Hi Guys, I passed my exam yesterday. Here was my preparation plan:
- The main book I used was Sybex. I read it cover to cover. I used other books (AIO, CBK, and Eric Conrad) only when I didn't understand few topics from Sybex. I didn't read all these books, just parts of them
- I used Kelly's videos which were a good summary of the material (not all of it though)
- I used 11th hour CISSP and Sunflower summaries
- I practiced ISC2 official practice tests, Eric Conrad's exams, McGrew Hill's, end of chapter questions of Shon Harris and CBK
Exam experience:
- A part of the exam was knowledge and another important factor was time management. I had the plan of finishing 50 questions per hour. I was able to keep that pace (with minor deficiencies) during the exam.
- I finished 150 questions and took a 2 minutes break only. Had a bottle of juice and a piece of chocolate.
- I was able to finish the 250 questions and had 50 minutes to review
- 20% of the exam questions were straight forward and you will be able to answer them quickly which will give you more than 90 seconds for answering harder questions.
- I marked nearly 120 questions for review (yes that much!). I went through these in the remaining 50 minutes. I changed the answers of 5-6 questions only. Don't change your answer unless you have a clear justification for that.
- I felt my exam questions were heavily focused on the management part. A lot of questions I had needed managerial decisions to be made and a lot of them were very subjective
- If I encountered a tough question or one that I felt I'll be spending time on it, I just marked the most answer I'm comfortable with, marked for review and moved on. I didn't spend time there because the chance of getting the answer wrong is high.
- Make sure to read the questions twice. In 80% of the exam questions, you will be able to quickly eliminate 2 answers, so you will get 50% chance of getting each question right
- You will see some questions on the exam that don't make any sense and none of the answers is correct. Just choose the least incorrect answer.
- I used every minute in the exam. I submitted my answers when I had only 30 seconds.
- As English is not my native language, I had few questions with strange words I didn't understand, but I tried to get that from the context of the questions.
Make sure that you have a deep understanding of all topics. Only small part of the exam was asking about facts that you directly read in the books. The rest of it was indirect questions in which you will need to use your knowledge to make judgments and choose the BEST answer which is the beauty of the exam.
Thanks Luke Ahmed for this amazing group. Good Luck to everyone sitting soon for the exam. It's a tough one but definitely can be cracked.