topic Re: CISSPs: How did you prepare for the CCSP exam? in Exam Preparation

CISSPs: How did you prepare for the CCSP exam?

ckazle — Tue, 19 Sep 2017 18:13:06 GMT

As a CISSP who studied for and passed the CCSP exam, how did you prepare? What did you find valuable? Did you learn through self-study, if so, what books did you buy? Did you attend an official training course, if so, which one? What was your study plan? What's your secret for success? We want to hear from you!

Re: CISSPs: How did you prepare for the CCSP exam?

James — Thu, 21 Sep 2017 14:33:55 GMT

For me, I obtained my CISSP back in 2008 and the CBOK's have changed a little bit.

I used Mike Myers Passport to CISSP (about 200 pages) to educate myself on the concepts of the various CBOKs. When I couldn't understand a concept, I refered to the LARGE CISSP book by Shon Harris to learn additional materials and to use as reference.

Additionally I had the reference materials from (ISC)2 and the training company I used for the bootcamp. I also discovered that I could teach the material to friends / family / colleagues, it helped enforce the material and allowed me to pass.

Have a least 2 CISSP books and take regular assessments to see how well you're understanding the material.

Review, assess, and review again.

Re: CISSPs: How did you prepare for the CCSP exam?

pauloakes — Thu, 21 Sep 2017 15:27:19 GMT

Thanks for asking your question. My journey to the CCSP was different than most. I had been working hands-on in/with the Public Cloud space for a number of years prior to the CCSP. My primary reference for preparing for the exam was the ISC2 CCSP CBK. I had a very consistent study program following the SQ3R method framed within 20 minute study sprints (pomodoros, for those who are familiar with them,) and boiled the CBK down into mnemonic-friendly chunks, then memorized it over 3 months. This is not as difficult as it may seem but rather a matter of consistent formal habit.

Re: CISSPs: How did you prepare for the CCSP exam?

phg — Fri, 22 Sep 2017 02:01:30 GMT

I'm using the official CCSP study guide. I earned my CCSK many years ago and teach CISSP material to IT professionals at the U of Washington (Seattle). I've worked in the cloud security space for 12 years and I am planning to do a light review of the book and give the exam a shot. Time will tell if I'm overconfident.

Peter

Re: CISSPs: How did you prepare for the CCSP exam?

C1ph3r_Qu33n — Fri, 22 Sep 2017 13:37:21 GMT

I took a short course, and joined a free study group through the Austin OWASP chapter. Each person in the study group took turns presenting one of the domains, that was the most effective part of my preparation.

In addition the practice exams helped.

Re: CISSPs: How did you prepare for the CCSP exam?

Toddv — Tue, 26 Sep 2017 19:56:07 GMT

I took a 7 day bootcamp that was intense. Exam was on the last day. For me it was an excellent way to learn and was very effective. But that intensity isn't for the faint of heart. We were in class 8:00 am - 9:00 pm each day Mon-Fri and again from 8:00 am - 2:00 pm on Saturday. The test was on Sunday. My wife always has fun when we watch a TV show based in Boston (where my class was). She asks if I saw whatever we saw on TV when I was there. I flew in on Sunday night before class started. Never left the hotel until the following Monday morning at 0600 (it was dark when I left too). I literally didn't see ANY of Boston while there!

Re: CISSPs: How did you prepare for the CCSP exam?

mg — Sun, 08 Oct 2017 13:16:15 GMT

I found that online practice tests helped the most after going through all the material and taking notes. I used my notes to study and practice tests to gain confidence.

Re: CISSPs: How did you prepare for the CCSP exam?

fortean — Sun, 08 Oct 2017 13:22:22 GMT

Well, I bought the CBK, read it carefully, motivated a number of collegues to join me and we establised a study group at my company. We hired a consultant who briefed us and gave us a good generic overview of all materials in a 3 day course. I then re-read the CBK, made extracts, recapped the materials and sat the exam. Passed on first try.

Re: CISSPs: How did you prepare for the CCSP exam?

ngupta3005 — Sun, 08 Oct 2017 13:34:22 GMT

How I prepared & Passed CCSP

I passed CCSP (Certified Cloud Security Professional) on 18 March 2017. I live in India. In India only 3 person are certified for CCSP as on 18 March 2017.

Earlier Mile stones :

CISA (Certified Information Systems Auditor) – June 2016 (Score 632/800, in top 10%)
CISM (Certified Information Security Manager) – Sept 2016 (Score 624/800, in top 10%)
CISSP (Certified Information Systems Security Professional) – 5 Nov 2016
CRISC (Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control) – 10 Dec 2016 (Score 584/800, in top

Background :

Tech. (Computer Science ) -1990 with more than 25 years of Experience as Vice President / Sr Vice President –IT in manufacturing organizations with major focus on IT security & SAP implementations.

My CCSP exam preparation :

Note : I am bound by NDA with ISC-2. So i will not talk about actual exam pattern or topics. I will talk about difficulty level.

I started my CCSP exam preparation from 15 Dec 2016 after passing CRISC. I faced a lot of problem during CCSP exam preparation due to lack of available resources. This was not a case with CISSP as lot of resources were available. I started with official CCSP CBK by Gorden. I had read some reviews that CCSP CBK is not good to read & exam is not based on ccsp cbk.
In Feb 2017, I purchased All in one by denial carter. It contains approx 300 question.
I also referred some NIST / iso documents. Viewed Cybary CCSP videos
I rate AIO questions little higher than CBK / CCCURE (140 questions). But actual exam questions are quite different & difficult.
CBK vs AIO :

They cover almost same topics. AIO has skipped some topics of CBK. AIO is written in all paragraph style with less no of bullet points. I found very few figures in AIO. I think Mr.

Carter will include more diagrams in his next edition. Some topics are better explained in AIO. I will give equal weight to both.

Overall I found this exam most tough exam than any other certification exam e.g. CISA,CISM,CRISC,CISSP. I rate this exam higher than others.
You can not score much by merely reading CCSP CBK or AIO . Exam is totally conceptual. Your have to understand the concept.
CISSP vs CCSP :

Since parent body ISC-2 is same for both , CISSP will have some advantage of prior exam

Experience.

I believe that you need focus & concentration during your study which is applicable to all other exam also. I have made a lot of research on focus / motivation & belief system. This helps a lot in actual exam

Exam room Experience : ( Note : some cricket terms are being used to understand better)

I had decided that I shall fight till the last minute. I usually give more time in Ist round.
Ist hour of play was I scored 47 run Ist Hour. 2nd Hour was really tough and reverse swing began to happen. At one time I had to flag 8-10 question in a row. After 2nd hr my score was 82. I took break of 4-5 minutes and completed ist round in 190 minutes. I had marked 37 questions for review. I completed review before 12 mintutes. In remaining time i reviewed some initial questions again & Pressed he final SUBMIT button on 240th minute. I almost changed 7-8 answers in my 2nd review.
At the end I was satisfied with my performance. When I came out, my dream certification success letter was in my hand.

Regards

Naresh Gupta

CCSP,CISSP,CISA,CISM,CRISC

Email : ngupta@mission-2020.com

Re: CISSPs: How did you prepare for the CCSP exam?

Trans1 — Sun, 08 Oct 2017 14:18:09 GMT

I believe prior work experience matters as helps in material comprehension but is not a must.

I've used official ISC2 manual as well electronic version. I've downloaded from web any additional material I found (ex. The International CISSP Summary, CISSP All-in-One Exam Guide, 7th Edition...etc) as well I've try handwriting my own summaries.

The most help was from online quizzes, I personally used Skillset.com (paid version) as it has progressive learning with target score to be achieved. After I achieve 100% on Skillset I've paid couple of months on CCCure.org. CCCure helps as you can increase tests difficulty and you can chose failed questions to be repeated as reinforcement. As well I've watched videos from cybrary.it.

Some objectives are more difficult then others, as mentioned experience helps. Do not discount any objective, anything can be on test.

At exam time, take your time read questions couple of times to ensure comprehension.

Good luck!

Re: CISSPs: How did you prepare for the CCSP exam?

Glen — Sun, 08 Oct 2017 14:30:36 GMT

I have been a CISSP-ISSEP, CSSLP for many years. I was able to take a five day online live instructor lead course for CCSP through my work so it was 5 8 hour days. During the class we went through the Official (ISC)² CCSP Study Guide. They also provided us with a student account to cccure.education for practice tests. The instructor was a CCSP and was pretty good. She went through the guide and made sure to explain the topics and pointed out to us to make sure we looked at things from the Cloud perspective not a CISSP perspective because they are different. I think that right there was the biggest thing that helped me the most out of the whole week. When we were talking about the topics we discussed why or how the Cloud perspective was different than the CISSP perspective.

I will tell you one thing was very clear. She was not going to discuss anything about the exam and no one was going to ask about it more than what was in the beginning of the book. And the practice question were no where close to the real exam questions. They covered the same topics or similiar ones but not even close to the wording.

But this exam was not easy at all. I went in pretty confident and walked out just like any other ISC2 exam. Saying to myself I have no clue if I passed or not. Not until they handed me the print out did have a clue that I passed.

Thank you for asking.

Re: CISSPs: How did you prepare for the CCSP exam?

nextciso — Sun, 08 Oct 2017 14:41:20 GMT

Back in January 2017, when I left my last job, I studied my Master in Cybersecurity, research companies and started doing my security certifications. I looked up (ISC)2 website and booked a CISSP bootcamp in March . To gain confidence, I studied and passed my CompTIA Security+ in less than 3 weeks ( I wrote an article about this on LinkedIn).

Time flew and only 1 week before my bootcamp, I realized I only spent a few hours studying my CISSP! So I studied for about 4 hours a day for 1 week, took the bootcamp and took my first exam on March 11. I scored 686 and did not pass. You need to score 700 or more to pass.

The week later, I booked for the re-test, knowing that I need to wait at least 1 month before (ISC)2 allow me to re-test. The nearest date I could get within 50 miles drive from my home was first week of May. With almost 8 weeks before my next re-test, I spent 8 days with about 2 - 2.5 hours each day to study the (ISC)2 SSCP. I took and passed the SSCP exam with almost 1 hour left on the time allowable.

Again, I did not learn my lesson and only studied for about 10 hours during this time for my CISSP then I realized that there were only 4 days left before the exam!!! During these last 4 days, I spent 4-5 hours each day to studied (by this time I forgot a few things in learnt previously). I took the exam on first week of May and passed.

Here is the resource that I used (listed from least cost to most expensive):

1. 11th Hour CISSP by Eric Conrad (and 2 other authors). Great book that you can go through in a few hours.

2. (ISC)2 CISSP Official Study Guide book by Mike Chapple (and 2 other authors).

3. LinkedIn Learning (Lynda) CISSP courses

4. CISSP Tests and Study App on iPad (they probably have an Android version). The questions here are not close to the exam but they are good to test your knowledge.

5. CCCure - very valuable. I took over 1,000 questions to practice. I set the level to "Hard".

6. CISSP Bootcamp training (most expensive)

If you have good IT / Network background, I'm not sure if the training is needed. Most material I learnt was available from books. What I did learn was the exam techniques.

Re: CISSPs: How did you prepare for the CCSP exam?

Matthew — Sun, 08 Oct 2017 14:35:55 GMT

I haven't started yet but I will be taking this certificate through my bachelor degree program. I will be using their study material for the exam. If I feel it is not enough, I will purchase the book and run through that as well.

Re: CISSPs: How did you prepare for the CCSP exam?

Gunner — Sun, 08 Oct 2017 14:43:20 GMT

I just passed my examp on Sept 30th. Currently in the endorsement phase. I started 4 months ago preparing and completed the following:

Adam Gordon ISC2 video's
David Miller SafariBooksOnline video's
CYBRARY Kelly Handerhan CISSP course
Transcenders exams and flash cards
Shon Harris 2010 videos and MP4's.
Eric Conrad's 11th Hour
Sybex ISC2 7th edition with Practice Tests
Official ISC2 Training Guide CISSP CBK
Established a formal Study Plan (project plan) that covered every day right up to test day.

Re: CISSPs: How did you prepare for the CCSP exam?

NickCloud — Sun, 08 Oct 2017 14:59:47 GMT

I'm planning to take this early next year.

Re: CISSPs: How did you prepare for the CCSP exam?

CRay — Sun, 08 Oct 2017 15:06:44 GMT

Being new in the InfoSec field; for my CISSP, I studied for a couple of months after I took a 5 day class to build my base knowledge. What helped me was after I scheduled my exam I hit practice tests to understand what I missed and why. I don’t think I would have passed the exam had I not solidified and honed my knowledge at the end with the practice test.
The exam is not cheap or a lot fun and I did not want to have re-live the experience until I passed it.

Re: CISSPs: How did you prepare for the CCSP exam?

0mn1p0tent — Sun, 08 Oct 2017 15:17:32 GMT

Re: CISSPs: How did you prepare for the CCSP exam?

CoryHamma — Sun, 08 Oct 2017 15:10:20 GMT

I took my exam last year (2016), and passed on the first try. I took a live online class hosted by the InfoSec Institute. The class was in Seattle, but I attended it "virtually" from Sacramento. I like the live class format because it forces you to put down your work for 7 days and focus on the material. I took the exam a few weeks later, studying during those few weeks in the evenings.

I had already been aware of many of the tenants of the CISSP training due to a colleague, who explained many of them while we were on the job. However, there was much more to the exam that I had learned in the course of securing patient data. I bought the CISSP study guide, 3rd edition, (by Conrad, Misenar, and Feldman,) and found that it helped fill some of the knowledge.

I never cracked the "bible" on CISSP until after I had taken the exam, and was performing security analyses for clients! The study guides provided by InfoSec Institute were mostly sufficient for studying.

If you are trying to avoid the cost of purchasing a live class, I highly recommend trying to incorporate the tenants of the CISSP program into your daily life. It is much easier to remember how the exam expects you to answer the question if you have been thinking about it for a while and have made the concepts more than just etherial terms you are required to remember.

Re: CISSPs: How did you prepare for the CCSP exam?

John — Sun, 08 Oct 2017 15:11:52 GMT

I recently earned my CISSP, but have been working in the security space for a long time. I'm going to assume you have good experience with infosec. For those who don't, the CISSP is a terrible place to start.

I bought the official documentation and the Shon Harris book. Both are great, just get one or the other. I read through the book and took way too many notes. Because of the nature of the CISSP, for each domain, read the whole domain without taking notes. Then read it again and take no more than a page of notes. Do this for all the domains.

I took about two weeks to read the books, then took a 1-week bootcamp. The bootcamp just made me realize I took way too many notes. I did make some good connections in it, though, so there are very strong ancillary benefits to taking the course in-person.

Do the simulators and take the practice exams. The test is as much about getting into the mind of the test writers as it is knowing your stuff. If your version of the books comes with flash cards, use them. I always carried a bunch around with me to read while I was waiting around for lunch or a red light or such.

When you take the test, for me, about 20% of the questions I absolutely knew, 10% I had no idea and just marked-down the one that seemed "most right", and 70% I was able to get down to 2 reasonable answers, then picked the best-sounding one. This is why people freak-out over the CISSP.

You'll also want to map-out the nearest bar to the testing center. Pass or fail, if you drink, you'll want a drink.

Good luck!

Re: CISSPs: How did you prepare for the CCSP exam?

erasparsa — Sun, 08 Oct 2017 15:17:44 GMT

@pauloakes wrote:
Thanks for asking your question. My journey to the CCSP was different than most.... (pomodoros, for those who are familiar with them,) ... This is not as difficult as it may seem but rather a matter of consistent formal habit.

Knew it from "Learning how to learn" 😄 Great Coursera course... Podomoro technique uses a timer to break down work into intervals, traditionally 25 minutes in length, separated by short breaks.

I hope I can have my CCSP early next year. 😄