Bit fed up: My Boson Scores

I did about 3 month study between January - March and then for numerous reasons had a break.
I've now done another 6 weeks study and felt I was making lots of progress and learning tons.
I'm listening to MP3s constantly
I have read the Sybex book and about 80% of the big Conrad book

I am also doing 100 Boson questions every week, but my scores have been

Week 1: 67%
Week 2: 63%
Week 3: 62%
Week 4: 63%
Week 7: 65% (today)

Very fed up as I was expecting to see a nice gradual increase from 67% up to 80+

I was actually hoping to move the exam date forward as I felt I may burn myself out if I over study and miss the right moment to take the exam. Now I'm not sure, now I think that I'm nowhere near ready as my grades are just virtually the same every week.

Any thoughts on this or experiences?

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Comments

thomas_

To he honest, most of the tests I take my test scores aren’t super great. I just read the explanations and find out if I reasoned correctly for the answers I got right and figure out why I picked the wrong answer on the questions I got wrong.

I tend to take practice exams at the end of my study plan and usually by that point I’m kind of tired of studying for the test and will book the examand take it.

Make a study plan, stick to it, and one you’re at the end of it take the test.

Info_Sec_Wannabe

When I was preparing for the exam myself, I used the Shon Harris and Sybex practice questions and I'm not doing so great myself (~60% to ~70%) so don't be discouraged. So long as you feel that you understand the concepts and keep a manager mindset when approaching the questions, you should be fine.

You can also think of it this way, it's so much better that you got those wrong in your practice exams rather than on the actual.

Good luck!

TeeDarling77

I can see why you're a bit fed up with this. I did Boson and I was hoping it will help me out. Boson is still great with the way they explain things with their products. One thing I have noticed with the CISSP exam is that, they set up the exam to fail a lot of people and that's not fair. The books they recommend you to buy and read do not help most people to pass the test. It's like they want to make money out of the people. If your job does not require you to take this exam, do not take it. Good luck to those who take it and pass on their first try.

When I took it and failed, I came out and researched on some of the questions I remember during the exams. I couldn't believe where I found some of the answers. Most of the answers came from some articles some of these security experts have written and posted out there. Security related articles! And I believe most of these authors write the questions for ISC2. There are some questions that if you have read the ISC2 Official Guide 4th Edition into detail, you can answer without doubt. But it's just annoying to find out that,that book alone or the Sybex 7th or 8th Edition of the CISSP Guide is not going to help you to pass no matter how you understand the concept. It's not hard to understand the concept when you read these books or the Shon Harris All-One-One CISSP Study Guides. It's not hard. It's just the way they twist the question to confuse you and the answer you know you're familiar with in the those recommended books is not gonna be one of those when you take the test. You can read about each domain and understand the concept alright. It's how they twist the question and I bet you when you come out of the exam room, you will not find the answer even in the book they recommended you to spend your money on and study. That's not fair to the security professional! That makes the exam looks like a SCAM!

My tip for those still studying for this test is to read the NIST guides and also SAN guides from the Information Security Institute.

In the near future, I will write about why this CISSP is fair or not to the security professionals out there.

shochan

So, how many months have you been studying this??...Not sure if I recall from your OP that I have been following...If I was taking the CISSP then it would take me over a year to fully be ready for it...some people can just know it or memorize it, but I like to take my time & know the material before testing on it. IMO, I would postpone until you are getting 90%+ in all domains.

CyberCop123

Thanks for all your replies and your advice.

My exam is 10 Days away now, on 6th December. I feel very nearly ready, despite my Boson scores. I've realised that there is a lot within those questions that is on the extreme end of the spectrum and I know many that have also had the same issue as I have.

Many of the questions is on content NOT in the Sybex book and some even not in the Shon Harris book.

I will give it my best shot, but honestly, I can't wait any longer, I just want to have a go

H-bomb

I wouldn't sweat it. I think the Boson questions were harder than the real thing.