I started my Journey in 2016 while CISSP was composed of 10 Chapters and 250 questions in the exam .
I took printout of all 10 Chapters from the Shon Harris AIO. Studied hard in each and every line as well as word and started preparing my own handwritten wotes in two workbooks. I liked the chapter CRYPTOGRAPHY very much and really worked hard to draw diagrams for self understanding Symmetric / Asymmetric Cryptography , PKI , IPSEC , SET , Scytale ciphers etc etc .
At the same time couple of my colleagues purchased CCCURE question bank and we were practicing questions . It was good as questions focused on keywords like BEST , MOST , LEAST similar to CISSP exam . Also I was practicing Mcgraw Hill Free practice Questions at the same time.
Same time I also subscribed Mohammed Atef's CISSP , CISA and CISM combined courses and was watching his video carefully . It was a good overview to understand the whole topics.
At this time some of my colleagues appear in the exam and failed . They were discussing that exams are really tough . Most of the questions were very tough and out of syllabus .
I lost my hope by hearing all those story , left CISSP in the midway and started working on CISM exam as it contains only 4 chapters . I worked hard on this and mid of 2017 successfully cleared CISM.
After that again I started CISSP preparation and that time purchased new Sybex official study guide. It was the brief and i was going very fast as I already finished SHON HARRIS before.
But again my initiative was stopped due to huge work pressure . I thought its never be possible for me. I diverted from my path and started preparing CISA exam. With four-five months effort I cleared CISA exam successfully .
Next in 2019 Feb I saw some posts in my Facebook from Study notes and theory from Luke Ahmed . One day casually, I saw his free video explaining MTD , WRT , RTO , RPO.
It was impressive for me and got some interest . I was watching into some more free videos from Luke and again get some confidence and thought to start my Journey again.
Next I decided to purchase Subscription from SNT and started watching the videos first .
Frankly speaking the explanation of TOC / TOU , SAML , SPML , XACML, OPenid , SCADA , IOT Security were amazing . I read Shon Harris , Sybex but it was not that much clear . But Luke's explanation with practical example are extremely well .
I tried to finish all videos and at the same time prepared my own notes based on SYBEX book . My own notes become 120 pages document . I was also in parallel practicing Sybex practice questions , Shon Harris AIO , CCCURE , BOSON etc etc .
At last I started Luke's Practice questions . The questions are very long , it took minimum five minutes to read whole question and provide the answer . But one question is equivalent to one Case Study . Frankly speaking Luke' s Practice questions raised my confidence level from 50% to 90 % for the actual exam straight forward.
I practice all those question and keep adding notes on the concept and finally my notes become 152 pages.
Next I was just gone through my own notes two times and it took one months to complete the whole. 10 Pages per day after office hours.
I was confident enough that time and additionally practice Thor's practice questions , Telegram group questions , different Facebook group daily posted questions to practice as much as possible.
Finally I booked my exam In Nov 2019 to appear first time. I did not practice any questions in last two weeks before appearing. Just reading my own notes, Prashant Mohan's Memory Palace and Dan's CISSP crams (only comes with Study Notes and Theory membership) thoroughly .
Finally the day came . I reached Pearson Vue exam center quite early. They took biometric and photo during enrollment. Also before entering the exam one more palm vein scan was performed along with through check. It was really strict.
The exam starts now. First 10 - 15 questions were really challenging. A real confusion in choosing the BEST answer out of four. I took some more time to answering those questions as there was no scope for review once you click next.
I completed 60 - 70 questions in 1 hour 45 Min . After that some questions came and which were not difficult but force you to think. It needs time to provide BEST answer as all four are close to the answer.
I reached 100 question in 2 Hours 15 min but exam was still continuing . I was little afraid that time but try to be confident while answering the questions . Not sure that time whether my answers were correct.
Finally I reach 110 questions in 2 Hr 30 Min . Clicked Next and saw the message your exam is completed . I called the proctor and he advised to click End exam button and I came out from exam hall.
Again my Bio-metrics had been taken and Proctor asked me to collect exam result from reception. I reached at reception to collect the exam result which will reflect my effort for almost 3 years . The receptionist checked my ID and handover the result to me and said Good Day .
I slowly looked into it and just saw the one word Congratulations. Wow finally I did . My journey finally come to an end.
I was very happy and while returning just remembered Luke's practice questions and videos which made the difference. It's not only to pass the exam but to gather whole knowledge of CISSP concepts which is very important to work in Cyber Security domain .
I would like to thank Luke for creating this amazing group and resources which helps many students to pass the exam. Thanks Luke for all your support . At last to add that I received the response for each and every email from you whenever I asked my doubts. It is really appreciated.
I am CISM , CISA but preparation of this exam gives me tremendous happiness which are unique than any other exam. Even after 1 week of the exam , still every day I remembered Due care Vs Due Diligence , Least Privilege vs Need to Know , BCP vs DRP , GDPR , SOX , PCI-DSS , HIPAA , SOC Reports , Security Audit Vs Monitoring , Qualitative Vs Quantitative Risk analysis , Remote Journaling Vs Electronic Vaulting , Sanitization vs Crypto erasing , Certification vs Accreditation , etc etc
These 100 - 150 questions in the exam may be official accreditation to put CISSP after your name but the inherent knowledge you gain during your journey will make people feel himself as CISSP by heart which can not be measured by any exam.
From now onwards I will also follow ISC2 ethics P A P A . Especially
"ADVANCE AND PROTECT THE PROFESSION".