CISSP - Humble Beginnings

dinobot

Hello everyone,

I am relatively new to the industry and looking to pursue my Associate CISSP. Just wanted to thank you all for the knowledge base. This community is fantastic and looking forward to being a part of it. After some building off of "Passed" CISSP threads, I have come up with the typical "Harris-Conrad" combo. Looking forward to getting the text:

Eleventh Hour CISSP, Second Edition(Eric Conrad)
CISSP Study Guide, Second Edition (Eric Conrad)
CISSP All-in-One Exam Guide, 6^th Edition (Shon Harris)

I also have various free Practice Tests from other threads.

Here are a few of my questions to start off:

1) I know I have a lot of reading in my future, but are there any topics/material I could be lacking?
2) cccure seems to be another standard but being a paid test, I would like to know more about it before I invest into it. So questions are broken down by topic and full exam? How do users see how many questions they've gone through in the database?
3) Typically what is the consensus on SANS courses and courses in general? Haven't read many success stories outside tests and books.
4) (More for the recent success stories) How does the new format change in the exam effect my above agenda? Just curious as I know it's not all multiple choice anymore.

That should get us going for now. Thanks in advance for all your input!

cyberguypr

Welcome aboard. The answer to many of your questions will already be here so make sure you search for those. The resources you listed are a great foundation. I used the big Conrad book as my primary, Harris as secondary, and then Conrad's 11th Hour to wrap it up. You can always see the "Passed CISSP" threads here for additional resources that have worked for others.

In regards to SANS, the are highly respected by most. Yes, they are obscenely expensive but that's the nature of the beast. To this date it is one of the most valuable training experiences I've had. If you get your employer to pay for them, sweet! If not, there's always the work/study program which reduces the cost to $900. This includes the class, one attempt at the exam, and access to the virtual class and MP3s. Several of us here have done it and loved it. I've done it twice and hope to do it again this summer.