i took the exam today! and here's my journey, writing it down for the benefit of those who're taking the same journey...
i started studying April 1, 2017 (10weeks total). from this side of the world, CISSP material is very hard to come by, so i had friends on vacation bring in material from the UK (still appreciate the gesture having to bring back 2 heavy tomes of CISSP material). I got Shon Harris' AIO 7th ed, and Sybex CISSP 7th ed. bundled with Sybex CISSP Practice Tests. i was also able to get the official ISC2 guide 4th edition and 11th hour 4th ed.
materials i used:
i kicked off the studying by watching through the CBT nuggets by keith barker, although it's geared towards the older 10-domain CBK, it was still very helpful to establish a good background. i read the ISC2 guide 4th ed chapter by chapter, after each domain chapter, i would watch Kelly H's videos on the chapter to reinforce the information i tried to absorb, then take the after-chapter practice questions (~20 items). this took me a while to finish, about 6 weeks. in between these, i had a 4-day onsite classroom session with an ISC2-certified official ISC2 course during the 4th week (10-hours per day). paid for and scheduled the exam 4 weeks before exam date.
i attacked the sybex official study guide 7th ed next, this was a lot easier to read, perhaps maybe because i had laid down a good foundation, but it was very informative nevertheless. i would take the after-chapter tests to verify my knowledge (they were easy) and would score 90%+. After i read the sybex book cover-to-cover (week7-
, i then started the sybex practice tests. i had very limited material so i had to make sure the practice tests count. I did the sybex practice test #1 (250questions) as a simulation and as an assessment (scored 207/250, 4 hours) took down notes, and delved deeper into topics i was not very familiar with (SOC reports, popular ports, broadband speeds T1, T3, ISDN, etc).
then i took the sybex practice domain exams very uniquely. instead of going through each domain exam (100 questions) in one go, i did 10 questions of each domain at a time (80 questions). for a total of 10 sessions over 10 days (week 8-9). my score for the total 8 domains at the end of 10 days were:
D1: 96
D2: 90
D3: 91
D4: 80
D5: 76
D6: 70
D7: 89
D8: 84
i then took the sybex practice test #2 (250 questions), i scored 205/250 (82%) in 4hours. by this time i was confident i had studied enough to pass the exam. in the last 1 week, i took it easy and did the Sybex online test engine full tests (4tests, 250 questions each, scored 211 (84.4%), 203(81.2%), 215(85.66%), 217(86.8%) respectively) over 7 days. i also watched sari greene's video (6-hours) during this time (10 days free trial)
in between all these, i took a few test exams from the test engine of AIO, scored 12/20(60%), 20/30(70%) and 59/80(74%). found them too technical but it kept me anxious whether i have covered enough ground.
now i know i sound like an over-prepper, but i did simulate test conditions during all the 250-question practice exams, i took them at 8am (same as scheduled exam time)- no other time available - to simulate exam-day conditions.
i didn't take any day off work, i would study for 1-2hours each day, and about 6-8 hours during the weekends. kissed my social life goodbye and deactivated my facebook (distraction).
EXAM DAY
Read 11th hour day before exam as a refresher, just quickly skimmed through it to suppress any anxiety.
All these preparation and yet i was surprised by the actual exam questions, i even practiced my break periods (one every 80 questions), ate a quick granola bar on the 4th hour. all in all, it took me 5hours 45mins. I went through all the questions and flagged ones i was unsure of. went back to review the flagged questions and reviewed all the questions one last time. by the time i finished, i was drained and it was nerve-wracking, i still wasn't able to tell whether i have stacked the odds in my favor, it was a euphoric feeling when i was given the printout stating "Congratulations! We are pleased..." i was the only one in the exam center taking the CISSP exam so i had to stifle a celebratory shout and did a silent victory dance instead.
Background
I have been in the IT industry for ~15years, started as a software developer (VisualBasic)/systems administrator for an IBM AIX for 4 years. was an oracle DBA for about 1 year. worked in the telecommunications industry as a system integrator for ~10years, and now i'm IT head for an SME. working with telcos exposed me to change control procedures and strict operational procedures, this also gave me a good background on networking and communications. i'm never one for certifications but i definitely worked hard for the CISSP, the organization i work for is going for ISO 9001 and 27001 this year, i'm sure to be able to contribute. very thankful for the information within the techexams community, here's my contribution back.
Now, i don't know any other CISSP, so i probably would have to ask ISC to endorse me
*some numbers:
book pages read: ~4000
practice questions taken: ~3200
video: ~32hours
class: 40hours
#days: 75days
