Hello Everyone
Sharing your achievement with everyone is always a good feeling and it boosts up your confidence. I am glad that I have gotten this opportunity.
First of all, let me thank Luke for the idea of creating Facebook page, a site and a Telegram group. All these media sources play a major role in gaining knowledge. It took me a while to share this with you guys, however here it is. The CISSP certification was on my mind for about 2 years, however when I first started reading AIO, I felt I need to have some background and after some digging I decided to go for CompTIA Security+. I started my CISSP preparation religiously from May 2017, I had decided to spend about a week on each domain and simultaneously start preparing handwritten notes. Writing down helps you memories things more easily. I was on a schedule, however was not sure if I am doing it right. During the preparation in the month of July a great thing happened. My mother who was suffering from liver cirrhosis, got the donor for which she had been waiting for about one and half year. That somehow gave me a positive strength. That is why I decided not to give-up and made sure that I read at least a topic or two. Being in touch with your studies really helps you get going. Meanwhile, I read AIO and prepared my notes and in the month of August I decided to register for the exam for 28 October 2017. After registering I heard that Sybex is also one of the good books, I purchased it and read it, simultaneously I used video sources like Kelly Handerhan from Cybrary and Pearson videos. One month before the exam I started solving practice tests and was concentrating on all the questions right or wrong. I was making sure that I am aware about the topic instead of just checking if the answer is right or wrong, and again, prepared notes, whenever I came across something new. Some tips for study and preparation 1. Try to make handwritten notes. Write as much as you can, writing helps you memorize things more easily. 2. Make sure that you are reading those notes or at least going through them regularly, even during preparation. 3. If you have friends or study groups, try to explain concepts to them. When it comes to explaining concepts to others you are more focused while reading. 4. While solving practice tests don’t only think about answering the question, even if you get the question correct make sure you understand and analyze the question correctly. 5. While solving practice exams if you get few questions wrong don’t get disappointed. Try to understand where are you going wrong. Is it that you interpreted question incorrectly or you need to read that topic for better understanding and prepare in that direction? Exam day I reached exam center 30 min earlier the scheduled time. Exam started at around 09.30 AM, and I had decided not to rush and to read each question at least twice before selecting the answer. My plan was to keep very few questions for review as after spending 5 hours you get exhausted and probably won’t be able to make correct decisions. I tried to rush things if I am tired and I don’t want that to happen during review. I took 5 hours to complete the 250 questions and was taking break every one hour or 50 questions. During break I had plenty of water and a small byte of chocolate helped. After solving all the questions, I had kept approximately 30 questions for review and changed answer for 10 questions. Till that time, I wasn’t sure if I will clear the exam or not and had decided that I will give next attempt in the month of January. However, when the exam ended and I got the letter in hand that was the most amazing feeling. Tips 1. Don’t rush, and read each question carefully. 2. Take break whenever you feel you are not able to concentrate. 3. Don’t get disappointed or stressed if you are not able to answer the question, don’t let that one question decide the fate of your entire exam Resources 1. AIO – Shon Harris 2. Sybex official study guide 3. 11th Hour CISSP 4. Sybex – practice tests 5. CISSP – Practice exam by Shon Harris and Jonathan Ham 6. Study notes and theory 7. Telegram Group (Very helpful) 8. CCCure 9. SkillSet (free)