topic Re: CISSP test taking strategy in Exam Preparation

CISSP test taking strategy

Kwara1870 — Tue, 31 Oct 2017 16:50:47 GMT

Greetings all,

I’m one of the CISSP candidate and I have just finished the study group organized with ISSA-NOVA and would like any advice on test taking strategies from your experience.

I know some of the domain are more deeper than the other ones, however I have read the book not entirely yet, listen lectures and I still need to do the practice test over and over. Anything you might shade light for me and my fellow candidate would be really greatly appreciated.

Respectfully,

Re: CISSP changing testing to CAT (Computerized Adaptive Testing)

Haroldwong — Tue, 31 Oct 2017 16:17:51 GMT

I would change the subject of this topic, it is misleading and you may not get the answers you are looking for.

Re: CISSP changing testing to CAT (Computerized Adaptive Testing)

-2- — Tue, 31 Oct 2017 16:18:18 GMT

Hi Kwara,

I too am currently studying for my CISSP exam and have found the ISC2 online practice tests really useful. It covers all ten domains and is great way to identify areas that you are weakest on.

When you buy the 'ISC2 Official Practise Tests' book it gives you free access to the online test portal. Each test is timed (just like the real exam) and this helps to acclimatise you to the conditions you will experience on the day of your exam.

Hope this is helpful and good luck!

Gavin

Re: CISSP test taking strategy

Kwara1870 — Tue, 31 Oct 2017 16:47:15 GMT

Thank you again Viewer for the advice, I have the official ISC2 book and practice test and hope that would help as well.

Thank you again for the feed back.

Re: CISSP test taking strategy

Kwara1870 — Tue, 31 Oct 2017 16:53:15 GMT

Thank you again Harooldwong for the suggestion, for some reason, the system changed it when I post the message.
thank you again for the suggestion.

Respectfully,

Re: CISSP test taking strategy

abartraw3 — Tue, 31 Oct 2017 17:32:00 GMT

I just got my CISSP on the 2nd of this month. I did the boot camp through Infosec institute (6 days), worked with some of the other class participants in study. Here are some thoughts:

Give yourself some time between the Boot Camp and the test if you need to.

The guidance is that if you are attaining a 90% on the practice tests, you are prepared for the exam. I avg. mid to upper 80s and did fine.

If you do the chapter tests in the Sybex CISSP Study guide, do not take the following chapter tests:
4, 9, 15, 19, 20.

When you take the test, do not think like you are a technician, think like a manager. Take a higher elevation view of the material.

The tests will be multiple choice, T/F and drag-drop formats.

There are 250 questions however, only 225 will be graded. The other 25 are beta questions which are being evaluated for future use.

Beware of distractors. Distractors may be terms or part of the questions themselves.

Cryptography and DR are two subjects that are, apparently, very popular subjects for the test.

Make the OSI model your friend. It will help you get through the networking questions:

Application 7
Presentation 6
Session 5
Transport 4
Network 3
Data Link 2
Physical 1

Many phrases can help you remember this like:

Please Do Not Throw Sausage Pizza Away
People Dont Need Those Stinking Packets Anyway

Questions that have a long explaination are called essay questions. There is a strategy to taking those questions. Read the last sentence in the question, then read the options.
If an option makes sense to answer the question, chances are the remaining explaination is a distractor. If you cannot fit the answers to the last sentence, you will need to go back and read the remainder of the question, until the answers make sense.

The last 3 days before the test, I signed up for CCCure.education (fee for questions). I paid a discounted price for a 30 day period and did test after test after test. Try to go through, at least, 100 test questions daily.

Dont think you will feel confident that you are passing. I have never guessed so much on a test, much less guessed and passed!! If you are getting down to two selections on the questions, youre doing great!

Good Luck!

Re: CISSP test taking strategy

JanTheMan — Tue, 31 Oct 2017 19:15:59 GMT

- 5 days training

- Read the book

- Practice with sample questions from https://www.freepracticetests.org/quiz/index.php (good questions)

Re: CISSP test taking strategy

Dakotad — Tue, 31 Oct 2017 23:04:47 GMT

My two bits,

When taking the test, read the answers from the bottom up. Sounds weird but my problem is I read into the question. I jump to conclusions, it may be dyslexia but regardless, breaking up the routine will have you looking at the answers a whole different way. I got this tip from my CISSP instructor and for me, it worked.
Read the question, read the answers from the bottom up (e. to a.) and then read the question again. When I took the test I wondered more if I were taking an English test. Wording is everything so read the question carefully, don't worry you have time.
Get lots of sleep the nights before, drink plenty of water a couple of days before (not the same day or you will waste time being ushered to the bathroom), and have a light breakfast. No carbs and don't bulk up on sugars. Non-fat yogurt with a little granola or berries. Nutrition is key, water is the fuel so hydrate well.
Last but not least, pace yourself. Get familiar with the mental time. You don't know an answer to a question, mark it and come back later. I have been testing out lately so I don't remember if the CISSP exam allows this but don't waste time worrying over one question.

These are the things on top of the practice, review and there is no substitute for experience which may not be available to you. If not, see if you can volunteer a couple of hours. I have mentored quite a few in my time and they have all moved on to IT Security careers. Not because of me mind you but more so because of their perseverance.

Good luck brother!

Re: CISSP test taking strategy

Davidr-uk — Wed, 01 Nov 2017 09:52:52 GMT

I like tip about reading the answers from the bottom up. I will try it tonight on a practise test and see if it works for me or not.

Re: CISSP test taking strategy

Kwara1870 — Wed, 01 Nov 2017 12:24:37 GMT

Thank you abatraw3 so much and it's defiantly helpful tip, I do really appreciated for the tip once again.

Respectfully,

Re: CISSP test taking strategy

Kwara1870 — Wed, 01 Nov 2017 12:31:22 GMT

Jantheman,

Thank you for your suggestion once again, however the link you send me takes me to the https://www.cccure.education/register site, I have heard it used to be a free subscription however it's not any more. I know it's a good practice test though, we have used this site to study as a group.

Thank you again.

Respectfully,

Re: CISSP test taking strategy

Gunner — Wed, 01 Nov 2017 15:58:47 GMT

The first thing I want to get across to you is that no matter who the vendor is for "practice" tests that you will NOT see anything like them on the exam. People ask this question all the time. The practice questions are there to just re-enforce what you should be learning. It's a "cognitive" exam which requires "critical thinking". I'm not saying that the practice exams are worthless. They do exactly what they say...cover the domains. You need to understand how to put it all together. Memorization will NOT work. You need to understand the concepts.

Next here are the list of resources I used for to prepare for the CISSP:

Adam Gordon ISC2 Video’s
David Miller videos on SafariBooksOnline
CYBRARY
Transcenders w\Flash Cards bought through CYBRARY at a great price
BOSON Exams
Shon Harris Video Mentor
Shon Harris AIO 7th edition
Shon Harris 7th edition Hot Spot & Drag & Drop Quiz
Shon Harris 7th edition Total Tester Exams
Eric Conrad Practice Exams A & B
Shon Harris 2010 Video \Audio
SYBEX ISC2 7th edition
SYBEX ISC2 7th edition Chapter tests
SYBEXT ISC2 7th edition Practice Exams (4 exams)
Eric Conrad 11th Hour 3rd edition.

More importantly I treated preparing for the exam like a "project". I formally built a CISSP Study Plan. My PMP came in handy in accomplishing this. I started June 5th and passed on Sept 30th . Completed exam in 3 hr 42 min. Do not assume that since I completed the exam that quickly that it was easy!! Just the opposite. The CISSP exam is as challenging as everyone says it is for most of us. I truly studied every single day. My life was pretty miserable at times as I was not about to give in. You need to be dedicated to the craft.

Good luck on your CISSP journey!! I've just started on my CCSP journey and using the same methodology.

Re: CISSP test taking strategy

Kwara1870 — Wed, 01 Nov 2017 16:17:04 GMT

Dakotad,

I do appreciated the tip, I will defiantly test to see if it works for me the way you do it "read the answers from the bottom up" sounds interesting maybe eye opener to do in a different way than the usual.

I think when you read the choices, automatically you know what it is and you will determine by the question. Once again it's good and interesting tip and we all use it to make sure it works.

Thank you once again.

Respectfully,

Re: CISSP test taking strategy

Lac — Wed, 01 Nov 2017 21:11:29 GMT

One important thing when you take the test is that you need a plan.

Ex.: take a rest after some time....go out, drink a coffee......if it seems that you mark more and more questions......let yourselves a little time to cool down

After that you will see the problematic questions from different angle.

Re: CISSP test taking strategy

jwilsonjx — Thu, 02 Nov 2017 21:04:15 GMT

I have taken 3 ISC2 exams. One strategy I like to use is to skip the scenario questions. I save the scenarios until the end. These require some extensive reading and tend to take me out of a "groove" when taking an exam. I prefer to take a first pass at the exam and answer all questions that I am certain of and flag questions I am not certain of. I then take a second pass to answer all of the flagged questions. Finally, a third pass to tackle the scenario questions. Take a break between each pass as needed.

This certainly won't be for everyone but it has worked well for me.

Re: CISSP test taking strategy

Kwara1870 — Fri, 03 Nov 2017 14:22:55 GMT

Thank you Lac for the information, I think one of the important issue when taking the exam is to manage your time wisely. How many times you go out for rest room break, how much water/coffee you consume or eat that will probably determine your time you use for the exam. So it's wonderful tip and I do really appreciated for that.

Respectfully,

Re: CISSP test taking strategy

Kwara1870 — Fri, 03 Nov 2017 14:25:50 GMT

Dear Jwilsonjx,

You are right this may not be apply to all, however in your experience it helped you, it may be definatly work someone else somewhere. I will certainly put in to consideration again.

Thank you for the input

Respectfully,

Re: CISSP test taking strategy

Gunner — Fri, 03 Nov 2017 14:44:06 GMT

Let me pass on some info that no one passed on to me. Upon passing my exam, I got my letter just like everyone else. I saw my picture and congratulations...At that point I just left the center as I had a 92 mile drive home. Didn't care. I was on cloud 9. At a stop light I reached over and read the letter in more detail. In the second paragraph is states " Please allow 2-5 business days for your examination result to be transmitted to ISC(2)." as the paragraph right before it stated "Your examination result is provisional in that it may be subject to further psychometric and forensic evaluation..." Upon arriving home I looked it up and sure enough there were people that their exam didn't count! After more digging most felt that for those very few that feel into this category were "probably" flagged by the proctor. That maybe while taking a break something didn't look right, etc... So my point is while you take your break, etc... do EXACTLY as the rules state. They say raise your hand and do not standup until the proctor comes over, do exactly that.

I didn't have to wait the 2-5 days though, did get an email Sunday saying Congratulations and that I did pass... That now I could move onto the endorsement process.

Good luck!

Re: CISSP test taking strategy

Kwara1870 — Fri, 03 Nov 2017 17:54:11 GMT

Gunner,

This is actually the most important to know during the test time, not sure how others see this kind of tips for anyone who really need to get this thing done in one shot. I do really appreciated for the time to give us such valuable tip during and while in the exam center. That can actually trigger some delay as you have experience so its good to know.

Thank you once again

Respectfully,

Re: CISSP test taking strategy

stevefraser — Fri, 03 Nov 2017 18:00:19 GMT

CISSP Exam Prep
Here is what I did to prepare. It took me just under two months. Started September 24, 2016 – Passed Exam, November 21, 2016.

1) ISC2 Official Study Guide 7th Edition
2) Eric Conrad's 3rd Edition CISSP Study Guide
3) Shon Harris All In One Study Guide 7th Edition
4) Cybrary.it- Kelly Handerhand video course

So,
1) I read the Sybex (ISC)2 Study guide twice. Cover to cover. Answered ALL chapter quizzes and used the online practice tests. ALL of them. You do not have to do the full blown tests in one sitting but before the exam one should do a few full blown exams to know what it feels like. The 250 questions are 4 inches deep and a mile long. Not one question on the exam was the same as the thousands I practiced with. However, it definitely correlated to the material.

2) Eric Conrad's Book - I read that book cover to cover and did the practice tests in the book and the ones online. Easy read, cuts out all the fluff and added value to my overall experience.

3) Shon Harris All In One - I read some of the book, used the CD that came with it and it really helps gauge what Domains are your weaker ones. You cannot go wrong with this book. I also reviewed ALL chapter/Domain review pages at the end of each Domain (Quick Tips).

4) Cybrary.it - GREAT source and whilst I did not listen to ALL of it, I did a lot of listening while I was commuting, cooking, etc. Just having Kelly in the background going through the material is good. Remember our brains are actually picking up and storing information even if we think we are not listening. I remind my wife all the time .

5) OTHER
a. I made flash cards of concepts, theories, terms. Even the basic ones. I used almost two complete decks of “Heavy Duty” style Index Cards. They last longer and are more durable than the standard ones.
b. I spent a minimum of two hours (many times more hours) in the library. Somewhere quiet is ideal. For me, the Library was great. Starbucks or other run of the mill coffee shops have too much noise (for me).
c. I came up with a study plan and committed to meeting it. Regardless of how tired I was, what else was going on, work schedule etc. I did a minimum of 50 practice questions per day. I was careful not to memorize the questions but understand the “why, how, concepts”, etc. I built some fluff days into the schedule so I knew I would be through my goals 5 days before the exam. Note: it doesn't mean you stop reviewing or studying 5 days before. I was actually studying the day of the exam in a cafeteria (quiet one) where the testing center was. Right up until test time.

6) Remember
a. You CAN do this. If you don’t pass the first time, it is only a road block and not a death sentence.
b. Never, never give up. (Read Winston Churchill's speech regarding this)
c. It will not be handed to you on a silver platter. Figure out your weak points and tackle those.
d. Do NOT waste your money looking for Brain Dumps. They either don't exist or are outdated and you would be better off spending your money on Monster Energy Drink, Coffee, or one of the recommended books.

7) As a life time learner and a Certified Technical Trainer +, reach out to Subject Matter Experts in the Domains. Reach out to me if you would like. If it is in my power to help I will. If not, I will tell you I do not know and provide pointers where I can.