When to go for the CISSP exam

keremozt

Hello everybody,

I've been following this forum since 2 months silently without passing and it helped me much putting myself on the correct way to pass the CISSP exam.

I left my job 2 months ago and as I had time, I decided to go for CISSP certification as I now finally have time to do it.

I started looking for resources and with the help of this forum started working several hours each day from the AIO book. After a week I understood that my progress is too slow and it seemed to me a bit irrelevant (first chapter of AIO is all about architectures and frameworks). I switched to Eric Conrad's 2nd edition which helped me to quickly finish all the chapters in a month with 6 hours studying per day during weekdays. I read 11th hour books twice after that so that I remember well everything because even though I have 9 years of experience mainly in Telecoms, Operations Security, BCP and DRP domains, there are really too many new concepts to learn.

Once I made sure that I miss nothing major I started doing tests. I finished all the questions in AIO Total Tester, end of chapter questions in EC book and several full length tests in cccure as well as some other resources. After seeing the approaches of some other guys in the forum, I resumed my test scores as below per domains.

AIO book, end of chapter tests

1. Access Control %91
2. Telecoms %85
3. Risk Management %79
4. Software Development %73
5. Security Architecture %58
6. Operation Security %85
7. BCP and DRP %91
8. Cryptography %75
9. Legal %71
10. Physical %80

End of Book Test %79 ( 112/142)

In 4 full tests I took from cccure, I scored %81, %79, %80, %80

Eric Conrad website full tests %80, %81

So everything I did so far made my understand one thing, I score %80 in practice tests. I would like to have your opinion about how to proceed from now on as I want to schedule my test as soon as possible (I am pretty bored studying everyday). How much my test scores reflect my adequation for the real exam ?

Thanks in advance.

LionelTeo

Not much, the real exam is very different from CCCure and Eric Conrad Website test, a portion of the exam are give away questions if you can remember them from the book, similar to what you see in common practice test; to really pass, you must learn to tackle those scenario base and obscure question to the best of your ability, these are the type of questions that actually determines if you deserve the CISSP.

keremozt

After all I read from the forum and taking a wider look, I stopped doing tests thinking this much of tests is enough for me. After reading several times Shon Harris' book, Eric Conrad's 2nd edition and 11th hour, I think it is time to face the exam. Scheduled for the 4th of May (unfortunately 450 kms away as there are no free slots until mid June in my city)

For those who have second thoughts after reading enough and made enough tests, all I can say is to stop doing those tests because in the end what you will see in the exam will have nothing to see with those. Do not waste your precious time to score higher and higher in test engines, take the risk and face the exam.

After all, many among who already succeeded were not sure in the end of the exam if they passed or failed.

awh

@keremozt - Best wishes from my side for the exam. I completely agree with your approach. From what i experienced in my preparation is that the test questions help you a lot in making you understand the key sections to focus in the examination. However the actual exam is a complete different ball game.

Taking a 250 question test before the exam also helps you develop a approach on tackling and pacing yourself. However the test scores in no way reflect your preparation. I myself used to average only 70% maximum for these tests, but was able to pass the exam first time

keremozt

Well...this post has not been that much popular, still thanks to people like awh for having provided support. I m here to say that after being away from home for the weekend, having made 1000 kms and a 4,5 hours test, I killed the beast, passed the exam.

Although I couldn't revise the day before, and was feeling guilty and unready, I knew after the 20th question or so that I was gonna pass and was distracted that much that I was already thinking about writing this message. Not a good example to follow.

anyways, unlike many I can say that questions were not totally different from those you can see in some good quality tests engines and complexity of scenario based questions and thinking from a manager point of view arguments are exaggerated IMHO, no offence. Another thing to add,comparing with my expectation, 75% of all the questions were really short and only 20 or so were scenario based, but still short. No brainers were not too few either, maybe just I am lucky.

jvrlopez

Congrats on the pass! I should've chimed in earlier and let you know that I thought you sounded ready and should be good to go.

I too felt the same while taking the test...it didn't seem up to the hype everyone had given it, and at a certain point, I felt like I had the test passed for sure.

impelse

Congrats

Humbe

Congratulations!

aftereffector

Congratulations! It's encouraging to read of your experience yesterday.

E Double U

Congratulations! Always encouraging to read of someone else passing since I want to take this exam in August.

keremozt

Thanks everybody. I, like many others benefited from your experiences.

there is in this forum a real feeling of community, which is really exceptional. I honestly think I couldn't have passed the exam this quickly without this forum.

sometimes when reading other people's posts you understand who really has the level to pass, I was sure about jvrlopez and pretty sure aftereffector also will.

If you think you have studied enough, trust in yourselves guys, this seems to be a fair exam which correctly appreciates your efforts. Good luck to you all.

impelse

keremozt wrote: »

Thanks everybody. I, like many others benefited from your experiences.

there is in this forum a real feeling of community, which is really exceptional. I honestly think I couldn't have passed the exam this quickly without this forum.

sometimes when reading other people's posts you understand who really has the level to pass, I was sure about jvrlopez and pretty sure aftereffector also will.

If you think you have studied enough, trust in yourselves guys, this seems to be a fair exam which correctly appreciates your efforts. Good luck to you all.

I agree with this.