Passed in first attempt. Thanks !!

Hi All.
Came to this forum 2 days before, for the first time and came to know about very helpful info about exams.
Really appreciate the way you are helping the new aspirants.

Working experience: 15 yrs in various IT roles.
Preparations: 5-days CISSP Exam prep attended 1 year ago
Books read: None
Sample questions : Yes, from many free available for 3 days.
Stopped reading day before exam, as came to know from you guys that samples dont appear in exam. But by that time already read few 100s.

How sample questions helped:
1) increase analyzing ability.
2) learn by eliminating
3) gives idea of how long it will take to answer 250 questions. Was already tired after 150 questions in exam.
4) Its true that sample questions are what IS and what IS NOT.
but exam questions are What is BEST, FIRST, MUST.

I believe anyone with right experience, will be able to pass.
whatever you learn by reading books is just a plus and enhances your chances of passing.

Tips:
1) In the exam, after reading first few questions, i was like sure going to fail. i flagged 10 questions for review in a row. but with my initial choice answer selected. who knows will get time to review or Not. .
2) Don't spend more than a minute on a question. if you cannot figure out, flag them and move on.
3) Scenario based questions, my approach was
(a) read the question first
(b) read the scenario later, you will be able to figure out right things from scenario and save time reading and re-reading the scenario itself.
(c) if you know the theory or practical. scenario will not be a problem.
4) max. questions are practical situations.
5) Last but Most. answering from mgmt point of view really helped i think.
i believe those questions have more ratings than other purely technical questions.( including encryption).
Surely i may not have scored well on encryption.

thanks and all the best.