Dec. CISSP Test takes?

I am taking it on the 20th in Florida.

I just had a co-worker take it today and he said he had to guess on about 80% of the questions. Not because he did not know the material, but because of the wording of the questions. I know that he used the OIG, AIO 4th edition, CISSP 4 Dummies and the cccure.org practice tests.

I jus took my exam on Nov28 at Singapore, honestly speaking I have no clue whether I would clear the exam. Never had I taken a exam where I hav no clue on how well I will fare, in that sense CISSP stands apart.

manu27001

I took the exam on 5th ... I am sure that I will fail ... Because, I had no idea about the 70 % of questions , but I answered all questions with the experience I had in IT SEC field .. No need to wait for the result to come, not because of I am a negative thinker, it is because I haven't done well in exam as I thought I would ...

Now I got the idea about HOW THE QUESTIONS are going to come, I am gonna revise my study style and probably clear the exam next time ..

I would say, CISSP exam really tests your Management Skills , not technical ...

Dont worry bro, every single person i talked to, after taking the exam felt the same, inclusive of myself. But reflecting on it, although I am still waiting for the results, Im happy that I was able push myself to take the exam, inspite of the hectic work sch. That in itself gave me a moral boost to wait for the positive results, hopefully we get the congrats mail soon.

Hi todmanav

I took the paper on 28 Nov in singapore as well. Did you get any notification already?

todmanav wrote: »

I jus took my exam on Nov28 at Singapore, honestly speaking I have no clue whether I would clear the exam. Never had I taken a exam where I hav no clue on how well I will fare, in that sense CISSP stands apart.

Just got a reply from ISC2.

Exam results can take up to 4-6 weeks, depending on where you live and the volume of exams at the time.

Hi Na/sodium,

Im still waiting for my results, managed to talked to couple of guys who took the exam on the same day / center, seems they are waiting too. Lets hope for the best. hahaha all i need for christmas is an email from ISC^2 saying congrats!

Hi Todmanav

Sorry for the late reply... Its close to Xmas.. I guess we might have to wait till early next year

Merry Christmas !!

todmanav wrote: »

Hi Na/sodium,

Im still waiting for my results, managed to talked to couple of guys who took the exam on the same day / center, seems they are waiting too. Lets hope for the best. hahaha all i need for christmas is an email from ISC^2 saying congrats!

I passed the exam. Good luck to all ... this is the best birthday gift for me. Cheers.

todmanav wrote: »

I jus took my exam on Nov28 at Singapore, honestly speaking I have no clue whether I would clear the exam. Never had I taken a exam where I hav no clue on how well I will fare, in that sense CISSP stands apart.

I passed as well, it was a terrible experience to wait for the exam results. Finally so relieved to have done it.

When did you guys get your results?

matthew2012

carboncopy wrote: »

When did you guys get your results?

should be email la....

I took exam at 13 Dec, there were about 90 person in HK....
Nearly 4 weeks already....

mohiabed

Did anyone got the result yet, I am waiting for mine. Usually how long it takes?

Co-worker who took it on December 5th is still waiting.....

kennyp

mohiabed wrote: »

Did anyone got the result yet, I am waiting for mine. Usually how long it takes?

took mine in NYC same day - read it takes longer during holidays. tough test - not too confident since i was done by ~12:30 and most everyone else says they took full 6hrs...

manu27001

Got the result today, and lost ...

682 was my score , just 18 marks less than passing score 700 ... !! Greatly disappointed ..

mohiabed

manu27001 wrote: »

Got the result today, and lost ...

682 was my score , just 18 marks less than passing score 700 ... !! Greatly disappointed ..

Manu sorry to hear that, but don't give take the next exam. By the way when and where you took the exam.

laidbackfreak

manu27001 wrote: »

Got the result today, and lost ...

Sorry to hear that, so close. When do you plan to resit?

knicks1208

I'm sure I am going to come off as arrogant, however that is not my intention.

I took the exam December 5th in Toronto and received my "passed" email yesterday. Here's my road to success:

In August of 08, my company put me on this security track where I needed to pass 3 security exams (Security+, SSCP, CISSP). I passed the Security+ in October 08, SSCP in February 09, and now CISSP in Dec 09.

For the CISSP exam, I actually started hitting the books in late October, early November spending about 2 to 3 hours a night studying after work. I had been studying here and there since August, however maybe only a half hour a week. Come November, I watched CISSP videos taking notes on nearly every word throughout them. At the end of it, I had 4 binders full of notes. I then went to Shon Harris’ CISSP AIO book and answered the questions at the end of each chapter (I didn’t read the book). Then I went through the questions on the CD that came with the book (about 100 questions per domain). I thought these questions were very useful in preparing for the exam.

I took the week before the exam off and studied like crazy, about 10 hours a day. I took my four binders of notes, typed them all up, and then started removing the sections I was confident on. At the end of the week, I had my 50 pages of typed notes down to about 15 which I just kept reading over and over again. I also used freepracticetests.org and answered about 1200 questions throughout the week. There are some great study guides that are posted on cccure.org that I also found very useful. Come the day before the exam, I was exhausted and just ready to get the exam over with.

Tip #1: Get some sleep as it's probably out of your control now.

Although cramming can be useful, by the time you've reached the night before the exam, you either know the material or you don't.
Being that my company was expecting me to pass and the fact that I drove 4 hours to Toronto (I didn’t want to have to drive there again for a retake!), I had a terrible night’s sleep. I was so nervous and had built the test up to be some insanely high milestone that I completely psyched myself out and didn't fall asleep until 3:30 AM! I woke at 7 AM incredibly tired and set on the fact that I was going to fail.

Tip #2: Stay at the hotel where your exam is

I went downstairs to where the exam was to be and waited, waited, waited. Rather than starting at the scheduled 8 AM, the exam didn’t start until 9 AM. It was very convenient to just go downstairs rather than drive to the exam location. I overheard a small group of guys my age (around 25) talking loosely about the exam and how they weren't sure how they'd do. I decided to join them and ask of their preparation. To my surprise, I found that each of them had put in less time and effort into studying than I had and each seemed what I thought was unprepared. This was the moment where my mentality changed as I thought to myself, "I'm prepared for this exam and I am going to pass".

Tip #3: Take a break

The toughest part of the exam was the fatigue factor. I finished 100 questions in the first hour and then hit a wall at the 1.5 hour mark. I only completed 65 questions between the 1.0 and 2.0 mark, and noticed that I had completely lost focus. I remember thinking to myself, "I can't even remember the last few questions I just completed". So, it was time for a quick break. I brought some breakfast bars and water and just sat there escaping for five minutes. I returned re-energized ready to conquer this sucker.

I finished the exam in 3.5 hours and didn't review any answers. I felt that with this type of exam, there was really only one correct answer for nearly all the questions and either you knew it or you didn't. After completing the first go through at the 3 hour mark, I went back to 8 questions that I had yet to answer. I struggled with 4 of them and then just decided that it wasn't worth my time fretting over 4 questions so I just put my best guess.

Tip #4: Don't read too much into each person's experience as it will scare you!

After leaving the CISSP exam, I honestly felt as if it wasn't as difficult as many people make the exam out to be. Focusing too much time on forums and posts (like my post here!) can get you into trouble and will make you start doubting yourself very quickly. I’ve read many posts about how terrible the exam was, however it actually seems like a lot more people pass than fail. Also, there are some that say that they studied for more than six months for nearly 3 hours a day. My guess is that these people were over prepared or didn’t have previous knowledge on IT security. You can prepare for the exam in one month as long as you’re dedicated to studying and you have a background in security.

Tip #5: Escape it all

Once you’re done with the exam, you need to escape. Play some video games or something completely mindless. Your brain should be so fried that the actual thought of studying one more day should make you sick. You deserve a few weeks off, so take them.

Part of me feels a little lucky, but the other part feels as if I’ve earned it. Although I may not have put that much time into studying (about one solid hardcore month), I knew the material and previous exams had prepared me for the CISSP examination. Congratulations to all that have passed and to those that didn’t, I’m sure you’re more prepared now knowing the type of questions that will be asked. You’ll get it next time around!

P.S. Waiting for the results is the worst!

kaxim

@ knicks: awesome post

standing ovation

dynamik

Fantastic post, congratulations!

matthew2012

sorry Manu, and congra knicks

So, i expect I can have result at 16/1

mikej412

manu27001 wrote: »

18 marks less than passing score

Pick yourself up. Dust yourself off. And head back to the books

-- you were too close to quit now.

When's your next test date?

knicks1208 wrote: »

received my "passed" email yesterday.

Congratulations!!

Nice Post!

Robski

Took test in Boston on December 12th, almost 5 weeks ago. No results yet.

When I called to ask if there was a delay or if possibly the email did not come through (Have heard reports of the notification going to the spam box) I was given a serious attitude and told that it could be 6 weeks more and to "Just wait and do not call in, they will email me!". WOW, just asked a simple question.

Will continue to check my mailbox daily for the results. Hope it is worth the wait.

Congrats to those of you that passed. Those of you that didn't make it the first time, try again. I had a good feeling when I completed the CISSP test.

Robski wrote: »

Took test in Boston on December 12th, almost 5 weeks ago. No results yet.

When I called to ask if there was a delay or if possibly the email did not come through (Have heard reports of the notification going to the spam box) I was given a serious attitude and told that it could be 6 weeks more and to "Just wait and do not call in, they will email me!". WOW, just asked a simple question.

Will continue to check my mailbox daily for the results. Hope it is worth the wait.

Congrats to those of you that passed. Those of you that didn't make it the first time, try again. I had a good feeling when I completed the CISSP test.

According to my calculations, you will have your results tomorrow @ around 4pm :P
If not, then I am pretty sure that you will have them by this Friday. At least I hope so

mikej412

Robski wrote: »

When I called to ask if there was a delay or if possibly the email did not come through

You called from a pay phone and didn't use your real name, right?

Good Luck surviving "The Wait" -- hopefully it's going to be worth it.

ddoud71

Taking my CISSP exam on Saturday in Miami. About a 5 hour drive for me. This will be my 2nd attempt. I feel a whole lot more ready than the last time. Wish me luck fella's.

cheesecoupons

You are right, you do sound arrogant

dynamik

ddoud71 wrote: »

Taking my CISSP exam on Saturday in Miami. About a 5 hour drive for me. This will be my 2nd attempt. I feel a whole lot more ready than the last time. Wish me luck fella's.

Ugh, that's like me since I'll probably have to go to Houston for mine. I don't feel like waiting until mid-September for them to come back to Nawlins.

Good luck!