Passed CCSP (9/2)!

averageguy72

Passed CCSP exam this past weekend, took about an hour and fifteen minutes.

Study Material
Cybrary.it Kelly Handerhan CCSP video
CSA v3
ENISA Cloud Computing Risk Assessment
CCSP (ISC)² Certified Cloud Security Professional Official Study Guide
Wiley website practice tests (from the book)
(ISC)² CCSP Official Study App (iPhone)

Background
I've been in the IT industry 20 years and have been working in a SaaS company for the last 14 years (back when it was an ASP). I architected and wrote most of the core platform software libraries, services and processes. I designed and managed the infrastructure being used as well.

Preparation
While preparing for the CCSP, I took the CCSK V3 exam since the material is what it's based on and it seems to have a decent foothold. Read through the CSA v3 and ENISA documents then took the CCSK test over the course of a week. Scheduled the CCSP exam for when I could get an opening. Over the next three weeks I watched the Kelly Handerhan video, read through the official study guide and did some mini practice tests and a couple full practice tests.

Study material review
Cybrary.it Kelly Handerhan video - Good as always, definitely a good overview. Cybrary.it is free and the content is good, that's hard to beat.

CSA v3 document - Dry read. Some sections seem overly long while others seem shorter than they should be. I see that the V4 has been released, so I'll check that out in the near future.

ENISA document - Fairly to the point, I like that. I didn't focus too much on this one since I deal with this type of information daily.

CCSP (ISC)² Certified Cloud Security Professional Official Study Guide - The book is well written with relevant information and questions, it isn't all you need to know for the test in and of itself but I'd say it covers ~70-80%. It's divided into easily digestible chapters. I'm a terribly slow reader so that was a plus. The writing style is easy to read. I didn't feel like they drug out topics too long or were too brief either. When I said in the first sentence that it isn't all you need to know, if you don't have experience with the CISSP domains at least read a study guide before taking this exam. This book doesn't cover the CISSP specific material that I saw on the actual test. There wasn't a lot, but there were a few.

Wiley website practice tests (book publisher) - I did see one question from here that was on the test, but that was about it. The rest were quite different than the practice questions here.

(ISC)² CCSP Official Study App (iPhone) - Decent questions but not like the actual test, essentially the same questions as the book.

Both practice exams - I don't recall any negative questions on the test, but the app and website tests are full of them - i.e. Of the following which is NOT a valid selection type questions. I guess the intention is that knowing the negative items in a list means you know the correct answers in the list.

The test
Neither of the practice tests were really like the actual test. The Wiley site and the app are pretty much the same questions and I prefer to use two different providers practice tests if possible; even if one is really rudimentary, it helps break the memorization pattern. Unfortunately, there are very limited resources for practice exams. In my opinion, the actual CCSP exam questions are more clearly worded than the CCSK test even though the CCSP is broader. Maybe the V4 of the CCSK will correct that issue. There were also questions on CISSP material during the exam but if you have reviewed the CISSP material or work in the domains daily, you should be fine. The structure of the questions is similar to the CISSP exam.

I'd take a 15 question test when I had breaks. A week before the actual test I took two full exams and did the full domain tests in the iPhone app. I got a bit uneasy because I was scored 100% on all the domain tests in the iPhone app and thought it may give me a false sense of security. The online CCSK test, the questions were worded in a way that I had to really think them through.

I think it's a good addition to the CISSP. The CCSP exam is broader in scope than the CCSK while still focusing on cloud specific concepts. They just updated the CCSK material so I'll take a look at that and see what the updates look like for it.

Endorsement app sent, just have to wait on approval. Now on to CISM

NetworkNewb

Very nice, congrats!

dhay13

Congrats! Thinking this might be my next one. Just took the new Cloud+ beta a few weeks ago and passed the CSA+ in June. This might be the best time since it is still pretty fresh in my mind.

sameoj

Congrats

SteveLavoie

Congrats!

clarkincnet

Congrats!

joneno

Congrats

Oztexs

wow iam surpised at how quick you were able to go through 250 questions 75min !

do you go through the answers first then the question ??

averageguy72

Oztexs

The CCSP is 125 questions, not 250 like the CISSP

I went through all the questions and answered them. I marked 3 for review but did not change the answers during the review.

Oztexs

my bad ! i didnt read the subject correcly .. i thought it was the CISSP !

CryptoQue

Congrats!

fujiyama17

Congrats!

I have one question for the group. I have been studying since June off and on for the CCSP. With CSA v4 out, will the questions change? I am registered to take the exam mid-October. I am currently reading CSA v4, and there are some significant differences in material.

averageguy72

@fujiyama17

I doubt the exam will change by the time you're planning to take the it. The CSA v4 material has only been out a couple of months and the CCSK exam itself isn't scheduled to be updated until December 1 2017.

ccsp2017

@averageguy72

Congrats. Quick question, did you use the ISC2 Official study guide published by Sybex in July '17 or the previous one?. I took a boot camp in April and not sure whether my CBK is the one i should be using.

averageguy72

@ccsp2017

It was the May 2017 publish date book by Brian T. O'Hara & Ben Malisow. Looks like there is a kit coming out the end of the month that contains the 2016 book + May 2017 book + ITPro.tv video. In my opinion, the CSA v3 material + 2017 Sybex book are all the material you need for studying for the exam. Of course, the practice tests as well.