I passed exam on 2nd attempt Alhamdulillah on 147th Question.
I am a network security engineer with 10 years of Experience, my journey started in 2019 when Covid started, I started with OSG and AIO books. It was a little hard to understand some of the domains like Domain 8, I did not have any experience in programming.
so I worked very hard to clear my concept in that domain, then I found Luke Ahmed course I found it very interesting and the way he explain the concepts I really enjoyed, his course really motivated me,
I was really looking for that perspective, He always motivates you and try to remind why we started CISSP how it can change our lives, that really helped me to keep myself motivated, we need motivation to cover such a long list of topics and concepts, I also found Prabh Nair coffee shots on YouTube very useful
I attempted the exam by 1-year continuous studying in March 2021 and I failed, the main reason I understood from exam experience, i was not really prepared for the exam.
because for this exam you need to have high level understanding of each topic, that is the key to success in that exam, I had exam anxiety issue also, when you work so hard for something and when your exam day is near, so tension goes to the next level and that was my problem and as expected I panicked a day before exam and that spoiled everything, just felt I forgot everything. What I learned from that experience: we just need to face what is coming no matter what happens, just go for it and apply what you know, that approach was missing, I was below proficiency level in 4 domains.
I was very sad, but we need to accept and somehow, we know what wrong we did, my anxiety was big enemy that spoiled everything, then I started again to study slowly and read OSG*2 times focused on core concepts of each domain, read about my weak areas from many resources, until I got some confidence, watched Luke videos and solved questions, Thor videos and solved domain wise easy questions and watched Prabh videos really helped to clear some concepts. Almost studied for 2 years, I just wanted it to finish this time, CISSP was a continuous struggle for me, go to work and come back home in evening just focus on targeted topics for each day, that was my routine for every day, really had a very tough time did not give a time to my family, my wife was very depressed. I was really obsessed with my target of CISSP, even if I take my family on outing, I was not able to enjoy
it, always thinking about what topics I covered today, what is tomorrow's target, I always feel like I am stuck until it is not finished. , it was just me and My CISSP Dream, I cannot explain that it was really very frustrating for the family.
Finally, I decided to go for this exam in January 2024, completed all concepts compared them, cross domain correlation, Luke think like manager book, Andrew Ramdiyal exam tips and Thor hard questions, Learnz app 2000 Questions, I completed around 4000 questions from AIO, learnzapp, Luke question bank, thor question bank
One week before exam anxiety started again, thought many times to reschedule exam, then as Muslim we believe in Allah and trust in him and got that reminded myself and I got the courage to just go for it. And that thought came into my mind no matter what happen, just give your best and see what happen, if it is in my destiny so I will definitely pass and if not, I will go back and work hard again and try again. The only thing which is in our hands is to just keep trying and minimize our mistakes and learn from our mistakes.
Exam Day: I had a good sleep and have good breakfast. Exam was very hard it will test your concepts, time management was issue for me although I did practice, I started slowly 40 questions completed in 70 minutes then picked up some pace and exam stopped on 147 questions, I was very nervous did not look at the result collected my stuff and prayed
to Allah that even if I fail or pass I am okay with it, I will accept it and when I saw the golden words "Congratulations!" I could not believe it and really cried for so long and thanked my Dear Allah.
Finally made it Alhamdulillah, thanks to my Wife who showed so much patience and supported me throughout my journey, thanks to Luke Ahmed for his wonderful content that really helped me to clear core concepts my advice Just work hard clear all concepts think from high level perspective, Follow Luke Ahmed course and his question bank,
Thor Course hard questions, Prabh coffee shots, read from different resources AIO, OSG. Be consistent keep studying, Be in the exam mindset very important to read Luke 'Think like Manager' Book, and just go for it, give a try, All the best