Seeking Guidance CISSP - 2014

rocky_john

Hi Guys,

I am John and I have nearly seven years experience in IT Security. I have been looking at this exam as a task that is very difficult and not achievable. Few days ago I just made a decision and set my goal to attempt CISSP. I also booked my exam(4 months from now).

I am aiming to clear CISSP exam in my first attempt.

Request some experienced folks to guide me through my below plan:

PLAN:
> Going through One domain at a time
> Going through nuggets CISSP nuggets Shawn Harris 2007
> Roughly going through CCCure questions
> Reading (All in One CISSP Exam Guide 6th Edition Shawn Harris)
> Reading (Eric Conrad - CISSP Study guide)
> Reading (The CISSP Preparation Guide - 2nd Edition - Ronald Krutz)
> Going through the blueprint if any topics missed(reading online if any missed topics)
> Again going through CCCure questions


Additionally,

I would also need some tip on how to tackle/distinguish between similar looking answer for the same question.

Also I would need the best resource to find current occurring attacks/trend in Security so that my current affairs is up to the mark.

Thank you.

BGraves

Hey, welcome and best of luck on your studies!

I don't have much to say about your plan, it seems solid enough. If I was going to be picky, I'd say leave your practice questions for closer towards the end after you've gone through most of the reading, so they can highlight areas you may need to go back and review. Flashcards helped me quite a bit, I think I had a couple hundred by the time I was done. Also, use the CCCure questions to mimic a real 250 question exam. Do that a few times before the actual exam and it will help you mentally to not be exhausted (by the amount of questions/time it takes )on the real exam. Give your brain a break for a day or two before the exam too, light review no cramming.

Since there was a recent post on here about failing, study and learn the material that the CBK's cover. Don't just memorize answers to practice questions.
This is a tough exam but preparing well and sticking to your plan will pay off.

zxbane

OP,

Everything BG says is spot on, you have a solid list of study materials, and it includes basically everything that most people on here recommend using. As BG says, do a couple mock 250 Q tests prior to sitting for the actual exam so you are prepared for that length of testing. One thing I didn't see mentioned is the Sunflower CISSP PDF that is talked about on this forum, I don't have a link on hand but I am sure others will chime in with it, I found it very useful for doing last minute memorization of key terms and concepts.

Jonnyg

BGraves wrote: »

Hey, welcome and best of luck on your studies!

I don't have much to say about your plan, it seems solid enough. If I was going to be picky, I'd say leave your practice questions for closer towards the end after you've gone through most of the reading, so they can highlight areas you may need to go back and review. Flashcards helped me quite a bit, I think I had a couple hundred by the time I was done. Also, use the CCCure questions to mimic a real 250 question exam. Do that a few times before the actual exam and it will help you mentally to not be exhausted (by the amount of questions/time it takes )on the real exam. Give your brain a break for a day or two before the exam too, light review no cramming.

Since there was a recent post on here about failing, study and learn the material that the CBK's cover. Don't just memorize answers to practice questions.
This is a tough exam but preparing well and sticking to your plan will pay off.

This is all good advice. You really do need to know the CBK in order to pass. Anyone who can't honestly tell themself they know the bulk of the CBK is very likely to not pass. Use multiple reading sources and many practice questions/flashcards to really know what is listed in the CBK and, perhaps some of the best advice listed above, rest before the exam. Going in well-rested will do wonders for you, but only if you put in the time and effort to master the CBK first. Just set out your plan, stick to it, and stay honest with yourself about your level of knowledge and preparedness and you will be fine.

philz1982

How do you best learn? Do you learn from doing, seeing, or hearing? Build your study plan around that. I learn from seeing:

I spent 4 days of vacation and read Eric's two books,read SAN's articles, took a bunch of practice exams and memorized the Kali diagram. To me the Harris book was to dry, long, and wordy.

You can find plenty of free questions so I wonder about the value of CCURE? I never used it and passed the first time using practice questions I found on Google.

Amurray22

I would agree with the above and add these. Consider going through each of the domains in depth using 1-2 sources and taking notes. Then go back over each domain reviewing your notes and the other sources you have. On your second pass thru each domain you could end with some quizzes on that domain. I liked the questions from the CD that came with AIO book. How ever you test/quiz yourself try to vary the sources, especially when you do your 250 question tests. I found that I often got the same questions if I re-used a quiz source & that is not very useful.

I also agree that the flash cards are nice as they can make you think about all you know about the term/idea. Some advice I saw here was to try and make-up what possible questions you could be asked about the term/idea because the test question will definitely be different from any question you find in prep material.

My last thought is that you should make a schedule and plan of your study time.

Good luck.

Andy

philz1982

Amurray22 wrote: »

I would agree with the above and add these. Consider going through each of the domains in depth using 1-2 sources and taking notes. Then go back over each domain reviewing your notes and the other sources you have. On your second pass thru each domain you could end with some quizzes on that domain. I liked the questions from the CD that came with AIO book. How ever you test/quiz yourself try to vary the sources, especially when you do your 250 question tests. I found that I often got the same questions if I re-used a quiz source & that is not very useful.

I also agree that the flash cards are nice as they can make you think about all you know about the term/idea. Some advice I saw here was to try and make-up what possible questions you could be asked about the term/idea because the test question will definitely be different from any question you find in prep material.

My last thought is that you should make a schedule and plan of your study time.

Good luck.

Andy

I forgot totally about that. The single greatest factor contributing to me passing the first time was taking the end of chapter exams and then highlighting the areas I got wrong. I would then take whatever area I had issues with and search for the topics and read articles on them. That had the single greatest impact on my passing.

rocky_john

Thank you All!

I studied quite hard and was focused however I did not get through my first attempt!

I took a bit longer to answer the questions and time was short. Nearly last 50 questions had no time at all and I scored 550.

All provide tips were helpful! Appreciate.

papadoc

rocky_john wrote: »

Thank you All!

I studied quite hard and was focused however I did not get through my first attempt!

I took a bit longer to answer the questions and time was short. Nearly last 50 questions had no time at all and I scored 550.

All provide tips were helpful! Appreciate.

Some other folks here posted about time management for the exam. I just started studying as well, hope to learn some time management tips from those that took the exam.