Done

Wanted to drop a quick 'thank you' to the active posters. I passed today, first attempt. There wasn't much for me to post in the run up to the exam, but a lot to read, so thanks to the active posters who came in and posted advice and reassurances over the last few months. I found these posts very useful in that nervous time before the exam, so cheers.

Studied for about six weeks properly, started with Dummies, then the new Conrad book and a speed read of 11th hour. Did about 3000 questions from cccure, which I think was good prep for the exam experience, plus a few others from the books. Managed to get a Firebrand bootcamp in for the last week before the exam. I'm in the UK and theres not many test centres here, and Firebrand offer a six day review with the exam on the 7th which was most convenient for me.

I'm not sure if anyone's thinking of the Bootcamp option, but if you do, go prepared to work hard. It's full on brain filling at a rapid pace, and you've really got to put the effort in to keep up. Passrate in our group seemed to be as advertised though, so they definitely do what they say on the tin.

Exam day was pretty chilled as you stay on site, nice early breakfast, wander over to get signed in, did the exam and came out to a nice buffet lunch. The wait between pressing done and getting the printout was murder!

In the end I probably over studied, found the exam pretty straightforward, but I really put the time into learning the material. Don't think there's any way around that, the questions are well written and fair, if I got any wrong it's because I didn't know it rather than something mean. The best way to pass is to know the material, and that's all there is too it.

Oh, I think Shon is overkill. You read that book and you will cover everything you need, but you will also cover a lot you don't. CCCure quizzes good, but I'd also say they lean on the technical side a little too much and hammer some stuff doesn't seem to be that important (yes I'm talking about you Orange Book).

Glad it's done and I can get some free time back!

Thanks again.

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t17hha

Congratulations Airdroid!

Unfortunately I don't have the finances to pay for the boot camp hence the home study. If you have any advise of prep for the last week it would be appreciated

I am looking to spend some time doing the CCCURE questions and think I know Shon Harris material fairly well. Just trying to push up my scores on tests to a reasonable standard, but as with everyone in my position you don't exactly know if you've over studied or not. Would you say the Eric Conrad Study Guide and 11th Hour were more useful?

aidroid

Thanks.

The exam is large, and covers a very large subject area, and the best way to ensure a pass is to simply cover it all. If you know everything in the official CBK, you will pass the exam. How much of the CBK you know will depend on where you come from, but there are some particular ISC2 ways of thinking that I feel the bootcamp drilled home that gave us a real advantage. People often say concentrate on the concepts, and I think this is true, most of the guides (including Conrad) seem to me to be too technical. The CISSP does have these kinds of things in the CBK but it's also about how you should do thinks, how to think like they want you to do things in a certain way.

Pay attention to the advice on which domains people say are the most important, such as Risk, models and BCP. I feel these aren't just important because of their content, but because they drill home the theme, the triad and the idea of infosecs role in an organisation.

There were people on the bootcamp that hadn't pre-read at all, they worked hard, but they passed, it can be done.

Get lots of the praccy tests done and keep going over the guides on areas you get questions wrong. Try to answer the questions before you read the options. If you can keep your average up over 80% I think you can go into the exam with confidence.

t17hha

Thanks Airdroid, one of the modules which I am finding that I fluctuate on within the CCCURE tests is Security Architecture and Design, thats mostly down to the large number of questions on the Orange Book which I haven't spent as much time on revising but will do soon.

Very useful advice, will take it on board, appreciate it.

aidroid

The Orange book is still in the CBK. From what we covered using the official stuff, the orange book definitions of MAC and DAC are worth knowing (but you'll know them already) and which levels of the orange book match them. Knowing how the orange book maps to the other standards seems to be important, eg what level of the orange book is equivalent for ITSEC and Common Criteria.

Like many things CISSP, you have to know what it is, what it's for and a little bit about it. Inch deep, mile wide. If the CCCure tests teach you more than you need to know, I guess that's better than less

moyondizvo

Congratulations, it's better to be over prepared than under

jacklee

Congra

. Glad to hear that Shon is overkill. I use it as reference instead of as read-through stuff.

Bundiman

Congrats, well earned.

Humbe

Congratulations !!

moyondizvo

@Jacklee - Be aware that everyone's reading style is different, Shon Harris may be an overkill for some people but just adequate for others. When I prepared for the exam, I used Shon Harris as my primary source and I found the book to be everything I needed to pass the exam. aidroid has found it to be an overkill, however I think what's most important is to find what's most suitable for YOU.

There are past posts about Shon Harris being an overkill, have a read and find your balance.

JDMurray

aidroid wrote: »

The Orange book is still in the CBK.

The Orange Book (and Tan and Red, etc.) is part of the phantom, 11th domain of the CISSP CBK: InfoSec History. I was told by CISSP #1 that he felt the history of InfoSec is very important for people to know, and that is why things like the Rainbow Series will always be a (small) part of the CISSP CBK.

Besides, with the Feds still using Windows NT 4 to run part of our critical infrastructure, security consultants will still need to occasionally know what a C2-certified computer is and how not to break it.

Thistleback

aidroid wrote: »

Exam day was pretty chilled as you stay on site, nice early breakfast, wander over to get signed in, did the exam and came out to a nice buffet lunch. The wait between pressing done and getting the printout was murder!

How long, an hour?

How about 6 weeks! CBT testers have it easy compared to paper-based. I'll be glad when it's time to take my ISSMP and get to take advantage of CBT. That 6-week wait for my CISSP in 2012 was a long sweat!

Congratulations!

zoidberg

Way to go aidroid! Congrats!

someslacker

Thistleback wrote: »

How long, an hour? How about 6 weeks! CBT testers have it easy compared to paper-based. I'll be glad when it's time to take my ISSMP and get to take advantage of CBT. That 6-week wait for my CISSP in 2012 was a long sweat!

Congratulations!

I'm with you, the wait was horrid. I think they should make it mandatory to have to wait 6+ weeks to get results, paper or CBT.

Instant gratification is over rated. heh

Congrats by the way!

the_hutch

Yup...longest two months of my life. Congrats aidroid

aidroid

Thanks. In some ways the instant result puts more pressure on. Work had paid for the bootcamp, and I was expected to come home with a pass. Being able to say the results were in the post would have taken that pressure off.

Still, it's done now. Need something to fill the study void! Just did a CEH set of questions on my cccure account and got 90%, anyone know if they're representative?

Addictive this cert lark.

aidroid

Quick update, got my endorsement through 2 weeks after submitting it.

beads

aidroid wrote: »

Thanks. In some ways the instant result puts more pressure on. Work had paid for the bootcamp, and I was expected to come home with a pass. Being able to say the results were in the post would have taken that pressure off.

Still, it's done now. Need something to fill the study void! Just did a CEH set of questions on my cccure account and got 90%, anyone know if they're representative?

Addictive this cert lark.

From what I understand the C|EH has become considerably easier since the early days when getting a 71% was considered good. EC Council has taken a lot of the old obtuse stuff off the exam - particularly the history of hacking. So, I suspect your well on your way on that front.

- beads

joebanny

First, congratulations!!

Good that you're also looking into CEH and hitting 90% is a very good start, however for me, using the tonnes of tools out there after reading the book was invaluable. Apart from the book knowledge, I will suggest you get your hands wet with the tools- a one place for all of them will be the BackTrack (it fits nicely to a flash drive)- by the time you're done with that- mastering the tools, I will say yo are good to go! All the best.

JockVSJock

That is what I'm starting to think...I've started to study again and none of the material I'm reading in her book is being retained in my memory.

I'm looking at Conrad's book.

webgeek

aidroid wrote: »

Oh, I think Shon is overkill. Thanks again.

+1 and Congrats!