Tips Tricks and Resources for Passing CISSP

gary63087

Without being too wordy and wasting your time I put together a few points that helped me and included hyperlinks to my most used resources. Like many others I came out of there feeling unsure but I passed the first time (1/8/14). I had lots of time to study (2.5 month layoff) and it took discipline and dedication to sit down and learn for 10+ hours a day. Some people can go in there and pass with minimal study time, don’t be over confident, just be prepared.

1. Skip Shon Harris all together unless you have a year plus to dedicate toward studying
2. Make sure you are using up-to-date resources (I personally didn’t go older than 2011)
3. Do practice questions every day, and don’t forget to make yourself suffer through a few 250 question mock exams, it is similar to putting yourself through the real deal
4. Find a friend that is also studying for the test, keep each other honest and focused
5. Make flash cards for your weak areas, don’t make them for things you already know by heart (waste of time)
6. Use multiple resources and have them consume you wherever you go (bathroom, audio in the car, Plex/XMBC, Google Drive, on your phone, etc.)
7. Check into these forums and see what others are saying (remember: up-to-date stuff), I stalked them and got a lot of good intel for the test. Pick peoples’ brains that recently took the test.
8. If you haven’t heard, the questions on this test suck and the test writers probably aren’t people you would want to be friends with. Expect them to know what people are going to try and skip when studying; stupid stuff like sprinkler systems and fire extinguisher types. Yeah, for real.
9. You’re paying $100 an hour to take a 6 hr test. Why not utilize all your time and money? Knock out the gimme questions first, utilize your breaks when you need them (take them), then go back and crush the rest.
10. Lastly, get good a good night’s rest, big healthy breakfast, do some Lumosity to get your brain synapses firing off, pack some snacks, and get there early (plan for the unexpected, i.e. traffic)

Resources:

Safari Books (military have this through AKO and usually don’t know about it, also if you know someone in the military they can sponsor you for an AKO account): From most to least used…
· Eleventh Hour CISSP, 2^nd Ed.
· CISSP Study Guide, 2^nd Ed.
· CISSP for Dummies, 4^th Ed.
· CISSP Practice Questions Exam Cram, 3^rd Ed.
· CISSP Practice 2,250 Questions, Answers, and Explanations for Passing the Test
· CISSP Practice Exams
· CISSP Rapid Review
· CISSP Cert Guide

Hyperlinks (make a bookmark folder just for CISSP:
Test Questions:
https://www.freepracticetests.org/quiz/index.php
Elsevier: conrad: CISSP Study Guide Practice Exams
McGraw-Hill Education | CISSP Practice Exams
Certification Central - CISSP

Good **** Sheet:
http://www.lawrencepingree.com/security/free-cissp-study-guide-the-ten-domains-of-security/

Flashcards:
CISSP - Practice flashcards | Quizlet
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bh.superflashcard.cissp.android
cissp Flashcards - Cram.com
Flashcards about CISSP

Other:
http://durkcissp.wikispaces.com/file/view/WP_CISSPQuestions.pdf
How to Pass Certification Exams | ITauditSecurity
Free training for CISSP certification exam
https://www.sans.org/webcasts/successful-passing-cissp-95594
Elsevier: conrad: CISSP Study Guide Podcasts
My CISSP Experience - A Study Plan Memoir
Become (and stay) a CISSP on a Budget

CBT Nuggets for CISSP
Shon Harris Videos (still painful but better than her books)

Falcon56

For your first post, you sure came out with all guns blazing Thank you for taking the time to write this up and share it. I am tentatively going to take the exam in mid-April and I can tell you this information will be part of my preparation!

ash.mur

Thanks a lot for posting these valuable resources. I shall be taking the exam next monday 3rd Feb. Hope these review of these resources would help and i wish i would come with flying colors. BTW its my second attempt (696 in my first attempt).

sojourn

This is truly fantastic, thank you.

cgrimaldo

Thanks for the resources!

blackberrycubed

Thank You Sir!

Glorioso

Great compilation. Thank you very much for sharing.

danny069

Hey thanks a lot for this post I am going to study for the CISSP after my CCNA.

ikim

Thank you

It is really great tips!

j.petrov

Congrats, and fantastic write up! I'm sure those that are studying for this exam will find all the links extremely helpful. Thanks for sharing.

Mango_Man

Great set of resources. Thanks a lot for sharing them .