Passed my test 8-1-2013! High five's all around.
Gents,
I'm a lurker - but I paid great heed to the advice given here (and at cccure.org of course). My thanks for this site as a resource, the folks who contributed, and for the encouragement and advice given here and elsewhere. Place your hands on the screen, and give an internet high five.
As is the norm, here's what I used, and my thoughts.
I read:
Eric Conrad's 2nd edition book
Most of Shon Harri's AIO 6th Ed.
I read Eric's book first - great read. Shon's was later, and honestly, while providing more than you may need to know for the exam, is still a wonderful resource.
I listend to:
Shon's mp3 lectures on her site - they're free, and worthy of your time. Go get'em - play'em when you have time driving, or like me, whilst cooking or other mindless stuff.
I practiced with:
Cccure.org's paid test questions. Probably did around 3000 questions.
Transcender's paid test questions. Did all 900 easily, and probably a few more.
After i'd gone through most of those, I went here and did both tests - really decent questions, and hey, free!
Elsevier: conrad: CISSP Study Guide Certification
So I figure between 4000-5000 total questions I went through. In total, studying 5-6 days a week for about 4-8 hours a day, I started in early June and took it today - so...50-60 days-ish.
Study method:
After every chapter, I would hit up cccure and do a bunch of questions on the domain I just read. I did all 10 domains that way - to me, it helped reinforce concepts I just learned. After I'd completed Conrad's book, I really focused mostly on self testing, but towards the close of my test date, I started to read Shon's book - she gives more detail, but I can honestly say it did help on some areas - and having background is key to understanding the exam questions. You can't self test your way to victory.
So what's the exam like? It's kind of funny - after reading everyone's reviews of the test, and study methods, I couldn't help but compare my expierence - so I made some mental notes.
First, the exam isn't super techncial like everyone says. It's very much business/mangerial. You will see some techy stuff there, but it's in several domains, so you can't ignore it as a study topic. Also, don't get hung up on specific verbs or nouns as you self test - focus on the underlying concepts behind your self test questions - because you will absolutely have to logically walk yourself through questions that don't give a great deal of detail. Speaking of questions, the questions themselves are insidious. Allow me to give you this metaphor/example question:
1) Example Question: You're making a delicous peanut butter and jelly sandwhich. This is the best sandwhich ever, and you are looking forward to demolishing it. On one slice of bread is Peanut Butter, and on the other is Jelly. Oh, and there are some other slices of bread too. One has broken glass on it, the other is covered in Ebola. You don't want those.
Which slice of bread is the better slice? Peanut Butter? Or Jelly? Only one is the correct answer. The other is pain and misery. Choose wisley. Maybe some questions will ask you what flavor Jelly, but we all know grape is the best kind, from the missing 11th domain of knowledge in the CBK - Sandwhich Artist.
Best of luck to anyone taking the exam - if you work hard, and study and self test and push yourself, you can do it!
I'm a lurker - but I paid great heed to the advice given here (and at cccure.org of course). My thanks for this site as a resource, the folks who contributed, and for the encouragement and advice given here and elsewhere. Place your hands on the screen, and give an internet high five.
As is the norm, here's what I used, and my thoughts.
I read:
Eric Conrad's 2nd edition book
Most of Shon Harri's AIO 6th Ed.
I read Eric's book first - great read. Shon's was later, and honestly, while providing more than you may need to know for the exam, is still a wonderful resource.
I listend to:
Shon's mp3 lectures on her site - they're free, and worthy of your time. Go get'em - play'em when you have time driving, or like me, whilst cooking or other mindless stuff.
I practiced with:
Cccure.org's paid test questions. Probably did around 3000 questions.
Transcender's paid test questions. Did all 900 easily, and probably a few more.
After i'd gone through most of those, I went here and did both tests - really decent questions, and hey, free!
Elsevier: conrad: CISSP Study Guide Certification
So I figure between 4000-5000 total questions I went through. In total, studying 5-6 days a week for about 4-8 hours a day, I started in early June and took it today - so...50-60 days-ish.
Study method:
After every chapter, I would hit up cccure and do a bunch of questions on the domain I just read. I did all 10 domains that way - to me, it helped reinforce concepts I just learned. After I'd completed Conrad's book, I really focused mostly on self testing, but towards the close of my test date, I started to read Shon's book - she gives more detail, but I can honestly say it did help on some areas - and having background is key to understanding the exam questions. You can't self test your way to victory.
So what's the exam like? It's kind of funny - after reading everyone's reviews of the test, and study methods, I couldn't help but compare my expierence - so I made some mental notes.
First, the exam isn't super techncial like everyone says. It's very much business/mangerial. You will see some techy stuff there, but it's in several domains, so you can't ignore it as a study topic. Also, don't get hung up on specific verbs or nouns as you self test - focus on the underlying concepts behind your self test questions - because you will absolutely have to logically walk yourself through questions that don't give a great deal of detail. Speaking of questions, the questions themselves are insidious. Allow me to give you this metaphor/example question:
1) Example Question: You're making a delicous peanut butter and jelly sandwhich. This is the best sandwhich ever, and you are looking forward to demolishing it. On one slice of bread is Peanut Butter, and on the other is Jelly. Oh, and there are some other slices of bread too. One has broken glass on it, the other is covered in Ebola. You don't want those.
Which slice of bread is the better slice? Peanut Butter? Or Jelly? Only one is the correct answer. The other is pain and misery. Choose wisley. Maybe some questions will ask you what flavor Jelly, but we all know grape is the best kind, from the missing 11th domain of knowledge in the CBK - Sandwhich Artist.
Best of luck to anyone taking the exam - if you work hard, and study and self test and push yourself, you can do it!
Comments
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da_vato
Member Posts: 445
Congrats
and thanks for your review I'm sure it will help the next candidate. -
joedain
Member Posts: 25 ■□□□□□□□□□
First of all, congrats on passing....
Did you think the questions on CCCure or the Transcender more closely resembled the actual test?
Also, on the CCCure questions, what was your overall average? -
wapo
Registered Users Posts: 5 ■□□□□□□□□□
Sorry on the delay!
You know, neither resembled the actual test. Heck, if you think about it, if they did, then ISC2 would likely be quite irate and lawyers would get involved, etc., - so it's a fine line to tread.
I can say this though - cccure.org's questions were different in tone and demeanor from Transcender. For a while I would go back and forth between the two, and then I just stopped using Transcender, and focused on cccure. After i'd spent a considerable amount of time with cccure, for the heck of it, I went back to Transcender. I didn't do so well with Transcender at first - because the style and tone of the questions are different - your brain has to kind of re-wire itself to deal with the new question format. This is healthy for a serious test taker I think, because the actual test questions will induce the same disorientation you'd expierence shifting between self-test engines. And make no mistake - the test will throw you for a loop on question format and tone.
Ultimately, upon reflection, I passed because of self-studying like crazy, but also taking each part of the CBK in manageable chunks. There are 10 domains - if you took a few days per domain, and then moved on, that'd be a great plan. When you were done reading and doing some intital self testing about the domains, start doing random test questions in 50-100 lots, from every domain - and if you get something wrong, the next test you should take should be the ones you got wrong - learn why you were wrong.
But above all, don't give up. Hard work pays off!