CISSP - Passed

Hi everyone, I have been following this site for over 6 months now and thought I would mentioned that I passed the exam a few days again. Still can't believe its over...I'm some glad.
I started studying about a year and half ago, by reading the official text book from isc2. Then I saw that there was a CISSP for Dummies...I thought to myself why not...it was actually pretty good reading. Then I came across the "sunflower" pdf document....then I decide to take a bootcamp. That was the hardest bootcamp I've ever done and hoping not to ever do one again! Course went from 8am to 7:30pm-8pm, then you had to review notes and test questions. I was going to bed at 12am-1am. 18hrs days
Now the exam, it took me the full 6hrs. Half way thru the exam I calculated I would only have 20minutes to review when finished so I started going to little bit fast on the last 125 questions. I finished with 30minutes left, I had 3 unanswered and approx. 45 to review. Out of the 3 unanswered, the first one was a lot of reading, answered it then guessed the 2 next ones. I had time to review approx. 20. I felt good about my answers and only guessed 2 out of 250 questions.
Here are a few suggestions:
Be prepared, this is not an easy exam...if you take a bootcamp, be prepared for lots of writing, the instructor knew his stuff and had the ability to present it with scenarios.
The exam is tricky, the trick I used was when I picked an answer, I verified that it supported the other answers
Don’t hit start as soon as you enter the test center. Sit down, relax, adjust your chair, monitor, keyboard and mouse..i waited approx. 5 minutes before starting
Take a break every hour, I took 3-4 minutes per hour…quick bathroom break, grab some water and a little snack
Hope some of my experience is helpful to others. How long does the endorsement usually take? I’m hoping to send all my paper work next week.
Sbishop

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Comments

vasyvasy

Well done!
I've just taken the CISSP test yesterday and passed also

It's a beast of an exam, mostly for me because there were so many questions... after approx 150q I had to take a 15min break because I felt like I couldn't focus on the words

Best of luck!

sigsoldier

Congrats to both!

aftereffector

Congratulations! I hope to be able to say the same someday

billyr2009

Congrats to you both on passing! vasyvasy how long had you been studying for and what were your study materials?

cyberguypr

Congrats!

vasyvasy

@billyr2009
I have been studying for about 2 months, using mainly the AIO and Eric Conrad
A week before the exam, I forced myself to take 100+ mock exams every day, from cccure.org and AIO TotalTester, just to fight my ADD-like personality

Chivalry1

Congrats on your pass...whats next not the list?

billyr2009

Thanks for the response vasyvasy. Just one more question. How much Security experience do you have?

sbishop309

Just wondering what cert do you guys go after once you have your cissp? NOT that i'm thinking of studying, this week, month or even year....just wondering

CyberSecurity

sbishop309 wrote: »

Just wondering what cert do you guys go after once you have your cissp? NOT that i'm thinking of studying, this week, month or even year....just wondering

Good question, no idea! I just recently passed and am deciding between CEH just for fun, CCNA, GCIA, GCIH... anyone else have any tips on what is best for someone wanting a technical basis first and later becoming a manager?

vasyvasy

I personally will go for more technical subjects (either certifiable or not)
For example, OSCP and a little more focus on ISO27k auditing
Maybe go a little horizontal, towards ITIL/20k

@billr2009, I have approx 5yrs experience with networking, IT systems operations and security auditing
English not being my mother tongue, it was quite difficult to understand the questions at CISSP

Chivalry1

sbishop309 wrote: »

Just wondering what cert do you guys go after once you have your cissp? NOT that i'm thinking of studying, this week, month or even year....just wondering

After earning my CISSP, I decided to write the CEH which was a great technical certification. Recently finished the ITIL V3 Foundation which was a great management certification. Think I will jump back over to the technical side and do a RedHat certification RHCSA. I have tons of Linux experience but no certification to reflect that. After which I may seek one of the CISSP concentrations (ISSAP).

maharaliel

Cangrats.