Some thoughts on the CISSP exam taken Dec. 10
First I will discuss my preparation, then talk a little about the exam and then what I would/will do next time. Also, let me say that I have been working in IT (in some form or another) since 1976 and currently I am the Director of Technology for a medium-sized community bank in Florida.
I began preparing by taking an excellent online course from Intense School back in September. I then read Shon Harris’s 3rd. Ed, portions of Kurtz and Vines book, and began taking test questions until Early November when I really ramped up my efforts by studying two hours a day , with three to four hours each day on the weekend. I used the CCCure.org test questions, Shon’s CD test engine and a book called Examwise for the CISSP. I also continued reviewing Shon’s book on my weak areas which were numerous and I used Mike Overly’s excellent review and study guide on the CCCure.org site. I took the Thursday before my test off from work to study and take practice tests and on Friday, drove the six hours to St. Pete on Friday, got there in the afternoon, went and found the test facility, had a good dinner, reviewed some test questions and got about seven hours of sleep.
I took the test at the EpiCenter at a satellite of St. Petersburg College. It was an outstanding facility and a great and comfortable place to take the exam. It was a little cool in the room, but that was fine with me. There were 15 test takers and four proctors.
Every one was spaced out well and there was plenty of room in the room and on each table. I showed up around 8:10, we went to the room and were briefed by the proctors at 8:30 and our test began at 8:55. It was all very orderly and well-handled.
The test was far and away the hardest exam I have ever taken and it took me five and a half hours. It took me 2 and half hours to go through it the first time. That was when I answered all of the questions that I felt comfortable with and circled the ones I felt I might not know the answer too. The first hour was very depressing because I was circling a lot more than I was answering. But I then I settled down some and got into a rhythm and seemed to do much better. After that first run, I had answered 167 and that left 84 that I needed to work on.
Let me say right here, that I wrote in the test book a lot. I underlined negative parts of questions, I “x’ed” out answers that I knew were wrong, I wrote notes to myself and I think all of that really helped me with the rhythm and feel.
When I went back through the second time, I wondered why I circled some of the questions, because THEN I felt like I knew more answers. I attribute that to my initial nervous and subsequently getting into that rhythm. Of course there were still some that I didn’t know for sure and others that I KNEW I just simply did NOT know. Many questions had at least two answers that I thought were VERY good answers, a few even had three. I tried to use the exam as a study guide, hoping that some answers would be revealed in other questions, but this was not a useful tactic. I got to the point where I just had to pick what I thought was the best answer and move on.
I took lots and lots of tests from several sources and I would have to say that there were only 20 or 25 questions that I had ever seen before ANY where. So I have to tip my hat to ISC2 for keeping this Exam unique and challenging. There were questions that I knew I should know the answer to, or that I knew I remembered reading, but those questions were just asked in a different way than I had been thinking about on that particular topic. Those were killers for me, because I started doubting myself and my other answers. I was “up” and “down” so many times, going from confidence to panic and back within minutes.
Any way, it took, me another two hours to go back through again and after that I still had five questions to which I just could not find any answers for in my experience or my readings. I filled in my answer sheet (which I hadn’t touched since the initial briefing) and that took an hour. I do not like detail work with my hands and filling in all of those little circles was tedious and stressful trying to make sure I got them all in the right order but I did it. That took an hour so I was at 5 and half. I went back, briefly to those last five questions one more time and just picked what I thought would be right. Then I wished myself one last little bit of luck and turned in my stuff.
Later, when I was waiting outside for my ride, one of the proctors walked by and asked me if I was relaxing and I said, “No, I am just trying to remember my name.” I was pretty much brain dead at that point.
And now comes the hardest part of all. Waiting for the results. I think that if I pass, it will be by a slim margin. I will say this about my personal preparation: I studied as hard as I could for the last month, but I should have done that for the last two months, because like I said, there were some questions that I knew I had seen before in material I had just skimmed over, or really didn’t study in the necessary detail, because I felt comfortable with it. There were some things I studied in great detail that I did not even see on the test. There is just so much material they can chose from.
So if I had it to over again, I think I would have read more and put less emphasize on practice tests AS A LEARNING AID. I would still use practice tests, but only for measuring where I stand.
Right now, I have to assume that I failed and I am going to keep studying and reading Shon Harris and Kurtz and working on my weak areas and try to re-test as soon as possible. I just feel like I can’t let my brain dismiss all I HAVE learned.
If anyone feels like I have had said too much about the actual exam, please let me know and I will edit the post accordingly.
Any way that is a very long-winded post, but I hope it will help some one else prepare for, and/or understand the exam process. I am posting it to two different forums, CCCure.org and TechExams.net, that have been extraordinarily valuable to me. Rather I pass or not, I would not have had a the slightest chance without the support from these forums… So Finally, THANK YOU to all who post here. For your knowledge and wisdom, for your preparation techniques and mostly for your support. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.
Mike
