Passed CISSP after the third try
Passed CISSP exam after third attempt.
You may have seen this post at the reddit community, but just thought I post this here as well. I am happy to say that I finally passed the CISSP exam after my third attempt. I want thank God first and then this CISSP community for playing a huge role in my success on the exam.
5 years as an Information Assurance Manager. I first took the exam 2 years ago and failed the with flying colors. I studied using the Sybex book and completed all of the practice questions. I memorized answers of practice questions, thinking the sybex questions would be similar to the real exam. Oh man! I was super wrong and like I said before, I failed with flying colors. I studied for another year, and also enrolled in a 12 weeks virtual CISSP boot camp (weekend only). I took the exam early last year and failed again. However this time with some flying colors lol. I decided to take another break from the exam and put my focus on a different certification. I decided to take the CISM certification to put me in the mind frame of Senior Management/Risk Advisor. I purchased the online exam banks from ISACA website and studied for almost 10 weeks. I took the exam and passed. Then, I revisited the CISSP exam later this year and passed it (you guessed it) with flying colors lol. The materials I used for the CISSP that really helped me are:
Bosons: 10/10. No brainer, please purchase this software and complete all of the domains. Understand why you get a question wrong and especially correct.Try to see if the reason you get a question right or wrong matches the Boson explanation. Please make sure you understand what you are reading and be able to apply. It is extremely important.
Sybex Book 8th edition: 8/10. I used it as a reference point for topics I did not understand.
Shon Harris AIO 8th edition: 8/10. I enjoyed comparing the domains to sybex text book and definitely helped me tremendously prep for the CISSP exam.
Essential CISSP Exam guide (paper back) by Phil Martin: 9/10: Personally, I think this is one of the greatest resources out there for the CISSP exam. Concise, Easy to read with great explanations for all the domains. I highly recommend this book.
Shon Harris Audio: 10/10: listened to the audio everyday for 20 weeks. This audio related all of the topics to real life scenario, which helped me a lot on the exam. I am unable to post the link here because I just joined this thread. However, I was able to post the link in the subject line.
Advise: please understand that in order to pass the CISSP exam, you have to be able to APPLY the domains to real life situation. In other words, understanding the materials you’re studying is very important. But it is the APPLICATION of it that will help you conquer the exam. Please, for those who have failed, please take note of this and DON'T GIVE UP. I wish all the future CISSP exam takers the very best feel free to reach out for any questions or concerns. 
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