Victory is mine....."Passed CISSP"

After much hard work and studying. I have finally completed my journey!!! Got my results today 2:18 p.m.

CISSP Resources:

CBT Nugget
CISSP for Dummies
Shon Harris AIO CISSP 4th Edition
Official Guide to CISSP
Sybex CISSP 2nd Edition
Freepracticetest.org

Overview:

I have been studying for the last 2 years. I first failed the test in Nov 2009. After a job change and moving to a different city; I studied on and off for the next 1.5 years. I attempted again back beginning of April and failed once more. I started studying everyday for 2 hours and really focusing on doing as many practice questions as possible. 3rd times the charm took the test on June 4 and passed. I found that the questions supplied by the resources above were no were near the actual difficultly that were on the exam. However doing AS MANY QUESTIONS AS POSSIBLE, better enforced the concepts learned. And its better to do as many questions as possible, than to read the book over and over again and not do any questions.

I must have read the AIO CISSP 3 times total cover to cover. Overall the book provides you good information, BUT MORE resources are required to pass the test. The official guide was also a GREAT resource and offered a ton of information. I read this book twice. The Sybex book I found to be ok...it did not offer any additional information that was not already offered by AIO or Official Guide. But it was a good resource to have.

For me personally, video training was essential. I am a visually / interactive learner, so reading things on a page does not reinforce concepts for me. Some level of interactive training is going to be required in order to pass the test. CBT Nuggets is the resource I used to mimic classroom/interactive training. CISSP for dummies I liked as a refresher before going in and taking the exam; It's a "must-have"!!

I have about 15 years experience in IT. Now just waiting on the endorsement process. But thank God that the test is over with and complete. Not sure whats next on my list. Thanks to all on this site. It is a great resource!!

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Comments

cyberguypr

Let me be the first to say CONGRATS!

What's next?

Jinuyr

Second! =P Congratulations!

What would you say was the most important tool you used in retaining that information? Practice exams? Videos? Flash Cards?

rogue2shadow

Congrats man. I hope to join you post my exam in October :P

Chivalry1

cyberguypr wrote: »

Let me be the first to say CONGRATS! What's next?

I enjoy learning. The management side wants: ITIL Certification

The technical side of me wants to tackle:

GIAC Information Security Fundamentals (GISF) or GIAC Security Essentials (GSEC) or Certifies Ethical Hacker (C | EH)

I will likely go with one of these certification since I still enjoy the technical side. GISF looks the most interesting...but I know the courses are expensive.

rwmidl

Congrats!

Chivalry1

Jinuyr wrote: »

Second! =P Congratulations!

What would you say was the most important tool you used in retaining that information? Practice exams? Videos? Flash Cards?

Everything I learn must relate to something. So areas I felt weak I had to apply real world experience/scenario's to help understand and retain. One area I was not strong in was Disaster Recovery / Business Continuity planning. I understand the technical side completely but the project and programmatic side was tough to grasp.

So I decided to do a number of mock Business Continuity/ Disaster Recovery plans for some relatives companies. I established RPO/RTO, performed Risk Analysis and mock interviews. All of this was not done extensively, but all information was documented and performed. So this gave me the formal experience needed and IT WAS FUN!! I helped my relatives understand the core of there business, identified risk and established some strategic and operational goals/plans. This turned my DR/BCP from the worst domain to my strongest domain ever. This was just one of my few tricks applied.

So in short practically applied experience helped with retention. I am not good at just reading and retaining.

TunYau

Congrat : } 3 Time Exam really a pain and waiting for result 3 times..........

Same as me going for ITIL foundation to collect CPE.

After that will go for CEH and CISA....

Chivalry1

I about to research more on the CPE points. I want to knock out at least 50 within the first year.

lla1977

CPEs are really easy man... I just took another Cisco exam so I just gave myself 50 for preparation time... Congrats tho