Struggling big time retaining all the information for CISSP. Any tips or advice?

Last weekend I finished reading the Sybex book (it was brutal to get through), but I feel like I retained absolutely NOTHING from reading it.

When I did the end of chapter review questions I did perfectly fine on all but a few chapters, but now as I'm doing their online practice questions I'm seeing things that I have absolutely no recollection of reading.

I'm currently watching the Cybrary videos, and I'm listening to Phil Martin Simple CISSP whenever I can. Even with these, I'm struggling to remember anything I've seen or heard.

I'm constantly doing terrible on the Boson questions and the Sybex questions now. I'll read the explanations and just can't compute what I'm reading or even remember or retain it.

I'm desperately looking for advice or some tips on this. This week has been horrible for studying and I'm on the verge of just throwing in the towel and saying I'll just stick with my CompTIA certifications. I really want to get the CISSP certification because it has been my goal since I first started studying for security certifications, but now I'm filled with doubt about my actual ability to do this exam.

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kriscamaro68

I have been in the same boat before. I was studying for the last exam in the MCSA that I needed and I would read and watch videos and not remember a thing. I went and took the test as I had bought a voucher pack with retakes and failed all of them. I took a long break and bought a voucher again and didn't really get much study time in before hand, maybe about 2 weeks worth and passed. I think taking a break and clearing my mind and then revisiting the material helped a lot. I was able to recall what I had read and watched to an extent prior to because I wasn't trying to cram it all in my head in a short period of time. I just needed a break is what it came down to.

I actually found the material more interesting to study after the break to. There just comes a point for my anyway that it's just overload and I have to step back for a bit and come back and usually when I do I understand the material better and it just clicks for me after that. Anyway that's what I have done in the past and it may suck taking a break but sometimes it's just needed.

Pseudonym

Haven't done the CISSP, but I usually have to read material at least 5 times to remember most of it. I make notes after a couple of run throughs so I can just go over a condensed version usually.

Pseudonym

deathbatcountry said:

Last weekend I finished reading the Sybex book (it was brutal to get through), but I feel like I retained absolutely NOTHING from reading it.
When I did the end of chapter review questions I did perfectly fine on all but a few chapters, but now as I'm doing their online practice questions I'm seeing things that I have absolutely no recollection of reading.
I'm currently watching the Cybrary videos, and I'm listening to Phil Martin Simple CISSP whenever I can. Even with these, I'm struggling to remember anything I've seen or heard.
I'm constantly doing terrible on the Boson questions and the Sybex questions now. I'll read the explanations and just can't compute what I'm reading or even remember or retain it.
I'm desperately looking for advice or some tips on this. This week has been horrible for studying and I'm on the verge of just throwing in the towel and saying I'll just stick with my CompTIA certifications. I really want to get the CISSP certification because it has been my goal since I first started studying for security certifications, but now I'm filled with doubt about my actual ability to do this exam.

Also, don't quit. These higher level certs aren't supposed to be easy, it's what makes them highly sought after. Just persevere, you'll thank yourself when it's done. I remember when I first started studying for MCSA, I felt completely lost, every second word was terminology I'd never heard. My head was spinning every day of studying. Literally painful.. but I just kept trying to force the information into my head and eventually it went in. You can do the exam, just persevere.. It might just take you longer than you initially expected.

What you've got to remember when you see people saying they studied for and took these exams in X amount of time.. These people will have had a head start. Many of them will understand half the book before they've even started.

PCTechLinc

You won't see anything on the exam that is anywhere near what you get on practice exams. You need to understand the underlying reasoning behind each question, rather than focusing on the questions/answers themselves. This is a BUSINESS exam with TECHNICAL aspects in the solutions. You may get perfect scores on practice exams and then bomb the real test, or vice-versa. In my case, I was getting ~70% on practice tests, and I happened to pass on the first try. I used Sybex, Cybrary, Boson, and 11th Hour.

deathbatcountry

Pseudonym said:

deathbatcountry said:

Last weekend I finished reading the Sybex book (it was brutal to get through), but I feel like I retained absolutely NOTHING from reading it.
When I did the end of chapter review questions I did perfectly fine on all but a few chapters, but now as I'm doing their online practice questions I'm seeing things that I have absolutely no recollection of reading.
I'm currently watching the Cybrary videos, and I'm listening to Phil Martin Simple CISSP whenever I can. Even with these, I'm struggling to remember anything I've seen or heard.
I'm constantly doing terrible on the Boson questions and the Sybex questions now. I'll read the explanations and just can't compute what I'm reading or even remember or retain it.
I'm desperately looking for advice or some tips on this. This week has been horrible for studying and I'm on the verge of just throwing in the towel and saying I'll just stick with my CompTIA certifications. I really want to get the CISSP certification because it has been my goal since I first started studying for security certifications, but now I'm filled with doubt about my actual ability to do this exam.

Also, don't quit. These higher level certs aren't supposed to be easy, it's what makes them highly sought after. Just persevere, you'll thank yourself when it's done. I remember when I first started studying for MCSA, I felt completely lost, every second word was terminology I'd never heard. My head was spinning every day of studying. Literally painful.. but I just kept trying to force the information into my head and eventually it went in. You can do the exam, just persevere.. It might just take you longer than you initially expected.

What you've got to remember when you see people saying they studied for and took these exams in X amount of time.. These people will have had a head start. Many of them will understand half the book before they've even started.

Thanks! Over the last year and a half, I have gotten Sec+, CySA+, and CASP+, so I thought to go into CISSP I'd have a leg up. This is why I'm so frustrated. Some of the stuff I'm seeing in CISSP I feel contradicts some of the stuff I've done on the CompTIA side.

I think I will take a break over the holidays and come back to it. I had set myself a goal of taking the test by Summer, but at this point, I'm not sure.

deathbatcountry

PCTechLinc said:

You won't see anything on the exam that is anywhere near what you get on practice exams. You need to understand the underlying reasoning behind each question, rather than focusing on the questions/answers themselves. This is a BUSINESS exam with TECHNICAL aspects in the solutions. You may get perfect scores on practice exams and then bomb the real test, or vice-versa. In my case, I was getting ~70% on practice tests, and I happened to pass on the first try. I used Sybex, Cybrary, Boson, and 11th Hour.

I keep reading that regarding the practice tests and actual exam, which makes me even more uneasy. I had read a lot of people say that about CompTIA too, but I felt like those exams were pretty straightforward.

PCTechLinc

(ISC)2 exams are far from straightforward. I've heard a lot of people say that the questions were all over the place, and the answers were very close. In my experience, the questions were EXTREMELY to the point, but the ANSWERS were all over the place. The new format of CISSP is the CAT which is adaptive, so the questions get harder as you keep getting answers correct. You also don't have the ability to go back to a previously answered question. As with everything, your experience may be completely different.

deathbatcountry

The not being able to go back thing kinda sucks.

laurieH

In terms of retaining information and a study approach (rather than the materials themselves) you could find an article I wrote about the approach to study useful (link below).

tedjames

PCTechLinc said:

(ISC)2 exams are far from straightforward. I've heard a lot of people say that the questions were all over the place, and the answers were very close. In my experience, the questions were EXTREMELY to the point, but the ANSWERS were all over the place. The new format of CISSP is the CAT which is adaptive, so the questions get harder as you keep getting answers correct. You also don't have the ability to go back to a previously answered question. As with everything, your experience may be completely different.

You may get four correct answer choices, but you have to think about the one that is the most correct.

I'm in the middle of studying for CISSP. After many months of studying, I had to take a break. As others have stated, taking a break has really helped. I also study by domain rather than as a whole. Make sure that you know something about every bullet point in the exam objectives.

stryder144

I have been studying learning theory recently and it has been fascinating, to say the least. Most of us try to read the book all the way through and then get frustrated when we can't remember anything. Some quick tips from what I have been learning, distilled and using the exam certification context:

1. Use the practice exam questions as a starting point. Take a 25 to 50 question exam, do not look at the answers, just yet.

2. Think about the questions and the answers you selected. Try to put them into context.

3. The next day, review your answers. If you skipped step 2, this will not be as helpful, so don't skip it.

4. Review the sections of the book that correspond with the questions you got wrong.

5. Skip around when reading. This creates a more difficult learning experience but much deeper memory and learning occurs.

6. Rinse and repeat.

For further reading: Make it Stick: The Science of Successful Learning.

thaiguy314

I actually read through Sybex twice before I took mine but on the second run, I'd basically ignored everything I was comfortable with/knew and only took notes on what I didn't know/not comfortable with. I also took notes on questions I missed on the end-of-chapter practice tests. After the second run-through, I just concentrated on those notes and skimmed everything else. It helped me eliminate excessively studying things I knew and helped me eat the elephant one bite at a time when it came to everything else.

It was a long, tedious process but I was able to pass it on the first try. don't fret too much though, it can be intimidating but well worth it. I ended up studying for almost a year because I kept thinking I wasn't ready and scaring myself out of it 2 or 3 times but I think I was good at the 6 month mark. give it a try. the worst that could happen is you fail and know for sure this isn't for you and you stick with your compTIA certs. good luck!

adlinux

I've heard similar advice to what stryder said. Begin with practice tests, then read the book to strenghten the areas where you are weakest. It's the approach I plan to use when I finally get off my butt and study for the exam.