Going to start studying for CISSP

Recently, I decided that the next certification I should get will be the “big one”, CISSP. I currently work as a government contractor trying to find a GS position in the Information Assurance (IA) sector. I am having a very hard time because I do not have the experience in IA. My local IAM told me getting my CISSP certification would definitely help me, so recently I have purchased the following books to study:

CISSP Study Guide by Eric Conrad, Seth Misenar, and Joshua Feldman (Paperback - Jul 26, 2010)
ISBN-10: 1597495638
ISBN-13: 978-1597495639

Eleventh Hour CISSP: Study Guide by Eric Conrad, Seth Misenar, and Joshua Feldman (Paperback - Nov 10, 2010)
ISBN-10: 1597495662
ISBN-13: 978-1597495660

Official (ISC)² Guide to the CISSP CBK, Second Edition ((ISC)2 Press) by Harold F. Tipton (Hardcover - Dec 22, 2009)
ISBN-10: 1439809593
ISBN-13: 978-1439809594

My goal is to take the test in May-June 2011. I do have 2 minor issues. I have horrible test anxiety and I usually study (and learn) the best by going over lots and lots of practice questions. What does everyone recommend for me? I look forward to reading everyone’s responses.

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Comments

JDMurray

I would suggest you start by reading through the posts in this forum and the blogs articles we have on the CISSP and SSCP exams. There's also a lot of good practice information at www.cccure.org.

colemic

You should also add Shon Harris's CISSP AIO book. It was my primary resource (as well as a review class), but the AIO had a lot of sample questions on the CD. I also received a lot sample questions in the review class, so you may want to consider doing that, as well.

dijital1

I second that Shon Harris' book should be part of your CISSP prep. It's actually the only book that I used when I sat the CISSP earlier this year. She goes into quite a bit of depth so I'm also using it as I prep for the ISSAP exam.

I haven't read any of the Official ISC2 guides, but I can say from first hand experience that the AIO book coupled with practice exams should put you in a good position when you take the exam.

Ethanp

JDMurray wrote: »

I would suggest you start by reading through the posts in this forum and the blogs articles we have on the CISSP and SSCP exams. There's also a lot of good practice information at www.cccure.org.

I have already registered for an account on http://www.cccure.org for the free quizzes, BUT found out last night they are NOT entirely free. There is a limitation of how many times you can access the quizzes. If you want to access more, you have to pay. That is false advertising, and I hate that. Do you know of another location on http://www.cccure.org for free practice questions, or maybe another CISSP study site that has free practice questions?

drk1980

Ethanp,

i would strongly suggest you to go through the 90 minute CISSP intro video by Clement in cccure.org.
I have pasted the url below for your reference.

CISSP EXAM OVERVIEW

And i would also suggest you to get AIO 5th edition by Shon Harris...I used official guide during the last 2 weeks and found that some domains were better in AIO IMO.

While Official guide's few other domains were very well done...

I have heard tat OIG version 2 has been revised and is good.

So your best bet would be AIO 5 coupled with OIG 2... again just my opinion

And all the best for your studies...

hustlin_moe20

Ethanp wrote: »

I have already registered for an account on cissp CISSP training Certified Information Systems Security Professional for the free quizzes, BUT found out last night they are NOT entirely free. There is a limitation of how many times you can access the quizzes. If you want to access more, you have to pay. That is false advertising, and I hate that. Do you know of another location on cissp CISSP training Certified Information Systems Security Professional for free practice questions, or maybe another CISSP study site that has free practice questions?

The $40 that it costs for the paid account will be well worth it. I used it and there's tons of questions there. I'm waiting on my results now. Also you may want to gauge yourself by using the Official (ISC)2 questions called StudISCope.

https://www.expresscertifications.com/isc2/

Ethanp

I recently found out that the local ISSA chapter will be conducting a CISSP study session in Spring 2011 for $250. So now I am trying to decide between spending the money for the Shon Harris's CISSP AIO book and Practice Exams book, and $40 for Expresscertifications.com’s practice questions or spend the $250 for the CISSP study session.

dijital1

I would get the Shon Harris book instead.

hustlin_moe20

Ethanp wrote: »

I recently found out that the local ISSA chapter will be conducting a CISSP study session in Spring 2011 for $250. So now I am trying to decide between spending the money for the Shon Harris's CISSP AIO book and Practice Exams book, and $40 for Expresscertifications.com’s practice questions or spend the $250 for the CISSP study session.

I had both the AIO 5th Ed and Expresscertifications.com. I think they both would benefit you more that the study session. Could you not start a study session with some other members from work or your local IT community for free? Check colleges, they post them up sometimes and normally don't charge.

cabrillo24

The Official CBK is definitely the best resource (print wise) however, the Shon Harris AIG is another great book. You can't go wrong with either one.

The most important thing is that you put time in to study for this, and that you remain consistent in your studying. There is simply too much information to grasp to be inconsistent in your studying. You simply cannot study for a few days, take a week off, and expect to pickup and remember everything you've gone over.

blittrell

Ended up spending less then $100 for study material and passed the test. Used Shon Harris AIO book and a practice test that I guess some in the forum consider cheatware, even though none of the questions were on the test, but I won't mention the company so it doesn't get ***** out. Read through the AIO once and when going over the test questions referred back to the book for the tough ones or researched online. The last month I kicked it up a notch really studied hard then the last week took a week of vacation and did hard core studying.

Of course in the domains I already had experience I scored well on before and after studying but the ones that were most challenging were domains I never dealt with, like environmental/physical security. Luckily it was more of a Computer test then anything else:)

AIO is a great start, get a good practice test to get the specific terms straightened out in your head like the what the Bell-LaPadula model is used for as compared to another model like Biba etc. I am not saying those are on the test just that it is the keeping straight the names to their function that is important. Finally reading the questions thoroughly, the question may give you the answer if you read it very carefully, remember you have 6 hours so take your time.

Ethanp

blittrell wrote: »

Ended up spending less then $100 for study material and passed the test. Used Shon Harris AIO book and a practice test that I guess some in the forum consider cheatware, even though none of the questions were on the test, but I won't mention the company so it doesn't get ***** out.

I study and learn the best by going over lots and lots of practice questions. I am familiar with most of the practice test companies out there. I am curious with which practice test company you thought was worth the money in purchasing the company’s practice questions. How much did the practice questions help you when you took the CISSP exam?

cabrillo24

Ethanp wrote: »

I study and learn the best by going over lots and lots of practice questions. I am familiar with most of the practice test companies out there. I am curious with which practice test company you thought was worth the money in purchasing the company’s practice questions. How much did the practice questions help you when you took the CISSP exam?

It's pretty much unanimous that practice questions are essential to preparing for this exam, as they reinforce concepts learned, and prepare you for the how ISC2 likes to pose their questions. You also begin to prepare your mind and focus, the test is very long. It's like training for a marathon, you have to condition yourself....

blittrell

Ethanp wrote: »

I study and learn the best by going over lots and lots of practice questions. I am familiar with most of the practice test companies out there. I am curious with which practice test company you thought was worth the money in purchasing the company’s practice questions. How much did the practice questions help you when you took the CISSP exam?

OK, fine but if I get flamed you get to defend me, I used ******** test prep. It is 2000 test questions and it is only in PDF form but for me it works well because I print them out then cover the answers with sticky strips. Typically I will read through the test once and answer what I can, then I read through it again and start marking questions that I missed, then go over it again only going over the questions I missed and gradually going over less and less questions, ones I get right but I got by guessing I keep the mark on to make sure I get it all the time.

The electronic tests don't seem to work as well for me, I can't sit on the patio on a quite day to study and answers are not immediately available to confirm your choice. So ******** works better for me. The other interesting thing about CT is that the questions are extremely sensitive to grammatical changes so I remember looking at two questions that are 99% the same but one very slight change in the wording caused the answer to change and when you read through it again you see why, this really helped me focus on the question and read it thoroughly and completely and that is what I think helped me most on the test.

That being said, ******** did seem a bit dated, even when just comparing to what Shon Harris mentions in her AIO book. It concentrates a lot on the DOD models of th 1970's and 80's which, according to AIO, were what the old CISSP test heavily concentrated on. Still the general concepts are there and can be easily assumed in the newer concepts. There is enough of the newer stuff in the prep test to really get you into the concepts and help you pass the real test. The other caveat with me however is that I have 15 years of experience, a CCSP, CCVP, Master CNE's etc...., so that may have had a bit to do with me passing as well.

Paladin

Ethanp wrote: »

Recently, I decided that the next certification I should get will be the “big one”, CISSP. I currently work as a government contractor trying to find a GS position in the Information Assurance (IA) sector. I am having a very hard time because I do not have the experience in IA. My local IAM told me getting my CISSP certification would definitely help me, so recently I have purchased the following books to study:

CISSP Study Guide by Eric Conrad, Seth Misenar, and Joshua Feldman (Paperback - Jul 26, 2010)
ISBN-10: 1597495638
ISBN-13: 978-1597495639

Eleventh Hour CISSP: Study Guide by Eric Conrad, Seth Misenar, and Joshua Feldman (Paperback - Nov 10, 2010)
ISBN-10: 1597495662
ISBN-13: 978-1597495660

Official (ISC)² Guide to the CISSP CBK, Second Edition ((ISC)2 Press) by Harold F. Tipton (Hardcover - Dec 22, 2009)
ISBN-10: 1439809593
ISBN-13: 978-1439809594

My goal is to take the test in May-June 2011. I do have 2 minor issues. I have horrible test anxiety and I usually study (and learn) the best by going over lots and lots of practice questions. What does everyone recommend for me? I look forward to reading everyone’s responses.

A friend recommended this: Roberta Bragg authored a very good CISSP book in 2003. Even though it seems old, it's still a decent book, and the price is very reasonable if you buy it used and in good shape.