primary book for CISSP study?

hi,

so starting off i need to get a 1 primary book from amazon, what should it be? btw i have already ruled out the AIO book as i had a quick flick through it as an ebook and didnt like the style.so im thinking its between the following.

eric conrads CISSP study guide,
http://www.amazon.co.uk/CISSP-Study-Guide-Eric-Conrad/dp/1597499617/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1419687114&sr=8-1&keywords=cissp+conrad

gibsons sybex book
http://www.amazon.co.uk/CISSP-Certified-Information-Security-Professional/dp/1118314174/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1419687161&sr=8-1&keywords=cissp+sybex

Thoughts? I know both seemed to get good reviews here.

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Comments

philz1982

Buy both of conrads books. Memorize the sunflower pdf. Read sans articles on each topic. Youll be find with a week or two of that plan.

chickenlicken09

A week or two! Was thinking more like 6 mths?

philz1982

It's an easy exam. I took 3 days off work. Dedicated wed thru sunday. Read conrads book, read sans articles. Memorized the sunflower pdf.

What's your background?

philz1982

Actually I read the all in one also. Just remembered that.

chickenlicken09

philz1982 wrote: »

It's an easy exam. I took 3 days off work. Dedicated wed thru sunday. Read conrads book, read sans articles. Memorized the sunflower pdf.

What's your background?

Yeah maybe it is I have heard different stories, 5 years of support/network admin. What was your own before you took it? I certainly don't think it looks harder than the ccna? I know they are different exams but the ccna(at least the second part) required using your brain a bit. That's not to take anything away from the cissp but from glancing through the table of contents I don't see what the big deal is. Maybe I will when I start studying

philz1982

I had just finished the CCNA/CCDA. At the time I was selling cloud based software and had been in "IT" for six months. I think my business background made the questions easier as they are on Business Continuity.

H3||scr3am

I used the certified Exam Cram book and passed, I had the all in one Shon Harris aswell, but only used it as a reference to learn things I was foggy on better.

H3||scr3am

chickenlicken09

H3||scr3am wrote: »

I used the certified Exam Cram book and passed, I had the all in one Shon Harris aswell, but only used it as a reference to learn things I was foggy on better.

H3||scr3am

so just one book as the primary, not too bad.

CISSPGOAL

Read sans articles on each topic-> Please advise the link to read.

Thank You.

dustervoice

I would recommend Shon Harris(AIO) and Eric Conrad. I think the difficulty of the test depends on which FORM you receive and your weak/strong domain. If your strong domain in NET/TELECOM and you receive a "telecom" form then you will find the test easy if not your in trouble . As for me, I was hit with questions equally from all domains. I was shocked when i saw so many legal questions as many have said legal was a small domain so i wasn't prepared mentally for all of those questions.

H3||scr3am

eddo1 wrote: »

so just one book as the primary, not too bad.

I should add that I was a Network security analyst for five years too and had a bunch of real world experience under my belt too.

philz1982

CISSPGOAL wrote: »

Read sans articles on each topic-> Please advise the link to read.

Thank You.

Not trying to be an a$$ but there is no way I am going to go lookup all the sans articles and link them here. Go to goggle and type cissp site:sans.org

papadoc

philz1982 wrote: »

It's an easy exam. I took 3 days off work. Dedicated wed thru sunday. Read conrads book, read sans articles. Memorized the sunflower pdf.

What's your background?

You're a wizard. Some sort of sorcerer perhaps

. You did no practice tests?

philz1982

papadoc wrote: »

You're a wizard. Some sort of sorcerer perhaps . You did no practice tests?

It is the Harry Potter marathon weekend on ABC family.... I did the practice questions in the All in One and Conrads books and googled to read articles on any questions I got wrong.

papadoc

philz1982 wrote: »

It is the Harry Potter marathon weekend on ABC family.... I did the practice questions in the All in One and Conrads books and googled to read articles on any questions I got wrong.

There's some stuff that just doesn't compute with me such as reference monitors, state machines etc.

Also, the models are screwing me up.. Bell La Padula, Biba etc. Write up, can't write down. It's difficult to remember, I will just have to dedicate more time to that area in terms of rote memorization.

philz1982

Ill write something up tonight. Just gotta get my kids to bed.

papadoc

philz1982 wrote: »

Ill write something up tonight. Just gotta get my kids to bed.

Hey thanks, much appreciated!

[Deleted User]

papadoc wrote: »

There's some stuff that just doesn't compute with me such as reference monitors, state machines etc.

Also, the models are screwing me up.. Bell La Padula, Biba etc. Write up, can't write down. It's difficult to remember, I will just have to dedicate more time to that area in terms of rote memorization.

I've found that remembering Bell La Padula and Biba is quite easy when you think about them in terms that make sense to you. For example, in the DoD world we practice Bell LaPadula without even realizing it. Bell LaPadula is a confidentiality model in which you cannot read up or write down. Once you can get one to click, the other is simply the opposite. Biba is read down and write up.

There's an additional level to these models which is the Simple and * Property/Axiom. I don't have a great way to remember this other than the two Simple Property/Axioms are Read and the * Property/Axiom is Write. If you know the directions from above then you can apply them to the appropriate property or axiom.

I struggled with these topics for a long time and until I found something that I could relate to it finally clicked. My boss made the recommendation to think in terms of the military. In Biba, a Sergeant will give orders to a private (read down) however, a private cannot modify his orders (write up).

I hope some of this helps. If anyone finds any discrepancies or have a better way of explaining, feel free. I just wanted to try and help to see if I had the concepts down as I'm a week out from my test. I would hope at this point I've got it down.

CISSPGOAL

Simple means "Read"
* means it about writing. You are writing in the star.

spark2

philz1982 wrote: »

It's an easy exam. I took 3 days off work. Dedicated wed thru sunday.

I wish I had 50% of your brain lol, 3 days! that's awesome

chickenlicken09

going with gibsons as primary book.

CISSP: Certified Information Systems Security Professional Study Guide (Sybex Serious Skills): Amazon.co.uk: James M. Stewart, Mike Chapple, Darril Gibson: 9781118314173: Books

impelse

I know one person who can read one book very fast and sit down to the exam and pass it very easy. How much retention? who know.

Every person is different and background too.

So study according your own way, learn and enjoy the material then you know when you are ready.

I read both Conrad book three to four times, almost all the Shon Harris and twice the Sybex (maybe three times) and several times Transcender flash cards. Also I wrote in my blog some point I tend to forget or I did not fully understand, just trying to explain them in the blog helped me a lot.