Passed 2/19/2019 (Thank God!!!)
Background
Certified Public Accountant with 6 months of IT work experience gained 4 years ago.
Passed CISSP exam in Jun 2018 and passed AWS Solutions Architect – Associate in December 2018.
Total preparation time: 3 weeks about 100 study hours
Currently held up in the company headquarter due to security clearance crossover and have been paid to study for the certs.
Study Material
Following are the study materials I have utilized and a review for each in a chronological order:
· ISC2 Official Study Guide – It was easy read but personally I don’t think it covered the testing material as thorough as All In One book. Questions on this book were way easier than questions I have seen from other books. Averaged 88%. (255 Qs)
· ISC2 Official Practice Test – Decent test but some of explanation didn’t really address why other choices were wrong. Averaged 76% for 6 domains and averaged 84% for the practice exams. (1000 Qs)
· EDSUM Practice Test – This was the complete waste of money. 90% of questions were from ISC2 official books. Do not use this!
· AIO Study Guide – I used AIO series books for CISSP and AWS Solutions Architect exams and always liked them and this book was not any different. I wish I read this book first. Averaged about 70% across all domains and practice exam (187 Qs)
o Total tester – Basically overlapping questions from the book. I wouldn’t bother to install
· Udemy Practice Test – Not bad for the price. Some questions were from Official Study Guide and AIO books but there were plenty of new questions. Averaged 78.25% (400 Qs)
· Boson Practice Test – I liked this practice test the best! Most of the questions had direct references to CCSP CBK book. Questions were very straightforward and it tests how much of the content you know and doesn’t really test your aptitude on the materials. Averaged 70% (428 Qs)
· CCSP CBK – Ended up buying this book 4 days prior to exam and read them all through. Definitely drier and more boring book then Official Guide and AIO books but it was worth reading. Averaged 72% (72 Qs)
If I can start over, I will read the AIO book first then read the CBK to close the gaps.
Test Day
Some of the questions were super easy and some were hair pulling hard. Questions were well distributed across all 6 testing domains and majority of the questions were testing the test taker’s aptitude on the subject. Took first break after 65 questions and second one after the last question. Took me about 2 hours to get through all the questions and I spent another 30 mins to review all the answers. I was confident that I passed the exam before getting the score sheet.
Conclusion
CCSP is definitely not an easy test but at the same time lack of experience should not discourage you from taking the exam. I believe anybody who is willing to give what it takes (i.e intensity, study hours) , one should be able to pass.
Good luck everyone!
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Congrats on the pass!!CISM, CRISC, CGEIT, PMP, PMI-ACP, SEC+, ITIL V3, A-CSM. And Many More.
