Abbreviations in the Exams

Hello Gentlemen,

Quick question : Do ISC2 ask questions with Abbreviations ? Or do they mention concepts in full forms ?

Find more posts tagged with

SAVE $250 on Your Boot Camp — Use Code "EXAM26"

Exclusively for TechExams members for Infosec Boot Camps starting before April 30, 2026

View Boot Camps

Comments

Paperlantern

Anyone answering this question would violate the NDA. Unfortunately you won't get an answer to this question on this forum.

krupal_bhatt

Isn't this just like asking if the questions are MCQs or descriptive ?

I know that ISACA clearly specify that they won't use abbreviations and hence my question here.

Commander Jameson

The questions are very fairly worded; if you don't know, then it's a gap in your knowledge.
The exam is not trying to 'trick' you, but it is trying to test you.

cyberguypr

I can't rember if it was the Conrad book or the Clement Dupuis videos but one of them says that acronyms are spelled out.

Edit: confirmed Sybex CISSP 6th edition clearly states all acronyms are spelled out on the exam.

krupal_bhatt

That's all I needed !!!! Thank you very much.... And BTW; TECHEXAMS Rocks !!!

swild

Knowing what the acronyms stand for is a major leap towards being able to pass on the first try (i.e., the RC series is Rivest Cipher; RSA is Rivest, Shamir, and Adleman (sp?); ACL vs ALC; PPP vs PPPOE vs PPTP vs L2TP; etc). I primarily used the CISSP Study Guide by Clement and cccure. That was more than sufficient for me to finish in less than 3 hours on my first try. The AIO guide is overkill IMHO. This is a tough test. Even people who have been in ITSec for 20 years or more see questions on this test that they are not familiar with.

Here is a decent page that I just googled: CISSP Acronyms Flashcards

Even though that has more than 100 acronyms it is in no way complete.

Just think of it like this: it's a $500 test and if you are asking if you really need to know something, ask if it is worth $500 to NOT know it.

If you don't have a safari bookshelf subscription, I highly recommend it. There are so many books available. While a book may not be rated well for being a complete study guide, it may have an excellent appendix of acronyms that would be nice to have without having to purchase the entire book. Safari bookshelf makes this possible.

krupal_bhatt

But if,as cyberguypr suggested the acronyms,are spelled out; why do we need to worry about remembering those ?

cyberguypr

Agree with swild. Dont get me wrong. The fact that acronyms are spelled out doesn't take anything from the fact that you should absolutely know what they mean. In many practice tests (and in real life) no one will spell out the acronyms. I see the spelling out beneficial for things like rule vs role based acces comtrol. That R becomes blurry quickly when the clock is running.

Dismissing acronym definition as non-essential is a big mistake. As Commander said: knowledge gap. In my book that is unacceptable.

krupal_bhatt

It seems my statement didn't convey the right message. My message was to not put any special efforts in specifically remembering the acronyms but surely in most cases you would remember e.g. DES/AES etc. and it is given that you are required to understand fully.

Let me know if you would suggest putting special efforts in remembering all the acronyms that I may come across while studying.

Dagisto

Commander Jameson wrote: »

The questions are very fairly worded; if you don't know, then it's a gap in your knowledge.
The exam is not trying to 'trick' you, but it is trying to test you.

This is something I also discovered while doing the SSCP exam. If I did not read the book as good as I did, I would never pass the exam.

Very true words.

If you learned and trained enough the answer you seek would not be needed.