CISSP Changing Format to CAT

wolf9081

Has anyone heard anything about ISC2 changing the format for CISSP?

I saw the below article saying it will be changing to an adaptive test in December, but little else mentioning it.

https://blog.cybervista.net/cissp-switch-to-cat-adaptive-testing

SteveLavoie

I am almost ready... so it is time to schedule NOWWWWWW!

I am sending an email to ISC(2), I will share you their answer.

beads

Most people were so excited to move from the superior paper based method to inferior CBT now devolving to even more inferior CAT. People need help reinventing the wheel sometimes.

(*Snicker*)

- b/eads

SteveLavoie

I didnt take any chance.... It's now scheduled for Nov 16. I am almost ready.... perhaps it is the kick in the ass needed to schedule it.

stephens316

Just great i got screwed in October by the price going up and now i am getting screwed again by the test format.

SteveLavoie

stephens316 wrote: »

Just great i got screwed in October by the price going up and now i am getting screwed again by the test format.

If you are close to be ready, perhaps it is time for a last minute sprint ? I expect that the first few month that the new exam format will make it much harder while they calibrate it. Then in April 2018, they will release the new outline (minor edit supposely).

I am lucky enough that my company accept to pay for a first failed exam (in that case only), so I am rushing for Nov 16th (there were only 3 dates available in Novembre at my closest test center).

H-bomb

According to Luke Ahmed from the cissp study FB group. *********************************************************
NO CHANGES TO THE CISSP EXAM FORMAT
*********************************************************
Just spoke to someone at ISC2 after authenticating my member ID and name. They have confirmed there will be
NO CHANGES TO THE CISSP EXAM regarding the computerized adaptive testing posted by CyberVista. Not in December, not in April, not a year from now. They have run up the website that is spreading this message to their management, who will deal with it.

Please carry on your CISSP studies as normal.

NuclearBeavis

H-bomb wrote: »

According to Luke Ahmed from the cissp study FB group. *********************************************************
NO CHANGES TO THE CISSP EXAM FORMAT
*********************************************************
Just spoke to someone at ISC2 after authenticating my member ID and name. They have confirmed there will be
NO CHANGES TO THE CISSP EXAM regarding the computerized adaptive testing posted by CyberVista. Not in December, not in April, not a year from now. They have run up the website that is spreading this message to their management, who will deal with it.

Please carry on your CISSP studies as normal.

Interesting to know, although the ISC2 website does say they're changing the exam in April 2018. I didn't read further as to how.

SteveLavoie

Whatever.. It pushed me to schedule the exam for Nov 16th.. full sprint now:)

Kelkin

Best of luck to you Steve.. Just the thought about it changing caused me to definitely look harder at setting a test date.

cyberguypr

Uh-oh! Someone unleashed the fury of the ISC2 gods.

SteveLavoie

I sent an email to ISC2 support... here is the answer I got back:

Thanks for your inquiry, and sorry for the delay in responding. At the (ISC)² Security Congress member Town Hall last month, our CEO discussed introducing CAT for the CISSP exam. We don’t have a timeline to share just yet, but more information will be forthcoming.

Well, it will be a surprise

asaffarini

Hi folks,

My name is Amjed Saffarini and I'm CEO of CyberVista, the company who posted the above mentioned blog post. I'm posting to clarify some info here about our blog since there seems to be some confusion based on some responses from a facebook group. We'll also have the same folks from our company who have built our CISSP prep program keep an eye on the thread for any followup questions you have.

We got our information about the test change to CAT the same way 2,000 other people did on September 25, which was when ISC2 CEO shared on stage that the test will be changing to a computer adaptive test soon, and shared a couple of other details (you can see a picture of the slide in our blog entry referenced above) for those details.

Our intention wasn't to get information out ahead of anyone, only to inform folks of what we had learned and what we generally know about computer adaptive testing from having prepared students for them for the last few decades given my and my team's experiencing coming from Kaplan, the large test prep company.

Computer Adaptive Testing is nothing new to us. In fact it's nothing new in the testing industry (it's been used in licensing exams since the 90s). The folks implementing CAT at (ISC)2 have done it before for much bigger exams in healthcare, so we should expect a high quality assessment in the new test form.

That said, this is the first time a CAT is being implemented in the security space (as far as I can tell), so it would be somewhat of a shock if you didn't know what to expect walking into test day, and should at minimum research general facts about computer adaptive testing before walking into a CAT exam.

Happy to answer general questions (we can't answer questions about the CISSP test change beyond what's already been confirmed and shared)

Good luck in your studies,
Amjed

Falcon56

We have different answers all throughout this thread. I take the exam December 11th. Is the test changing or not?

[Deleted User]

Great! I have this planned for next year! Well I hope they don't change this for a long time!

cyberguypr

I have no cat in this fight but I am inclined to believe the CyberVista gentleman. His story would be easily verifiable by finding one of the other 1999 who attended the event. Also consider that the first line ISC2 support peeps are most likely told nothing until changes go live or a press release goes out.

mtamburri

Looks like it is definitely changing - April 2018. This is coming straight from ISC2. cert.isc2.org/CISSP-exam-outline-form/

PJ_Sneakers

cyberguypr wrote: »

I have no cat in this fight

Lol

asaffarini

Falcon56 wrote: »

We have different answers all throughout this thread. I take the exam December 11th. Is the test changing or not?

Falcon,

If you're to believe the announcement from late September, then the test is changing (they just said "coming soon" at that time). I suspect that if they do plan to change it as early as December that they will be sharing more information officially soon.

Given when your test is scheduled, and having heard no indication that the content itself is changing it seems you have two options that both start with studying for the content and the old linear CBT exam format by doing a bunch of CBT -based questions.

If ISC does announce a change in the near future and it is for prior to the Dec 11 test, they your best bet is to also be prepared for a CAT. If they announce a test change, then we will have materials ready for it so keep an eye on our website or sign up for the notification list.

If ISC announces a test change for after your test date, then hopefully you've prepared enough to pass and not worry about it.

Finally, if no test change is announced and you walk in and see a CAT, then do give us a holler because I'm sure we'd all love to know!

Good luck with your studies!

Amjed

asaffarini

cyberguypr wrote: »

I have no cat in this fight but I am inclined to believe the CyberVista gentleman. His story would be easily verifiable by finding one of the other 1999 who attended the event. Also consider that the first line ISC2 support peeps are most likely told nothing until changes go live or a press release goes out.

Ha good one! Like I shared with falcon, they key is to keep your head down and keep up with your content mastery studies. If they do launch a CAT exam, we'll be on the forum sharing more information about how to modify your preparation for CAT testing.

Slight non-seq- do all posts get moderated? It seems that there's a delay between responding and approval.

, we should all just wait for (ISC)2 to release more information. Because of their ANSI requirements (ISO 17024) they have to maintain strict firewalls between their testing and educations arms. Because of that, they can't release information selectively about the exam to anyone - not you, not the education firms, and not even their own education folks who build their own books and materials.

SteveLavoie

I think the thing here is that I want to know what kind of exam I will get... I am close to be ready. I was planning to take the exam for Dec 2017, but I wanted to be sure, so I scheduled in advance (Nov 16th) to make sure I will get the exam I am preparing to. I dont want to be destabilize by an unfamiliar exam format, one that you can't get back to previous questions...

wd40

I took my A+ exams back in 2004 in the adaptive format, both tests done in less than 30 minutes.

Not comparing A+ to CISSP, but if you have the knowledge, and went through 1000+ test questions, changing from normal format to CAT shouldn't be a problem.

beads

As far as the questions themselves are concerned it doesn't sound like anything is really changing other than the test will become more adaptable, asking more questions in areas that you appear to be weak on. Adaptive testing has been with us since the mid-90s and is nothing new or unexpected just easier to fail should the examinee hit a rough spot or hole in a particular domain. Keep in mind they already dropped two other domains from the exam. Add to that there are 1221 pieces of information (books, quizzes, .pdfs, et. al.) on Amazon making this one of if not the most over documented tests in the after education market I can find.

OK 'Registered Nurse' comes up with 20,285 but starts with mugs and Christmas ornaments.

Relax, the ISC(2) needs to listen to the community and pare down many of these obviously unqualified certificate bearers.

- b/eads

cyberguypr

^ I was going to post this exact comment early on but decided to wait and see who brought it up. You sir, win. I absolutely agree that if you thoroughly understand the material, test format is irrelevant.

shimasensei

The price increase now this, major changes for CISSP this year. Going to be similar to Cisco's exams, you can't flag and go back to a question. Interesting to see how this will work for a 6 hour exam.

NuclearBeavis

shimasensei wrote: »

The price increase now this, major changes for CISSP this year. Going to be similar to Cisco's exams, you can't flag and go back to a question. Interesting to see how this will work for a 6 hour exam.

Honestly, I don't see myself going back on an exam of this length. Just needing to go the bathroom gives me anxiety about the length of CISSP.

SteveLavoie

Is it only me, or time does not seem to be an issue for me. All 250 question practice test that I am did took me between 1.5 to not even 2 hours with result in the 78-80%. So even, if I use double time, I am far from the 6h time limit.

I will see by myself on Nov 16th.

NuclearBeavis

SteveLavoie wrote: »

Is it only me, or time does not seem to be an issue for me. All 250 question practice test that I am did took me between 1.5 to not even 2 hours with result in the 78-80%. So even, if I use double time, I am far from the 6h time limit.

I will see by myself on Nov 16th.

That makes me feel better. I haven't done any practice exams yet.

justdavey

Bonne Chance!

SteveLavoie

justdavey wrote: »

Bonne Chance!

Thanks Justdavey! I feel ready, but I am fearing that I am over-confident... I thinks this exam is more a "personality" or nerve test than a knowledge test lol.

I think the cost is what make it so nerve-cracking. I dont mind failing a 150$ or 200$ exam, I take it almost as a training step (except my hurt ego). But 699$ USD (almost 1000$ CAN) is a big amount, even if it is my boss that pay for it.

Resonate!

SteveLavoie wrote: »

Is it only me, or time does not seem to be an issue for me. All 250 question practice test that I am did took me between 1.5 to not even 2 hours with result in the 78-80%. So even, if I use double time, I am far from the 6h time limit.

I will see by myself on Nov 16th.

I have the same experience. It may be due to the fact that there are many easy questions in the test engine you are using (by the way, which source?), or you are going through some known questions. I think it is a good speed, so master the quality now.
Hope to login and see your "CISSP passed" post on November, 17th.