CISSP in San Francisco today

I finished my first (and hopefully only) attempt at the CISSP exam after a hard week of studying.

I spent the whole week in the official ISC2 bootcamp and felt that helped a LOT. I started out the week with a lot of confidence due to scoring about 80% on an assessment exam in the boot camp and immediately signed myself up to take the test on Saturday. I ended up later having my confidence struck down on Thursday when I did another assessment and failed by 2%. That prompted a little bit of an internal freakout on my part, but on the day of the exam, I was calm. I read through the questions, disregarded erroneous information thrown at me, and finished the test in about 3 hours. It might take longer for a lot of folks, but I've always finished exams fairly quickly and as far as endurance, I was fine with this one. I read each question, filled in what I felt was the best answer, and later came back to review my questions.

Since I don't have the exam results, I can't really tell you if I passed or not, but I have a good feeling about it. The questions are worded purposefully so not everyone passes and it makes you pay attention to every detail. Some questions may have two "correct" answers and you have to choose the best one. Some questions require that you check all your experience and reality at the door and answer according to what ISC2 wants, not what the industry would want. Because of all these things, I don't know if I passed or not, but if I did fail, it'll only be by one or two questions.

I know a lot of people have had a lot of different experiences with the training seminars, but that's where it really came together for me and the rest of my training class. It really depends on the instructor you get. I would HIGHLY recommend Gwen as the instructor for anyone interested in taking this test (you can call ISC2 or Training Camp and request times/dates for her classes). I went through ISC2 for my bootcamp and paid about $2100 for it. I got the basic 5 day 8-5pm class which went through all the domains, prioritized them, and gave a good training on the most important ones. For those of you with more money or a company that will pay, I would recommend Training Camp as they provide a 7 day class for around 4K which includes hotel, food, and a 7 day class which is the same as my class except they get evening sessions that teach what to expect on the test, how to answer the questions, question/answer tips, etc, a final day of review, and the exam included on the 7th day. Also, if you fail the exam, you get to go through the training camp again for a year until you pass or something like that.

The things that I used to study for the CISSP are the following:
AIO CISSP - It has everything that will be on the exam but the problem I found with the book is that it's wordy and gives more detail than you need for the exam. Practical for what you need for the job but impractical on guiding you for the specific things you need to focus on for the exam
Shon Harris DVDs - She's a very knowledgeable lady but she's a VERY dry presenter. Watching her videos made me initially fearful to put money towards a boot camp because I was worried the presenter would make me fall asleep
Official CISSP CBK - Good book since the whole exam is based on it but each chapter is written by a different expert so the writing styles vary for concise to all over the place. I still recommend starting here and then expanding out to different learning resources
CISSP for Dummies - EXCELLENT study guide for right before the exam. It's small, clear and concise. You won't find EVERYTHING on the exam in here but it'll help you as a last minute study guide
CBT Nuggets - I actually found this course pretty useful for reinforcing the books I was reading. I would have these videos playing in the background while doing other work and could still follow along with the presenter's style

I still have my "original" CISSP exam scheduled for July 23rd so if I fail, I can still prepare and take that one. If I pass, I can cancel the exam and get my money back. I guess I'll wait and see what happens. If anyone would like to ask any questions, feel free to post here

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Comments

bryguy

Sounds as though you were well prepared and have a good contingency plan in place... You don't find many folks who finish half way through the alloted time like you did. Did you perform the two-pass method, or did you go with your first answer?

Iristheangel

I went all the way through and reviewed my exam questions after I had completed them all. To be honest, I've taken many exams and I'm usually out before I hit the halfway mark. That's sort of the norm for me. I've only failed one exam in my life and I'm hoping a don't hit number two

clones2

Yeah - sounds like our experiences are pretty similar... I usually take tests fairly quickly and was a bit surprised this took over 4 hours. I went through it methodically the first pass, so looked at a few questions the 2nd pass through...but couldn't talk myself into changing any answers...

After this has sunk in...I wish I would have chosen a couple different answers... but I don't remember many questions where I actually had to guess. I am cautiously optimistic, but I know I made a dumb error or two...so it messes with you a little bit.

Did you change many answers your 2nd pass through?

Iristheangel

I only changed two on the second pass. It was two of those typical "best answer" questions where you have to make a judgement call to decide which one is more right than the other answer. I have no idea if I changed them to the correct one or not. I don't remember many questions either but that might be because I'm exhausted.

We'll see if I pass or not. I'm the same as you: cautiously optimistic. My trainer was EXCELLENT and really changed my perspective on a few topics that I thought I originally had down. That boot camp was more than worth the money I paid for it

trinity000

Good Luck. Hope you pass on your first attempt! I took my exam last week in Sacramento so I'm still waiting for my results as well... =( The waiting is I feel the WORST part of this whole experience.

cyberguypr

Best of luck!

Slowhand

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that you passed.

If nothing else, you couldn't have picked a nicer weekend to be in our little City by the Bay.

Iristheangel

It certainly was a beautiful day! I grew up here and my family still lives up here so I was able to visit them while I was studying like crazy. It was a challenge trying to study in a household filled with 5 teenagers

djfunz

I'm hoping the best for ya. What a day indeed! I went to Tilden Park today and enjoyed some Network Warrior.

vsecgod

Actually on their registration page, starting this year, they require individuals to wait 90 days now in-between fails.

Iristheangel

I have now entered that phase where I've started remembering some of the questions and Googled the answers. I've found 3 that I've gotten wrong so far. Sigh. This is going to be a long 4 weeks.

MickQ

Just as long as they're hte ones you got wrong. Here's hoping.

JDMurray

Remember that 25 of the 250 exam items are experimental and do not count in the final score.

Iristheangel

Got my survey today. Hopefully I'll get the test results next week. Fingers majorly crossed because if I don't pass it now, I have no idea when I'll have study time for the next three months.

nomadically

vsecgod wrote: »

Actually on their registration page, starting this year, they require individuals to wait 90 days now in-between fails.

Does the 90 day retake begin on the actual exam date or after notification of failing?

nomadically

Nevermind

I see it's 90 days between the exam dates. I didn't realize you can only try taking it 3 times in one year. I'm not expecting that to happen but you never know...

beads

The worst part is the waiting... and waiting... and waiting for those exam results while you question everything you remember. If memory serves it was a Thursday morning that I got my results.

Slowly gearing myself up to take the ISSAP concentration this summer while much of it is still fairly "fresh" in my head.

Warm regards,

beads

Iristheangel

My entire training class got their results today. Except me. Fudge.

dmoore44

Bummer - maybe tomorrow!

emerald_octane

Yikes that's gotta suck. Hows it looking for them? Lots of passes hopefully lol .

Iristheangel

The people I thought would pass passed and the people I thought would fail failed. LoL.
Sometimes you can tell who's going to have a tough time in the exam by how much they argue about the answers with the trainer. I knew some of them were going to overthink the answers/questions going in

spicy ahi

Ow. Well, at least you have another day to worry and wonder.

emerald_octane

Iristheangel wrote: »

Sometimes you can tell who's going to have a tough time in the exam by how much they argue about the answers with the trainer.

Doh. That's the first thing I learned when I first lurked these boards months ago:

The correct answer is the one (ISC)2 says is the correct answer!

Iristheangel

One of the cockiest guys in my training class ended up failing. He kept going on and on and on about how much experience he has, how wrong the trainer was, how wrong the book was, how much smarter he was, etc etc etc. Totally didn't shock me when he failed.

Still haven't received my results. I gave ISC2 a call and the lady just parroted the average time frame to receive the results.

rwmidl

I'm sure you have, but did you check your Spam box to make sure the results aren't in there?

Iristheangel

I always check my spam box

No, definitely not in there.

rwmidl

I figured you had, but had to ask

nomadically

Damn, hope you find out today. Maybe they held it back because you ace'd it and they have a special prize they want to give you.

Iristheangel wrote: »

One of the cockiest guys in my training class ended up failing. He kept going on and on and on about how much experience he has, how wrong the trainer was, how wrong the book was, how much smarter he was, etc etc etc. Totally didn't shock me when he failed.

Gotta love karma! somehow the bad eggs always get their comeuppance.

Iristheangel

It makes me laugh that someone spent over 7K for a training class only to argue with the instructor when they didn't like the answers. I guess he can afford to take the test again.

LoL. Speaking of karma, I'll probably fail after all my cynical comments

holysheetman

you should have gotten your results by now, I would hope.

I took the Infosec Institute CISSP bootcamp in San Diego, CA this last week and took the exam on June 2nd. Apparently we were the last batch to ever take the written "scan-tron" CISSP exams. From now on, they will be online tests only. I believe our proctors told us that VUE and Prometric are piloting the online versions now in select cities but at least it'll be instant gratification; either you will be extremely happy or really sad immediately.