2nd times a charm
I just thought I'd share my experience with all of you. I took the CISSP twice passing it on my second try last week. Thought I'd tell everyone what I did to prepare for it. First time (Nov 2012) I went to a boot camp and crammed for a week solid and missed my goal with a 677......not too bad seeing as how I wasn't as prepared as I would have wanted to be. After I failed it the first time I took it pretty hard, but knew deep down that I wasn't ready but I didn't feel any better knowing that. Lots of my friends said it was a difficult test and most of them had failed it the first time too, some of them failed it twice only to pass on the third time.
Anyway after taking two weeks off and zero studying I did not want to let myself down again, so I hit the ISC2 official CBK about 4 days a week for about three to four hours each time from mid Dec - early Feb. The last two weeks before my exam I devoted to reading the book starting in the first domain EVERY day for about four hours and took every example test I could find. I have the Shon Harris book, but only opened it long enough to get the CD out of the back and use the practice test in it. I have to say they were more in line with the real exam vice the ones coming out of the actual CBK book. I had a decent amount of knowledge of all the domains (but specialized in only about four) so I had to LEARN a good bit in detail before I was comfortable enough to retake the exam.
The second time the exam was a breeze in my opinion but I think it was easier because I knew ALL the material inside and out. I probably over prepared for it the second time but I didn't want to retake it again because it was huge pain in my butt
The only advice I can give people is to NOT think technical and I think that is why I failed it the first time. You do have or should be pretty technical in mind to understand a lot of it, but you need to THINK like a manager as dumb as that may sound. Anyway, good luck to all and let me know if I can elaborate on anything I did to prepare.
Anyway after taking two weeks off and zero studying I did not want to let myself down again, so I hit the ISC2 official CBK about 4 days a week for about three to four hours each time from mid Dec - early Feb. The last two weeks before my exam I devoted to reading the book starting in the first domain EVERY day for about four hours and took every example test I could find. I have the Shon Harris book, but only opened it long enough to get the CD out of the back and use the practice test in it. I have to say they were more in line with the real exam vice the ones coming out of the actual CBK book. I had a decent amount of knowledge of all the domains (but specialized in only about four) so I had to LEARN a good bit in detail before I was comfortable enough to retake the exam.
The second time the exam was a breeze in my opinion but I think it was easier because I knew ALL the material inside and out. I probably over prepared for it the second time but I didn't want to retake it again because it was huge pain in my butt
The only advice I can give people is to NOT think technical and I think that is why I failed it the first time. You do have or should be pretty technical in mind to understand a lot of it, but you need to THINK like a manager as dumb as that may sound. Anyway, good luck to all and let me know if I can elaborate on anything I did to prepare.
Comments
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TeKniques
Member Posts: 1,262 ■■■■□□□□□□
Congratulations! You can never be too prepared for the CISSP exam
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moyondizvo
Member Posts: 155
Agreed with TeKniques... Congratulations
, I am sure anyone going in for the second attempt will find this post helpful.
