Thanks God! Passed CISSP in first attempt
Hi folks,
This is my complete review based on my experience in pursuing passing the cissp exam
Preparation:
It took me 1,5 years to prepare the CISSP exam, with a very slow pace at the beginning. Used to keep in touch with Cisco exams, from CCNA to CCIE, which are very technical, and then switched to CISSP exam, which is conceptual, made me a little bored, sleepy and lack of motivation. But later, the motivation grew stronger and stronger
I use this materials to study:
1. Shon Harris AIO 6th edition -> Read it only for 2 domains. I thought that it was too overwhelmed and made the critical points are hard to get. And made me very sleepy too
2. Eric Conrad Study Guide 2nd Edition -> once found it, immediately switched to this book. It is likely a summary of Shon Harris AIO book, only critical points are discussed. Make learning CISSP fun and interesting.
3. Eric Conrad 11hour summary -> Read it after finishing reading Eric Conrad study guide, as a recap
4. CCCure (paid version) -> spent the last 6 months practicing from this quiz engine. Not a good reference though. (will explain it below)
5. Review personal CISSP notes -> gather info from various sources
6. Sunflower CISSP summary -> use only to find a quick source for CISSP theory when practising with CCCure
7. Mcgraw Hill quiz engine -> just found it 4 days before exam (from this forum), and it really a good source for practising. Some topics are appeared in the exam . Just have time to work on 2 domain quizzes, which are my weakest domains
8. Shon Harris PRactice Exam 2nd edition - use it only a little bit
Exam experience:
Finished it with the remaining 20 seconds left! Take break 3x, after question no 100, no 150, and after 200, to go to the toilet, washed face, and drank 2 glasses of water. this is important to maintain your concentration.
i felt that the exam was really hard. i have never heard almost 70% of the question topic. And for 30% of the rest, although i knew the topic, still it was very difficult to answer the questions. I was really angry at that time, why would i've spent much time of my life for practising cccure, which turned to not helpful at all. It was really like in another exam, and it really disturbed my concentration during the exam. No wonder some members of this forum said cccure as a waste of money.
With carefully analyzing every answers, understanding the questions, picking up the most make-sense answer, and praying to God, finally i passed the exam
And during the exam, i did not find the questions that are poorly written, or questions that are in the form of negative questions, such as "which one is NOT a disadvantage of ..." or "which one is less likely NOT a weakness of...". There was no stupid questions like that (this kind of questions frequently shown in cccure). All the questions were straightforward.
I also found many scenario-based questions are appeared, and only 3-4 diagram/picture questions.
Tips:
1. i strongly suggest to learn from Shon Harris AIO, as many of this forum members recommend. During the exam, i noted some of the topics that appear quite a lot in the exam, which i've never heard before, and apparently after a quick checking in Shon Harris practice exam again, the topics are there.
Some of them are:
- Security frameworks, models, standards, and best practices- Security enterprise architecture
- Information classification and protection
- Security awareness training
2. Use McGraw Hill quiz engine and Total Tester to practice, as they are from Shon Harris too.
McGraw Hill: McGraw-Hill Education | CISSP Practice Exams
Total Tester: https://www.totalsem.com/cissp-all-in-one-exam-guide-sixth-edition/
[REMOVED -- TMI]
5. As many of the others have said, we often find a question that has the correct answers of more than 1, sometimes more than 2. you have to choose the most correct one.
Example: You have to eat this nutritious food in order to be healthy. which one is from the following?
A. burger
B. pizza
C. banana
D. fruits
i would choose D. fruits
6. As many of the others have said too, usually the correct answer is the one that has "management" word. But be careful, not to be trapped into the answer. check the question carefully.
7. take regular break, to drink or wash face, to keep concentration.
8.pray to God
I am sorry if this review is too long.. And I wish you all good luck in your CISSP endeavor.
This is my complete review based on my experience in pursuing passing the cissp exam
Preparation:
It took me 1,5 years to prepare the CISSP exam, with a very slow pace at the beginning. Used to keep in touch with Cisco exams, from CCNA to CCIE, which are very technical, and then switched to CISSP exam, which is conceptual, made me a little bored, sleepy and lack of motivation. But later, the motivation grew stronger and stronger
I use this materials to study:
1. Shon Harris AIO 6th edition -> Read it only for 2 domains. I thought that it was too overwhelmed and made the critical points are hard to get. And made me very sleepy too
2. Eric Conrad Study Guide 2nd Edition -> once found it, immediately switched to this book. It is likely a summary of Shon Harris AIO book, only critical points are discussed. Make learning CISSP fun and interesting.
3. Eric Conrad 11hour summary -> Read it after finishing reading Eric Conrad study guide, as a recap
4. CCCure (paid version) -> spent the last 6 months practicing from this quiz engine. Not a good reference though. (will explain it below)
5. Review personal CISSP notes -> gather info from various sources
6. Sunflower CISSP summary -> use only to find a quick source for CISSP theory when practising with CCCure
7. Mcgraw Hill quiz engine -> just found it 4 days before exam (from this forum), and it really a good source for practising. Some topics are appeared in the exam . Just have time to work on 2 domain quizzes, which are my weakest domains
8. Shon Harris PRactice Exam 2nd edition - use it only a little bit
Exam experience:
Finished it with the remaining 20 seconds left! Take break 3x, after question no 100, no 150, and after 200, to go to the toilet, washed face, and drank 2 glasses of water. this is important to maintain your concentration.
i felt that the exam was really hard. i have never heard almost 70% of the question topic. And for 30% of the rest, although i knew the topic, still it was very difficult to answer the questions. I was really angry at that time, why would i've spent much time of my life for practising cccure, which turned to not helpful at all
. It was really like in another exam, and it really disturbed my concentration during the exam. No wonder some members of this forum said cccure as a waste of money.With carefully analyzing every answers, understanding the questions, picking up the most make-sense answer, and praying to God, finally i passed the exam
And during the exam, i did not find the questions that are poorly written, or questions that are in the form of negative questions, such as "which one is NOT a disadvantage of ..." or "which one is less likely NOT a weakness of...". There was no stupid questions like that (this kind of questions frequently shown in cccure). All the questions were straightforward.
I also found many scenario-based questions are appeared, and only 3-4 diagram/picture questions.
Tips:
1. i strongly suggest to learn from Shon Harris AIO, as many of this forum members recommend. During the exam, i noted some of the topics that appear quite a lot in the exam, which i've never heard before, and apparently after a quick checking in Shon Harris practice exam again, the topics are there.
Some of them are:
- Security frameworks, models, standards, and best practices- Security enterprise architecture
- Information classification and protection
- Security awareness training
2. Use McGraw Hill quiz engine and Total Tester to practice, as they are from Shon Harris too.
McGraw Hill: McGraw-Hill Education | CISSP Practice Exams
Total Tester: https://www.totalsem.com/cissp-all-in-one-exam-guide-sixth-edition/
[REMOVED -- TMI]
5. As many of the others have said, we often find a question that has the correct answers of more than 1, sometimes more than 2. you have to choose the most correct one.
Example: You have to eat this nutritious food in order to be healthy. which one is from the following?
A. burger
B. pizza
C. banana
D. fruits
i would choose D. fruits
6. As many of the others have said too, usually the correct answer is the one that has "management" word. But be careful, not to be trapped into the answer. check the question carefully.
7. take regular break, to drink or wash face, to keep concentration.
8.pray to God
I am sorry if this review is too long.. And I wish you all good luck in your CISSP endeavor.
Comments
Out of interest, what's your experience, and did any of that help you in the exam?
Very encouring to hear.
I will have my SSCP examen This Friday!
Hi Jon,
my experience is in network engineering. it helps me a lot in covering technical questions, especially from telecommunication & network security chapter.