Is the CISSP Practice Exams 4th edition (Shon Harris / Jonathan Ham) too technical?

jimjjimjjimjjimj Member Posts: 17 ■■■□□□□□□□
in CISSP
I have purchased the most recent edition of "CISSP Practice Exams 4th edition" (Shon Harris / Jonathan Ham). I've been told it's very similar to previous editions with few questions changed following the change to 8 domains. For those who've used this practice exams book, and who have been through the exam, are the questions too technical compared to the real exam?

I'm finding the questions very different from e.g. official Sybex questions or PocketPrep questions. I'm getting about 50% on Harris/Ham which is way lower than other practice exams. Reading through comments from people over the last 12 months, people are saying the exam isn't very technical. I just wonder if Harris/Ham have gone too technical with their practice exams. (I sure hope so because I'm finding them incredibly difficult!)

I can't post here examples of questions from Harris/Ham for copyright reasons but for those who have the book, how does it compare to the exam?
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Comments

  • NetworkNewbNetworkNewb Member Posts: 3,298 ■■■■■■■■■□
    I'd say the most technical things on the exam from my experience are knowing the networking protocols and encryption types, and knowing what they are and when to use them in different situations. Nothing too deep into them though.
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  • ITSec14ITSec14 Member Posts: 398 ■■■□□□□□□□
    I have that book and I feel like it's WAYYYY too technical based on everything I've heard.
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  • shoeyshoey Member Posts: 111 ■■■□□□□□□□
    NetworkNewb wrote: »
    I'd say the most technical things on the exam from my experience are knowing the networking protocols and encryption types, and knowing what they are and when to use them in different situations. Nothing too deep into them though.

    100% agree with NetworkNewb. A friend of mine recently asked me a similar question (using the same study materials), and I found the questions to be far more technical than necessary.
    "I have missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed." - Michael Jordan
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  • mattster79mattster79 Member Posts: 135 ■■□□□□□□□□
    I found the level of detail in the Transcender questions to be more closely matched the real exam.
    CISSP
    CISM
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  • jimjjimjjimjjimj Member Posts: 17 ■■■□□□□□□□
    Having passed my exam a few days ago, I can now answer my own question, which might help future enquirers with the same question.

    My personal experience was that the exam was far less technical than the Harris/Ham exam prep book. The Harris/Ham book is also significantly more technical than practice exams offered by Conrad and the Official Sybex guide which were much closer to the real exam imo.
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