Just a continuation of how others who have cracked their CISSP exam, and their study experiences!
How Ajit Cracked His CISSP Exam – February 15th, 2017
Passed CISSP Today. Thanks to Ahmed Khatib and Luke Ahmed. You people are doing the fabulous job for aspiring candidates.
Here is the Study Material i used
SHON Harris 7th Edition Sybex CCSP official book for cloud, although i didnt get much cloud related questions
Exam Test 1) ISC2 2) CCCURE 3)Total Tester that came free with Shon Harris 7th Edition.
I spent approx 3 months for preparation. Although i started my studies initially with Shon Harris but shifted later to Sybex. After taking exam i can suggest that Sybex 7th edition is sufficient enough to pass the exam but one should atleast read that book twice word by word.Exam is more management oriented but you will find some straight technical question also.Risk Assessment, BCP DR, Protection Profiles, some drag and drops were there but that were manageable and my training experience as CISA instructor also helped me a lot. I was about to finish my exam in 2.5 hours and used one hour for review. As per my experience i would say please use one book and concepts should be clear. Good Luck, Once again Ahmed Khatib for running such a wonderful group.
How Vũ Cracked His CISSP Exam – February 15th, 2017
Just passed the exam yesterday.
First of all, thanks Luke for maintaining this group, it helps me a lot when preparing. So here it’s my experience. (English is not my native language so forgive me if there’s something wrong )
Study Materials: – CISSP Official Study Guide 7th edition – Official ISC2 Practice Tests – CISSP Study Guide 2nd Edition from Eric Conrad (only for questions) – https://adriancitu.com/category/certification/cissp/ (very helpful for summary) – https://www.studynotesandtheory.com/free-cissp-summary (Sunflower note)
I have read the Official Study Guide two times. It took me 3 months for the first time and a week for a second time when the exam is coming. My weak domain is Software Development Security so
I keep read and read it many times to understand the concept. The Official Practice Test help me a lot to apply the concept. After completed two full tests with above 80%, I tried another practice sources such as Shon 6th, Official CBK 4th and tried to understand any things that didn’t mention in Official Study Guide 7th. Take notes and wrote down anything that make me confuse (I mean by hand).
I set my exam deadline on the end of February but last Sunday I think I will put pressure on me and take the test on 14th February (you know it’s Valentine day ), just pass or fail, no other choice any more.
The Examination
Before taking the exam, I think I will pass it for sure. But after sat down and started to read the questions, I didn’t know what I’m reading or doing. After 100 questions, I got my confidence again and continue to answer to the question number 220 when I was so hungry and need a break. I finished my exam in 4 hours and kept 1 hour for review (I bookmarked for about 80 questions but only change answer for 5-6 questions). I submitted the exam and went to the reception table where I got my result, the girl said that “You failed the exam and you will have to take it gain :(”. But when I got the result, it’s actually said that I passed =], how happy I’m.
So, something you need to focus and get deeply understanding: – Every question the key word was in capital letters (MOST, LEAST, BEST, FISRT) – For me, BCP/DRP and security management, software security are very important domains and displayed a lot in the exam. – Many scenario based questions and also matching questions – Believe in yourself, think like management, don’t start from technical perspective and don’t try to change the answer much.
I think the exam is difficult than practice test question that you need to clearly understand the concept, there’re only few things to memorize. It took me about 4 months to pass it.
Good luck to everyone, it’s worth doing it.
How Daby Cracked His CISSP Exam – February 8th, 2017
Just passed CISSP today. Here are some sharing.
– English is not strong for me, so I need to guess in some questions and thoroughly read and read until fully understanding the questions and answers. – Find a keyword “Most”, “First” and “Best” then remove UNRELATED answers, use your concept to answer leftover questions in a manager manner and consider CIA/BIA/Risk according to the questions. – Understanding a concept rather than a memorize, there are only few questions in straightforward – I have completed more than 4000 questions in different sources, I agreed with other folks in this group that those questions just help you to memorize the concepts and Sybex is a best source which close to an actual exam and gauge your knowledge – I prepared over half years as I have a full time job and may busy in the night time. My jobs and experiences can help me for understanding a concept – When I completed the Sybex practice test (250Q) in a 75% score at last month, its a good time and give me a confident to register an exam – Family support is Always important
Materials Used: – Sybex CISSP 7th (Main source, I read this book 2 times) – CISSP study guide by Eric (Read initially while start to prepare) – AIO 7th (Supplement) – CISSP Eleventh hour 3rd (Read in last week) – CISSP summary (Read in last day) – Google sources (Wiki, forum, techblog..) – CISSP Official Practice Tests , Free online practice test sources – CISSP mindmap, thanks Ramy Elshazly for sharing (Useful for memorize, I read two times in last week before an exam) – This CISSP groups, thanks Luke Ahmed, I read every successful stories and sharing posts/comments which let me understanding a similar concept such as “Due care vs Due Diligent”, “Aggregation vs. Inference” ..
How Addie Cracked His CISSP Exam - March 17th, 2016
Hi all , sorry took a bit long to share with you my CISSP study plan as i was still in celebratory mode . Now that the exam is hangover is gone, I will share with you my study plan as promised .Indeed the exam itself is a mile wide and an inch deep. I expected to find those deep technical concepts that I came across during my studies but to my surprise the exam was a bit easier than what I was expecting. Having taken and passed a CISA exam last year I found out the wording of the exam questions is a bit similar so I found it a bit easy to go through the questions in the exam.
Study Material used I mainly used Eric Conrad books for my studies Eric Conrad CISSP study guide 3rd Edition (Read this book cover to cover two times, got this book two weeks before the exam) Eric Conrad CISSP study guide 2rd Edition (Used this before I got the 3rd Edition read it 3 times cover to cover) Eric Conrad CISSP 11th hour study Edition (read this one cover to cover quite a number of times , I don’t remember how many times exactly) I also used ISC2 CBK 4th Edition and Shon Harris 6th Edition for review purposes. As far as the official CBK is concerned , I did make start but I found it a bit complex to use but it has some good review questions which are almost similar to ones I found in the exam .Take some time to go through them as they are quite helpful.
CISSP – aide memoires :Very useful https://www.cccure.org/…/Eric_Al…/CISSP_aide_memoire20v4.pdf https://cccure.training/…/Cram-Study-Guide-for-the-CISSP-Ex… http://www.kilala.nl/Sysadmin/Images/CISSP_Summary_V1.1.pdf Videos Tutorial: used the videos from plural sight , which are new but a bit shallow
Audio: Listened to Shon Harris MP3s while I was driving, in the gym, on the bus, on the train, and when I was going to bed. I must say they are really helpful, Shon Harris is really good at explaining stuff which might seem a bit more complex. U can get them at http://www.mhprofessional.com/sites/CISSPExams
Understand the KEY concepts of every domain i.e. Cryptography (Which is the best form of encryption algorithm to use in a particular situation) , understand the Individual roles i.e. CIO, ISO ,Data custodian.
I studied for a at least 2 hours a day for Almost 3 months, towards the exam I did longer hours maybe up to 6hrs
Exam Practice questions
Unfortunately I couldn’t manage to get any of the paid versions of the exam questions , as a result I was using mainly the free exam practice questions which are found on the internet http://www.mhprofessional.com/sites/CISSPExams I did all questions from MH professional which are based on Shon Harris 6th edition. I was getting an average of 90% on all the domains. http://booksite.elsevier.com/…/Conrad…/COU36289844/open.html . http://www.yasna.com/cissp/
The Big Day: Exam Day.
6 hours to answer 250 questions. READ and UNDERSTAND the questions, usually it’s easier to eliminate two answers from the list of four options and you get stuck on choosing the best from the remaining two. Take note of the key words which are used on the exam questions i.e MUST, BEST,LEAST,NOT which make up most of the questions.
The exam questions are totally different from the practice exams questions that I was using. Practice exam are a great help in understanding the key concepts , so don’t expect any of them to appear in the CISSP exam
I managed to finish the 250 questions in the first 3 hours , which made me to panic a bit as I was expecting exam to stretch me to the last minute. Took a break and then came in managed to review all the questions which took me another 1 ½ hours .Overall I finished the exam in 4 ½ hours, I didn’t want to sit along till the last minute as I wanted avoid changing my answers .