My Certification Experience

From the moment you decide to pursue the certification until the moment you walk from the exam room, eveyone has a different set of experiences.

I found this site rather late in the study process and read messages and experiences about the exam.

I studied for a total of about 8 weeks. That may sound short to some, but I've been doing InfoSec work for a few years now and did not see a lot of stuff I hadn't run across before. The texts I used were the AIO and the Wiley Prep Guide. For my last two weeks of study, I put the books down and concentrated on the CramSession Study Guide and the Transcender practice test. In getting my MCSE, I found the Transcender tests invaluable but think that after taking such tests a few times, you see the same questions and tend to memorize the answers, rendering the test ineffective. With that in mind, I only use them in the final stretch.
The exam was held about 30 minutes from my home. I scanned everything one last time the afternoon before, got a good night's sleep and had a good breakfast, then headed off, arriving 30 minutes early. No last minute cramming in the car as I felt by that time I either knew it or didn't. The exam took me about 4-1/2 hours to complete. I read each question slowly, twice, then crossed out what I knew to be incorrect answers and if needed read it again before choosing the right answer. The worst part was when I found the pages of the exam booklet sticking together and three times started marking the wrong item on the ScanTron. I was pretty much ok through the rest of the test. When I finished, I quickly checked to make sure there were no blank items, checked my info on the sheet, and headed home. Like everyone says, I was wiped out by then!

Yesterday I got the confirming email that I passed.

The only suggestion I can give that hasn't been offered here much is to try and walk into the exam room as relaxed as possible. Don't play the head game on yourself to get so wrapped up in the pressure to the point where you are constantly second-guessing yourself on every question.

Now on to the ISSEP...

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Comments

gwamaka

Congratulations on your CISSP pass Lazaruslong ! I am also heading towards the same direction, I am starting with SSCP this summer and I am planning to do CISSP by the end of the year.

It is good to have more members on Techexams who have cleared the SSCP or CISSP tests.

LazarusLong wrote: »

From the moment you decide to pursue the certification until the moment you walk from the exam room, eveyone has a different set of experiences.

I found this site rather late in the study process and read messages and experiences about the exam.

I studied for a total of about 8 weeks. That may sound short to some, but I've been doing InfoSec work for a few years now and did not see a lot of stuff I hadn't run across before. The texts I used were the AIO and the Wiley Prep Guide. For my last two weeks of study, I put the books down and concentrated on the CramSession Study Guide and the Transcender practice test. In getting my MCSE, I found the Transcender tests invaluable but think that after taking such tests a few times, you see the same questions and tend to memorize the answers, rendering the test ineffective. With that in mind, I only use them in the final stretch.
The exam was held about 30 minutes from my home. I scanned everything one last time the afternoon before, got a good night's sleep and had a good breakfast, then headed off, arriving 30 minutes early. No last minute cramming in the car as I felt by that time I either knew it or didn't. The exam took me about 4-1/2 hours to complete. I read each question slowly, twice, then crossed out what I knew to be incorrect answers and if needed read it again before choosing the right answer. The worst part was when I found the pages of the exam booklet sticking together and three times started marking the wrong item on the ScanTron. I was pretty much ok through the rest of the test. When I finished, I quickly checked to make sure there were no blank items, checked my info on the sheet, and headed home. Like everyone says, I was wiped out by then!

Yesterday I got the confirming email that I passed.

The only suggestion I can give that hasn't been offered here much is to try and walk into the exam room as relaxed as possible. Don't play the head game on yourself to get so wrapped up in the pressure to the point where you are constantly second-guessing yourself on every question.

Now on to the ISSEP...

JDMurray

Congratz LazarusLong!!

Thanks for the nice write-up. It sounds like you did everything correctly and were rewarded for it. Do you already have your endorsement papers faxed off?

carboncopy

Congrats! I should be taking this here pretty soon

LazarusLong

I got my endorsement signed this afternoon on my way home and will be sending everything off in the morning.

Has anyone here completed the ISSEP? I know it will be valuable within my company. Is there a reliable headcount for how many have achieved it so far?

JDMurray

The latest member counts (Jan 14, 2009) shows 510 CISSP-ISSEP certifications, 486 of which are in the USA.

https://www.isc2.org/MemberInnerPage.aspx?id=3520&terms=counts

LazarusLong

There are 8 ISSEPs within my company. A reliable source here told me that there are less than 400 CISSPs in the company also. That sounds like a lot, but the company has over 100,000 employees. The main motivator for me getting the CISSP is DoD 8570.1.

UnixGuy

interesting

welcome to the forums

so what kind of work your company do ? seems like a lot of security stuff there ?

LazarusLong

I work for a defense contractor - a big one. We do a bit of everything. My particular business unit does provide information security services to a variety of clients. Given the current economic climate, I want to keep my opportunities as open as possible. If a contract position requires a CISSP to meet the 8570 requirements, I want to make sure I'm on the short list of candidates.

I heard an interesting story the other day that related to a Ph.D. within the company objecting to the requirements of the DoD directive, saying he/she believed that having a doctorate meant never having to take a test again and being very upset at the reply. Oh well.

Start studying, doc - or find another contract. ("What? Life's not fair? I never heard it's supposed to be...")

impelse

Congrats

I am planning CISSP for next year

unsupported

Congrats on the CISSP!

Welcome to the club.

UnixGuy

Interesting job you have there ! Good luck and keep pursuing certs