Failed CISSP first time adv ice needed

Hi All,

Totally exhausted and defeated by the beast 695 score. Absolutely gutted! Its hard for the family as well because I have 1 year old twins and a 4 year old. I was hoping to get through it to ease the pressure on my wife due to all the support she has been giving me.

Desperately need advice. Where do I go from here to get me ready for the retake in 4weeks? Do I just keep studying the same material for the next 4 weeks, or should I get new resources.

Current resources
CBT Nuggets
Cybrary Kelly Handerhan
Sybex 7th Edition
Transcender Practice Exams
Sybex practice exams

Do I keep the intensity there with the study as well. Any advice much appreciated

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Comments

JasminLandry

Man you were so close! I haven't attempted the exam yet but resources that I'm using that you aren't that might help are the Official (ISC)² Practice Tests. I also read Eric Conrad's Study Guide but I see you already have the Sybex book and apparently that's the one to go to so you might not need another book to read. Maybe someone who has already passed can comment on this.

And I'd say just study your weak topics so you don't need to keep that intensity, rest your brain a bit before your next attempt.

redworld

Very tough break. This is what I used in total. Honestly the 11th Hour wasn't too helpful to me since it's super thin on content so doing it over I'd use Cybrary, Sybex 7th, and the 2 practice quiz banks. You'll get it next go.

Cybrary Kelly Handerhan
Sybex 7th Edition
Sybex Practice Tests
CCCure
Conrad 11th Hour
Sunflower Cram PDF

TheFORCE

How long did it take you to complete the exam? Maybe pay a little more attention to your test taking technique, you were very close, probably missed it by 1 question. Did you review after the exam ?

cjthedj45

TheFORCE wrote: »

How long did it take you to complete the exam? Maybe pay a little more attention to your test taking technique, you were very close, probably missed it by 1 question. Did you review after the exam ?

I took 5 hours. I did find it hard to stay focused and at the end I changed a few of questions. Can you provide any advice on test taking technique. I ddi try the read all the answers first approach, but did not maintain this. I found that I would read the answers and they did not seem that meaningful and there was an eagerness to just know what the question was. I have heard that some people use the read all the answers first as a technique. Any tips you have would be much appreciated.

cjthedj45

Maybe I will purchase the CCure tests then. Whats your opinion of them? I used the sunflower as well

kiki162

Many fail on the 1st attempt, so don't feel bad. I would go back and try to remember some of the questions you saw on the exam, and see if you can't study a little more on those. If you fail a 2nd time, make sure you write down some of the questions you had trouble on as soon as you get out of the testing center. I would keep using Transcender, as that helped push me over to a pass. I went through 250 question on there at least 3 times, and did smaller attempts as well in between. I know that exam does drain you. Try to go into the exam the next time with a different mindset. Remember to tell yourself to stay focused...you got yourself to this point...your taking the exam again, and you have done all you can do. Be mindful of your time, remember that your first answer is usually the right one, and limit yourself from going back and changing any answers. Good Luck!

TheFORCE

I don't recommend the reading the amswers first and then the question approach as this might mislead you. You need to read the question first and remember that the exam asks what is best, better, questions or what not to do, a lot of people have difficulty with the negate questions. I had to re-read questions multiple times and phrase them differently to remove the "not" from the question and get the answer that way.
Make sure you take breaks every 80 or 100 questions to relax and re-energize with some snacks, brain plays tricks on you when the glucose levels are not maintained at normal levels. Try not to overthink the questions, instead try to understand the context of the question. Wording can be tricky and try to use information from previously answered question, often times they ask similar questions. Try to also use proceas of elimination when you are really stuck, if you remove 2 answers, you have 50/50% of picking the correct one and dont panic.

cjthedj45

Thanks for the advice all. I have rebooked for the 8th of May.

newmove

You are almost there. Go over the Sybex practice questions again and try to get the isc2 mindset. It's very painful to fail this exam cos it takes a lot out of you. Also, read the sunflower pdf every day(I did that). On the exam day, I did 125 questions and went for like 7 mins break. When I completed all 250, I took another 10 mins. I started reviewing all the questions from the back and I had some gotcha moment. Good luck bro!

AverageJoe

Man, right on the edge... so going back in, know that you not passing could have come down to just a couple of questions that you guessed wrong on. So you're practically there!

You knew almost enough, so I recommend focusing on one or two of your weakest domains. That's where you can get the most bang for your buck improving. Like (as an example), if you already know 90% of physical security stuff, then the best you can improve is 10%. But if you only know about 60% of the crypto stuff, you can improve up to 40% there! So, in this case, work big on improving in crypto, not the physical security.

At the same time, continue to review the other domains. Not enough to make your head hurt -- just to keep it fresh so you don't lose any ground between now and the re-test.

For the actual test, I don't think you said if you took any breaks or anything, but I recommend you do take at least a couple. Just getting up every once in a while may help keep your body going, and I always like to have a bit of chocolate or something to pump me up. Nothing big, don't bring a meal in... but a quick Hershey's bar does wonders for me personally. If you're allowed, that is. When I took mine we were allowed to take breaks and have snacks.

cjthedj45

AverageJoe wrote: »

Man, right on the edge... so going back in, know that you not passing could have come down to just a couple of questions that you guessed wrong on. So you're practically there!

You knew almost enough, so I recommend focusing on one or two of your weakest domains. That's where you can get the most bang for your buck improving. Like (as an example), if you already know 90% of physical security stuff, then the best you can improve is 10%. But if you only know about 60% of the crypto stuff, you can improve up to 40% there! So, in this case, work big on improving in crypto, not the physical security.

At the same time, continue to review the other domains. Not enough to make your head hurt -- just to keep it fresh so you don't lose any ground between now and the re-test.

For the actual test, I don't think you said if you took any breaks or anything, but I recommend you do take at least a couple. Just getting up every once in a while may help keep your body going, and I always like to have a bit of chocolate or something to pump me up. Nothing big, don't bring a meal in... but a quick Hershey's bar does wonders for me personally. If you're allowed, that is. When I took mine we were allowed to take breaks and have snacks.

Thanks that is really good advice. I have had some time to reflect and I think perhaps I did not give Secure development enough time. The scores reflected my experience and the domains I focused on studying the most. Security and Risk Management and Communications and Network Security were my strongest. Totally agree with not taking my foot of the pedal either. I need to keep the momentum there and the domains fresh in my head.

My plan will be to look at maybe another test simulator CCure or Skillsoft for a fresh question bank. I will still use the old tests as well. I'm going to read sunflower most days and keep using my Sybex. Not sure whether to get a new book though, or just keep using sybex.

cjthedj45

newmove wrote: »

You are almost there. Go over the Sybex practice questions again and try to get the isc2 mindset. It's very painful to fail this exam cos it takes a lot out of you. Also, read the sunflower pdf every day(I did that). On the exam day, I did 125 questions and went for like 7 mins break. When I completed all 250, I took another 10 mins. I started reviewing all the questions from the back and I had some gotcha moment. Good luck bro!

Do you think reviewing the questions help you get the pass? I changed some of mine and wondered if maybe I just submitted I would have passed. Thanks for you advice I'm going to read a page of Sunflower every day. Exams is in 5 weeks!!

cjthedj45

TheFORCE wrote: »

I don't recommend the reading the amswers first and then the question approach as this might mislead you. You need to read the question first and remember that the exam asks what is best, better, questions or what not to do, a lot of people have difficulty with the negate questions. I had to re-read questions multiple times and phrase them differently to remove the "not" from the question and get the answer that way.
Make sure you take breaks every 80 or 100 questions to relax and re-energize with some snacks, brain plays tricks on you when the glucose levels are not maintained at normal levels. Try not to overthink the questions, instead try to understand the context of the question. Wording can be tricky and try to use information from previously answered question, often times they ask similar questions. Try to also use proceas of elimination when you are really stuck, if you remove 2 answers, you have 50/50% of picking the correct one and dont panic.

Thanks I think I will just read the question first next time. The reading the answers first approach I did not think suited me, but I can see the value in it for some people. Sometimes you read a questions and you may think you know the answer and go straight to what you think is the answer without review the other answers. This would be the wrong approach as sometimes the answer can be very similar. Thanks for the advice.

Falcon56

I was at work yesterday wondering how things were going for you? Thought for sure you were going to pass. So this makes two 695s in the past few days between you and rmcutler. Never thought I'd see that. Once again, I'm going to suggest you take a look at the Boson exams and the Conrad 3rd edition. I have also been reading the sunflower .pdf every day with emphasis on whatever section I'm learning at the time.

So what were your weak areas? Really tough break on this one. I know I would not be taking it well either. Get it out of your system and reinforce your strong areas and really attack the weak areas. You've got this!

cjthedj45

Falcon56 wrote: »

I was at work yesterday wondering how things were going for you? Thought for sure you were going to pass. So this makes two 695s in the past few days between you and rmcutler. Never thought I'd see that. Once again, I'm going to suggest you take a look at the Boson exams and the Conrad 3rd edition. I have also been reading the sunflower .pdf every day with emphasis on whatever section I'm learning at the time.

So what were your weak areas? Really tough break on this one. I know I would not be taking it well either. Get it out of your system and reinforce your strong areas and really attack the weak areas. You've got this!

Cool. I will have a look at the boson as well. I want a fresh bank of questions, but was considering CCure, or softskills. No one seems to mention the Boson exams much. For the Conrad book are you stating the 11th hour? there are 2 3rd Editions of it. I have been considering the 11th hour, but not sure I want to read a whole book. As I was so close I think focusing on my weak areas and using some other material like 11th hour and new question back should secure the pass on the 2nd attempt.

newmove

cjthedj45 wrote: »

Do you think reviewing the questions help you get the pass? I changed some of mine and wondered if maybe I just submitted I would have passed. Thanks for you advice I'm going to read a page of Sunflower every day. Exams is in 5 weeks!!

It helped a lot. The underlying concept became clearer. You will nail it next time.

cjthedj45

newmove wrote: »

It helped a lot. The underlying concept became clearer. You will nail it next time.

You could be right. I just checked one of the answers I changed. My first answer was wrong and the answer I changed it to was right. So do you not mark any for review, but instead just review all 250 again?

newmove

cjthedj45 wrote: »

You could be right. I just checked one of the answers I changed. My first answer was wrong and the answer I changed it to was right. So do you not mark any for review, but instead just review all 250 again?

I marked about 30 for review. I changed some and left some. When I finished all 250, I went for 10 mins break to drink orange juice and some chocolates. I started reviewing the questions from 250 backwards cos I still had 1.5hrs to spare. I changed about 20 answers in total cos my understanding of some the questions changed. Hope this helps.

The first 100 questions tend to mess with your brain.

SteveLavoie

What do you mean by sunflower pdf??? Which book is it?

cjthedj45

SteveLavoie wrote: »

What do you mean by sunflower pdf??? Which book is it?

Here we go. Its a very good cram sheet someone put together. Its based on the 10 domains, but still very relevant to 8 domain test

https://www.studynotesandtheory.com/single-post/Free-CISSP-Summary-PDF-%E2%80%93-UPDATED-2017

Falcon56

cjthedj45 wrote: »

Cool. I will have a look at the boson as well. I want a fresh bank of questions, but was considering CCure, or softskills. No one seems to mention the Boson exams much. For the Conrad book are you stating the 11th hour? there are 2 3rd Editions of it. I have been considering the 11th hour, but not sure I want to read a whole book. As I was so close I think focusing on my weak areas and using some other material like 11th hour and new question back should secure the pass on the 2nd attempt.

I wouldn't recommend Skillset. A lot of the questions are CEH-related and the CISSP questions, IMO, aren't that great. The Conrad book I am referring to is the regular 3rd edition, not the 11th Hour. When you answer questions in Boson, it gives very detailed answers and cites the page #'s in the Conrad and/or ISC² book by Adam Gordon. It is very thorough. I think that, along with your review of the Sunflower .pdf would put you over the hump.

Here is the Amazon link to Conrad's book as well:

https://www.amazon.com/CISSP-Study-Guide-Third-Conrad/dp/0128024372/ref=s9u_qpp_gw_i5?_encoding=UTF8&fpl=fresh&pd_rd_i=0128024372&pd_rd_r=0HCY8HDYVHCK2G4V0PH1&pd_rd_w=mUWQI&pd_rd_wg=ycDbA&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=&pf_rd_r=MRQ9A5B5CYYGF38BRBW9&pf_rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=781f4767-b4d4-466b-8c26-2639359664eb&pf_rd_i=desktop

SteveLavoie

cjthedj45 wrote: »

Here we go. Its a very good cram sheet someone put together. Its based on the 10 domains, but still very relevant to 8 domain test

https://www.studynotesandtheory.com/single-post/Free-CISSP-Summary-PDF-%E2%80%93-UPDATED-2017

It has been updated for the 8 domain, thanks you for the links!

cfirsten

cjthedj45 wrote: »

Hi All,

Totally exhausted and defeated by the beast 695 score. .........

Are you freaking kidding me?!!! Jesus, I had all my money on you man. I thought you were going to fly through that crappy exam. Take your time in there, don't listen to people saying yeah I finished in two hours and checked my answers for another half hour and I passed. That could be the case but you have six hours there, take your time and read the question(s).

I had half of your materials under my belt and I was lucky enough to pass the first time. The only thing that I would recommend is the Eric Conrad book, very good and to the point, no useless info. Read that if you haven't already. And for Christ's sake you passed way more heavier exams than this, I mean you did CCNP and you failed CISSP? WTH man, it's way easier than the Cisco exams. My personal opinion is that you weren't paying enough attention not that you don't know the material.

Don't disappoint me next time!!!

Good luck man and keep us posted!!!!

cjthedj45

cfirsten wrote: »

Are you freaking kidding me?!!! Jesus, I had all my money on you man. I thought you were going to fly through that crappy exam. Take your time in there, don't listen to people saying yeah I finished in two hours and checked my answers for another half hour and I passed. That could be the case but you have six hours there, take your time and read the question(s).

I had half of your materials under my belt and I was lucky enough to pass the first time. The only thing that I would recommend is the Eric Conrad book, very good and to the point, no useless info. Read that if you haven't already. And for Christ's sake you passed way more heavier exams than this, I mean you did CCNP and you failed CISSP? WTH man, it's way easier than the Cisco exams. My personal opinion is that you weren't paying enough attention not that you don't know the material.

Don't disappoint me next time!!!

Good luck man and keep us posted!!!!

Errr! thanks I think. Maybe I did lose focus I'm not sure, but some of the questions just did not seem to make sense and then other questions were like yeah I know this a 100%. The Cisco exams never really had any questions that I felt did not make sense. At that point in my career I was living and breathing Cisco. Managing firewalls, routers, switches, IPS, TACACS you name it. Whereas this exam is different. I have never put in place a structure to manage a software development life cycle, or had to think about physical elements of security such as mantraps, sprinkler systems security guard, or managed any BCP process. I think that's the difference Cisco is very focused on one technology that I lived and breathed so for me Cisco was easy. The CISSP has proven a lot harder for me personally. Everyone learns differently. Maybe I had the wrong mindset as well because I did feel like I was failing the CISSP exam early on. I dunno its tearing me apart thinking about it. I guess i just want to focus on passing it 2nd time which i understand a lot of people of the same calibre as me have had to do. I will nail it 2nd time and wont let you down lol! Look for my update in 5 weeks time!!

cfirsten

True, Cisco is pure math, whereas here they try to mess with your head all the time. If you want my personal opinion, I know it's going to hurt, but it's very hard to pass it the second time. Your fear will get the best of you but don't let it. From what I've read on these forums the third time seems to be the charm. It takes a lot of man to try that exam three times. I would've probably given it up or wait a year. Like I said, I consider myself lucky to have passed it the first time. Don't sweat it, you're right there, you know the material and you will pass it eventually.

Good luck man!!!!

wiseguy

cjthedj45 wrote: »

I want a fresh bank of questions, but was considering CCure, or softskills.

I came to the same conclusion after I failed the CISSP exam on my first try. I used Transcender the first time around too and decided to buy CCCure. I'm glad that I did because I thought the questions were a better match in regards to format to how the CISSP was presented. I passed the CISSP on my second try. Just my experience with CCCure but it was a very positive result.

Sirkassad

I passed 2 days ago and the reason I did wasn't because of how much memorization I had done (which was a ton). The people who do well on this test know what the 'ISC2' answer is. The flashcard approach won't work here; knowing a bunch of definitions will get you between a 600-650. Being able to look past the terminology in the question and knowing what is best practice; imaging if what you think the answer is makes sense in the big picture of things. You have to look at the big picture to see what is right.

cjthedj45

Sirkassad wrote: »

I passed 2 days ago and the reason I did wasn't because of how much memorization I had done (which was a ton). The people who do well on this test know what the 'ISC2' answer is. The flashcard approach won't work here; knowing a bunch of definitions will get you between a 600-650. Being able to look past the terminology in the question and knowing what is best practice; imaging if what you think the answer is makes sense in the big picture of things. You have to look at the big picture to see what is right.

Yeah I agree with this to an extent and being that my highest scoring zone was security and risk management I think I must have had the ISC2 mindset nailed. However there was one or 2 tough questions that were in fact easily passed if memorized. I did not have them memorized so had to guess which cost me point. I also did not spend enough time on Secure Devlopment and I think that is where I fell down. Im just going to hit the study and focus on my weak areas.