Finally, magical email arrived stating I'm official CISSP after the endorsement process was completed.
I have provisionally passed CISSP exam on 14h April 2018.
Timelines :
Exam date :04/14/2018
Endorsement submitted : 04/19/2018
Certification email : 05/25/2018
Certification Kit : 06/06/2018
Big thanks to my family for their continuous support in my study journey.
This journey would have been incomplete without mentioning Luke Ahmed, Ahmed Khatib & Prabh Nair.
First time I heard of CISSP was during Spring of 2016 & that's when I purchased Sybex study guide & practice tests. I did cover to cover read over the span of 3 months & took bootcamp for 5 days while I was in India which ( by the way bootcamp) was sheer waste of money.
During those days , ISACA used to conduct exams only twice in a year so I thought of nailing CISM first as there was around 40% overlap. Being Email Security specialist followed by Technical manager role , CISM seemed way too easy to clear.
But I was wrong. I was stumped and it took me two attempts to clear CISM that usually people say is way too easy than CISSP. However that experience helped me in thorough understanding of risk management aspects ISACA way that was way different than how we used to work in our respective organization.
After CISM , during summer 2017 I restarted my CISSP preparation again. During the whole time, there was never a day when I hadn't read about success stories & challenges faced by aspirants and that strengthen my goal to be CISSP. I'd been constantly in touch with Ahmed (Telegram group) & Luke's videos helped me to understand IAM concepts in depth. Luke didn't have SNT membership during those days and I bought the IAM training video to understand the depth.
Finally during last leap of my preparation I came to know about Prabh Nair's online training sessions. Training sessions were very good and helped in revision of domains. Prabh's way of teaching is very simple and he made sure to discuss the concepts again and again till we understood the reasoning.
Exam week :
I just used to listen to Kelly's videos during the exam week and didn't touch any books except hand written notes.
I had good 8 hours of sleep and reached exam centre just in time as phone's GPS took me to other prometric center.
The exam: Indeed one of the toughest exam & I'm so thankful that it was CAT format. Hats off to the ones who had 6 hours grilling.
Best part of the exam was when I crossed 100th question, that was the moment when I started gaining confidence .After that every next question was pleasant surprise 😊
It was marathon of 150 Questions in 120 minutes. Totally clueless about the result , walked in to collect my results print. Tears were rolling when I saw "congratulations" on the print. Best part was when I was walking to my car from testing centre , tears were still rolling while I was on phone with my family & one of the person quickly came to me checking if I need any help 😊
He had an exam in next 30 minutes & all I could say to him was all the best !!
Study resoures:
Sybex Study Guide
Sybex Practise tests
One important thing is don't underestimate your real life work experience especially in Information Security management role. It pays. This exam is very much achievable , just maintain the positive approach & stay calm.
Trust yourself & Be Kind!
Good luck