Passed SSCP!

I passed the SSCP this morning! I know it doesn't seem to be a very popular item on here, but I figured I would throw out some info for those that may be looking at it.

Study Materials: I used 3 things: LabSim (outdated a little), Darril's AIO, and I skimmed about 3 domains in the Official Guide from ISC². The LabSim was okay and more technical than Darril's book. Darril's book was easy to read, follow, and understand. I was getting very confident in my knowledge until the official book arrived on Tuesday (free when I scheduled the exam). After skimming through the Access Controls domain I felt inadequate in what I had covered. I was able to skim the next 2 domains before I took the test this morning.

Exam Experience: Overall, the exam I took was not as technical as I anticipated. It was definitely more conceptual and only about 5 scenario questions. I ended up making 2 comments as to my interpretation of the question. For example, in regards to preserving a log? Do they mean to be able to keep it for availability for protect it's integrity?

On my first pass through the exam I marked 35-40 questions for review and 17 questions I wasn't even able to answer (hadn't really covered those specific topics in my reading). However, I was able to narrow down the options and make educated guesses and felt much more confident on my 2nd pass through. I could feel my heart pounding when I clicked the button to complete the exam and this is just the SSCP, not the CISSP!!! LOL

Recommendation: For those of you looking for materials, I definitely recommend Darril's book. It was an easy read but it also explained things very well. However, after just glancing over the official guide, I definitely recommend going through that as well, just expect to have to read and reread things a few times and it can be hard to understand at times. At least it was for me.

Good Luck to anyone else that is looking to take this exam and then move on to the CISSP when they are ready (as I will do in the next few years).

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Comments

kdotnoh

congratulations

Heny '06

Congrats I have read Darril's AIO book 2 times now, and have read half of the official ISC2 book. I plan on taking this test also. What was the greatest tool that help you past. Any particular domains that they hit you heavy on? Congrats!!!!

Keener

Heny '06 wrote: »

Congrats I have read Darril's AIO book 2 times now, and have read half of the official ISC2 book. I plan on taking this test also. What was the greatest tool that help you past. Any particular domains that they hit you heavy on? Congrats!!!!

Actually, from my memory, no 1 topic or domain had a ton of questions about them. I felt it was pretty evenly distributed. I expected more questions on the different key lengths and algorithm bases than what I received (can't think of any of the top of my head). There were a couple of SDLC questions that were a little more in depth than what Darill covered, a couple of Incident response questions that were more in depth, some wording differences that made some vulnerability assessments and penetration testing that made them a little difficult to understand. Then there were the few questions that I felt I had to interpret what they were asking as interpreted one way 1 of the answers was correct. Interpret the question a different way and I can see a different answer being correct.

As long as you follow Darril's advice and understand the "why" and the overall concept, you can narrow things down and make educated guesses. That is what helped me out.

Here was my study process. I went through the LabSim first. Then I went through Darril's book 1 time. I did all the end of chapter questions. I then went over the notes and only focused on the areas where I knew I had problems/difficulty remembering properly. I wrote those notes out again including the steps in the different processes (risk assessment, BCP, SDLC, etc.). I then went through the CIB in the front of Darril's book and then skimmed the sections mentioned next to each line item (again, focusing on the areas that was weak at). I then went through the practice exam that came with the AIO. About this time is when the ISC² guide arrived. I was only able to skim a few things but I wanted to focus on the end of domain questions in the official guide since they were more difficult.

I would finish the official guide and then primarily focus only on the areas you are weak at for further study. Since you have already taken the Security+ you should be good on a lot of the material since there is quite a bit of overlap in my opinion.

Good Luck and I look forward to seeing your "Passed" thread!