Passed CISSP this morning!
Just wanted to throw out another "I passed" post to let folks know, it is possible! Passed this AM.I have 15 years of professional IT experience in most all disciplines (HD, Sysadmin, storage, virtualization, networking, security) and a handful of other certs as well.I used the following materials to prep:-Sybex official guide (Read cover to cover once, read end of chapter summaries twice, did the practice questions.)-Conrad's Syngress book (read cover to cover once, did end of chapter questions)-11th hour (read cover to cover once and skimmed it once more the week prior to the exam)-Kelly's Cybrary videos (I listened to the majority of these in the background while I did other things, didn't focus on them heavily)-ISC2 official practice test book (I did both of the 250 question practice tests and 50 random questions from the other chapters)My overall study process was as follows. I read Conrad's book cover to cover first and took notes. I then read the end of chapter summaries in the Sybex book and did the practice questions. Then I went back and read that entire book cover to cover. A few weeks before the test, I began simultaneously reading 11th hour in the mornings before work. Over the past week (week before the exam), I skipped the gym at lunch and read 11th hour. I began using my evenings and breaks during the day to do the two, 250 question practice exams. Once I'd ran through these, I reviewed the wrong answers and took notes on them, then used my time to study those topics in the Sybex book. I reviewed all my weak areas this past weekend and retook all of my incorrect practice test questions.I also watched this video twice. Once last week and once this morning before I left to take the test. I found it immensely helpful when it comes to figuring out how to answer the exam questions. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLYbFtS7G9E&t=644sThis is easily the hardest exam I've ever taken. I knew to expect the questions to be nothing like the practice tests. I knew it was a managers exam. I knew it was very wordy and required you do really take your time in reading the questions. All that said...it still left me staring at the screen so many times thinking "what the hell...". I was 100% sure that I'd failed it by question 50. I bet I was only certain of about 15 answers. The test ended at question 100 and I knew I'd failed it. I didn't even look at the paper until I got to my car...imagine the smile on my face when I saw "Congratulations!"Read, read and re-read those exam questions. Understand the core concepts and focus less on all the technical details. It's a management exam through and through, NOT a technical exam.I'll answer any questions I'm able to, if there are any.Keep your head up, you can do it!
Comments
-
averageguy72
Member Posts: 323 ■■■■□□□□□□
Congrats!CISSP / CCSP / CCSK / CRISC / CISM / CISA / CASP / Security+ / Network+ / A+ / CEH / eNDP / AWS Certified Advanced Networking - Specialty / AWS Certified Security - Specialty / AWS Certified DevOps Engineer - Professional / AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Professional / AWS Certified SysOps Administrator - Associate / AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate / AWS Certified Developer - Associate / AWS Cloud Practitioner -
Falcon56
Member Posts: 94 ■■■□□□□□□□
Similar experience here....never felt good about the exam but stayed with my strategy even though I was in a panic around question 35. Nice write up and congratulations on the pass. I know you are relieved!
