Sharing CISSP Study Plan -> Passed on 1st attempt

Hi Folks,

I provisionally passed on last Monday (4 Nov 18, which was my first attempt to take this exam and I would like to share my study plan for CISSP candidate benefit.

Duration : ~1 years (Oct 17 - 4 Nov 18. I read at least 1 - 1 1/2 hrs every weekday on the morning and 2-4 hrs every Sunday. I took a break on every Saturday and my vacation to refresh my brain and not to too much to stress myself.

Books:
Sybex 7th and 8th edition (These two book are very thick but their material are not boring to read)
Eleventh Hour CISSP and CISSP Study Guide by Eric Conrad (They are very helpful for preparation)
CISSP All-in-One Exam Guide, Eighth Edition by Shon Harris and Fernando Maymi

Practice Tests: (2-3 months before the exam you need to practice the CISSP exam as much as you can)
Sybex online
CISSP Practice Questions Exam Cram (4th Edition)

Videos & MP3:
Kelly Handerhan Cybrary videos ( Extremely very good) -> Thank you very much Kelly

Short Notes:
Sunflower PDF notes (you should read before an exam to summarize your knowledge)

On 5 Nov 18, I came to test centre 30 minutes earlier. For me, the exam was very difficult and there were about 10-15 questions that i was definitely sure answers. Most of the questions, I selected the answers based on the choice elimination and my experiences

Now I start the endorsement process. I hope that my post will be beneficial for the one that will prepare for the CISSP exam .I would like to encourage to remind yourself that do not give up on reading / preparing and one day if you are bored to read the books, take a cup of black coffee and a short break to refresh yourself and come back to study. Practice makes perfect.

Good Luck for your exam.

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Comments

Henry.net

Thanks for the summary and congratulations on the pass!
How well do you think the Sybex questions prepared you for the exam?

ccnpninja

congrats on the pass

cazza

In my point of view ,the Sybex questions are good for preparation.

ZagZig1358

Congratutulations that is a great way to close out your year.
I'm In the process of completing my studies for the Network+ exam. Your post has reinvigorated my thoughts on how to study for this exan, I took a break at the end of my prep for it to find a job that found me through my instructor Giving an IT Manager my resume and out of the blue I was invited to apply, that was back in JUly of this year. I had made a carrier move into IT. Long story story short I'm finishing my first 90 days on the job and loving every bit of it even though the challenge seems like standing at the bottom tiers of this enormous mountain called IT.

I need to complete this Certification so that I can get really back on track and go on with the next certifcation CCENT so thanks for the assist on refocusing how I'm studing for this.

All the best to you on your adventure.

Rinzler

Congrats.

I have the same study path and will do my best in hopes of passing on my first attempt.

cazza

Rinzler wrote: »

Congrats.

I have the same study path and will do my best in hopes of passing on my first attempt.

Good luck on your exam !!

cazza

ZagZig1358 wrote: »

Congratutulations that is a great way to close out your year.
I'm In the process of completing my studies for the Network+ exam. Your post has reinvigorated my thoughts on how to study for this exan, I took a break at the end of my prep for it to find a job that found me through my instructor Giving an IT Manager my resume and out of the blue I was invited to apply, that was back in JUly of this year. I had made a carrier move into IT. Long story story short I'm finishing my first 90 days on the job and loving every bit of it even though the challenge seems like standing at the bottom tiers of this enormous mountain called IT.

I need to complete this Certification so that I can get really back on track and go on with the next certifcation CCENT so thanks for the assist on refocusing how I'm studing for this.

All the best to you on your adventure.

Do not give up and prepare for your coming exam as much as you can. Good Luck !!

DZA_

Congrats Cazza! It took me about the same time about a year to pass the exam too.

snokerpoker

Congrats. I really want to begin CISSP study early next year. I'll check out the Sybex stuff.

COBOL_DOS_ERA

Congrats on the pass!! what a way to finish the year.

That Random Guy

I passed the CISSP exam (provisionally) two months ago. (TL;DR at bottom)

My preparation was as follows:

*I utilized the 7th edition of the Sybex text.
*I utilized the practice exams, latest edition (2nd)

I took 2 months to prepare for this exam using the resources mentioned above. It's important that I mention that this has essentially been my THIRD time reading the Sybex text. The first time I read it while I was still in university and wanted to learn some more. The second time was in a university class which utilized the text itself for class material and topics. The last time was in preparation for this exam.

I prepared for the exam right after I graduated and took those 2 months to reread the book during that time, doing the related chapter questions found in the practice exams, and then revisiting the chapters had trouble remembering stuff for.

2 months later, I felt "ready enough" to take the exam with what I could afford to prepare myself with. I felt very iffy on my chances and honestly thought I would fail.

I managed to pass the CISSP exam on my first attempt but make no mistake---it was through sheer LUCK!

Out of all the questions, I only felt certain for about maybe 10 questions. The rest were all either worded really weird with vague answers where at least two could apply or the question was not clear enough to decipher a rational answer. I had to guess on ALL of those questions and used my gut to guide me.

I will say this then about preparing for the exam:
Knowing the practice exam questions/answers by heart and totality of material from the Sybex texts will NOT guarantee you to do well in the exam. In fact, you may feel you wasted your money by purchasing those resources—but make no mistake, you NEED those few resources to understand the mentality, concepts, and what-have-you from the text which are prevalent in the real world. I had an edge when taking this exam because my focus/specialization at university was in fact Cybersecurity. I was beat to the head with best practices, methodologies, and security concepts while studying there. So, you could say, in a way I did have my own prep-course of sorts which molded the "mindset" of what's expected out in the field. You won't need to memorize all the bloody laws found in the text, you shouldn't know all the protocols mentioned in the book, and you won't need to memorize all the many failures & side notes found in the book. The exam will not make you recite any special publication, but the important thing here is that you do know the different types of laws relevant to the field (i.e. civil, criminal, and federal). You should know what a converged protocol is and the relevance of the concepts found in those topics within the text. You should understand WHY a particular company like Sony received bad press for their obvious blunder and why the bad things that happen (per example in the book), happen. You should be familiar with WHAT a special publication is, what FIPS is, what a RFC is, etc. Does that make sense?

TL;DR:
You cannot cram the entirety of the book (Sybex) in your head with the way most of our brains work (i.e. word for word). Do not fret if you can't remember something super specific found in one chapter (or any for that matter). If you can't remember it, then try to at the very least understand the concept itself, understand why it's relevant, and understand it's ultimate purpose. Lastly, take my experience at face value. If I'm not mistaken, they put out different questions for each person and it isn't the same every time another person takes it. So, this is what I've observed from my time taking it in 2018. From what I've observed online, it seems that the vagueness in the questions and answers is almost a repeating theme across many test takers. That can validate the reasoning for not needing to memorize the crap out of the Sybex text. Yes, you WILL need to know some things by heart, and that's where the practice exams come in—but do not assume that those practice exams are the be-all-end-all. They are a reference and a reference only. You should have a good feel for all of the content found in the Sybex text and the practice exams; enough to get >85% on the practice exams and be familiar with ALL the concepts found in the Sybex text. Notice, I didn't say you should memorize EVERYTHING. However, you should have a good understanding of the CONCEPTS found in every chapter and know why they're relevant and where they fit in to the grand scheme of security. That's it.

I can say with mediocre certainty that if you have that pat down, you can be reasonably prepared for the exam.

The above was written from the perspective of a recent grad with ZERO professional experience but with plenty BOOK SMARTS. I cannot recite the contents found in the many, many formal documents mentioned throughout the book (e.g. white papers, publications, etc.), however, I can tell you what purpose it serves, the relevance of the subject found in the document, and how it relates to security (including purpose).