I recently completed my CISSP in the first week of May in my First attempt , I would like to share my experience , so that it may help some one . Its started in the year 2021 July , and it took around almost 10 months for me to gain confidence to face the beast .
I have around 14 plus years of experience in Network Security , I thought I should go ahead with CISSP , but to be frank after starting my preparation I understood that , though you work technically you have lot to learn in CISSP .
I started with Sybex 8 th Edition , then got my 9 th Edition , took handwritten notes ,it took 3 months for me to complete the book but once I complete it , I felt like I have to put more efforts on my hand written notes , believe when you read or watch any videos take notes , it will definitely give you confidence , when I read through my Sybex notes I felt I need to write more , I have read the book cover to cover but I didn’t take proper notes , so after discussing with Luke ( Thanks man for tolerating my doubts ) I started Shon Harris , this time it took same 3 months but I am happy with my notes .
On and off while studying the books I used to watch few vides here and there , I got SNT subscription , when I get tired of reading or feeling sleepy I will immediately watch few videos . Likewise I completed my Shon harris by mid of Jan . While reading if I couldn’t understand few concepts I will make a note of it and for sure detailed explanation of those tough concepts will be covered by Luke or Prabh , so you can watch that many times to get clarity.
After completing my books for one month I continuously watched all videos ( many times ) , I will give the source below .In the mid of Feb I started Practice questions , I am determined to complete the exam before Mid of May , so I had around 80 to 90 days , while taking practice questions I also started revising the chapters again , just a read through of Shon and Sybex along with CBK 6 th Edition , since you already covered Shon and Sybex you can easily complete CBK 6 th edition within 2 weeks. I booked the exam , I had 25 days to go .I had a good sleep on day before the exam , not touching any books 24 hrs prior to the exam , it keeps your mind calm .
Last one week is kind of thrill moments , I don’t lie by saying that I am confident to face the exam , even day before I thought of postponing it , but my son ( 10 yrs old ) scolded me not to afraid of exam , you don’t believe he started giving the lectures which I used to give him during his exams so I thought it is better to face the exam rather than getting scolding from him.
I would like to thank few people who motivated me to complete the exam , Senthilkumar and Magesh Kumar my colleagues completed CISSP in the year 2021 who were my inspiration to start this journey .Once getting into it , I came to know about our lovely SNT portal ( which I miss now ) , there comes Luke who was there with me for the whole journey , Prabh , Prashant and Luke , this trio helped me in this journey .
Resources
Think like manager by Luke ( after taking all questions )
Eric Cornard 11 th hour (4 days before the exam – took 1.5 days to go through the complete book )
Prashant Memory Palace (2 days before the exam )
Few NIST’s documents .( not complete read through )
Thor’s Udemy course ( PDF files )
Videos :
Luke’s SNT Portal videos (excellent for tough topics )
Prabh coffee shots and youtube videos (excellent for tough topics )
Destination certification ( really good mind map )
Kelly Videos
Thor Videos
Questions :
Sybex Practice tests ( Separate book for questions )
Luke SNT questions ( real beast )
Adam Gordan questions ( Twitter )
Learn Z app
Boson questions
Shon harris ( Total tester )
I know its not easy to commit our selves , but please once you get into the CISSP , it will become an addiction to you !!! My kitchen is filled with CISSP vibes now . my Bluetooth speakers were always on while cooking , washing etc.
Being a women its not possible to say NO to functions , family gathering , kids school work , but while travelling I used to watch videos , at one point of time my entire family want to me complete this CISSP to spare them from the torture.
So don’t give , try try try !!! at the end , never mind you clear the exam or not but it gives you immense knowledge and understanding about the everything around you …