CISSP and SSCP exams available online starting June 1, 2012

JDMurray

For people allergic to paper cuts: https://www.isc2.org/PressReleaseDetails.aspx?id=8493

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cyberguypr

About time. Now i cant use the "i hate scantron excuse" anymore to keep pushing the CISSP.

TBRAYS

This is long over due, now no more dreadful waiting 4-6 weeks for results...... I wonder would this lessen the exam time?

paul78

According to the press release - rapid turnaround for exam results. Is that fair? I always thought the 6-8 week wait was part of the sadistic exam regiment.

beads

The question is can you skip over questions like you can/could on the paper based test or is it a linear one question at a time type of thing. If its linear in nature theres going to be a lot more failures.

- beads

shaqazoolu

beads wrote: »

The question is can you skip over questions like you can/could on the paper based test or is it a linear one question at a time type of thing. If its linear in nature theres going to be a lot more failures.

- beads

I had not thought of this. That's a little terrifying.

JDMurray

paul78 wrote: »

According to the press release - rapid turnaround for exam results. Is that fair? I always thought the 6-8 week wait was part of the sadistic exam regiment.

No more waiting for the proctors to ship the paper exams, no more shipping delays going through customs to get back to the USA, no more waiting for the exams to be processed by the grading house, etc. Because the online (ISC)2 exam will only be given at the premium Pearson Vue testing centers, it's a wonder why the (ISC)2 doesn't display the exam results immediately.

beads wrote: »

The question is can you skip over questions like you can/could on the paper based test or is it a linear one question at a time type of thing. If its linear in nature theres going to be a lot more failures.

The (ISC)2 CSSLP and CAP exams have been online at Pearson Vue for probably a year now. Someone check over at cccure.org (and other places) if anyone has taken either of those exams online and if they described the exam's rules and constraints.

rwmidl

You young whipper snappers and your new fangled CBT thingamajiggy. I remember when we had to walk 8 miles barefoot uphill in the snow to take the test on paper. And then we had to wait! Now get off my yard!

ZekeCISSP

cyberguypr wrote: »

About time. Now i cant use the "i hate scantron excuse" anymore to keep pushing the CISSP.

They could probably knock at least an hour off the exam. I probably spent more time than that transferring my answers to the bubble sheet.

JDMurray

ZekeCISSP wrote: »

They could probably knock at least an hour off the exam. I probably spent more time than that transferring my answers to the bubble sheet.

I actually found that part a nice break from staring at the exam items.

But you raise a great point: What's the time limit on the online CISSP and SSCP exams? Probably not more than four for the CISSP and two for the SSCP.

ChooseLife

JDMurray wrote: »

For people allergic to paper cuts: https://www.isc2.org/PressReleaseDetails.aspx?id=8493

Thanks for the info

Maybe I missed it - when is the paper-based version being retired?

JDMurray

Probably not for quite a while.

UPDATE: Looks like the paper-based (ISC)2 exams will become largely unavailable starting September 1, 2012.

https://www.isc2.org/certification-register-now.aspx

ChooseLife

Hmm, less than 6 months. OTOH, it doesn't sound like many will be rushing to take the exam before it is retired

JDMurray

Just the opposite, in fact. Many people scheduled to take the paper exam are trying to reschedule to take the online exam. Registration for the online exams doesn't begin until June 1st, but the online exams will be available to take on June 2nd.

colemic

They could have made a killing if they had done this 2+ years ago, with the glut of personnel trying to get 8570 compliant.

JDMurray

I think it was the increase in demand from the 8570.01 candidates that drove (ISC)2 to seriously consider online delivery. The (ISC)2 is a very careful and deliberate organization, so taking two+ years to design, implement, and test online exams is expected.

colemic

I think it is a good thing... but I would be curious to know if they are increasing their question pool as a result to ward off dumping, or any other measures they are taking to help avoid that.

JDMurray

I have heard (ISC)2 will only offering their exams in the premium Pearson VUE® centers that have assured security. It costs more for cert vendors to host their exams in those venues, but when the value of maintaining the integrity of your exam pool can't be measured you'll do it.

beads

Thanks JD for reminding me about the absolute security at some of the PearsonVue centers.

Now for those who haven't had the pleasure this is generally what's in store, at least here in Chicago:

Empty your pants of wallet, keys, doo-dads and probably pocket lint.

Glasses? Better be prescription or they'll end up next to your wallet in a gym locker with key lock.

Coat? Ummm... No. Sport Coat or Jacket? If you leave it on its on for the entire test.

You may (No, this is a recent true story) have to raise your pant legs to show your pretty legs and socks. (This happened to me at a SANS test this week.)

Go through a metal detector or at least a metal detecting wand waved by an formerly employee of the TSA but for about half the pay. (*snicker*)

Ladies. I am sure they do much the same for purses, etc. but I am unfamiliar with the procedures.

My overall opinion was that it would be easier to visit a Federal penitentiary.

- beads

colemic

IS the cost of the test still the same? I can see some grumblings coming down the road if you take the middleman (grading company) out of the equasion and don't cut the cost any... Pearsonvue can't cost as much as what manual reviews would, I would think.

JDMurray

Only the paper exam booklets and Scantron forms are going away. The exam analysis company would probably still be needed in some capacity. Money (and trees) are saved by not printing and shipping exam materials to/from testing locations.

It also doesn't cost much to run a stack of Scantron forms through a machine, but it does cost a lot to have exams administered in very secure testing centers.

All that being said, I haven't seen any yet on the cost of the CBT (ISC)2 exams.

UnixGuy

beads wrote: »

Thanks JD for reminding me about the absolute security at some of the PearsonVue centers.

Now for those who haven't had the pleasure this is generally what's in store, at least here in Chicago:

Empty your pants of wallet, keys, doo-dads and probably pocket lint.

Glasses? Better be prescription or they'll end up next to your wallet in a gym locker with key lock.

Coat? Ummm... No. Sport Coat or Jacket? If you leave it on its on for the entire test.

You may (No, this is a recent true story) have to raise your pant legs to show your pretty legs and socks. (This happened to me at a SANS test this week.)

Go through a metal detector or at least a metal detecting wand waved by an formerly employee of the TSA but for about half the pay. (*snicker*)

Ladies. I am sure they do much the same for purses, etc. but I am unfamiliar with the procedures.

My overall opinion was that it would be easier to visit a Federal penitentiary.

- beads

Let's hope they are as strict in other parts of the world as they're in Chicago in the premium centers.

I'm seriously worried about the future of this certification...

shaqazoolu

UnixGuy wrote: »

Let's hope they are as strict in other parts of the world as they're in Chicago in the premium centers.

I'm seriously worried about the future of this certification...

It was a similar process when I took Cisco exams here in Louisiana. The only difference was I didn't have to worry about the metal detection apparatus.

UnixGuy

shaqazoolu wrote: »

It was a similar process when I took Cisco exams here in Louisiana. The only difference was I didn't have to worry about the metal detection apparatus.

This justifies my worries then. We all know that Cisco exams are dumped...

shaqazoolu

UnixGuy wrote: »

This justifies my worries then. We all know that Cisco exams are dumped...

Not necessarily...there's no guarantee that any of the **** came from my local VUE facility

. Just trying to make you feel better.

I am kinda worried about that too though. When I sat for the paper SSCP, they had that place on lockdown. Watering down the legitimacy of the cert(s) would suck for sure...especially since I am poised to have both of them and perhaps the engineering specialization by the end of the year.

JDMurray

I'm pretty sure that the (ISC)2 would not be moving to online exams if it meant putting their bread-and-butter at significant risk for ruining its integrity. They have been planning and implementing this move for (at least) a couple of years now.

UnixGuy

shaqazoolu wrote: »

Not necessarily...there's no guarantee that any of the **** came from my local VUE facility . Just trying to make you feel better.

I am kinda worried about that too though. When I sat for the paper SSCP, they had that place on lockdown. Watering down the legitimacy of the cert(s) would suck for sure...especially since I am poised to have both of them and perhaps the engineering specialization by the end of the year.

I'm sure there wasn't

As you know, It's not the United States I'm worried about. If you read the wikipedia pages of those **** companies, you will know where most of them came from. That worries me.

Honestly, I've seen a lot of cheating that I lost faith in integrity, so I'm very cautious!

UnixGuy

JDMurray wrote: »

I'm pretty sure that the (ISC)2 would not be moving to online exams if it meant putting their bread-and-butter at significant risk for ruining its integrity. They have been planning and implementing this move for (at least) a couple of years now.

I sure hope so. I hope they don't make the same mistake like Microsoft/Cisco/CompTIA...etc

JDMurray

Realize that many companies that add certifications as part of their customer education services don't take their certifications seriously enough to begin with to regard them as an asset that needs protecting. By the time an organization realizes the contents of their certifications exams are intellectual property requiring security controls, the contents have been copied and redistributed as cheating materials. The company can start over by discarding and re-writing their exam question pools, but by that time the damage to the integrity of the company's certification program has already been done.

UnixGuy

That's right, and we've seen this happening over and over with Microsoft, Cisco, CompTIA, Oracle ..etc, we've seen it with practically anything Prometric/VUE...