topic Re: Failed the new CISSP CAT exam on April-07-2018 in Exam Preparation

Failed the new CISSP CAT exam on April-07-2018

cyberset — Wed, 25 Apr 2018 06:26:30 GMT

Hello all. I took the new CISSP CAT exam on April 07-2018 and did not pass. It was a big disappointment. I studied the Sybex publisher of CISSP, (ISC)2 Certified Information Systems Security Professional Official Study Guide 7th Edition three times. I practiced both exams on the actual book and the online version of the exam multiple times and passed above 98% passing score. The actual CISSP CAT exam test did not cover that much about the book I studied for. I really don't know if the new CISSP CAT exam designed by (ISC)2 is to make people fail so that they pay more money either to take the exam more than one time or go through the authorized training centers? I have no idea. I called the (ISC)2 customer service and expressed my frustrations. The representative told me that I should not just rely on one source for preparing the test. "You should study other materials out there" the rep said. When I asked what materials should I look for to prepare, the representative did not have a solid answer for it. That was even more frustrating for me. I any case, I ordered another book which is Official (ISC)2 Guide to the CISSP CBK, Fourth Edition ((ISC)2 Press) 4th Edition from Amazon to study and prepare. Am I missing something here? Is there a test engine out there to prepare for the exam besides the books I mentioned above? Thank you

Re: Failed the new CISSP CAT exam on April-07-2018

Steve-Wilme — Wed, 25 Apr 2018 12:07:27 GMT

Hi,

I used 3 different sources to prepare for the CISSP; the official ISC2 CBK book, the Shon Harris all in one book and a dummies guide. It took 8 days to study and pass the old paper based exam, but then I had worked in InfoSec for 8 years and IT for 17 years when I took the exam, so had probably absorbed some of the information from practical experience already.

I think ISC2 are probably correct in that it's best to use a variety of sources to give yourself the best chance of passing.

Steve

Re: Failed the new CISSP CAT exam on April-07-2018

stevelf — Wed, 25 Apr 2018 13:06:13 GMT

I agree with Steve about using multiple resources. It's been almost 10 years since I took the test. I used the Shon Harris book along with a training course plus any material I could find to study. I studied over a long period of time like 10 or 12 weeks pretty hard. From what I remember, the study material only gets you so far and you have to reason out the rest yourself. Experience helps too.

Don't be too discouraged. It was a hard test. I remember that after I answered all the questions that I wanted to go back and recheck my answers. But I stopped because I started second guessing myself. You can't just read a question and expect to answer it just like that (I guess some can but I can't). It takes time to get in a frame of mind for a question.

Hope that is helpful.

Steve

Re: Failed the new CISSP CAT exam on April-07-2018

SamanthaO_isc2 — Wed, 25 Apr 2018 15:24:15 GMT

Hello @cyberset,

I am sorry to hear of your experience, and I will be passing along your feedback to our teams. I did also want to provide you with the following link that has some suggested references for the CBK, broken down by certification (you will find CISSP at the top of this page). While this is not intended to be a comprehensive list of references, hopefully, it will help get you some of the information that you requested. There are also many other posts throughout the Community (even a couple replies here in this thread) about different references that others have found useful.

Good luck! Feel free to post here in the Community if you have any other questions, there are many helpful folks in here that are willing to pass down some knowledge in the hopes of seeing others succeed.

Re: Failed the new CISSP CAT exam on April-07-2018

Suraya — Wed, 25 Apr 2018 15:34:56 GMT

Hello

Me too I failed on April 11, 2018. I was frustrated and upset, I studied hard for more than 6 months.

I studied from official (ISC)2 book + practice exam book, Shon Harris AIO book. In addition, I bought questions and answers from Pass4Sure but it doesn't help too.

Now, I wish to do it again but no money, I wish if (ISC)2 offered for free.

Mathematically, as long as (ISC)2 reduced the time to 3 hours and the questions to 100-150, then we should do the exam 2 times, we have already paid $699 US.

regards

I think we have to ask for another try for free

Re: Failed the new CISSP CAT exam on April-07-2018

cyberset — Wed, 25 Apr 2018 15:54:38 GMT

I agree. Even the exam is designed to have 100 to 150 questions, it threw me out at question 100 with failed result. (ISC)2 should offer a second chance to take the exam for free. $699:00 is a lot of money for this new CISSP CAT to lose for 100 questions.

Re: Failed the new CISSP CAT exam on April-07-2018

N_Bakewell — Wed, 25 Apr 2018 16:26:59 GMT

I recently took the CAT and passed, but I agree, it was a difficult test and I felt like a lot of the questions were not directly covered from the study material. I believe that this is, however, on purpose. The CISSP is more than just a memorization game, otherwise the certification wouldn't hold as much credibility. You must know the material, yes, but in addition you must also know how to analyze and apply it - which is why you see a lot of questions framed in the "which is the BEST of the following..." format.

For me, the best piece of advice I received while studying was "Think of everything in terms of capability and risk - what capability does this technology provide, and what risks does it introduce and/or mitigate."

Re: Failed the new CISSP CAT exam on April-07-2018

denbesten — Wed, 25 Apr 2018 22:16:24 GMT

@cybersetwrote:
(ISC)2 should offer a second chance to take the exam for free. $699:00 is a lot of money...

I too paid for my exam myself and stressed about "wasting" the fee if I were to fail. If anything, it encouraged me to better prepare.

Realizing that (ISC)² needs to pay for your second use of PersonVue's facilities, you might get more traction recommending a discount (e.g. 25%), but I would not hold my breath.

There is an unpleasant reason for (ISC)² to disincentivize retakes. Free retakes encourage candidates to take tests before they are ready, just to learn the questions and then study to the test, completely devaluing the test (and certification). There was a good blog entry on this a few years ago that explains how some shady test-prep organizations exploit this.

As it is, other candidates might already perceive you to have an unfair advantage because you have seen actual questions. You probably saw the effects of this in your own preparation in that your 98% scores probably occurred on the third time you took the practice test, not the first time.

Re: Failed the new CISSP CAT exam on April-07-2018

denbesten — Wed, 25 Apr 2018 22:36:33 GMT

@Surayawrote:
...questions and answers from Pass4Sure...

With all due respect, you should avoid Pass4Sure and similar sites like the plague. The use of brain-dump sites risks having certifications revoked.

Re: Failed the new CISSP CAT exam on April-07-2018

mnorton — Thu, 26 Apr 2018 21:54:15 GMT

Sorry to hear that, I know how nervous I was in the build up to taking the exam. A couple of people have mentioned Shon Harris' All In One book. Shon's book has lots of extra resources like audio and video.

Re: Failed the new CISSP CAT exam on April-07-2018

Jaesimpson — Fri, 27 Apr 2018 01:21:12 GMT

I took the exam 3 times passing just past Apr 4th 2018. The first 2 time I was using an outdated Shon Harris text, its a great reference book but I would not consider it sufficient to take the exam. The second time I listened to CBK nuggets while commuting and they really help to reinforce things. I ending up getting a 695 on my second attempt. So I understand the frustration you feel and I considered moving on to a different cert. I finally decided to take the 6-day course offered by Training Camp. It took me some time as I had to do this out of pocket and I don't have a company sponsoring me. I have taken other training boot camps and this is really different. Others I have been in focus only on teaching you the answers to the test where this course helped you understand the fundamentals. There is a great deal of information that is given out during those 6 days, almost like drinking from a fire hose. I think the my saving grace was I am also finishing my Masters in Cybersecurity, so I have been living the fundamentals for the good part of a year. I can say the class really helped me, I took my exam the Tuesday after the completing the class and I passed right after a 100 questions.

Re: Failed the new CISSP CAT exam on April-07-2018

Suraya — Sat, 28 Apr 2018 16:14:32 GMT

Thank you Denbesten,

Now I recognized why they are ignored any emails about complaints I have sent. if I did not pass, grantee money back , I requested it after I failed but no one replied almost now 2 weeks.

regards,

Suraya

Re: Failed the new CISSP CAT exam on April-07-2018

Bthompson68 — Wed, 23 May 2018 08:18:43 GMT

But that does not make sense. If (ISC)2 is The certifying official and their own study guides and exam practice materials are not in alignment, then that is NOT okay! Their education department is creating materials NOT in alignment with the certification exam. No one should have to buy multiple books, especially when you buy them from the certification official.

Re: Failed the new CISSP CAT exam on April-07-2018

deeharwood — Sat, 21 Jul 2018 17:13:44 GMT

You all don't make me feel comfortable taking this exam for a 4th time. I failed 3 times not by much, but failed. I was thinking of doing it a 4th time and now see the CAT test and your responses. Should I even try this time? I have a CSSLP, is a CISSP worth it?

Re: Failed the new CISSP CAT exam on April-07-2018

mnorton — Sat, 21 Jul 2018 18:20:13 GMT

What are the areas that you failed?

Get Outlook for Android

Re: Failed the new CISSP CAT exam on April-07-2018

N_Bakewell — Sat, 21 Jul 2018 18:56:13 GMT

Depends on the career you want. CCSLP is about software/application
security, as you know. CISSP is about information security in general
across the business functions - from policies, theory, implementation,
planning, management, review, etc. Not specific to just software
development. So, only a CISSP cert for a software dev job would be less
desirable than the CSSLP. On the other hand, if you’re looking to get into
a management role or a general cyber security role, the CISSP would
definitely be a desirable complement to the CSSLP.

Re: Failed the new CISSP CAT exam on April-07-2018

rslade — Sat, 21 Jul 2018 19:13:13 GMT

> mnorton (Viewer II) posted a new reply in Certifications on 07-21-2018 02:20 PM in the (ISC)Â² Community :

> Get Outlook for Android

And how might that help?

====================== (quote inserted randomly by Pegasus Mailer)
rslade@vcn.bc.ca slade@victoria.tc.ca rslade@computercrime.org
I'm not mad, I'm just ... well, *differently moraled*, that's all
- Acheron Hades in `The Eyre Affair' by Jasper Fforde
victoria.tc.ca/techrev/rms.htm http://www.infosecbc.org/links
http://blogs.securiteam.com/index.php/archives/author/p1/
http://twitter.com/rslade

Re: Failed the new CISSP CAT exam on April-07-2018

mnorton — Sat, 21 Jul 2018 20:20:54 GMT

It won't, just the default mail signature.

Re: Failed the new CISSP CAT exam on April-07-2018

Stevo — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 02:53:03 GMT

I took the new CAT today and didn’t pass. I used two different books, took an5 day boot camp and used three different practice tests since November and still failed. The new format didn’t cover anything from the books I read...it was more vague concepts, but nothing direct, except maybe access control methods. Pretty dissappointed. I think if I had done the older version of the test I would have passed.

Re: Failed the new CISSP CAT exam on April-07-2018

Jaesimpson — Thu, 14 Mar 2019 04:51:40 GMT

Sorry to hear you didn't pass, which boot camp did you take, I highly recommend Training Camp. I think they are the only group endorsed by ISC2. I can agree with your assessment of the test, you have to have a real grasp of Infosec. This test was unlike my other certs because while there is a correct answer, it wasn't always obvious, a majority of the time it was the most correct answer. You really have to read all the answers.