Against all odds: CISSP one and done!

JoJoCal19

First, I'd like to thank everyone in the CISSP forum as all of the threads and posts have been a tremendous help in this journey.

This has been a long and tough journey in passing the CISSP. It started about a year or so ago when I bought the CISSP AIO boxed set (ended up not using) and then the Conrad CISSP Study Guide. I started studying but ended up having to put the CISSP on the back burner as my bachelors degree was becoming more demanding with the difficult quant classes, and then my second daughter was born in November last year. In the beginning of this year I started my last course of my degree, which happened to be the second most difficult course. I graduated in May and immediately started over on my CISSP studies. Since then I dealt with the sale of our old house, finding a new place here in Tampa, and moving. In addition I also started somewhat mandatory overtime at work for the next couple of months. Study time was at a premium but I read about half a chapter in the Conrad book each day. I finished the Conrad Study Guide in about a month. I then moved on to reading the 11th Hour Study Guide as a more concise version of the full Study Guide. I also had a sub to the CCCure quiz engine, and purchased the Transcender practice exams. I did about 1000 practice questions between the two, however I felt the CCCure engine was too technical and the Transcender was ok but had a lot of questions set up with many multiple choice answers, which was unlike the real exam with its four choices. But the Transcender was ok. About three weeks out from testing I bought the Studiscope to see where I was at with regards to being ready, and to get a preview of what I could expect the questions to be like. I can say they did prepare me a little bit for what to expect, but I don't know if they are worth the price premium.

Back at the end of August I had to schedule the exam for September 24th, due to needing to get it done with so I can move on to other things. I ended up having to wake up an hour early before work to get study time in, which honestly isn't much study time. But that's what I had to work with. Then my wife and I had to go to NYC for a wedding two weeks ago, and this past weekend was my daughters third birthday so those two weekends I did not have any study time. On top of that, I hit that brick wall that I've read about here. Just not being able to focus or study and feeling burnt out. To top it all off I ended up getting sick this past weekend and was really sick this past Monday and Tuesday (my test day). The night before the test I barely slept and felt awful, especially upon waking. I lost a lot of my planned study time due to not feeling well and I thought for sure I was going to waste $600. During the test I was just not feeling 100% but tried to stay focused and took two water breaks to stretch my legs and recompose myself. I ended up finishing in 4 hours due to needing to rush the pace a little since I wasn't feeling great. I got the printout and folded it, waited till I got to the car and when I saw the congratulations I felt a huge wave of relief. It still hasn't fully hit me that with everything that happened and the slow pace of study as well as limited study time, I was able to pass.

Here is the short list of what I used to study:

Eric Conrad CISSP Study Guide (Read through once. Good book)
Eric Conrad CISSP 11th Hour Study Guide (Read about two times. Good book and to the point)
CCCure Questions (Barely used)
Transcender (Took about 800 questions through it. Ok resource)
Studiscope (Did all 3 exams. Good gauge of readiness and prep for some exam questions. Not sure if worth $$$$)

Total amount of study time and level of preparedness was not as much as I wanted, but I felt hopeful I would have a chance if only because I am an excellent test taker.

As for what's next, I was hoping to do CISM but I cant budget the exam, membership, and study materials for the December test. I've got the ITIL Foundations Essentials exam prep book and will knock that out in the next few weeks. Then in the pipeline I have CEH, CCNA Security, in no particular order.

chanakyajupudi

Congratulations !