Test this Friday

I'm so stoked I could explode. I've been studying for a few months on this and have done the following:

- Attended SANS MGMT 414 6 day course (taught by Eric Conrad)
- CISSP Study Guide 2E - Eric Conrad
- Read back-to-back once, picked weak topics and reread multiple times
- CISSP AIO - Shon Harris - Cracked it open and read a few topics that were hard to grasp. I find it better to learn about topics from multiple sources
- CCCure exams - taken X number of quizzes equaling about 2,000 questions
- CISSP Study Guide 11th hour - Reading this back-to-back the week before exam (this week)

I'm average above 80% on the cccure practice tests and feel pretty confident. Let's hope it's not false confidence

I will find out on Friday, that's for sure.

After going through all the material, I have found that my past experience as a network engineer and other security certs I've studied for/taken (Security+, CCNA Security) have given me an advantage to comprehending some of the topics.

The weakest areas that I've known and have focused on are security architecture and design, software development security and legal, regulations, investigations and compliance.

My strongest areas are Network & telecommunications security, Access Control, and cryptography.

Friday morning will come quick, wish me luck! :P

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Comments

sigsoldier

Good luck!

da_vato

Good luck, sounds your well prepared and will do alright.

Based on what you said your weak domains this is the advice I have for you

On the legal stuff there will be nothing that is dependant on one country alone like sarbanes oxley but something that multiple countries entered like European Union definitely read another time if you can plus the digital forensics portion.

Your other weak domain go through the SDLC a few more times

f0rgiv3n

Thanks for the advice! I will definitely be diving deep on SDLC and the OECD and EU-US Safe harbor stuff. The different laws are where I've been weak and have been focusing on them.

To give you an idea of what my knowledge level on law before this: I never knew the difference between criminal and civil law

TBRAYS

How are you doing in Software Dev.?

f0rgiv3n

Oddly enough I understood it quite well, it seemed pretty black and white. A lot of the stuff on the software dev was new to me since I'm not really a programmer. It was because of this that I paid attention in detail to the material for OOP, interpreted languages, compiled languages, etc... I also lucked out with the database stuff because I took a database class in college which helped me with understanding relational databases, normalization, keys, foreign keys, etc...

The actual SDLC portion of software dev is pretty high level so it's not too bad to remember what RAD, eXtreme Programming, waterfall, sashimi, and spiral are.

I think that this has instilled a little bit more interest in programming than I've had before. I'm thinking I'll focus on a few programming languages after the CISSP, just so I know a couple!

The thing that's been really wonky (technical term) for me to comprehend has been the details of security architecture & design as it pertains to computer hardware & OS. Security kernel, reference monitor, ring layers, etc... It all seemed a bit 'out there' for some reason.

TBRAYS

f0rgiv3n wrote: »

Oddly enough I understood it quite well, it seemed pretty black and white. A lot of the stuff on the software dev was new to me since I'm not really a programmer. It was because of this that I paid attention in detail to the material for OOP, interpreted languages, compiled languages, etc... I also lucked out with the database stuff because I took a database class in college which helped me with understanding relational databases, normalization, keys, foreign keys, etc...

The actual SDLC portion of software dev is pretty high level so it's not too bad to remember what RAD, eXtreme Programming, waterfall, sashimi, and spiral are.

I think that this has instilled a little bit more interest in programming than I've had before. I'm thinking I'll focus on a few programming languages after the CISSP, just so I know a couple!

The thing that's been really wonky (technical term) for me to comprehend has been the details of security architecture & design as it pertains to computer hardware & OS. Security kernel, reference monitor, ring layers, etc... It all seemed a bit 'out there' for some reason.

I'm to keep it brief as possible so I won't violate the NDA, but make sure you get a good understanding in that domain because its increasing in popularity for test takers.

f0rgiv3n

Thanks for the advice TBRAYS, I'll be sure that I have a fresh review of that domain as well.

joebanny

f0rgiv3n, you sound pretty ready to me. You should come out victorious. My one only advice will be to make sure you're well rested and de-stress before the exam. Can't wait to hear your good news. All the best!

Thistleback

Good Luck Tomorrow!

bobloblaw

You got this. I've read your posts. You appear to have a solid grasp of the material.

Humbe

Good luck !!

f0rgiv3n

Yeaaaaah!!! I passed!!! It took me a solid 3 hours but I passed it

. It was quite a rollercoaster ride of concentration. Right around mid way through I was having a hard time mentally processing words so I was rereading questions many times over. Kinda like when you read a paragraph in a book and go "what did i just read?" yeah, that happened to me quite a bit. I remember a few times I had to reread it like 5 times (not exaggerating).

When I got closer to the end I got a bit of a spike in energy and focus so it got better

. MAN what a grueling exam!

paul78

Let me be the first to congratulate you -

Well done! A great way to start the weekend.

da_vato

f0rgiv3n wrote: »

I remember a few times I had to reread it like 5 times (not exaggerating).

When I got closer to the end I got a bit of a spike in energy and focus so it got better . MAN what a grueling exam!

I know exactly what you mean, happened to me too.

Congrats! now enjoy a personal favorite beverage and relish in you glory

Thistleback

Congratulations on your pass!