CISSP in 1,5 month

mhb

Hello everyone,

I already have SSCP for almost two years and I would like to get CISSP. Do you think 1,5 month of study (everyday at least 1 hour) would be enough so I can take the exam around mid-December?

Thanks.

CyberCop123

mhb wrote: »

Hello everyone,

I already have SSCP for almost two years and I would like to get CISSP. Do you think 1,5 month of study (everyday at least 1 hour) would be enough so I can take the exam around mid-December?

Thanks.

I'm not sure but I just wanted to give my view on trying to do the CISSP in a very short time frame.


The more and more I study for this, the more I am confused as to how people do week long bootcamps and pass. I also have noticed that studying over a longer time period allows the information to be obsorbed more quickly.


This is not a technical exam, nor one where you physically have to perform an action. This in my view makes it more difficult as you can't practice the actions, you just have to know the material. There's tons of it too.


I started off thinking I would be exam ready in 12 weeks (3 months). Over that period I learnt a lot but it wasn't actually in depth knowledge, it was more the concepts. Becoming familiar with the terminology used.


I had a break over the summar for various reasons and I've just started again. This new period of studying is 100x easier as the concepts I am familiar with and I'm now able to learn the actual details of each subject far easier.


So in my view, it depends greatly on your current knowledge levels but also it's very easy to get too ambitious with your timescales. I also recommend booking the exam at an earlier stage to commit yourself to studying

CVieri83

Hi,

in my opinion it depends on your work experience.
I have 7years+ experience in informaton security and i needed 10 weeks (3 hours of study-time on weekdays and 6 hours on weekends).
It is a lot of material and you have to know it.

Good luck on your way!

ecuison

I would agree on the amount of time you have in InfoSec. I did my CISSP in 7 weeks and 1 week bootcamp (didn't help except to confirm what I already knew). Although in that 7 weeks, I studied 6-8 hours during the week and 10+ hours on the weekends. YMMV

Good luck!

PCTechLinc

I did heavy studying for 2 months and passed, but my previous experience and my 2-year MS in IT Security was vital. Even with just the experience, I don't think I would have passed with 2 months of studying alone.

NetworkNewb

If you understand and are able to explain the topics on the exam in that amount of time sure... Everyone's background and learning speed is different.

If you can read and adsorb all the knowledge of one of those huge CISSP books in 2 days you should be able to pass the test in 2 days.

mhb

Thank you very much everyone.

Considering that I have 7 years of experience and I have SSCP already, I will start studying and see what happens in one month. Then I will decide if I can do it before the new year.

laurieH

Why don't you take a few practice questions that cover the breadth of the material and see how you're scoring - that should give you a starter for 10. Years of experience won't necessarily mean you're prepared for the exam.

Kyrak

I prepped intensely for about 1 month for mine and was able to pass. But I had 15+ years of exp and had just passed Sec+ recently so a lot of topics were fresh on my mind. Make sure to check out Cybrary if you haven't already.

mhb

Hello everyone,

Thanks for all the comments. I have the exam scheduled next week. What I've done so far;

- I watched the whole CISSP training on Cybrary and took detailed notes

- I've been watching the IT Dojo videos on Youtube (not finished yet)

- I created my own notebook and took thorough notes with my own words

- I did all the tests in the Official Practice Tests book

- I didn't read the Official Study Guide word by word but I did all the practice tests in it and read the sections where I didn't feel quite ready

- I studied CISSP Exam Cram from Michael Gregg that I found in my local library and did all it's tests. It was surprisingly helpful, like a hidden gem.

- I kept using Sunflower2.0 and my own notes as my #1 sources

Overall I feel "kind of" ready but I can not be sure of course. So, do you have any suggestions for the last week? What should I be doing? My only regret so far is I haven't tested myself for the real exam to see my score.

Thanks again everyone.

SteveLavoie

You can read Eric Conrad's 11th hour book. It was my best companion on the last days before the C day  

mhb

Thank you Steve. I'll definitely give it a shot.

Info_Sec_Wannabe

Good luck and let us know how did it go.

mhb

Thank you, I will.

fabostrong

Possibly. I just passed today and studied for 2 months.

laurieH

Depends greatly on your current knowledge across the material, your ability to retain information and how good you are at revising and taking tests I think I prepared for around 6 months but I was also very busy with work so depends... doesn't really matter anyway. You can always cancel the exam if you're not ready - get started and see how you get on! 

mhb

Hello everyone.

I still can not believe it, but I passed today! It took 135 questions for me to finish the exam.

It was much more harder than I anticipated. I did more than 2000, maybe 3000 questions during the preparation, but "none" of them, not even a close one was in the exam.

My only advice, no need to memorize anything except certain things like OSI layers; instead, you should really "understand" the concepts. Be ready for some questions where you will whisper to yourself "what in the world is this question talking about?"

If you are not in a hurry, and not tight on your budget, go for the SSCP first. It will help you to have confidence and learn ISC2's question styles.

Best luck to everyone who is taking this path. You will need it.