Took CISSP exam 2/11 in Dallas
NiftySwifty
Member Posts: 19 ■□□□□□□□□□
in SSCP
So, I took my long awaited CISSP exam this past weekend in Dallas and thought I'd document my experience.
My background: 10 years as an enterprise architect working in the service provider industry, 4 years as enterprise architect in the financial industry and the last 5 years as corporate security officer for a credit card company
I started studying at the end of November, and read and studied the Conrad CISSP study guide cover to cover, along with various white papers and internet resources. In January, at the suggestion of a friend, I purchased Exam Cram 2nd edition and read that as well. Along the way, I had a copy of Shon Harris AIO that I used as a reference whenever I felt the other two books had not covered a topic well enough. With a week to go, I did over 700 practice questions with the Total Tester engine and I was scoring 85-95% on each domain. I read the entire associated chapters in Shon Harris AIO in the four lowest domains. On the Friday before the exam, I read the 11th Hour book cover to cover (it's only like 200 pages), just as a refresher. I feel it really helped.
For the first 2 months I was averaging about 2 hours a day. For the last two weeks, (I was between contracts) I was averaging 8 hours a day.
One good resource nugget I ran across was this one: Fundamentals of Information Systems Security/Information Security and Risk Management - Wikibooks, open books for an open world. It's a little light on detail, but is a very good review aid, IMHO.
I arrived at the testing center at 8:00AM. I'm a smoker, so I inquired about smoke breaks. Just an FYI: SMOKE BREAKS ARE NOT ALLOWED, and once you've signed in, you cannot leave. So, if you're a smoker, I recommend getting that last cigarette in right before 8:30 and then being the last guy to sign in.
One thing that was surprising is that they would not allow us to use our own pencils or erasers, we were told we had to use the ISC provided pencils, and there was only one sharpener you had to raise your hand to use, amongst 30+ people there. They also provided ear plugs to anyone that wanted them.
Due to the NDA, I was a little worried because I had no idea what to expect of the exam itself. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I found the vast majority of the questions to be very direct, and fairly worded. I don't want to give too much away, since I have now signed the NDA as well, but it didn't seem to be full of trick questions or anything that I'd heard from various folks. It's a pretty standard test.
I used the two pass method. I circled the answers on my answer sheet, and circled the questions I did not know. Once I had completed the test that way, I went back and *reread* every question to double check any answer I had already marked, and then made decisions on the ones I had marked for review. There were still two questions I was unsure after my second pass, so I guessed, marked the answers. I took 3 hours and 45 minutes. I actually considered going through a third time just to make extra special sure, but after almost 4 hours, I was completely drained. I double checked my scan tron, and did a brief sanity check of my copying by choosing 5 or 6 questions at random from the book and verifying they were marked correctly on the scantron. Raised my hand and turned it in.
Now begins the waiting game. I'll come back and update everyone when I get my results.
Study materials with a X/10 for how useful I found it:
CISSP Study Guide (Conrad) 7/10
Exam Cram CISSP 10/10
11th Hour 9/10
Shon Harris 5/10 (It's just too long and wordy, and too much fluff IMHO to use as a primary source. Used primarily as a reference)
CCCure practice tests 8/10 (Very good for checking your study progress)
Total Tester CISSP (8/10)
wikipedia and other internet resources (7/10)
Hope that helps! What an adventure, I really hope I passed, because I don't want to go back to studying 5 hours a day.
My background: 10 years as an enterprise architect working in the service provider industry, 4 years as enterprise architect in the financial industry and the last 5 years as corporate security officer for a credit card company
I started studying at the end of November, and read and studied the Conrad CISSP study guide cover to cover, along with various white papers and internet resources. In January, at the suggestion of a friend, I purchased Exam Cram 2nd edition and read that as well. Along the way, I had a copy of Shon Harris AIO that I used as a reference whenever I felt the other two books had not covered a topic well enough. With a week to go, I did over 700 practice questions with the Total Tester engine and I was scoring 85-95% on each domain. I read the entire associated chapters in Shon Harris AIO in the four lowest domains. On the Friday before the exam, I read the 11th Hour book cover to cover (it's only like 200 pages), just as a refresher. I feel it really helped.
For the first 2 months I was averaging about 2 hours a day. For the last two weeks, (I was between contracts) I was averaging 8 hours a day.
One good resource nugget I ran across was this one: Fundamentals of Information Systems Security/Information Security and Risk Management - Wikibooks, open books for an open world. It's a little light on detail, but is a very good review aid, IMHO.
I arrived at the testing center at 8:00AM. I'm a smoker, so I inquired about smoke breaks. Just an FYI: SMOKE BREAKS ARE NOT ALLOWED, and once you've signed in, you cannot leave. So, if you're a smoker, I recommend getting that last cigarette in right before 8:30 and then being the last guy to sign in.
One thing that was surprising is that they would not allow us to use our own pencils or erasers, we were told we had to use the ISC provided pencils, and there was only one sharpener you had to raise your hand to use, amongst 30+ people there. They also provided ear plugs to anyone that wanted them.
Due to the NDA, I was a little worried because I had no idea what to expect of the exam itself. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I found the vast majority of the questions to be very direct, and fairly worded. I don't want to give too much away, since I have now signed the NDA as well, but it didn't seem to be full of trick questions or anything that I'd heard from various folks. It's a pretty standard test.
I used the two pass method. I circled the answers on my answer sheet, and circled the questions I did not know. Once I had completed the test that way, I went back and *reread* every question to double check any answer I had already marked, and then made decisions on the ones I had marked for review. There were still two questions I was unsure after my second pass, so I guessed, marked the answers. I took 3 hours and 45 minutes. I actually considered going through a third time just to make extra special sure, but after almost 4 hours, I was completely drained. I double checked my scan tron, and did a brief sanity check of my copying by choosing 5 or 6 questions at random from the book and verifying they were marked correctly on the scantron. Raised my hand and turned it in.
Now begins the waiting game. I'll come back and update everyone when I get my results.
Study materials with a X/10 for how useful I found it:
CISSP Study Guide (Conrad) 7/10
Exam Cram CISSP 10/10
11th Hour 9/10
Shon Harris 5/10 (It's just too long and wordy, and too much fluff IMHO to use as a primary source. Used primarily as a reference)
CCCure practice tests 8/10 (Very good for checking your study progress)
Total Tester CISSP (8/10)
wikipedia and other internet resources (7/10)
Hope that helps! What an adventure, I really hope I passed, because I don't want to go back to studying 5 hours a day.
Comments
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bobbaphatt
Member Posts: 6 ■□□□□□□□□□
Just curious if you received your results yet? I took the 2/11 Dallas exam as well, but have heard nothing yet.
Dan -
NiftySwifty
Member Posts: 19 ■□□□□□□□□□
bobbaphatt wrote: »Just curious if you received your results yet? I took the 2/11 Dallas exam as well, but have heard nothing yet.
Dan
I actually called customer service yesterday, and they said the exams had not yet been scored, although she said she thought they would probably be going out any day. -
colemic
Member Posts: 1,569 ■■■■■■■□□□
Didn't notice this the first time around, thanks for an excellent exam experience writeup.
Working on: staying alive and staying employed -
CreativeITPro
Registered Users Posts: 6 ■□□□□□□□□□
Yeah - I found this post and also took the exam on 2/11 (in VA though....) No results yet.
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NiftySwifty
Member Posts: 19 ■□□□□□□□□□
I'm really hoping the results come soon (today would be ideal!), I'm starting to get antsy.
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bobbaphatt
Member Posts: 6 ■□□□□□□□□□
I had emailed them about it and got the same response, hasn't been scored yet, and it takes 4 to 6 weeks. Which is of course two weeks more than the 2 to 4 they happened to mention during the exam.
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NiftySwifty
Member Posts: 19 ■□□□□□□□□□
Results from the Feb 4th test apparently got mailed out on the 6th, which would have us getting our results tomorrow if they took exactly the same amount of time. I just hope it doesn't take longer than that...
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Ricky5chs
Member Posts: 26 ■□□□□□□□□□
There are people on this site that tested on the 4th that already have their results.
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NiftySwifty
Member Posts: 19 ■□□□□□□□□□
There are people on this site that tested on the 4th that already have their results.
Exactly. We tested on the 11th, so ours should come (hopefully at most) a week after the folks that tested on the 4th. -
shellee1983
Member Posts: 71 ■■□□□□□□□□
I am scheduled to take the test in May. What can you expect from the questions? Basically are they straight forward or like the CompTIA exams? -
footballmansmom
Registered Users Posts: 2 ■□□□□□□□□□
still waiting also....I tested 12 Feb in Reston.
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Ricky5chs
Member Posts: 26 ■□□□□□□□□□
It's crazy how some people get their results in as little as 10 days. Yet some have to wait 6 weeks. For 600 dollars I think the process could be a little faster.
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CreativeITPro
Registered Users Posts: 6 ■□□□□□□□□□
I'm beginning to suspect that getting results is a lot like having a band play an encore; the forums need to have a ton of noise for them to come out.
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colemic
Member Posts: 1,569 ■■■■■■■□□□
shellee1983 wrote: »I am scheduled to take the test in May. What can you expect from the questions? Basically are they straight forward or like the CompTIA exams?
CompTIA exams are VERY straightforward compated to the CISSP exam.Working on: staying alive and staying employed -
kalkan999
Member Posts: 269 ■■■■□□□□□□
11 Feb and still no results? that means at least another week for me...GOD, the torture. Last month, they were grading pretty quick for the January test takers. I wonder what gives? -
NiftySwifty
Member Posts: 19 ■□□□□□□□□□
I called again last night, just to check since I'll be out of e-mail touch most of the day, and they said the exams still had not been scored for Feb 11th. Argh!
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kalkan999
Member Posts: 269 ■■■■□□□□□□
I just called, because I could not take it any longer. Sometimes, I just have to take the chance that they have sent it out already and I deleted it in my spam folder. No such luck. This really nice lady was telling me that they expect Feb 11, 12 - 18 and 19 Feb test takers to be graded at the tail end of the 6 week waiting period.
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NiftySwifty
Member Posts: 19 ■□□□□□□□□□
Ugh, seriously, another week? Tomorrow makes 5 weeks for me. All of the other exams for the past several months have been coming out at just about 4 weeks like clockwork. A little frustrating, because after the results, it still takes *another month* to finally get certified before you can actually call yourself a CISSP--provided you find out you've passed, of course.
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kalkan999
Member Posts: 269 ■■■■□□□□□□
WE passed Nifty. WE all passed...we worked too hard, we are all very knowledgable, while allowing ourselves to be humbled by such a worth-while endeavor as perparing for, and taking this awful test. Be positive.
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jroach21
Member Posts: 6 ■□□□□□□□□□
Still...I do not understand what the hold up is. They are on a scantron form....it's one sided....I'm sure that as soon as it is graded, it can e-mail you the results. Can someone explain what they do with the results? I read something about doing an evaluation of the scores. Does that mean that they will curve the score if too many people missed the same question?
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kalkan999
Member Posts: 269 ■■■■□□□□□□
jroach...in Answer to your question about the curve. There is no curve. There are beta questions (the famous 25) that may not be used in future exams if everyone misses, but they ultimately do not count for or against us, I believe. They do send off scan tron sheets to a third-party company as kind of an insurance, I believe.
However, I do believe that there is a process we are not aware of that makes this last so long. I do know that they tend to want to provide grades for test-takers world wide, if possible. Overseas test packets must go through the customs of their own country and again through ours, which can take awhile. If, say, they wait for everyone, then I can see why it takes 4-6 weeks. -
LennoxR
Registered Users Posts: 6 ■□□□□□□□□□
Took the Orlando Feb 19th Exam ...Still no results yet! I guess results may not be out on Sat night or Sund..so I need to stay off mail:)
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kalkan999
Member Posts: 269 ■■■■□□□□□□
Hi Lennox...It's me Kalani. Still waiting as well. I called them on Friday afternoon. No results yet. But I remain cautiously optimistic.
