topic Re: CCSP Exam - Failed in CCSP Study Group

Passed CCSP Exam - My Experience

Masahiro — Mon, 09 Oct 2023 09:59:57 GMT

I (provisionally) passed the CCSP exam today. Good luck to the next one!

Related Certifications

Dec-2019: Certificated as CISSP (attended official training）
Dec-2019: Certificated as CCSK by CSA (attended official training）

Relevant Work Experience

Developed security guidelines for AWS, Azure and GCP users based on CIS Benchmarks
Developed security guidelines for users of cloud services based on CIS Controls and ISO/IEC 27017
Support for CASB demonstration experiments
Support for defining digital workplace requirements (zero-trust security)

Motivation for taking CCSP exam

To provide an opportunity to relearn cloud security experience in a systematic and comprehensive way
To be a pioneer since there is probably no one in our company who has taken CCSP

Study period and time

Period: July 4, 2021 - October 5, 2021
Daily time: 1 to 2 hours/day
Total time: about 140 hours

Materials used

CCSP Official Practice Tests Online Test Bank (Chapter 1 - 6)
Textbook of CCSK Plus (CCSK official training)
CSA Guidance V4.0
CCSP For Dummies with Online Practice (Kindle version)

Collaborators

Japan Chapter's Cloud Security Study WG members
Several people who replied to my questions in (ISC)2 Community
Experts in my company

Study procedure

Each day, I solved 20 questions of the material #1
First, I focused on extracting questions that I got wrong, and ones that I got right but wasn't confident about (setting flags).
Next, I re-solved the questions I got wrong, flagged the questions I got right but wasn't sure about, and repeated until I got all the questions right.
Then, as I solved the flagged questions, I removed the flags from the questions that I got wrong and the ones that I answered correctly and with confidence.
Finally, I repeated steps 3 and 4 until I answered all the questions correctly and the flags were removed.

Mindset

When I am in a questions-setting situation in the consulting field, I ask myself if I can accurately give correct advice to my client with reasons.
First of all, try to clear my doubts by using the materials and the Internet.
If I still have questions, ask them first to the WG, then to the experts or to (ISC)2 Community, and leave no question unclear.

Thoughts on the exam

I left about 40 minutes after finishing the exam and felt it was easy to finish the exam in 180 minutes.
There were many unfamiliar words and questions that I had never seen before, but I think I was able to cope with them because I had a deep understanding of each question in CCSP Official Practice Tests.
I was a little worried that I had not read through CCSP reference books such as the material #4, but it was not a problem.
As expected, I feel that I was able to organize, cover, and strengthen my knowledge of cloud security.

Re: Passed CCSP Exam - My Experience

ccboy981 — Wed, 06 Oct 2021 10:26:45 GMT

Congratulations!

Re: Passed CCSP Exam - My Experience

Masahiro — Wed, 06 Oct 2021 10:58:33 GMT

Thanks!

Re: Passed CCSP Exam - My Experience

JOHN_ONI — Wed, 06 Oct 2021 17:23:50 GMT

Congratulations

Re: Passed CCSP Exam - My Experience

Lapa — Fri, 08 Oct 2021 12:43:46 GMT

Related Certifications (both self-study approach)

2008: CISSP
2014: CISM

Study period and time, August/September 2021 (8 weeks, a couple of hours daily)

Materials used

CCSP Official Guide 2nd Edition
CCSP Practice Tests 2nd Edition (It gives you an idea of the items you should study harder)
CSA Guidance V4.0 (really important)

IMPORTANT:

I used most of the time, leaving only 5 minutes left out of those 180 minutes. Had to read some of the questions several times. But I took that risk to spend more time on some of them.
It's unlikely you find familiar questions, I did not find questions I answered during my preparation. Many unfamiliar words and questions that I had never seen before.
On the bright side, I was able to removed 2 out of 4 answers in no time, so realistically, you would need to choose between the best option between 2 of them, and that's where the experience in the field helps.
Having CISSP and CISM helped as well.

Gerardo Lapadula

CISSP / CISM / CCSP / ITILv3

Re: Passed CCSP Exam - My Experience

csjohnng — Fri, 08 Oct 2021 12:48:48 GMT

Congratulations! Masahiro san.

Good sharing and welcome to the club.

Re: Passed CCSP Exam - My Experience

csjohnng — Fri, 08 Oct 2021 12:53:34 GMT

Congratulation Gerardo.

Indeed CSA Guidance V4.0 is well written and a good piece of reference.

I did not read that when I took my CCSP back in the old days but recent read CSA Guidance V4.0, it's valuable.

Re: Passed CCSP Exam - My Experience

abhattac5 — Thu, 28 Oct 2021 15:56:13 GMT

First, a hearty congratulations! Well done!

Your detailed insights are very appreciated - I just started my journey towards this certification - your post has been most helpful in getting me started, and many thanks for that!

Re: Passed CCSP Exam - My Experience

rhe — Thu, 04 Nov 2021 01:50:43 GMT

Congratulations!

Thank you for the detailed writeup. I'm just starting my CCSP journey now, so this is very helpful.

CCSP Exam - Failed

naiduchr — Sat, 08 Jan 2022 04:58:00 GMT

I recently finished Online Instructor Training for CCSP track through ISC2, did the CCSP Practice tests (1000+ questions), scored 90+% in all the tests. However, I failed the exam. I'm registering for training again next week. Can some one please guide me on how to ACE this exam ? Thanks in advance.

Re: CCSP Exam - Failed

MattDH — Sat, 08 Jan 2022 13:38:35 GMT

I recently passed the exam. Here is what I recommend.

ISC2 Official Study guide 2nd Edition
CCSP All in One
CCSP for Dummies
CCSP Cloud Guardian (Gwen Bettwy)
CSA Guidance v4
https://ccsp.alukos.com

You need more than the ISC2 materials to pass this exam.

Re: CCSP Exam - Failed

ccboy981 — Sat, 08 Jan 2022 14:07:57 GMT

@MattDH

I concur with this post. I used all of those resources except CCSP All in one.

I also reviewed the GISSP academy CCSP videos on youtube. The instructor is very good with his training videos. I recommend watching all of them.

https://www.youtube.com/c/GISPPACADEMY/videos

Re: CCSP Exam - Failed

Wandesure — Sat, 08 Jan 2022 14:35:38 GMT

Please don't despair, give it a shot again. I passed mine on January 5 , I was surprised though, the exam almost blew me away.

1.You have got to relax during this test, trust me you know it.You simply have to start the process of elimination.

2.Take note of all key words,in each question.

3. Think like a manager,that is confronted with issue and looking for the best solution out of the available options.

4.Read those questions again and again before you make a choice, never be over confident to make a quick choice, a key word in the question my not align with the answer in your mind.

5.Don't believe all those so called dumps( they will make you look dump in the exam), but you can practice with ISC2 official practice tests by Ben Malison, second edition.This will only help give the idea of how the questions are worded and a flavour of what to expect.

6. You need to understand the concept in each domain, that was my saving grace, I was literally translating those concepts and it was helping me to make a better choice.

In terms of what to read, I know there are various books and advice out there... pick one or two books and supplement with other articles to gain more understanding.I'm not sure there is any silver bullet other than to understand the domains and how to apply them.

I'm a CISSP since 2008, but I think this exam is challenging, it's a different animal.Funny, but it looks like test of English to me as well .. lol .You have got to decouple the phrases and check if last sentence is related to the former sentences or phrases.

I wish you the best in the next attempt, Get your 90 days goals ready and kill the beast.

Re: CCSP Exam - Failed

csjohnng — Sat, 08 Jan 2022 16:42:06 GMT

@naiduchr

I am sorry to hear that.

Well, I think there are already advices, book and materials mentioned.. etc., so I am not going to repeat.

One feels bad in failing exam, yes it's bad I understand, and it's what it's now.

But 1 important thing we need is to learn from the failure, this will make your failure worth failing and contribute to your next success and pass the exam.

So understanding your weakness, why fail ? are you not knowledgable enough? do you know the material well? or you are just too nervous during the test or it's just bad luck?

By realising the cause will definitely help you to move forward.

All I can say is take good rest 1-2 days before of the exam, have good sleep, relax, clear your mind, read carefully the question during the exam, watch your time, set your good pace.

Good luck to your coming preparation and exam.

Re: CCSP Exam - Failed

RowRocket — Sat, 08 Jan 2022 20:02:31 GMT

Hi, I'm sorry you didn't pass. I've heard that the CCSP doesn't have a high pass rate. I haven't taken mine yet.

I don't think there is any sure-fire way to "ace" the test. To help answer your questions, I'd like to know which resources you used to study. Would you share what you purchased? A person on r/cspp provides a great list of resources. This list is at https://prabhnair.in/2020/12/27/ccspstudyguideprabh/

Re: CCSP Exam - Failed

naiduchr — Mon, 10 Jan 2022 18:13:10 GMT

Thank you all for the wonderful suggestions and references. Do I have create a new thread to find study buddies for this exam ?

Re: Passed CCSP Exam - My Experience

spamariner — Tue, 25 Jan 2022 07:56:05 GMT

Hi Masahiro,

Can you please guide me where to get access to practice tests online test bank. I have enrolled for self-paced learning package of CISSP but can't find access to the test bank.

Regards

Re: CCSP Exam - Failed

AndreaMoore — Tue, 25 Jan 2022 14:38:13 GMT

@naiduchr That might be a good idea. Create a post and include info like when you're planning to take exam and if you are looking study buddies in a particular location/virtual, etc.

Re: Passed CCSP Exam - My Experience

safe_secs — Mon, 31 Jan 2022 15:27:20 GMT

Wonderful article, Masahiro. Detailing your thought process is a great way for others to extract some possible pain points in their (our) own mind. Congratulations on your success!

Re: Passed CCSP Exam - My Experience

tsirgogik — Wed, 02 Feb 2022 15:14:38 GMT

Hello everyone,

I provisionally passed my CCSP exam today and wanted to share my accomplishment with the community. I'm already CISSP certified since 2019 and I achieved another goal today.

I'd like to encourage everyone who's i' the CCSP certification journey. Good luck to everyone preparing out there