topic Re: I Passed the ISSAP Exam: A Unique and Challenging Experience in ISSAP Study Group

I Passed the ISSAP Exam: A Unique and Challenging Experience

prasadareddyp — Sat, 04 Jan 2025 18:33:43 GMT

Today, I’m thrilled to share that I’ve passed the ISSAP (Information Systems Security Architecture Professional) exam! Having already tackled the CISSP, CCSP, and CSSLP certifications, I found this experience to be entirely different, more challenging.

Exam Experience

The ISSAP exam is notoriously tough. It’s heavily scenario-based, requiring deep understanding and practical application of concepts rather than simple recall. Many questions had two similar-looking answers, making it critical to carefully analyze each.

Most of the questions were grounded on the ISSAP CBK Guide, but they often delved into advanced and nuanced applications of the concepts. This isn’t just an exam about theory, it’s about knowing how to apply security architecture principles in complex, real-world situations.

My Preparation

I dedicated three months of self-study to prepare, combining various resources for both theory and practice. Here’s what I used:

Study Materials:

ISSAP CBK Study Guide
CISSP Official Study Guide (10th Edition) by Mick Chappell
CISSP CBK (6th Edition)
Prabh Nair’s YouTube Playlist: Link to Playlist
CCSP CBK (4th Edition): I skimmed through this, but it’s worth a full read. I noticed several concepts from this book appeared in the exam.

Practice Materials:

ISSAP CBK Q&A
Learnzapp for CISSP/CCSP practice questions
CASP+ practice tests on Udemy

Re: I Passed the ISSAP Exam: A Unique and Challenging Experience

jayko — Sun, 05 Jan 2025 04:12:05 GMT

Congratulations!

Re: I Passed the ISSAP Exam: A Unique and Challenging Experience

riffjim4069 — Mon, 06 Jan 2025 06:12:06 GMT

Congrats!

Re: I Passed the ISSAP Exam: A Unique and Challenging Experience

KerryH — Sat, 08 Mar 2025 21:18:31 GMT

Thank you for sharing your successful journey.
Where did you get the 10th edition of Official (ISC)2 Guide to the ISSAP CBK?
I just ordered it on Amazon and got the 11-year old 2nd edition much to my dismay.

Re: I Passed the ISSAP Exam: A Unique and Challenging Experience

prasadareddyp — Sun, 09 Mar 2025 13:13:08 GMT

it is CISSP Official Study Guide (10th Edition) by Mick Chappell not for ISSAP, the ISSAP CBK is quite older version, newer is not available, but still it is good to read though couple of older topics, it helps to set the mind set.

Re: I Passed the ISSAP Exam: A Unique and Challenging Experience

nkeaton — Tue, 11 Mar 2025 10:03:45 GMT

@KerryH I would read it for historical context knowing that not testable. I am looking at it now and not my strongest discipline. I have earned the ISSEP and ISSMP and mostly used NIST documents and the exam objectives for those but much stronger in those disciplines. We definitely have to be much more self-sufficient on studying for these. Best wishes.

Re: I Passed the ISSAP Exam: A Unique and Challenging Experience

lenzi — Tue, 20 Jan 2026 05:17:01 GMT

Thank you for sharing this info, that is great insight for people like me who just started the journey for the ISSAP certification. And congratulations to that achievement!

May I ask - I got the impression from some research that the CISSP content is still very relevant to this exam, hence I got the latest Shaun Harris All-in-one book for the CISSP. Its been many years that I passed the CISSP exam, would you agree it will be very beneficial to work through the CISSP content again in preparation for the ISSAP?

Thanks