CISSP study plan for exam in Dec27

maronvomra

Hi everyone,

Me back again after Passing SSCP at the end of Oct. Now after a month of vacation I just came back and started CISSP. My exam is on Dec27.
If it was my previous life (without getting engaged), I wouldn't have worried about this that much but now my time get diverted to another direction also
I am thinking about just only studying the AIO and the practice tests from cccure.org and other ones. Whats your suggestions? Should I go through the dummies/11th hour also?

Thanks.

JDMurray

You sure aren't giving yourself much time to study. Having passed the SSCP so recently gives you a big boost, but now you must give priority to studying the domains and domain material in the CISSP CBK that doesn't overlap with the SSCP CBK--and there's quite a bit of that. Consider that time is short, I would suggest going with the CISSP study guides that are the easiest for you to digest. If you are not a fast reader/learner, you might want to consider going with CISSP videos and practice exams instead of the heavier books.

maronvomra

Thanks for the suggestions.

I just finished the BCP/DRP of AIO and it took me almost 6 hours. But most of it I already had the idea from SSCP. Won't be lucky for all other CBKs obviously. I think, I will follow your suggestions and will finish the study guides first before hitting the big one and do lots of practice questions to shape my way of thinking.
We will find out I guess whether its possible to PASS by studying 26 days, in between works.

email2vm

Since you have already scheduled exam and you are having time constrains, I would suggest you to to keep a strict and steady schedule. Cccure is no close to real exam but they do help to strengthen basics from each domain. I would also recommend to go through CBK at least once.

maronvomra

Thank you for the suggestion. After I come back doing a 10hr shift duty I really dont have the energy left in me to open AIO. But I am trying my best. So far I finished reading the last 4 domains in AIo.this week my plan is to keep reading these 4 until get confident.
Next 2 weeks other 6 domains. SSCP is paying off here for some domains.the last week only dummies and practice questions and the AIO notes I will create now.
Wish me luck. Even though I can kind of see the result now..

email2vm

All the best mate. Do let us know how it went.

maronvomra

Have finished 6 domains so far and after each tried the CISSP practice exams book from Shan harris and out of my surprise I did pretty well. So now I am confused whether those 25 questions from each chapter were too easy or what !!

I am just going through pages after pages of AIO and its like never ending chapters in AIO . This week, I will try to take the main juice part out from AIO (if I can) and switch to guides like 11th hour and dummies and practice tests from next week (last week).

Ivanjam

@maronvomra - good luck on the CISSP exam!

maronvomra

Rescheduled my exam on Jan-16. After Christmas can't take the chance of hearing sad news..

Jake007

Maronvomra,

you will do well, the biggest advice I can suggest to you is, READ the questions a few times to get a clear understanding as to what they are ASKING you, do the process of elimination narrow it down to two answers and this will give you a better understanding.

Some questions like most test you will know the answer right away, others think about what they are asking you, they are meant to be misleading and have you pick the wrong answer.

You will pass it.

maronvomra

Thank you for the suggestions. I will try my best.

maronvomra

finally the big day is coming close again. No more rescheduling this time. I just want to get it over with now, no matter what.

3 days left, reading one last time all the chapters in AIO. Parallely doing some practice questions. Reading the Quick Tips from all chapters in AIO.

Lets see what happens on Wed.

Paperlantern

You can read 1100+ pages in 3 days? Kudos to you!

And good luck to you on the exam, may your right answers be plentiful, and your frustration be small.

maronvomra

couldn't take it anymore. Just finished 5 CBKs from AIO (crypto, bcp,legal, app. sec, Ops sec).

Won't touch AIO again unless couldn't pass. Moved to CISSP study guide by Conrad (latest edition).

Will continue with this until D-Day (watching parts of band of brothers in between studying):D

Jake007

Do the Test Banks.

Thistleback

Best of Luck on Wednesday!

maronvomra

umm... after doing some practice questions now I finally got confident that I will definitely not pass tomorrow for sure .. no chance ..

at least now I will know one way you cannot trick this giant ..

jm0202

I felt the same... but i passed.. just be confident and read the questions several times... good luck

maronvomra wrote: »

umm... after doing some practice questions now I finally got confident that I will definitely not pass tomorrow for sure .. no chance ..

at least now I will know one way you cannot trick this giant ..

Jake007

maronvomra wrote: »

umm... after doing some practice questions now I finally got confident that I will definitely not pass tomorrow for sure .. no chance ..

My friend dont sell yourself short if you do this, you will get very frustrated during the exam and it will just compound from question to question. Some answers will be very easy that you will know others will require some thought, just read what they are asking you vice what you think they want. Good luck take your time 6 hours is more than enough.

If you dont know it mark it and come back to it.... this is the BEST thing i did.. when i revisted the question the second time around the answer was very clear.

jm0202

How he exam was maronvomra?

maronvomra

as expected, failed with 677.

It was unbelievable .. 6hrs was super pain .. my eyes/head all were hurting ..

First round took me all the time so when I finished answering 250 then the time was showing 78:00 then I did my 2nd round and at the end it was showing 24:00. I knew I was weak in cryptography and that single handedly made this happen.

Now I know what to focus..

jm0202

Don't get dis heated man.
I would recommend you to read my post when I passed the CISSP. There is a SAN podcast on how to pass the CISSP and a document I found about the type of questions in the exam.

maronvomra wrote: »

as expected, failed with 677.

It was unbelievable .. 6hrs was super pain .. my eyes/head all were hurting ..

First round took me all the time so when I finished answering 250 then the time was showing 78:00 then I did my 2nd round and at the end it was showing 24:00. I knew I was weak in cryptography and that single handedly made this happen.

Now I know what to focus..

jfitzg

jm0202 wrote: »

Don't get dis heated man.
I would recommend you to read my post when I passed the CISSP. There is a SAN podcast on how to pass the CISSP and a document I found about the type of questions in the exam.

Could you provide the link for the podcast? I couldnt find it off a Google search

wes allen

Well worth the time if you are prepping for the test.

https://www.sans.org/webcasts/successful-passing-cissp-95594

emerald_octane

maronvomra wrote: »

First round took me all the time so when I finished answering 250 then the time was showing 78:00 then I did my 2nd round and at the end it was showing 24:00. I knew I was weak in cryptography and that single handedly made this happen.

Don't beat yourself too much man, seriously. Crypto kicks almost EVERYONEs behind unless they are some infosec prodigy (in which case, why take the test?). I think the official ISC2 material is best for this. All the other resources I looked at just didn't cut the mustard when it came to test time. Infact IIRC, there were three Crypto questions that I spent approx. 45 minutes on. I don't know if I got them right or bombed it but they ate me up.

However as the role of vpn/file encryption increased importance in my role @ work I can guarantee you it helps to know the differences and nuances. Being able to tune the various encryption options ("nah, we don't need that level of security since this is a low profile application so lets bump it down and save some CPU cycles". "Nah that cypher is outdated and unused. ask the vendor for an updated version.") is extremely helpful.

krupal_bhatt

What was your domain breakdown ? I.e. weakest to the strongest list ?

maronvomra

my breakdown was:
1. crypto
2. access control
3. s/w development security
4. Telecomm. & Network security
5. Legal, regulations, investigations and compliance
6. BCP
7. Security Arch. & design
8. Ops. Security
9. Physical security
10. Information security governance & Risk management

Jake007

Again, like has already been stated, we ALL didnt pass the first time around while thats a gratifiying goal; it will just prepare you for the next time you take the test. Now that you have seen whats on the test and the type of questions they have asked you you will be more prepared. Be advised that you will not see many if any of them same questions the next time around.

When you took the test did you get up and take a break? walk away from the test for a few mins?? this is authorized ..

Bundiman

maronvomra have you scheduled a retake yet.