before me has called a "beast" this exam and I are in complete agreement.
This was my second attempt, at first attempt I reached only 688.
My Background
15 years experience, including 12 in the Defense (long experience in all phases of the SDLC, Project Management, Review contracts, Security Certifications, etc ...).
The Preparation
During a stressful working period but not intense (and with a kid 5 year old) I was able to prepare for the exam in about 3-4 months.
It must be clear that only one source is not sufficient. You need to read the arguments differently treated, so to have different views on the same issues. This, in my opinion, helps a lot.
I used these sources:
Shon Harris 6th Ed. - In my opinion a great book. It explains in a simple and clear way almost any subject. Recommended if you really want to understand the concepts, certification or not.
David Miller - CISSP Training Kit 2015. Some topics are treated in an excellent way, from the business vision to cryptography. Along with Harris has been the basis of my preparation.
Eric Conrad - 11th Hour 2016. More Synthetic than others but with some interesting information. Useful as a final reading, to summarize and finish the preparation.
Official CBK 2016. Terrible, not even worth leafing through it.
Cybrary and Kelly's video courses. What about ... excellent, clear and well made, but I personally did not have to base a study on video.
I have over 40 and I need my personal notes on which to go back and to go back and to go back again.
Many, many, many internet searches to deepen the various topics.
I could not indicate a specific site ... from wikipedia to techexam ... I used everything.
Pratice Exam
Shon Harris CISSP Practice Exam 2016 - Questions that force to think and prepare well. Often very similar to those you will encounter on the exam.
David Miller CISSP Training Kit - CD Exam application. Not bad, but other than that exam. Useful to probe your preparation.
CISSP Practice Exam Scram - as above but better.
Sybex Official CISSP Practice Test - A must if you want to get an idea of what it actually could be asked.
Official CISSP Practice Test Android App - Useful but do not depend.
The Exam
I studied a lot and I went examination convinced to be very prepared.
I was quiet, I knew that in any case I would not have done it again.
Length is something that does not bother me, I can easily manage hours of concentration even without a break.
However I recommend you do at least two breaks, if not three.
I brought with me 2 sandwich, water, biscuits and chocolates with coffee. My wife thought I was going to a picnic.
Some questions are, in my opinion, so detailed as to be impossible.
But alternate with very simple questions... and this can be confusing because you always end up thinking that there is a trap ... and meanwhile time passes.
In any case, the questions that they put me in the greatest difficulty are those that have four potential answers all right or all wrong ....
For all this type of questions I had no idea if was wrong or not.
In 4 hours, calmly, I ended questions.
I used another 110 minutes to review 70 flagged questions.
At the end I was satisfied for my performance but obviously I was not certain of success, fortunately it went well.
I'm really very tired (I'm sorry for my writing) but I could not go to bed without finish writing this post for you.
I do not know if it will be useful to someone or not, I just know that this forum has helped me so much, both for advice and tips, and for having had the chance to learn, from the experiences of other, useful information that encouraged me to go on even after the first attempt failed.
What I can say is do not underestimate the exam, but hold on and deepened each topic, make yourself stronger: at the end you will defeat the Beast.
