My Exam Experience
Yesterday, the day before the exam, I gave my brain a day of rest from 6 months of studying (Best decision I could’ve have made), I spent all day watching ESPN and playing with my son (my PTO day). We tested at the local Westin Hotel, I live about 28 miles from the hotel so I left my house this morning around 7am and arrived at the hotel around 7:45 (stopped by a waffle house on the way for a nice breakfast). Once I arrived, I sat in my car listening to some Smooth Jazz music just for relaxation. Around 8am I noticed other candidates arriving so I got out of my vehicle and followed. Our exam location was on the 7
th floor in a ballroom. Once on the 7
th floor, we proceeded to the check-in table with Identification and Exam Admissions letter. Once I arrived at my designated table which was in the back of the room, everyone had to place their items at the front of the room which everything except beverages, admission letter (two ISC2 pencils and ear plugs were provided by ISC2). The ear plugs came in handy due to distraction from people getting up for the restroom and other noises. After listening to the proctor for 30 minutes the exam started at 8:55 am est and the proctor stated the exam would end at 2:55 pm est. I wrapped up my exam at 1:04. I used the two-pass method while taking my exam. After the exam I felt pretty confident that I performed well, now the wait begins.
My PreparationMy Background
I have been working in Information Security since 2005. Just recently achieved my Masters in Information Systems Management with a concentration in Enterprise Security, and I can proudly say that the program at Walden geared me up towards this certification in the domains of Application Security, Information Security Governance and Risk Management and Legal Regulations, Investigations and Compliance. The other domains came from work experience.
My Action Plan
I observed the exam schedule on the
ISC2 web site early this year. I decided to give myself 7 months to prepare. Like
Commander Jameson stated the exam availability choice was either 10 weeks or 15 weeks away. But instead I wanted two ‘quality’ weeks per domain to learn, so I chose the one that was 15 weeks away.
Like
Commander Jameson I drew up the following timetable – and stuck to it, with a two year old son, lol!
Week 0 - Book the exam, read (ISC)2 requirements, order books
Week 1 – Information Security Governance and Risk Management
Week 2 – Access Control
Week 3 - Cryptography
Week 4 – Physical Security
Week 5 – Security Architecture and design
Week 6 – Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Planning
Week 7 – Telecommunications and Network Security
Week 8 – Application Development Security
Week 9 – Operations Security
Week 10 – Legal Regulations, Investigations, and Compliance
CISSP exam (9/17/2011)
I agree, “I know from past experience of exams that the only true way of assessing my knowledge is to sincerely take practice tests. I know people who skim read questions and look at the answers and then agree that they would have got it right, but I know it’s easy to delude myself when doing this” (
Commander Jameson).
The books that I bought were:
- CISSP All-in-One Exam Guide, Fifth Edition by Shon Harris
- CISSP Study Guide, Eric Conrad, Seth Misenar & Joshua Feldman
- Testout LabSim (CISSP)
- CBT Nuggets & Videos by Shon Harris (For reinforcement)
- CISSP Exam Prep Questions, Answers & Explanations: 1000+ CISSP Practice Questions with Detailed Solutions (SSI Logic)
