passed the test!

I just received the email telling me that I passed the CISSP exam a couple weeks ago! I just sent in my resume and endorsement form. I don't expect there to be any problems because I literally have 6 years of experience in the field and several managers, VP's, and even the owner of a company to vouch for me. Pretty soon, I should be an official CISSP with the certification hanging on my wall in the most beautiful frame I can find.

I'll say a couple things about the exam, but I'm going to be vague as to not breach the NDA. It was very difficult. The reason for its difficulty was how subjective nearly all of the questions were. Many of the answers to each question could have been correct, it was a matter of choosing the most correct. For this reason, I really thought I failed the test. I was only sure about my answers on about 1/3 of the questions. The other 2/3 were basically educated guesses. It took me 3 1/2 hours of the 6 to pass the test. A couple people finished before me, but the remaining 20 or so were still working.

For studying, I read these books, cover-to-cover:

http://www.amazon.com/CISSP-All-One-Guide-Third/dp/0072257121/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-4479481-7946200?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1174677164&sr=1-1
http://www.amazon.com/CISSP-Certified-Information-Security-Professional/dp/0782143350/ref=sr_1_9/103-4479481-7946200?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1174677164&sr=1-9

I listen to a few of the CISSP CBT Nuggets on the domains I found most challenging. Finally, on the night before the exam, I read the study guide from cccure.org.

If I had it all to do over again, I believe I would have read another book, perhaps this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Official-ISC-Guide-CISSP-Press/dp/0849382319/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/103-4479481-7946200?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1174677296&sr=1-2

I also might have taken a few more practice tests. I only took 1. I really feel like my score was probably borderline.

Thankfully I passed, and I can't wait to get the official package.

I thank all of you guys for this forum and your posts. They were invaluable.

Find more posts tagged with

Save $250 on 2025 certification boot camps from Infosec!

Book now with code EOY2025

Button

Comments

Webmaster

Congrats!

hanakuin

Congrats!!!

JDMurray

Congratulations!

What cert are you trying for next?

wrote:

I really feel like my score was probably borderline.

The (ISC)2 web site says that a minimum score of 700 out of a possible 1000 points is required to pass the CISSP exam, but if you pass you won't be told your score because the actual number is fairly irrelevant. So take heart that "a pass by an inch" is as good as "a pass by a mile."

silentc1015

jdmurray wrote:

Congratulations! What cert are you trying for next?

Thanks, everyone. This community has been so helpful in obtaining the certs I have, even though I just lurk most of the time. I'm going to start playing an active role in here though, and post more often. But seriously, all of your posts help a lot

For my next cert I'll be studying for the CEH. I was actually very discouraged when I finished the CISSP exam, because I thought I failed. I bought the CEH book on the way back to my house and began studying that night. I figured I would assume I passed the CISSP even though it felt like I didn't, and begin studying for the CEH. I've been studying ever since. I'm going to spend 3 or 4 months on it, because its a very practical exam with a ton of interesting potential labs. I'll be buying some additional hardware for my PC so I can run a virtual network with different OS's inside of VMWare. This will be my penetration testing lab.

I'll let you guys know how its coming along in the CEH forums.

keatron

Congrats and welcome!!!!

HHHTheGame

Congratulations!

Keatron, how many of us are there now?

drakhan2002

HHHTheGame wrote:

Congratulations!

Keatron, how many of us are there now?

There are approximately 50,000 CISSP's world wide.

To silentc1015: Congrats and welcome to the club!

lopezco

Congratulations!

mikej412

Congratulations!

jmc724

Congrats and working on mine now...

bprice

It's as if I wrote the following comment. I feel EXACTLY the same way, although I haven't found out yet. I just took it the other day.

It was very difficult. The reason for its difficulty was how subjective nearly all of the questions were. Many of the answers to each question could have been correct, it was a matter of choosing the most correct. For this reason, I really thought I failed the test. I was only sure about my answers on about 1/3 of the questions. The other 2/3 were basically educated guesses. It took me 3 1/2 hours of the 6 to pass the test. A couple people finished before me, but the remaining 20 or so were still working.

Brett P