CISSP passed, but dont know how

oceanmars

Hi everyone!

 So, I passed my exam!  Don’t know how, but I did.  Below is my story.  I hope this helps those who are getting ready for the exam..and yes, English is not my first language  

 How it happened:

I was very grateful that my company paid for the InfoSec Bootcamp.   

1. 14 days before the bootcamp: read the CISSP Official Study Guide book cover to cover, answer all the "End of Chapter" questions.  Additionally, answered Domain 1 – 8  questions from the sister book, ISC2 Official Practice Test.  The average score for all domains was about 68%.  
2. Bootcamp week: took notes, and answer the 150 nightly test from the Sybex site.  The average score during the 1st try was 72%.
3. Day 1-2 after bootcamp: light review of the CISSP Official Study Guide book.
4. Day 3-7 after bootcamp: completed all 250 test questions from the Flex Center located at the InfoSec site.  The average score during the 1st and only try was 74% or so.  More light review of the CISSP Official Study Guide book for about 3 hours every night.
5. Day 8-10 after bootcamp: re-accomplished all 150 question test from the Sybex site (from step 2).  The average score during the 2nd try was 77%.  Review domains 1 and 2 of the CISSP Official Study Guide book.
6. Day 11-14 after bootcamp: watched most of the Flex Center videos.  I paid a lot of attention on the videos discussing my areas of weakness.  Review domains 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 of the CISSP Official Study Guide book.
7. Day 15-16 after bootcamp: got super sick, re-scheduled my exam for the following week.  Re-accomplished the 150 nightly test questions from the Sybex site.  The average score during the 3rd try was maybe 79 or 80%.
8. Day 17-19 after bootcamp (one day before my test): light review of the CISSP Official Study Guide book.  No more exams.  Stopped with the books by 1600 hrs.  Watched Star Wars Episode 7 from Disney+.  In other words, closed the book that afternoon to relax my mind.
9. D-Day, day of the exam: re-accomplish test #6 from the nightly test from the Sybex site, with a score of 83%.  This helped me to start-up my brain before the exam.  Drove to the test center and after a small prayer took the exam.
10. During the exam: took few seconds to relax.  Started the exam.  This is very important: give your best all the way to the last question.  It took me 2 hours and 40 minutes 150 questions!  Of course by this point I thought I failed, but no, I passed!!! 

Believe me, if I passed, ANYBODY can pass!  I invested over 13 hours per day eating, sleeping, living CISSP.  If you choose to do a bootcamp, reading the book and answering all practice questions before the camp will help you to get a basic knowledge of the material.  After the bootcamp you should take as many practice exams as possible.  The Sybex site and the Infosec's Flex Center questions were super great.  If you fail, don’t give up, this wasn't my first try.  Go back to the drawing board and try again.  Invest the time to kick @SS, this is for your future and your family future (well if you are married with kids like me).  Well that was my story.  I really hope this helps.

 

itdept

Congrats on the pass. What is your IT background and experience?
How much time and money would you say you / your company invested? Did you only spend 13 hours x 19 days studying or can you point to anything additional?

dinger68

Congrats on the pass!!

baghdaddy19

congratulations! and thanks for the write up.

LordQarlyn

Congrats on the pass! My exam was 250 questions and I never want to sit through it again.

oceanmars

Thank you.  itdept, the overall study time was about 33 days...an average between 10-13 hours a day: full day of study time on weekends and day offs, and chunk of 2 or 3 hours during working days (2 in the morning before work, 1.5 at lunch, and about 7 hours after work).  My company paid somewhere between $3.7K to $4.2K for the Infosec bootcamp.  My investment was minimum, mostly taking leave days from work to be able to study.  I was super lucky for this opportunity.  I know not everybody have the same opportunity.  My background is cybersecurity (3 full years now), RMF, IT project manager (12 years), CompTIA Sec+ (I think that is a good pre-CISSP cert), BA in Emergency Management and Masters in Cybersecurity.  No technical knowledge on switches, servers, or firewalls.  Something that helped me was to implement CISSP stuff into my day to day work routine: DRP, COOP, BCP and others.  Now my 2020 target is CAP, and CEH, with CompTIA Project+ on target for 2021.  

itdept

Why CompTIA Project+ and not something from Prince of PMP Institute?

Gonzo40

Congrats 

LordQarlyn

itdept said:

Why CompTIA Project+ and not something from Prince of PMP Institute?

I have to agree with itdept, CompTIA Project+ doesn't provide the same recognition as either PRINCE2 or PMI certs would. While PMP and CAPM have project experience requirements, PRINCE2 foundation does not. And as far as I know, getting Project+ doesn't directly help with requirements for PMP, though preparing or the Project+ exam may help with the PMI exams.